Miami controlled their own destiny to the ACC Title game, the playoffs, and maybe even to have a Heisman Trophy winner.
Georgia Tech looked like fairly easy pickings on Saturday. It wasn’t that Georgia Tech was a bad team, but they were one beat-up team. Multiple injuries to several key players, while the Canes looked to keep rolling all the way to Charlotte.
The Jackets would have none of it, in a coaching masterpiece we wrote about.
We’re going to get into Miami here though. I didn’t get the feeling Miami wasn’t ready to play, but they were outcoached. They simply played with fire too many times and finally got burned. As great as the Miami offense and QB Cam Ward are, you simply can’t keep falling behind every credible opponent you face and expecting to leave with a win.
The defense couldn’t stop a Georgia Tech team that had a QB who couldn’t throw a forward pass and the other who was a true freshman. Georgia Tech had one option, run the ball and run it some more. That’s exactly what they did over and over again.
Finally, Cam Ward’s heroics couldn’t save Miami.
With all that said the Cane’s can’t let this loss derail their season. Everything is still in front of them.
They control their own path to the ACC Title game and the playoffs, and even with today’s loss shouldn’t fall lower than 11 or 12 in the CFP polls, and I think they’ll actually be 9 or 10.
Pitt and Iowa State were undefeated at the start of November 2, and they are 0-4 since.
Miami can’t let that happen to them. They have a week off before hosting Wake Forest which probably isn’t equipped to duplicate defensively what Georgia Tech did Saturday.
Then they head to Syracuse, which has lost two of its last three games and played its best football earlier in the year. That said, Syracuse’s Kyle McCord is the kind of quarterback who can light up a suspect Miami defense. If Miami plays with fire in that one, it could find itself in another game it could lose.
How will the Canes respond to their first loss of the year? I have a feeling they are going to regroup after the BYE week, take it to Wake Forest, and get right for their game against Syracue.
I wouldn’t close the book on Miami just yet after their loss to Georgia Tech.
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