Chase Smith didn’t just have a good night at Clemson - he put together the kind of performance that can tilt a game before most fans even realize it’s happening.
In Miami’s 41-13 win at Death Valley on Saturday night, the senior linebacker piled up nine tackles and five defensive stops, both team highs. PFF also gave Smith a 91.4 run defense grade, the best mark on the Hurricanes by a wide margin, and a 77.0 overall defensive grade, which ranked third among Miami defenders.
The stat sheet tells part of the story. The cleaner detail was how often Smith simply erased Clemson’s plans. He missed just one tackle all night, and that stood out even more with Miami being charged with 16 missed tackles as a team.
His biggest moment came late in the first half, when Clemson had worked inside the Miami red zone and was down 17-3. On fourth-and-2, Smith came up with a huge stop as the Tigers tried to fool the Hurricanes’ defense.
Smith was active in the run game and valuable on short-yardage snaps, the kind of work that doesn’t always show up next to sacks or splash plays. Clemson finished with just 23 net rushing yards, and Reynolds was listed at minus-22 yards on the ground after the sack total was factored in.
Miami’s pass rush did plenty of damage too, with Damon Wilson II recording 2.5 sacks and Omar Thornton, Marquise Lightfoot, and Herbert Scroggins III each adding one.
For Smith, the outing was also a major leap from what he had done earlier this season. He came into the Clemson game with nine tackles through four contests, so he matched half that total in one night.
The 6-foot-2, roughly 235-pound Palm Bay, Fla., product has been more steady presence than spotlight player, but a game like this can change how offenses view him. Miami also finished strong on defense overall, with a second-half surge, a pick-six from JJ Dunnigan, and a unit that held Clemson to 13 points even with Reynolds throwing for 295 yards.
Smith wasn’t the flashiest name on the field, but he was right in the middle of everything that mattered for Miami.
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The problem for Miami was everything that happened around the win. The Hurricanes were dealing with multiple injuries by the end of the game, including to key offensive linemen and cornerbacks, and while some players were able to return after leaving, the list of in-game issues kept growing. For a team that just looked every bit like a title contender, the concern now is less about whether Miami can beat top competition and more about how long it can keep doing it with so many bodies being asked to hold up. [Read more 🡒]
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The bigger concern now is less about the scoreboard and more about how Miami comes out of it physically as the calendar turns to Florida State. A rivalry game of that size demands depth and health, and the Hurricanes have already seen how quickly their margin can shrink when the injuries start to pile up. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Just Gave The ACC No Real Case Against No. 1
Miamis win over Clemson did more than add another eye-catching result to the ledger. It gave the Hurricanes a weekend built on both style and substance, the kind of showing that tends to linger in the ACC pecking order. With Miami stacking up as the leagues benchmark in scoring and defense, the argument around the top spot is starting to look less like a debate and more like an acknowledgment of what has already happened on the field.
Around the conference, a few teams flashed enough to keep the race interesting, from Pitt and Duke to SMU and Louisville, while others like Florida State, Virginia Tech and Clemson continue sorting out where they really fit. But Miamis combination of a statement win and season-long consistency leaves the ACC with a familiar problem: if the No. 1 team keeps handling its biggest tests, there may not be much left to argue about. The next stretch will show whether anyone can make that case anyway. [Read more 🡒]