The Miami Hurricanes didn’t play a down this weekend, and somehow they still came away looking like one of the big winners in college football.
A quiet bye week turned into a perfect setup for Miami, which entered it at 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the ACC. With chaos breaking out around the country and inside the conference, the Hurricanes are in position to move up in the polls and keep building their grip on the season before they return to Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday night for an in-state showdown with Florida State.
The biggest shakeup came at the top. No.
1 Texas took the weekend’s most damaging loss, falling 27-24 to Oklahoma. Arch Manning finished 19 of 31 for 260 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, and one of those turnovers turned into even more pain when Sooners senior safety Peyton Bowen raced back a 42-yard pick-six in the fourth quarter.
While Texas stumbled, the teams sitting just behind it handled business. No.
2 Georgia knocked off No. 6 Alabama 20-17, and No.
3 Notre Dame rolled over Stanford 58-7. That combination gives the Bulldogs, Fighting Irish and Hurricanes a strong case to rise in the next AP poll, with Texas likely sliding.
The ACC also did Miami a few favors. Louisville’s 44-20 win over Florida State on Friday was the conference’s most convincing result of the weekend, and junior running back Isaac Brown powered it with 242 yards on 17 carries and two long touchdowns, one from 97 yards in the second quarter and another from 68 yards in the fourth.
Elsewhere, the league’s other unbeaten teams went down. Duke lost 28-25 to Georgia Tech, and No.
25 Pitt was beaten 21-17 by UNC. That gave Bill Belichick his first win over a ranked opponent as Tar Heels head coach.
With the way the schedule has unfolded, Miami is projected to win out in ACC play and make a run to Charlotte, North Carolina, with a chance to claim the conference for the first time in program history.
The weekend was rough across the rest of Florida, too. The Gators, who had opened 4-0, fell 38-19 to South Carolina.
Junior running back Jadan Baugh managed 70 yards on 15 carries and scored a touchdown, but the Gamecocks’ defense bottled up Florida and junior quarterback Aaron Philo was sacked three times. Senior cornerback Vicari Swain and senior linebacker Justin Okoronkwo also intercepted passes.
UCF also came up short, dropping a 42-28 decision to No. 18 Oklahoma State. And while the Seminoles were already in a tough spot after the Louisville loss, the temperature around Mike Norvell’s seat only kept climbing.
Miami may have spent the weekend on the sideline, but it left it in a better place than when it entered. The Hurricanes are also hopeful to get some injured players back, including junior cornerback Xavier Lucas, who is dealing with an undisclosed injury.
In Other News...
Miami Defense Gets Timely Boost Before FSU With Bigger Questions Ahead
Miamis defense got a welcome lift this week, with Mario Cristobal confirming on the Joe Rose show that Xavier Lucas, Marquise Lightfoot, Ezekiel Marcelin Jr. and Damari Brown are all returning to play. With Florida State on deck, the timing matters for a unit that has spent the bye week trying to get healthier and stabilize its rotation after dealing with a run of injury setbacks.
Some of the players who were hurt before the break are trending in the right direction, while Max Buchanan and JaBoree Antoine remain sidelined. Even with reinforcements coming back, Miami still has to sort out how the depth chart holds up, though the staff has already identified backups who stepped in and helped keep things afloat when the injuries piled up. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Faces One Big O-Line Concern Before Florida State
Miami is getting healthier on defense at a good time, with Ezekiel Marcelin Jr., Marquise Lightfoot, Xavier Lucas and Damari Brown all back in the mix ahead of the Florida State rivalry game. That gives the Hurricanes some needed depth and flexibility on that side of the ball as they head into one of the biggest dates on the schedule.
The more immediate concern is up front, where starting right guard Max Buchanan had surgery for a left knee injury and is expected to miss some time. Miami has not given a firm return timeline, and the staff is sorting through options to replace him on the offensive line, a spot that could loom large with Florida State coming fast. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Basketball Just Got An Early National Reality Check
KenPoms preseason numbers are in, and they give Miami a pretty solid national starting point after last seasons NCAA tournament exit. The Hurricanes come in at No. 22 overall, with an offense rated 118.4 and a defense sitting at 94.9, a profile that suggests a team with enough balance to hang around the top 25 if it settles in quickly.
The first real test arrives right away on Nov. 2, when Miami opens against Florida, the No. 2 team in KenPoms preseason rankings. It is the kind of early measuring-stick game that can tell a staff plenty about where the Hurricanes stand before the long grind of ACC play really begins. [Read more 🡒]