Miami’s Week 6 off week doesn’t mean the college football menu goes empty. If anything, it hands Hurricanes fans a cleaner, more interesting slate to scan - especially with a few ACC games that could tilt the picture around them.
The one in prime focus is Florida State at Louisville on Friday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN. And yes, from a Miami perspective, there’s a case for wanting the Seminoles to handle their business.
Mike Norvell’s standing isn’t going to get any prettier, but another win could buy him another year and push Florida State’s problems further down the road. It would also make Miami’s eventual matchup look better on paper if the Hurricanes are blasting a 4-2 FSU team instead of one sitting at .500.
Louisville, meanwhile, has already dropped three games by a combined nine points, which says plenty about the Cardinals and what they’ve been.
Saturday brings another ACC game with Miami ties when North Carolina visits No. 25 Pittsburgh at noon on ESPN.
These are two opponents the Hurricanes will see in October, so there’s extra reason to pay attention. North Carolina, at this point, looks like a familiar kind of team: solid enough defensively, athletic across the field, but held back by quarterback Billy Edwards, who hasn’t been reliable.
Pittsburgh has its own quarterback issue after losing Mason Heintschel for the season, which leaves Holden Geriner in line to start. Geriner has already played for Auburn and Texas State, and this first start comes against a Bill Belichick-schemed defense.
That’s a brutal introduction.
The third ACC game on the radar is Stanford at No. 3 Notre Dame on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on NBC.
Notre Dame should roll Stanford without much trouble, and that matters because Miami has already seen the Cardinal. The Hurricanes beat Stanford 45-6 on the farm, so this becomes a simple measuring-stick watch: how many points does Notre Dame stack up in the same spot?
There are also three national games with College Football Playoff implications worth keeping close tabs on.
No. 7 Indiana travels to Nebraska at noon on FOX in a matchup of unbeaten teams, though Nebraska’s path to this point hasn’t exactly been loaded with tests.
Indiana’s schedule hasn’t been much tougher, but its win over Northwestern a couple weeks ago looks better now than it did then. Nebraska fans have been waiting on Matt Rhule to deliver meaningful games, and they’ve been waiting even longer for the Cornhuskers to win them.
At 3:30 on CBS, No. 21 UCLA heads to No.
13 Oregon in another game that could matter in the playoff race. Bob Chesney and Dan Lanning crossed paths in the playoffs last year when Chesney was at James Madison.
Another loss could leave Lanning and the Ducks on the outside of the bubble, which gives this one some real weight. It’s also Dylan Raiola’s first start as a Duck, coming a year earlier than the former five-star recruit expected to be leading Oregon’s offense.
The nightcap is a heavyweight one: No. 3 Georgia at No.
6 Alabama at 7:30 on ABC. With the SEC bias in the rankings being what it is, both teams are probably already locked into the playoff picture.
That leaves the game itself to do the work, along with one simple question: can Georgia finally get a regular-season win over Alabama for the first time since 2007?
In Other News...
JJ Dunnigan Just Forced A Bigger Miami Secondary Decision
JJ Dunnigans showing at Clemson gave Miami another reminder that its secondary picture is still very much in motion. Even with questions about his health hanging over him, he came away with a notable interception and flashed the kind of speed that makes coaches look for ways to get him on the field. On the latest discussion from David Lake and DMoney, Dunnigans athleticism kept coming up as the sort of trait that can change a defensive back rotation in a hurry.
The bigger question now is how Miami sorts out the rest of that group, especially with Omar Thornton, Zechariah Poyser and Bryce Fitzgerald all part of the conversation about fit and role. Dunnigans case for nickelback has only grown stronger because of the way he showed up in a high-profile road game, and the staff will have to weigh his impact against everyone else in a secondary that still seems to be taking shape. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Freshman May Have Changed A Key Offensive Line Battle
The left guard spot had been one of the quieter but more important questions for Miami heading into the Clemson game, and freshman Ben Congdon may have helped answer it. Congdon got the start and stayed on the field for 61 of 66 snaps, giving the Hurricanes a steady presence on the interior while the offense leaned on the ground game and found success running the ball.
Pro Football Focus gave Congdon a 54.7 pass-blocking grade and a 71.3 run-blocking grade, a decent snapshot of a young lineman who looked ready for a bigger role. Mario Cristobal praised both Congdons performance and his attitude after the game, which only adds to the sense that Miami may have found a real contender in a battle that was very much still open. [Read more 🡒]
Miamis New Offensive Look Says A Lot About The Stretch Run
The changes on Miamis offense have become hard to miss as the Hurricanes navigate the stretch run without several key contributors. Season-ending injuries to Marty Brown and Joshua Moore, along with surgery for Max Buchanan, forced the staff to redraw parts of the depth chart, and the ripple effect has shown up everywhere from the skill positions to the line. Darian Mensah has remained the starter at quarterback and has given the unit steadiness, while true freshmen have been pressed into meaningful roles at running back and wide receiver.
Up front, the reshuffle has been just as notable, with Matthew McCoy sliding to right guard and Jackson Cantwell stepping in at right tackle. For Miami, the broader story is less about surviving the absences than about how much the offense can keep growing with young players now carrying real responsibility. The next few weeks will say plenty about how deep this group can really go, and how much the new look can hold up when the pressure rises. [Read more 🡒]