Robert Craft
It Just Means More?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The shots came from the north, the west and all over social media: The vaunted SEC, dominator of college football, had been humbled.
Michigan player Braiden McGcegor spoke for many: “In the SEC they say it just means more. That should be ours now.” Somewhere commissioner Greg Sankey read that and grimaced.
For the first time in nine years the SEC will not be represented in the national championship game. There’s a cruel irony in that for Sankey, who helped usher in the 12-team College Football Playoff despite his conference dominating the four-team era.
Why change a beneficial status quo? Because Sankey knew college football would be better if more regions and more conferences were invested and engaged. Sankey also wanted expansion this year, which, should it have happened, would have created an opening for at least one more of his teams to make a run.
Ah, well, a good humbling every now and then is healthy in the long run. The SEC sees clearly that it is in an even competition with the newly constituted Big Ten. But it’s also not a dire picture: Alabama losing to Michigan in overtime on a neutral field is not itself a confirmation of inferiority for SEC detractors.
Vice versa, Tennessee stomping Iowa and Missouri beating Ohio State are also not satisfactory evidence of total conference superiority for SEC defenders because well, bowl games in this era.
It’s just a kick in the butt collectively to the SEC to know it is no longer just in competition with itself. That change can be good. It can be fun.
But this edition of the vibes doesn’t look back. It looks forward, which is why it includes the two coming entrants to the league.
And the vibes, for those whom may be new or forgetful, are not a pure ranking from best to worst; it’s who’s feeling the best to who’s feeling the worst which is why these rankings will look funky.
This takes into account expectations, performance, and just generally the optimism, or lack thereof, heading into the 2024 season.
Even when I adjust for the normal postseason optimism, a look at the top of the SEC shows this is still going to be the best conference, but the Big Ten is not that far behind.
The SECs tagline of “it just means more” carries a little more weight now, as the additions of Texas and Oklahoma make the league a super conference in 2024.
I feel good about 4 to 5 SEC teams’ chances of making it into a 12-team playoff next season.
The SEC will not play for this year’s championship but they are still the top conference in college football.
Birds Of A Feather
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For Arthur Blank, his football team won Sunday, but there haven’t been enough wins this season.
Blank clapped his hands and raised both fists in the air in the game’s final seconds, congratulated players and staff members, hugged coach Arthur Smith just outside the stadium tunnel, then hugged him again after the postgame news conference. He remains as emotionally invested an owner as there is in professional sports.
Blank will soon have to make a difficult call on whether to keep Smith or fire him, and it’s easy to see this is wearing on him. These decisions are never easy, and the fact the owner has fired four head coaches; not including Bobby Petrino, who slithered away by himself, doesn’t make it easier.
I’ve believed all along: it is more likely than not that Smith keeps his job. The angst and anger from fans is understandable, especially when looking at a three-season record of 21-28. Also, the offense (Smith’s specialty) has largely underachieved.
His first two seasons came during a rebuild. This season’s record can be attributed in part – though not completely – to a turnover-laden quarterback, Desmond Ridder. And yes, Ridder is a forever grease stain on Smith’s resume.
It’s possible Smith saved his job, not only because the Falcons won before the New Year, but because we saw the upside of the offense when a quarterback doesn’t screw things up.
Taylor Heinicke threw for 229 yards and a touchdown, but more importantly, he didn’t commit one turnover. Atlanta totaled 406 yards in offense and a season-high 29 points.
To view Sunday as a breakthrough would be premature. The Falcons’ record is pedestrian and they still need dominoes to fall just to make the playoffs. But in theory, both Arthurs may view this game with some level of hope for the future, assuming the Falcons draft the right quarterback in the offseason.
In addition to Smith’s uncertain future, several of his family members were in attendance for the game against the Indianapolis Colts, including his father, Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express.
It wasn’t the first time he had relatives attend a game but the timing seemed more significant on that day, given the backdrop.
The Falcons had dropped 8 of 12 since a 2-0 start. The 9-7 loss at Carolina was especially aggravating for anybody who had elevated expectations this season, especially Blank.
It’s logical to wonder if the win over the Colts carried more relief than joy.
“These are very complex decisions. There are a million factors that go into it. You know you have to represent the franchise, the fans, the players, the coaches — everybody. You have to make the right decision for the right reason, and you have to live with those consequences. My mother used to tell me that all the time.” Smith stated after Sunday’s game.
The Colts game was one of their best all-around games of the season. That counts for something. If this was easy, Blank would’ve made the decision by now.
Not A Big Deal?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The University of Georgia is on the verge of losing a five-star quarterback, who is the biggest name in his recruiting class. And the reaction from the program is … meh?
Maybe Dylan Raiola bailing on Georgia will prove laughable. Maybe Raiola will end up being a great quarterback who dearly costs the Bulldogs. Maybe this will become part of a problem with the would-be dynasty Georgia program. As they begin to lose power on and then off the field after coming up short of the top 4.
Right now, it seems like a bigger recruiting story than it is a Georgia story.
Of course, Georgia wants to keep Raiola. That’s why Kirby Smart, Mike Bobo and this staff pursued him so heavily in the first place, even when they already had and liked another quarterback in the same class. That’s why as of this writing the staff is still working to keep him with the knowledge that Raiola will be visiting Nebraska, per sources close to the program.,
With signing day next week, this does not bode well. Losing any big-time prospect, especially a quarterback, would sting.
On the other hand, it’s hard to think of this as a major, program-changing event .Not when Georgia just won two national championships with a former walk-on at QB1. Not when the same program just had another unbeaten regular season with a former four-star, who ranked No. 250 overall in 2020.
Georgia is a program that keeps trying to score an elite quarterback recruit, and after they wind up with an underdog from the scrap pile, they win games anyway.
Enough about the high school to college jump- In the past two years, Georgia has had eight players go in the first round of the NFL Draft. Zero were quarterbacks.
With 25 players drafted overall, Bennett is the only quarterback: taken in the fourth round. For UGA, the quarterback position is critical, but it’s not the position the Bulldogs revolve around.
With that being said, Beck returning for 2024 would be paramount. Looking at the way Beck played this year and the way Bennett played before Beck, after they developed they utilized the talent beaming around them.
One might argue — because some are — that Raiola, or a great quarterback prospect like him, could take the offense to another level. Like, say, top five nationally in passing offense?
Well, don’t worry, that was Georgia this year. Or top 10 in scoring and total offense? Well, that was Georgia in each of their past three years without their fancy five-star quarterback.
If Georgia can do all that with Bennett and Beck, it can do it with Ryan Puglisi, another quarterback commit in the 2024 class.
Puglisi is a four-star from Connecticut, committed to Georgia in October 2022. When Georgia pursued and landed Raiola eight months later, many speculated Puglisi’s decommitment would follow.
The first priority for Georgia is holding on to Beck for 2024, then turning the reins over to Gunner Stockton, Puglisi or whoever is added eventually via the portal or recruiting in the always bright future of a championship contending program.
Stockton, the top-50 overall recruit in the 2022 class, the third-string quarterback the past two years, figures to be No. 2 in 2024 and could end up being the next Beck. He could be the quarterback who sticks around, learns, and develops, and leaves with a ring.
Georgia doing that with two consecutive starters at a time when every quarterback seems to be a transfer would be a sentimental nod to a seemingly bygone era of farming championship talent rather than shopping for it.
Raiola is very good. But this flip, if it happens, would hurt Georgia less than it would help Nebraska. In fact, one could argue it would be better for college football (looking at you TV execs).
That doesn’t mean Georgia should just stand aside and let it happen. Smart didn’t get to three national championship games with an “oh well” mentality. The inability to hold on to elite quarterbacks has been frustrating for Georgia fans.
Maybe QB1 still ends up being Raiola, maybe if Georgia can pull off a last-ditch effort to keep him. If not, it’s setting up Puglisi or Stockton to be the next underdog story at quarterback.
Can you understand Georgia’s reaction (or lack of one)? They still have a plan. Bennett, Beck, and Fromm can say with a straight face: Meh, it’s not a big deal.
Shafted Seminoles
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
All this College Football Playoff arguing will be moot with the CFP expanding to 12 teams next year.
Arguing over 3- 5 is very different than 10-13. You lose your benefit of the doubt when you lose games. Even in the SEC.
But this year is still a four-team field, and with so many variables factoring into the decision, there is a lot to dissect. And to state it plainly: the College Football Playoff committee got it wrong.
College football has, or at least it used to have up until right now, the best regular season in sports because the games mattered most. We have a smaller sample size in this sport than any other.
To leave out an undefeated 13-0 Florida State in a Power 5 ACC was the wrong decision.
Michigan and Washington, both undefeated with top-10 wins, were the easy ones. The problem for the College Football Playoff committee was that there were three teams with legitimate arguments for the final two slots.
Sorry, Georgia. You didn’t win your conference title, and in this format, that has to count for something.
Alabama and the SEC are the proverbial elephant in this room. Nick Saban is the greatest coach of all time, and to me, this year was the greatest coaching job he’s ever done.
His team got whipped at home by Texas in Week 2 and didn’t look any better struggling with South Florida the following week.
But Jalen Milroe kept making big strides and when it mattered most, the Tide made enough plays to knock off a Bulldog team that wasn’t anywhere near as dominant in their previous two title seasons.
The problem for Alabama and the SEC is Texas. They beat Alabama convincingly in Tuscaloosa. That happened, and there was nothing fluky about it.
The Longhorns went 12-1, but there wasn’t a second-best team in the Big 12 this year. Here’s how it broke down: Oklahoma State beat Oklahoma, and Texas unsurprisingly hammered OSU Saturday.
Remember, this was an Oklahoma State team that went 9-3 and had lost by a combined score of 78-10 against South Alabama and UCF. That wasn’t going to help Texas’ cause.
With that, do we forget that a week ago Alabama barely escaped against Auburn? Auburn got blown out at home the week before by New Mexico State, 31-10.
The bigger issue this year was Florida State, at 13-0 from the ACC. As we all know, FSU’s star quarterback Jordan Travis received a season ending injury near the end of the season. The Seminoles’ backup Tate Rodemaker didn’t look great at arch-rival Florida. He also sustained a concussion.
FSU’s third-stringer, Brock Glenn, had a shaky outing in the ACC Championship Game, but their defense was dominant.
Braden Fiske and Jaden Verse led the Seminoles with 14 TFLs and 7 sacks. Not so coincidentally, that same FSU defense began the year by dominating LSU and the SEC’s biggest star, Jayden Daniels. Florida State held the nation’s No. 1 offense to its worst performance of the season.
FSU was the only team that held Daniels under 60 percent passing in a game. Daniels ran for almost 100 yards less (99) against the Noles than when he played the Crimson Tide.
I get it. The SEC has been the most dominant conference in college football for the past two decades. But this year is not like those other years. Have you been paying attention?
It’s a down year for the SEC. The ACC actually went 6-4 against the SEC in 2023. If this was a one-loss FSU, I’d say they didn’t earn their way in, but they won, so they did.
In the same argument, Texas should not have been left out for a team they beat.
What’s the point of winning if the CFP will rationalize them away?
Old Nemesis
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
This is just another SEC Championship Game. The argument will be made here, probably determining whether Georgia wins their third national championship in a row.
UGA has yet to beat Alabama in the SEC championship or at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
If Georgia beats Alabama on Saturday, they have national champion written all over them.
If Georgia loses to Alabama, there is no College Football Playoff.
Feel free to take those statements and throw them back at me next month. Say it: I’m SEC biased, or too dependent on recent history.
Georgia’s biggest hurdle awaits them Saturday. The main reason is talent..
The most talented team in the country, per the 247Sports team talent composite, is Alabama. The third-most talented team is Ohio State.
Class, who is the last team to beat Georgia? That would be Alabama two years ago, in the SEC championship. Which team since then has come the closest? Ohio State, in last year’s CFP semifinal.
The Crimson Tide are still in the Bulldogs’ way. By Smart’s own admission, quarterbacks who can run and throw have given Georgia’s defense problems, and you might have noticed that Jalen Milroe can run and throw.
He has multiple receivers who can make plays Jermaine Burton, playing against his former team for the first time, and Isaiah Bond, the man who caught fourth-and-31 to win the Iron Bowl.
No, Georgia is not doomed. It’s a modest favorite (4.5 points) for the right reasons, and the temptation in this space would be to take Georgia to cover. But it is a mere temptation, because Alabama, Saban and his talented unit are going to be a tough out.
First, of course, they need to make the Playoff, and at this point, the SEC Championship looks like win-and-in, lose-and-out.
That wasn’t the case for Georgia the past two years, but this year there are too many viable candidates in other conferences. There are only four spots, and if Alabama beats Georgia it would get one of them. The Pac-12 championship will get another. The chaos scenario thus requires two of the following three: Michigan losing to Iowa, Florida State losing to Louisville, Texas losing to Oklahoma State.
We’ve been waiting for the chaos, and the chaos hasn’t occurred yet, so it’s probably time to stop waiting.
We could also get into a scenario in which Georgia loses on a late field goal or disputed call, and two of the three win in the same fashion. That’s maybe when the committee finds a way to jam Georgia in.
This is a committee made of human beings who apparently think a lot of Georgia, and might also appreciate the three-peat storyline. If it’s close, that would help Georgia. But it’s harder and harder to see the close scenario. It’s setting up to be fairly clear choices for the committee.
If someone is going to stop Georgia from a three-peat, the most likely team is the one that for the longest time was its nemesis, and could still be again.
Last Laugh
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After Florida State’s win on Saturday, I wrote that FSU fans should never, ever dismiss rivalry wins. Especially when playing for so much, a loss would be devastating .
10-0 is pretty darn sweet. Even more when considering the last five or six years and THOSE challenges.
Which builds me a bridge to what happened in College Station on Sunday:
And let’s be clear, I’m not here to kick dirt on Jimbo Fisher while he’s down. Well, maybe not a wheelbarrow’s worth. It’s hard to refer to someone getting paid $75 million to not work as ‘down’. That sounds pretty up to me all things considered.
FSU fans remember and appreciate Jimbo’s run he had and the program he rebuilt in Tallahassee for about a decade. That 2013 team was one of the best in the history of the sport. He won three straight ACC championships and coached in five straight New Year’s Six bowl games.
For a time, Jimbo Fisher was a fantastic coach. He modernized a program that was in desperate need. Fisher’s accomplishments can never be overlooked, but what Jimbo never realized is he needed Florida State as much as Florida State needed Jimbo.
Fisher complained so much during his time in Tallahassee about what he wanted, about how hard it was to get things done or built or paid for or- At the end of his time there, he never came close to appreciating how great his job was.
He intimated repeatedly that Florida State wasn’t committed to winning. Which is, in today’s football, laughable.
He needed more resources. More money. More stuff. More. More. More.
Then he went to a place that has more than anyone. Jimbo fell on his face. Meanwhile, six years later, the place that isn’t committed to winning is 10-0 and ranked in the Top 4.
I truly wonder, on a day like Sunday if it ever hits Jimbo how completely idiotic a decision it was to leave Tallahassee to go coach in the talent wasteland in College Station.
I get it. His bank account has a bunch of extra zeroes now. He’s got all the ranches he could ever want.
For a dude that seemed so competitive, that just loves ball, loves coaching ball, loves winning, he absolutely torpedoed his chances at multiple championships and a lasting legacy because he was too busy whining about what he didn’t have.
Florida State was a punchline for a few years. Even Texas A&M fans, whose program hasn’t won a national title since Bobby Bowden was a 10-year-old boy, had the audacity to make fun of FSU’s plight.
Texas A&M’s savior, the one that Florida State fans warned them about, just got canned. Aggies, welcome to the punchline, you still owe Jimbo the GDP of a small country to go away.
Meanwhile, the Seminoles are 10-0 and two wins away from a perfect regular season.
Florida State has always been a special and dominant brand. Coach Norvell has re-established that.
No one is laughing at the Seminoles anymore.
Chanting Through The Storm
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It is officially Miami week for the Florida State Seminoles.
No. 4 FSU is an early 14.5-point favorite for Saturday’s game, set for 3:30 p.m. at Doak Campbell Stadium.
The Seminoles are 9-0 and 7-0 in Conference, while Miami is 6-3 and 2-3.
Despite dealing with several injuries, Tyler Van Dyke is leading the Hurricanes at quarterback once again this season.
He has 2,057 yards on 170-of-251 passing, which is a solid 67.7 percent completion percentage. But he also has thrown 11 interceptions to go with his 16 touchdowns. Van Dyke has thrown more picks than any quarterback in the ACC.
Freshman QB Emory Williams has also played in four games for the Hurricanes, completing 36 of 48 passes for 295 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
In the running game, Miami has distributed carries between several different backs. Henry Parrish and Don Chaney have shouldered most of the load, but freshman Mark Fletcher ran for 115 yards on 23 carries last Saturday against N.C. State.
Parrish leads the running backs overall with 469 yards and four touchdowns on 77 carries. Chaney has 379 yards and two touchdowns on 75 carries.
Receivers Xavier Restrepo and Jacoby George have been solid for Miami in the air.
As for the defense, safety James Williams leads the team in tackles with 51. All-ACC safety Kamren Kinchens and Te’Cory Couch have also been notable leaders in the secondary for Miami. Kinchens has four interceptions on the year (second in the ACC) and Couch has three, tying him for third in the conference.
Freshman Rueben Bains Jr. leads the team with 6.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss. His sack total ranks 4th in the conference.
As a team, the Hurricanes have lost three of their last five games, starting with a late collapse against Georgia Tech. Then, they lost at North Carolina before beating Virginia and Clemson in overtime at home. The Hurricanes come into Doak after a 20-6 loss at N.C. State last Saturday.
The Hurricanes rank 38th nationally in scoring offense at 32.1 points per game and 30th in scoring defense at 20.0.
If history is any indication, the odds are very strong that the Florida State football team will defeat Miami this Saturday and improve to 10-0 on the season.
Since 1997, the earliest point spread records available online, Florida State is a perfect 5-0 when favored by double-digits against the rival Miami Hurricanes. And UM has never lost to FSU when favored by that much.
Miami is a bit of a mess right now (always?), but I think the game states that the Hurricanes are likely to be playing angry against Florida State. I think Miami might be able to find a little more success through the air than one would expect. Meanwhile, Florida State should be getting a little healthier on the offensive side of the ball.
FSU 38 Miami 13
Almighty Georgia Bulldogs
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The St. Johns River will soon be flooded with fans of orange and blue, and fans of red and black. It’s Florida-Georgia week, one like none other in over 30 years.
The No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators will meet at TIAA Bank Field on Saturday and Georgia will come into the game as the two time defending National Champions.
Georgia handled business in their last game when they defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores 37-20. They will look to nurse their injured players during their bye week and return with more strength on the roster.
The Gators, on the other hand, overcame a double-digit deficit on the road to defeat the South Carolina Gamecocks. They’ll also be taking advantage of the week off.
Despite both teams coming off wins, the Bulldogs still find themselves as massive favorites. Georgia is currently a -23.5 point favorite over the arch-rival Florida Gators.
The Bulldogs, 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the SEC East with a Oct. 28 showdown with Florida approaching, lost their Superman (Brook Bowers) to an ankle injury that required surgery.
Bowers is a junior and will enter the NFL Draft after the season. A high ankle sprain heals by itself with plenty of time before the NFL combine.
Instead, Bowers is getting the tightrope surgery, and right away. That’s a huge sign from him that he wants to play again this season for Georgia.
He doesn’t need to show anything to NFL scouts. But his team is in contention for a national championship, and while it’s easy for outsiders to say “Just opt out, make a business decision,” it’s much harder for someone to abandon his teammates when a ring is on the line.
Bowers has played in every game since he arrived at Georgia. He’s not the sole reason Georgia is 36-1 over that span, but he’s a big reason the offense took off during that time: Defenses had to account for him in coverage, and Bowers is also a good blocker.
The Bulldogs are still loaded with talent. Carson Beck, in his first year as Georgia’s starting quarterback, has the fourth-most passing yards (2,147) in the nation. And barely more than a quarter of those (26.4 percent) have gone to Bowers.
Oscar Delp, who now becomes TE1, is no slouch. He’s Georgia’s fifth-leading receiver and was a top-100 recruit in the 2022 class. His blocking has been rough at times, which is why Lawson Luckie may see a lot of snaps in rotation as TE2.
Georgia’s main emphasis may become “spread-out-and-throw”. Beck likes to sit back in the pocket and find the open receiver, and the pass blocking this year has been good.
Plus, you have Ladd McConkey being back, Rara Thomas getting more comfortable, and other receivers who can make plays.
Georgia’s running game has also started to get stronger, especially if Kendall Milton can stay healthy. That could also allow Dillon Bell to play more receiver or a hybrid position.
Maybe Georgia doesn’t have the X-factor for its’ offense as long as Bowers is out, but a more traditional receivers-and-tailbacks game can get you through an opponent like Florida.
The Bulldog defense will keep the Gators in check, maybe along the lines of 14-to-20 points, a Bowers-less offense will take it from there, and the lead will get bigger and bigger.
Georgia 42 Florida 17
Kirby Hates Florida
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Kirby Smart Hates Florida. He hates them with the fire of a thousand suns.
He gives the media plenty of coach speak about how Florida is another game, and all league games are important. He tells the cameras that he and his staff must prepare the same every week.
He says that great talent exists across college football, and anyone can beat you any day of the week. Despite all of that talk, Kirby Smart lives to beat Florida.
He has made beating the Gators a priority and celebrated the last two victories over Florida with a level of expression that ‘Stern Smart’ rarely shows.
At this point, it’s well known that Smart was a safety at Georgia from 1995-1998. He recorded 13 interceptions for the Bulldogs and was an All-SEC selection his Senior year. Smart’s time wearing silver britches also coincided with some of the worst beatings in the history of the Florida-Georgia rivalry.
Smart’s teams lost to the Gators 52-17 in 1995, 47-7 in 1996 and 38-7 in 1998. Kirby and the Dawgs did get to taste victory in 1997, when they pulled a 37-17 upset over the Gators. It would be Georgia’s only victory out of 14 meetings against the Gators.
Steve Spurrier hated Georgia for beating him in his senior season of 1966 when the Dawgs upset the Gators 27-10. The loss cost UF their first SEC Championship, and Spurrier never forgot. That loss kept him from becoming a champion. Needless to say, Spurrier made beating Georgia a priority throughout his coaching career.
For years UGA had a lovely habit of beating Florida anytime the Gators had a good season, and that ownership created the monster that ended Georgia’s dominance in the rivalry.
Let’s go back to the infamous 1995 game against the Gators. Georgia and Florida played in Sanford Stadium due to the old Gator Bowl being renovated, and prior to the game Steve Spurrier found out that no opponent had ever scored 50 points between the hedges.
With the game out of reach late in the fourth quarter, and the Gators leading 45-17, Spurrier continued to call passing plays for backup quarterback Eric Kresser.
The Gators ran a flea-flicker, at one point on their final drive and moved the ball down to Georgia’s 10-yard line instead of running out the clock. With 1:10 remaining Kresser threw a touchdown on a slant to Travis McGriff.
I found something fascinating watching the end of that game on YouTube. Do you know who McGriff jogged past right after he caught that final touchdown?
True freshman safety, Kirby Smart.
The Gators ran the score up to embarrass the Dawgs, and that’s when Spurrier passed the flaming torch of revenge to Smart.
A little over 24 years ago, Steve Spurrier created the man who would bring Spurrier-style vitriol and hatred to the Bulldogs’ side of the rivalry. That man is Kirby Smart.
80 Million Dollar Mistake?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
None of the given explanations made sense. Nothing would have.
Mario Cristobal blew it.
Miami lost a game they shouldn’t have, in stunningly idiotic fashion.
If quarterback Tyler Van Dyke was ordered to take a knee on a third-and-10 with a running clock at under 40 seconds, the Hurricanes would be 5-0; talking about how they escaped with an ugly 20-17 win over Georgia Tech.
Instead, the sports world is scratching their heads wondering why he handed the ball off to Don Chaney Jr.
The Yellow Jackets ran out of timeouts, and that led to the fumble that set up the Yellow Jackets’ miracle comeback.
Chaney was closing in on his first 100-yard rushing game of his career. He was sitting on 99 yards when he carried it for the final time.
When asked directly about why he called the run play, Cristobal denied that the 100yd milestone was the reason. At the end of the game, Miami’s official stats later reflected that Chaney finished with 106 yards, but in real-time Miami’s official stats listed him at 99 yds before his final carry.
Why did Miami not take a knee and take the W?
Hurricane fans, how does this unimaginable and embarrassing loss take place?
It’s a mistake you’d think every coach would avoid. Cristobal, though, has fallen victim to running an unnecessary play in a clock-killing situation twice now. It happened to his team at Oregon in 2018.
The Ducks led Stanford 31-28 late, and quarterback Justin Herbert could have knelt to run the clock down to 16 or fewer seconds and set up a punt near midfield.
Instead, Oregon running back CJ Verdell ran it on second-and-2 and fumbled. The Cardinal took over with 51 seconds remaining, forced overtime and went on to beat the Ducks 38-31.
Cristobal’s explanation about Saturday’s clock management strategy on the final drive didn’t make much sense.
Why would any coach in their right mind run it on third-and-10 with 33 seconds left in the game after Georgia Tech had used its final timeout two plays earlier?
What were the final 26 seconds like for the guy in charge on the other sideline? Well, Georgia Tech coach Brent Key was stunned Miami didn’t take a knee either.
Surprise turned to elation when his team pounced on its opportunity, as Haynes King connected with Christian Leary on the game-winning 44-yard touchdown pass with only two seconds left.
Miami has not won an ACC home game under Cristobal. They’re 0-5 in league play at Hard Rock Stadium since December 2021. Cristobal is looking a lot like the 10-year 80 dollar mistake.
He blew a huge opportunity Saturday to prove Miami was past its bye-week blues and capable of handling a three-touchdown underdog.
The Hurricanes may redeem themselves by beating a Tar Heels team they’ve lost four consecutive games to, followed by a Clemson squad that has beaten them by a combined score of 178-30 in their last four meetings.
It’s not impossible. Nothing in this article says this Miami team is untalented.
Dumber things have happened. Coaches have an infinite potential of stupidity.
I’m not sure we’ll see anything dumber than what we saw this Saturday for quite some time. Where were you while Hurricane history was taking place?
