Reacting To One Of The Most Painful Miami Hurricanes Losses In Program History | Donno's View
Miami Hurricanes fans will not soon forget this 23-20 home loss to Georgia Tech. All head coach Mario Cristobal had to do was tell his quarterback to take a knee, run out the clock, and escape with an ugly win.
Instead, the Canes handed it off to running back Don Chaney Jr, apparently unaware of the clock being under 40 seconds, and the results of the play turned the game on its head.
This has me enraged on so many levels.
a) As mentioned, the running play NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED. You take a knee and go home. That catastrophic decision falls on head coach Mario Cristobal.
b) The fumble wasn't even a fumble. Replay showed fairly clearly that Chaney's elbow was down before the ball came loose. Still, the ACC officials refused to overturn it.
It really felt like karma was punishing Miami for not taking that knee.
c) Miami could have still won the game after the turnover. Georgia Tech had a long field, only 26 seconds on the clock, and zero timeouts. The Hurricanes defense, which had played exceptionally well for most of the game, completely broke and allowed a game-losing touchdown.
This game will always be remembered and defined by Cristobal's error. However, I won't forget that the entire offense showed up flat and out of sync. Starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke had an off night, throwing three interceptions. Two of those were thrown with his team in scoring position. COSTLY.
The Hurricanes came into this game undefeated, ranked, and favored by three touchdowns against a Yellow Jackets team who had just lost at home to Bowling Green. The game should not have been this close. It should not have come down to a clock management blunder in the first place.
I attended Miami's shameful 48-0 to Virginia in their final game at the Orange Bowl. I watched the Hurricanes lose to FIU. I attended Miami's humiliation against Middle Tennessee State last year. This one feels just as bad if not worse than any of those.
Now, we will have to find out if one catastrophe can go on to taint the rest of the season. The Hurricanes have one loss and seven games still in front of them. Will they recover or will they wilt?
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