’Canes get to stay home for Badgers
CORAL GABLES — After the sour taste of the thrashing they received from Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, the consolation prize couldn’t have been sweeter for the Miami Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes will stay home and play in the Orange Bowl for the first time since the 2003 season. They will face Big Ten runner-up Wisconsin (12-1) on Dec. 30 at Hard Rock Stadium (8 p.m., ESPN).
That was assured Sunday when Miami remained in the top 10 in the College Football Playoff rankings, at No. 10, following Saturday’s 38-3 embarrassment against No. 1 Clemson. The Orange Bowl takes the highest-ranked ACC team not in the CFP semifinals.
The ’Canes (10-2) were embracing the prospect late Saturday following their second consecutive disappointing performance in their first appearance in the ACC title game.
"It’s a wonderful opportunity," coach Mark Richt said following the rout in Charlotte, N.C. "I mean, before the year started, if you said we’re going to play for the championship and get a chance to play in the Orange Bowl, we would not have been too happy about not winning the championship, but dang sure excited about the opportunity to play in the Orange Bowl, one of the classic bowl games in America."
No. 6 Wisconsin is also coming off a loss in its conference championship game, falling 27-21 to Ohio State on Saturday in the Big Ten showdown. That cleared the path for the Badgers to the Orange Bowl, which matches the ACC entry against the top non-conference champ from the Big Ten or SEC.
No. 5 Ohio State (11-2), spurned for the final spot in the CFP semifinals, is headed to the Cotton Bowl against Southern California (11-2).
Clemson (12-1) will face Alabama (11-1) in the Sugar Bowl and No. 2 Oklahoma (12-1) will meet No. 3 Georgia (12-1) in the Rose Bowl to determine the finalists for the CFP Championship Game at Atlanta on Jan. 8.
Despite the back-to-back losses after beginning the season with 10 wins, the Hurricanes can cap an uplifting, turnaround season with a bowl victory. That would give UM its first 11-win season since 2003, which ended with an Orange Bowl win.
"We didn’t show well, we know it, and it hurts," Richt said Sunday, sounding subdued in the wake of the ACC trouncing. "It hurts to lose. We were kind of getting used to winning and lost the last two. We’ll have time to rest up and regroup and maybe get little stronger the next couple weeks and get back to work and ready to play Wisconsin, which has done nothing but win all year long."
Wisconsin, which will be making its first Orange Bowl appearance, would seem a more favorable match-up for Miami than if they were to face Ohio State, which will be fuming about its CFP snub throughout the bowl season.
The Hurricanes will need to muster a better effort on offense against Wisconsin than in their previous two games, though.
The stout Badgers’ defense limited opponents to a nation-leading 236.9 yards per game while going 12-0 in the regular season. But the Buckeyes rolled through them for 449 yards in Saturday’s romp.
Miami struggled to move the ball in its two defeats, and against Clemson was coping with the loss of season-ending injuries to two of its best offensive players, tight end Chris Herndon and wide receiver Ahmmon Richards.
Richt said he and his staff will be focused on recruiting the next two weeks while the players tend to school work, conditioning and healing.