Revival in Miami
The Hurricanes are learning how to win.
CORAL GABLES — It is a topic that is seemingly debated nationwide every time the Hurricanes win a big game. Is the program that once won five national titles in 20 years back?
There is no consensus for what “back” seems to mean to college football pundits and fans nationwide. Is it winning a national championship? A conference title? A division championship?
Ask Hurricanes coach Mark Richt about it, and he’ll point out Miami doesn’t yet have the depth to compete at an elite level. And he has, since his arrival in Coral Gables nearly two years ago, had to implore fans to come to games at Hard Rock Stadium and support program financially as it works to continue raising funds for its much-needed indoor practice facility.
Although the coach and his staff will concede there is still much work to be done to make Miami the national powerhouse it once was, there is no doubt that in 18 games under Richt, the Hurricanes have made progress.
The Hurricanes have the nathe
tion’s second-longest win streak at 10 games. They are 3-0 in conference play for only the fourth time since joining the ACC in 2004. They won their first bowl game in a decade with their 31-14 Russell Athletic Bowl victory over West Virginia last December, and they snapped a seven-game losing streak to rival Florida State on Oct. 7. And this weekend, after their second straight last-second thriller, the Hurricanes regained their status as a top-10 team, moving to No. 8 in the AP Top 25.
Those are all positive steps in moving the program forward. But as Miami prepares for Saturday’s game against Syracuse, which is looking for its second straight upset of a top-10 team after beating Clemson last week, Richt says the Hurricanes are far from finished.
“First of all, you’re not a top-10 program unless at the end of the year you’re a top-10 program. We were ranked 10th last year and lost four in a row, so we became unranked. We were happy to be ranked at the end of the year. We ended up around 20th, so we were top 20 a year ago. We were at least a little bit relevant,” Richt said. “We finished with five wins and a bowl win, which was big. But we’re not at the point where we can just line up and impose our will on people. … We’re not lining up and just whipping people and having these margins of victory that are really comfortable. We have to battle every week. We know it.
“The beauty of football is, whether you win by one or by 20, it’s a win. It’s the same thing with a loss. I’ve said it before, I do think we’re moving in the right direction. I think we’re getting where we need to be. But we need to recruit well. Without getting great players in here, year in and year out. it’s going to continue to be a battle.”
For now, that recruiting seems to be going well. The Hurricanes signed a top-15 recruiting class in February. Their current class is ranked third in the nation by 247Sports.com and top prospects are paying attention to Miami. Getting those players on campus will only add that depth the Hurricanes know they need.
For now, though, they — and several other programs across the ACC and nationwide — are reveling in their renaissance under a second-year coach.
At Georgia, where Kirby Smart replaced Richt in 2015, the Bulldogs are 7-0, No. 3 in the nation and a potential playoff team. Syracuse, in its second year under Dino Babers, upset Clemson and is allowing an improvement of 14.3 points per game. Virginia was 2-10 last year in Bronco Mendenhall’s first season in Charlottesville. Today, the Cavaliers are 5-1 for the first time since 2007 and have won four in a row.
Learning to win has been a trend for all of them, including Miami.
Receiver Braxton Berrios noted after the Hurricanes’ 24-20 win over Florida State that it wasn’t the kind of victory past Miami teams would have pulled off.
“In years past, we folded in those moments,” Berrios said of Miami’s nine-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with Darrell Langham’s 23-yard touchdown with six seconds left.
Miami didn’t just win that way in Tallahassee — it did it a week later against Georgia Tech, this time with Michael Badgley kicking a game-winning field goal with four seconds left.
Those victories are progress. Additional steps, the Hurricanes hope, will be taken in the coming weeks as they play five more ACC games and host rival Notre Dame on Nov. 11.