CANES WANT BOWL, TIGERS EYE TITLE
The Hurricanes face the No. 9 Clemson Tigers on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in South Carolina, one win from gaining bowl eligibility.
In July, the Miami Hurricanes were picked by the media to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division and meet Clemson in the league championship.
Sure enough, the Canes are meeting Clemson — in the penultimate regular-season game for both teams at Memorial Stadium in South Carolina. And the only potential championship on the line is the national championship, as the ninth-ranked Clemson
Tigers must win their remaining two regular-season games and ACC title game to have a shot at advancing to the College Football Playoff.
The Tigers (9-1, 7-0 ACC) have already clinched the league’s Atlantic Division title and will face UM’s Coastal Division champion North Carolina on Dec. 3 in the league championship.
Miami (5-5, 3-3) is not lacking motivation. A win in one of UM’s remaining two regular-season games — Clemson or Pittsburgh in the Nov. 26 Hard Rock Stadium finale — would qualify the Hurricanes for a bowl game.
But a UM win against perennial powerhouse and 19 1⁄2-point favorite Clemson is almost hard to imagine, which would make it even more momentous for the
Hurricanes after an especially tough first season for coach Mario Cristobal.
HOME STREAK
The Tigers are attempting to win their 40th consecutive home game to extend the longest home winning streak in ACC history. No Clemson player on the current roster has lost a home game in his career. Additionally, Clemson will attempt to extend its streak of 10-win seasons. The Tigers now have the third-longest streak of 10-win seasons — 11 — in FBS history.
Here’s the good news for Miami: It’s an away game.
The Canes are 3-1 on the road this season, winning their past
three road games at Virginia Tech, Virginia and Georgia Tech and for the most part playing well at Texas A&M on Sept. 17 in front of a crowd of 107,245.
Hard Rock? Not so good. UM has lost four consecutive games at home.
“We’ve been talking about that to see if there’s something process-wise,” Cristobal said. “Not sure. You know, it’s hard to put a finger on. I know that we have started faster on the road. You always look into that. It’s kind of funny. When you go on the road, what have they told you since you’ve been like knee-high? ‘Hey when we go on the road, it’s a business trip.’ We’re taking what we do at home, or we’re making it as much as we can make it almost identical on the road as when we do it at home.
“We’ve had success on the road, particularly in-conference. And we’ve just been working our processes. It’s been nothing magical. We’d like to have that kind of success at home, obviously.”
MEMORIAL STADIUM
Clemson’s Memorial Stadium, known as Death Valley, seats 81,500 but with standing room can accommodate more than 86,000. UM last played there in 2020, the COVID-19 year, when Clemson won 42-17 behind future No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence. The all-time series is tied 6-6, and before the 2020 game, Clemson beat Miami 38-3 in UM’s only appearance in the ACC title game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2017.
Other Clemson history UM fans would rather forget: The Tigers handed UM its worst defeat ever — 58-0 at Sun Life Stadium in 2015. Miami coach Al Golden was fired the next day.
The Hurricanes beat the Tigers at Memorial Stadium in 2010 and in triple overtime in 2005.
“It’s off the charts,” Cristobal said of the atmosphere, a great college environment. “You can’t really hear yourself think. The crowd certainly plays a factor, and you’ve got to prepare for it.”
QUARTERBACK
Cristobal said Wednesday he wouldn’t reveal Miami’s starting quarterback. Usual starter Tyler Van Dyke, last year’s ACC Rookie of the Year, has missed two of the past three games with a shoulder injury. True freshman Jacurri Brown made his first collegiate start last
week at Georgia Tech, throwing for three touchdowns, adding another 87 yards on the ground and leading UM to a 35-14 win.
Most believe Brown, who gives UM life with his feet (especially in light of several injuries on offense), will start as Van Dyke continues to heal his arm.
“I think when you watch [Miami] in totality, yeah, you see a lot of different things as they just try to take their personnel and win that week,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said this week. “But at the end of the day, that’s all you can go on. They’ve had some injuries, lost two starters along the offensive line. Again, the situation at quarterback has been a challenge for them. Make no mistake, they got some dudes. They can get off the bus with anybody. They are long, physical, can run, and an incredibly athletic group.”
Clemson is led by 6-4, 235-pound junior DJ Uiagalelei, who is 196 of 301 (65.1 percent) for 2,179 yards and 19 touchdowns, with five interceptions. He has run for another 405 yards and five touchdowns.
The Tigers also have vaunted sophomore running back Will Shipley, now with 899 yards and 12 touchdowns on 154 carries for a 5.8 yards-percarry average.
Defensively, Clemson is 19th nationally stopping the run (111.6 rushing yards allowed per game), 71st in passing yards allowed (229.2) and 28th in scoring defense (21 points allowed per game). The Tigers are seventh in tackles for loss (7.9 a game) and 28th in sacks (averaging 2.7 a game).
UM running back Jaylan Knighton, who had a season-best 118 yards rushing and a touchdown last weekend, was asked how much confidence the Georgia Tech game gave the Hurricanes.
“We always had confidence,” Knighton said. “We just gotta apply it. We just gotta come to play like we came to play last week. Seeing... how everybody is working, how everybody is taking the field, it’s going to be another great weekend.”