Miami looking to cap perfect home record Saturday

Virginia has ruined parties for Miami before.

Take 2007, for example. Miami was ending its 70year stay at Orange Bowl and Virginia was the opponent. The Hurricanes blared “We are the champions” at halftime and shot off confetti cannons after the game, all of which was quite awkward since the Cavaliers totally spoiled the mood by rolling to a 48-0 victory.

This time, the Cavaliers will have a shot at ruining Miami’s undefeated season and national championship hopes. Virginia (6-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) visits No. 2 Miami (9-0, 6-0, No. 3 College Football Playoff rankings) Saturday in a game the Hurricanes — who have already won the ACC’s Coastal Division title and have a Dec. 2 date with Clemson in the conference championship — almost certainly have to win to stay in the race for the national title.

“It’s an awesome opportunity for our program,” Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall said.

These are awesome days for Miami as well. The Hurricanes, who insist they’ve been disrespected by national media because many television analysts picked Notre Dame to beat them last week, have the nation’s longest winning streak at 14 games. With a win, Miami would wrap up its first undefeated home regular season since 2002 and go 7-0 at home for the first time since 1988.

Yale

Coach Tony Reno said his team is approaching its meeting with Harvard as if it were any other game.

Clearly, it is not. The Bulldogs (8-1, 5-1 Ivy) will be playing in front well over 50,000 fans at Yale Bowl with a chance to secure the program’s first outright Ivy League championship in 37 years. Yale clinched a share of the Ivy title by beating Princeton last week. Former Armstrong running back Zane Dudek had his finest game of the season against the Tigers, rushing for a season-high 180 yards to go with his three touchdowns. Dudek enters Saturday’s rivalry game averaging 118.8 rushing yards per game and 14 rushing touchdowns.

Waynesburg

Waynesburg removed the interim tag from Chris Smithley’s title, making him the official head coach for the Yellow Jackets.