Championship Weekend Is Here; Now What Are We Supposed To Do?
Saturday night was supposed to be Cam Ward's post-season coming out party. It was supposed to be the night the Miami Hurricanes introduced themselves to the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship and the College Football Playoff.
Instead, it is going to be a ho-hum kind of Saturday night where a good movie and some hot, buttered popcorn might help drown our collective sorrows.
The basketball game against Clemson Saturday afternoon (12 p.m. ET) will be a good way to start the day, but there will be no Saturday night football to look forward to.
How to Watch: Clemson at Miami
While SMU and Clemson are playing for the ACC Championship Saturday night, I would recommend keeping the remote away from ABC and out of the hands of small children.
The pain will just be too great. To watch former UM offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee lead a group of SMU players, which include many former Hurricanes, into the title game in their first season in the conference will be too much to handle.
It really does not matter who wins the game. If SMU wins, Clemson misses the playoff too. If Clemson wins, both schools will go to the playoff. Miami looks like an entrant to either the Pop Tarts Bowl or the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville.
Regardless of what happens in the conference title games, there will be no playoff games for Miami.
The season which was supposed to end with an ACC Championship Game appearance and a playoff seed, will end without much fanfare. The ACC title will still be a dream, while the missed playoffs will fall on the very broad shoulders of Miami coach Mario Cristobal.
Why Mario? Why did you kick the field goal against Syracuse when you needed seven points to tie the game with less than four minutes to play. Your defense could not stop a nose bleed and you thought you would get the ball back?
Miami fans will still never understand why Miami kicked the field goal and took the ball out of Cam Ward's hands. It was his game to win or lose.
We will never know what would have happened if Cam got one more play to shove the ball in the end zone.
It looks like Mario took the ball out of our hands too.
READ MORE FROM MIAMI HURRICANES ON SI:
Q&A: How the CFP Selection Committee Ranked Miami, and Why
Cam Ward Named ACC and Offensive Player of the Year
Miami's Cam Ward Blasts the Playoff Committee After Hurricane's Latest Rankings
Follow all social media platforms to stay up to date with everything Miami Hurricanes-related: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and BlueSky.
Scott Salomon joined On SI in April 2024 covering breaking news and analysis for the Miami Dolphins site, and has since contributed to the Miami Heat, Back in the Day NBA, Miami Hurricanes and San Antonio Spurs sites. Scott is based in South Florida and has been covering the local and national sports scene for 35 years. He's covered and has been credentialed for the Super Bowl, the NFL Combine, various Orange Bowls and college football championship games. Scott was also credentialed for the NBA All-Star game and covered the Miami Heat during their first six seasons for USA TODAY. Scott is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Communication and the St. Thomas University School of Law. Scott has two sons and his hobbies include watching sports on television and binge watching shows on various streaming services.