Miami Coaches Deserve Bulk of the Blame, Big Mental Test at North Carolina Next
Article photo of Mario Cristobal credit goes to Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports.
There’s no shortcut around the horrific loss the Miami Hurricanes had versus the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, losing 23-20. The coaching blunders by Mario Cristobal, and his staff, the “questionable” fumble ruling aside, will be discussed until who knows when. Rightfully so.
That stated, the Canes are now 4-1 and had better be prepared for a trip to Chapel Hill, N.C. to play the North Carolina Tar Heels, as quarterback Drake Maye and his teammates will not care one iota that Miami just screwed up an otherwise sure-fire victory.
Will Miami put the loss behind or allow it to linger and cause issues versus North Carolina? That’s the bottom line question.
To that point, All Hurricanes own Liam Willerup had a great line from last night’s game recap story that brought up why this scenario should never have been a possibility:
“Looking at the yardage differential, you would've thought this was a blowout for Miami. They had the edge in yards 454-250, with a large chunk of the yards for Georgia Tech coming in their final possession.”
More specifically, Miami’s defense held the GT offense to only 176 yards before the now infamous late touchdown drive took place. The defensive effort from the Hurricanes was fantastic for the vast majority of the game.
Losing the turnover battle 5-2 did not help either. Even without the late-game fumble, the Canes still committed another four turnovers. That was inexcusable as well.
Additionally, the defense should have never been in that position, to Willerup's original point. Diving deeper, the horrific penalties (on the offense and defense, to be fair), as noted during the halftime story, as well as quarterback Tyler Van Dyke having played an up-and-down game, were both huge factors for this contest ending the way it did.
Now, that’s not taking away from the obvious bad coaching decisions that occurred. Those decisions happened. Can’t take them back now. Somehow, the Hurricanes must move forward no matter how one viewed last night's disaster.
Will the Canes be ready to lock in and be focused for the Tar Heels? One could argue that’s a legitimate possibility; this horrendous loss becomes a galvanizing moment that helps defeat UNC.
The other side of the coin, Miami cannot shake the loss to Georgia Tech and compounds the scenario by playing lackluster football against the Heels. If the Hurricanes want to prove that this was a one-off loss, the aforementioned scenario does not come into question after the UNC game.
It’s going to be a very interesting next week for the Hurricanes. They can right the ship, or take on water.
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