The Miami Hurricanes snatched defeat from the jaws of victory late Saturday night.
Miami was mere seconds away from closing out a sloppy but resilient win over Georgia Tech at Hard Rock Stadium before disaster struck and the Yellow Jackets pulled out the victory.
Here are 10 things we learned from Miami’s first loss of the season:
Inexplicable coaching mistake directly leads to loss
The Hurricanes had the ball on third-and-10 with less than 40 seconds left. Georgia Tech had no timeouts remaining.
Miami chose to run the ball with Don Chaney Jr. instead of taking a knee to run the clock out. Chaney fumbled, and the Yellow Jackets recovered. They drove 74 yards in 26 seconds to win.
The sequence of events is dumbfounding. Miami had a 99.9 percent chance to win, according to ESPN’s metrics, but still lost. The decision drew the ire of the sports world.
After the game, UM coach Mario Cristobal offered an explanation for the error, which was similar to one from his tenure at Oregon.
“The drive started, it was going to be at 1:57 and we ran about 1:27 off,” Cristobal said. “And then it was recalibrated. We should’ve taken a timeout right there at the end. Thought we’d get the first down, and we talked about two hands on the ball. But that’s not good enough. Just should’ve told him to take a knee. That’s it. Fumbled the ball at the 25, and they went 75 yards in (four) plays. So no excuse.
“We should’ve taken a knee.”
Georgia Tech coach Brent Key, the beneficiary of the mistake, was surprised at his own luck.
“Yeah, we kind of felt that he was going to take a knee at that point,” Key said. “He didn’t though.”
Van Dyke’s turnover-filled night
Hurricanes quarterback Tyler Van Dyke was having an excellent season entering Saturday’s game. The veteran quarterback had done an great job protecting the ball and was one of the top-rated QBs in the nation.
In a mirror image of his two-interception game against Middle Tennessee State last year, Van Dyke threw three interceptions Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets scored 10 of their 23 points on the ensuing drives. The short fields provided by Van Dyke’s interceptions gave the struggling Georgia Tech offense life.
Van Dyke ended the game 24-of-36 passing with 288 passing yards and a touchdown. He earned a 78.7 offensive grade from Pro Football Focus. But the veteran quarterback put much of the blame for the loss on himself.
“I can’t put us in those situations,” Van Dyke said. “Three interceptions, giving them those close fields and they were able to capitalize on them. I put us in those situations. I can’t force the ball, make dumb decisions. I’ve just got to be better.”
Kinchens makes crucial error in return
Hurricanes All-American safety Kamren Kinchens returned from injury Saturday night. The Miami leader missed the past two games after suffering a scary injury against Texas A&M last month.
The standout safety made several key plays, but the night was defined by the final one.
With 10 seconds left in the game and Georgia Tech needing a touchdown to win in regulation, Kinchens moved in and allowed Yellow Jackets receiver Christian Leary to get behind him. Leary, an Alabama transfer, made the game-winning catch and slid, untouched, into the end zone.
GEORGIA TECH LAST SECOND TD VS MIAMI pic.twitter.com/c1187R19lX
— Colton Denning (@Dubsco) October 8, 2023
Run game slows
Miami entered Saturday with one of the top running games in the nation. Georgia Tech entered with one of the worst rush defenses. It seemed like a match made in heaven for the Hurricanes.
It did not turn out that way. Miami ran for 104 yards in the first half, but GT stymied UM for much of the second. The Hurricanes ran for 24 yards (2.7 yards per carry) in the third quarter. They had 38 rushing yards (2.2 yards per carry) in the final frame.
The Hurricanes were without standout freshman Mark Fletcher Jr. due to injury, leaving them a man down. Chaney rushed for 103 yards, but Henry Parrish Jr. (who scored a touchdown) averaged just 3.1 yards per carry. Ajay Allen was slightly better at 3.7 yards per carry.
It was not enough Saturday night.
Penalties hurt
The Hurricanes had six penalties for 80 yards in their loss, and a few seem to come at inopportune times.
Parrish had a touchdown run, which would have gotten Miami on the board in the first half, wiped out by a holding call. Two of Georgia Tech’s first first downs came after UM penalties.
Some of the penalty calls were questionable, like a roughing-the-passer on linebacker Francisco Mauigoa, but they did prove costly.
“We didn’t play to our standard, which means we didn’t coach to our standard,” Cristobal said. “We felt like we had a good week of preparation last week and this week and that did not show up.”
Williams loses his heroic moment
Lost in the baffling end of the game was safety James Williams’ hero moment.
With Miami and Georgia Tech tied, the former American Heritage star picked off a pass from Haynes King. He called for blockers and returned the pick 44 yards. His interception set up a go-ahead field goal from Andy Borregales.
Williams had a tackle, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry in addition to his interception. He earned a 78.1 defensive grade and an 88.4 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus.
Restrepo continues strong season
Veteran wide receiver Xavier Restrepo had his third 100-yard receiving game of the season, ending the night with a career-high 12 catches for 123 yards.
Restrepo had the highest grade on the team, earning an 89.9 offensive grade from Pro Football Focus.
Restrepo has 478 yards on 36 catches this season.
Offensive line stays solid
The Hurricanes’ offensive line continued to provide time for Van Dyke to throw.
Van Dyke did take one sack from the Yellow Jackets’ defense, but otherwise, UM’s quarterback had plenty of time to throw.
As a team, the Hurricanes had an 89.3 pass-blocking grade and a 70.3 run-blocking grade. Every UM starter earned a 70.0 pass-blocking grade or better, with guard Anez Cooper leading the way at 88.1.
No more Miami Nights jerseys
The Hurricanes debuted their black “Miami Nights” jerseys on Saturday. Cristobal said earlier in the week that, “we have one rule: Make sure when you wear something different, you make it look good.”
The opposite happened.
Do jerseys have an actual correlation to results? No, of course not. But Hurricanes fans probably do not want to see those uniforms again now that these bad memories are associated with them.
Where does the team go from here?
This last item is not something we learned on Saturday. It is something we will learn next Saturday.
This loss is a defining moment in Miami’s season. The Hurricanes could bounce back, or they could fall apart. Miami faces ranked UNC on the road next, so it has to recover quickly.
This season had started with such promise. Now, will it could crumble due to an awful coaching decision?
“Right now, it really sucks. It really does,” Van Dyke said. “You can’t dwell on it. You’ve got to move on. There are still seven games left in the season, so a lot in front of us. You can’t just dwell on this one loss and say our season’s over. We have a lot of games left, have to learn from it, have to move on from it and play better football.”
