It’s about to get intense as Miami hits midseason of strange year, aims for ACC title

Time to take a deep breath and ponder this unprecedented season.

After the University of Miami’s 19-14 victory over Virginia late Saturday, could it be that we’ve really reached the halfway point of the strangest college football season the planet has ever known?

The now-No. 12 Hurricanes have begun their second bye week of 2020, and it appears this new brand of Miami football has worked out well enough to put the Canes (5-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) firmly at No. 4 in the ACC for a chance to keep scrapping and battling for one of two spots in the league title game Dec. 19 — though they will need help for sure.

If the bottom line is the scoreboard, unless someone out there envisioned with clarity a UM upset in early October over the No. 1 team in the nation (Clemson) with the likely soon-to-be No.1 NFL Draft pick (Trevor Lawrence), the Hurricanes have reached a point that last year never came the entire season: five of six victories despite enough significant deficiencies to keep them striving for major improvement.

Besides, the fact that the Canes have gotten in six full games in six attempts in the age of COVID-19 almost seems as much of a victory as the wins themselves. For the first time this season, UM announced before its game Saturday that six freshmen were unavailable for the game, not disclosing the reason, as is its policy in this new age.

Miami impressively remedied its receiving drought Saturday, with seven pass catchers combining for 21 catches for 322 yards — 10 of those catches and 170 of those yards in a spectacular performance by senior slot starter Michael Harley. Wideouts Mark Pope (three catches for 48 yards) and Dee Wiggins (three for 36) and tight end Will Mallory (two for 58) also showed up, with deep completions by quarterback D’Eriq King to Harley (43-yard touchdown), Pope (38-yard catch), Mallory (32) and Wiggins (26).

“This is a great team knowing the circumstances that are going on in the world today that we’re overcoming,’’ Harley said. “We’re overcoming COVID and everything else. We faced adversity in certain games that we’ve overcome. ...We get the Ws. It might be ugly, but it’s not easy to win. Coming out 5-1, I just have a great feeling about this team. This team is very special.”

Harley takes the lead

Many fans on social media were livid that Harley conceded after the game that the receiving corps had been “always taking shortcuts” and doing “the bare minimum” before they woke up and went hard last week because they were threatened with losing their spots in the rotation. It is disconcerting that the Canes’ most underachieving group wouldn’t work extra hard, but the good news is they finally did something about it. Whether that continues is yet to be seen.

“We’re very pleased with where we’re at,’’ UM coach Manny Diaz said at game’s end, when asked how satisfied he was with the season at this point. “We have one loss at the No. 1 team in the country where, admittedly, we didn’t play very well. These guys have met challenges.

“[I was] talking to [Virginia coach] Bronco [Mendenhall] before the game. The games still look like it’s normal 2020, [but] there’s nothing normal about this. Can’t even begin to tell you about some of the things that went on this week, and he’s got the same stories.

“So, just to be able to be at the end of the night in that winning locker room and see the kids’ faces and see how proud they are with their effort and really accomplishing being 5-1... It’s been a minute since we’ve been here, so I’m really proud of our guys. And now we get a chance to regroup and hopefully get some guys back healed up for a difficult stretch run.”

Because of the pandemic, the ACC, which usually is split into Coastal and Atlantic divisions, has one 15-team division that includes Notre Dame (for this season only) and takes the two teams with the highest league winning percentage for the ACC Championship Game in December.

Root for Clemson over Notre Dame

Clemson (6-0, 5-0) and No. 3 Notre Dame (5-0, 4-0) are undefeated and meet each other Nov. 7 in South Bend, Indiana. The Canes don’t play Notre Dame, so UM needs Clemson to win that one and for the Fighting Irish to lose another to raise UM’s chances of playing in the ACC title game. The Canes also need to defeat No. 15 North Carolina (4-1, 4-1) in the regular-season finale Dec. 5 at Hard Rock Stadium.

It’s important to note that all of UM’s four league victories have come against programs with a combined 5-16 ACC record and 8-16 overall record. The only team they’ve beaten with a winning record is Conference USA’s Alabama-Birmingham, with a 4-2 overall record.

The next half of Miami’s schedule will include three currently winning teams, which were all ranked going into the weekend: former No. 23 North Carolina State (4-2, 4-2) and former No. 19 Virginia Tech (3-2, 3-2) on the road and UNC. The Wolfpack and Hokies, who lost Saturday, fell out of the top 25 rankings when the polls were released Sunday.

The last time the Canes started the season 5-1 was in 2018, when they opened with a loss to LSU and reeled off five consecutive victories — before losing four in a row and their last five out of seven games.

As UM enters its open week before traveling to NC State for a nationally televised Friday-night game on Nov. 6, it will assuredly be working hard to solve some alarming inadequacies that have weren’t as apparent the first few games:

Hello, running game?

Because the Big Ten opened play this past weekend and was added to the NCAA overall statistical rankings, it skews the comparisons in most categories. But it’s obvious the Canes have regressed in their rushing offense, and that No. 1 tailback Cam’Ron Harris has been stymied.

After UM’s third game against Florida State on Sept. 26, the Canes were averaging 232 yards rushing, and Harris was fourth in the nation in rushing yards (311) and fifth in yards-per-carry (8.2). By Sunday, the team was averaging 169.5 rushing yards and Harris’ contributions had waned considerably (28 carries for 32 yards and no touchdowns his past three games). Coaches are giving freshmen Don Chaney Jr. and Jaylan Knighton more opportunities, and they’re delivering.

“What I am most proud of is how I’ve seen the team come together,’’ said Chaney, who scored UM’s final touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard plunge, aided by a substantial push by right tackle Jarrid Williams. “It’s a new team with a whole bunch of new players, so the way things have come together is remarkable.

“Words can’t even describe how I feel about the second half of this season. I feel very optimistic about where this team can go.’’

But the struggling offensive line that had flourished in allowing the running backs to find holes early in the season, needs to improve to help UM achieve its goal. Also, in pass protection, the UM offense that allowed two sacks the first game, one the second and none the third, has contributed to 14 sacks the past three games.

Plenty of optimism

King, like his teammates, seemed optimistic that UM would, or at least could, flourish if the Hurricanes take this season game by game.

“It’s gone super fast,’’ King. said “But as far as the first half of the season, we’re 5-1. Obviously, we want to be 6-0. We lost one game to Clemson. We got a bye week this week. I think we’ll start getting a lot of guys back.

“So, we’ve just got to keep stacking [wins]. I think the second half of the season, that’s where the great teams are going to step up. You got to stay one week at a time. You can’t overlook anybody. You got to try to just go 1-0 every single week and the rest will take care of itself.”

Added Harley: “I believe, and I know my teammates believe and I know the coaches believe, we can go very far. We’re not worrying about anyone on the outside, the doubters — none of that. We’re just in our own bubble working every day and performing at our greatest on Saturday.’’