OPINION: Road to rebound off stunning loss might be as easy as one game … or it could take a lot longer

A week ago at this time perhaps Miami Hurricanes fans could be forgiven for peeking ahead to North Carolina. The idea was it would be a pair of undefeated, top-20 ranked teams battling it out in Chapel Hill Oct. 14, with the Canes expected to easily defeat a not-real-good Georgia Tech team at home this past weekend. And on Saturday night at about 11:40 p.m., the hyped matchup of the undefeateds was about five-and-a-half inches away from happening – yes, that’s the length of my knee when I measured it while writing this column.

With one mistake at the end when Miami should have been running out the clock in victory formation, the entire tenor of the season changed. And now it almost seems like there’s more at stake in the game this weekend than there was before that mental gaffe.

Because now the pressure is amped up that much more, and not for the North Carolina side.

The bar was raised after Miami began the season 4-0, including a win over a pretty good Texas A&M team, there’s that much more pressure on the Canes to show the program is on the path to becoming “real.” For the last month Mario Cristobal talked about how this was finally becoming a player-driven program, how the team was buying in. The offense looked like a juggernaut, the defensive system was one of the nation’s best at stopping the run. Then it all came to a crashing halt in less time than it takes to order a McDonald’s Happy Meal. With 1:17 remaining and Georgia Tech out of timeouts Don Chaney crashed up the middle for a gain of two. With 33 seconds left the Canes snapped and handed off to Chaney again. Fumble, review, play stands, then with 21 seconds left Malik Rutherford gets behind Te’Cory Couch for 30 yards, then Christian Leary cruises behind the defense for a 44-yard TD with one second remaining.

That’s called serving up a Miami Unhappy Meal.

In a snap of the fingers a sure win turned into defeat.

But this column isn’t about rehashing the past.

It’s about what happens now.

So let’s play a little game called “What If.”

What if Miami wins at North Carolina, a team that has one of the best offenses in the nation and is ranked No. 12 in the nation. That would show this is a program that is indeed making strides, a team that will fight through adversity. After the most stunning Miami loss since FIU or the final game at the Orange Bowl, take your pick, the storyline – probably rightfully so – would be this team banded together, got back to work and beat a really good team on the road. That’s something to hang your hat on off a 5-7 season with Mario Cristobal trying to get things right.

Let’s remember those last two utterly forgetful losses and what happened afterward – after the 48-0 loss to Virginia in the final game at the OB in 2007 Miami never recovered. The final two road games ended with losses to Virginia Tech, 44-14 and Boston College, 28-14.

The FIU loss? The team followed that with a 27-17 loss to Duke and 14-0 loss to Louisiana Tech.

Both seasons wound up with losing records.

So yeah, you can’t allow this one defeat to keep beating you. That’s something we’ll find out soon enough if this team can make that happen.

You still have to consider the next “What If”, right? If a loss at UNC happens, the pressure mounts even more on Cristobal and the team regardless of his mantra to keep outside noise on the outside. The perception will be things are cracking, this program hasn’t made real strides off a dreadful 2022 season, etc., etc., etc. That kind of negativity always has an effect on recruiting, which is perhaps the biggest key to Miami’s future success and probably Cristobal’s biggest strength as a head coach. That could drag down the arc timeline of UM trying to regain its former glory.

So the magnitude of this game has taken on even more importance with the loss to Georgia Tech, not less.

Miami HAS to show it’s back on track Saturday night.

HAS to show Cristobal has his fingerprints on the pulse of the program and that the heartbeat is steady.

HAS to show to recruits that the future remains bright.

Win at North Carolina, beat Clemson and/or Florida State, and then go ahead and call this a successful season regardless of what we saw Saturday night. Heck, win two of those three and maybe people still stop talking about that final, forgettable 1:17.

The post OPINION: Road to rebound off stunning loss might be as easy as one game … or it could take a lot longer appeared first on On3.