It turns out the email the ACC sent out (and quickly deleted) on Black Friday prematurely selling tickets to a Clemson-SMU matchup in next week’s league championship game in Charlotte predicted exactly what was going to happen on the final day of regular-season action in the conference’s wild title game race.
With a 42-38 come-from-behind victory over No. 6 Miami, Syracuse knocked the Hurricanes out of the ACC Championship Game and ushered in No. 12 Clemson, which earlier on Saturday lost 17-14 to rival South Carolina to pick up its third defeat. It was Syracuse’s first win over a top-10 opponent since 2017.
The Tigers, who have won eight league titles, will face ACC newcomer No. 9 SMU (11-1) at Bank of America Stadium. The Mustangs wrapped a perfect ACC campaign with a 38-6 win against Cal on Saturday afternoon and entered Saturday night with an 89 percent chance of making the Playoff according to projections from The Athletic’s Austin Mock.
Canes’ wild ride cut short by Orange
Miami (10-2) will likely spend the offseason lamenting what could have been had its defense been able to give quarterback Cam Ward a helping hand against fellow transfer passer Kyle McCord and the Orange (9-3). McCord threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns, and he handed the ball off to LeQuint Allen for what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown run with 9:16 remaining.
Miami jumped out to a 21-0 lead behind two Ward touchdown passes and a 2-yard Mark Fletcher touchdown run. But Syracuse quickly erased it, tying the score at 21-21 on McCord’s second touchdown pass of the game 39 seconds into the second half.
The teams traded touchdowns before Syracuse’s Devin Grant returned a fumble by receiver Xavier Restrepo 56 yards to the end zone, giving the Orange their first lead with 1:47 to play in the third quarter. Miami tied it at 35 on a two-yard Damien Martinez touchdown run with 13:02 remaining.
In the final minutes, Miami drove into the red zone but was shoved back on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on receiver Jacoby George. Facing a fourth-and-goal from the 10, the Hurricanes chose to kick a field goal to cut the deficit to 42-38 but never got the ball back.
Miami must now wait to see if the College Football Playoff committee will show them grace and keep them in the 12-team field. The loss dropped the Hurricanes to 20 percent odds to make the Playoff according to projections from The Athletic’s Austin Mock. — Manny Navarro
Cristobal’s regretful decision
Miami’s top-ranked scoring offense had a chance to tie the game late, but instead of keeping the ball in Ward’s hands and going for it on fourth down at the Orange 10, head coach Mario Cristobal decided to send kicker Andy Borregales out for a 27-yard field goal and put his defense back on the field.
It’s a decision Cristobal will likely regret all offseason. He should. The Hurricanes could not stop McCord in the second half. Syracuse scored on three of its first four drives without much resistance. If not for a forced fumble by freshman linebacker Bobby Pruitt at the Miami 17 with 3:49 to play in the third quarter, the Orange would have likely scored at least a field goal on their third possession.
Miami surrendered a season-high 479 yards. Syracuse finished 7 of 10 on third down conversions. Miami was also flagged nine times for 90 yards including five on defense for 50 yards. On the game’s final drive, an offside penalty on second-and-4 gave Syracuse a fresh set of downs inside the two-minute warning, all but sealing Miami’s fate. — Navarro
Clemson’s roller-coaster day
At least one South Carolina fan was pulling for Clemson to make next week’s ACC Championship Game.
“No disrespect to Miami, but I’m the biggest Syracuse fan in the world,” Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer said Saturday afternoon. “I hope Syracuse goes and wins that game and Clemson can go win an ACC (title) next week, as well.”
Beamer, whose team was fresh off an emotional rivalry win against Clemson, got his wish.
And so did the Tigers.
In what seemed like a nearly impossible scenario after Beamer’s South Carolina team rode star quarterback LaNorris Sellers to a 17-14 win in Death Valley, three-loss Clemson is still alive in the College Football Playoff hunt after all. Beat SMU next week, and Clemson will have a chance to earn an automatic big in the 12-team Playoff field as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions. Austin Mock’s latest projections place the Tigers with a 62 percent chance to win the ACC and make the CFP.
Welcome to CFP expansion at its finest.
“I’ll watch and see what happens, but whatever God’s got for us, he’s got for us and that’s just how I look at it,” a dejected Dabo Swinney had said earlier Saturday, when asked whether he’d watch the second half of the Hurricanes and Orange. “We’ll know our next step here pretty soon.”
The Tigers had to beat South Carolina in order to have a seat at the table for an at-large bid and Swinney spoke at his postgame news conference like a coach ready to accept reality: His team had squandered its chance and would start to look ahead to next year. Swinney said his team would not gather to watch Syracuse-Miami together — “Everybody’s pissed.”
“We had a good year. We could’ve had a great year,” Swinney said, speaking as if his season was already all but over. “But you’ve got to win that game to have a great year.”
Maybe not.
The Tigers now turn their attention to an SMU team that has just one loss on the season, to BYU in September. Quarterbacks Cade Klubnik and Kevin Jennings will take center stage with the Tigers’ season on the line — for real this time.
“We’ll have another game and an opportunity to hopefully finish with a win, a 10th win and another postseason win and build on that,” Swinney said earlier Saturday afternoon, not knowing just how true those words would ring a few hours later. “A lot of football ahead.” — Grace Raynor
(Photo: Bryan M. Bennett / Getty Images)
