Canes Head to Pittsburgh to Close Out Regular Season
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – For months, the Hurricanes have prepared for this moment.
Off-season conditioning. Spring football. Summer workouts. Preseason camp. And after all of that, a series of 11 regular-season games that have led to this crucial ACC showdown.
On Saturday afternoon, Miami – ranked No. 12 in the most recent College Football Playoff rankings – will take the field at Acrisure Stadium to face Pittsburgh in its regular-season finale.
And it’s a game that has plenty of high stakes for both teams.
There are paths for both the Hurricanes and Panthers to reach the conference championship, and both teams are jockeying for postseason positioning.
It’s an opportunity – and a challenge – Miami’s coaches and players are embracing.
“Just really excited for this opportunity, unbelievable opportunity coming up this Saturday against a really, really good football team in Pittsburgh,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said. “Explosive players across the roster and they’re top five, top 10, top 15 in just about every offensive and defensive category. Extremely disruptive on defense; upfront, at the second level, they’re really good at just creating chaos upfront, negative plays, tackles for losses, interceptions and [they] actually have a good amount of pick-sixes as well.
“On offense, certainly their quarterback heads up an unbelievable offensive surge for them … it starts with the offensive line. They’re big, they’re physical, they get downhill in the run game as they showed this past week, and they do have some dynamic players across the board as well. A lot of energy. Going to be an awesome atmosphere and again, just really fired up to continue getting to work for this coming Saturday.”
The Hurricanes (9-2, 5-2) enter Saturday’s matchup playing some of their best football of the season.
They’ve won three straight conference games, outscoring Syracuse, NC State and Virginia Tech, 113-34. Quarterback Carson Beck has been especially efficient completing 66 of 83 passes for 858 yards with eight touchdowns, while freshman running back Girard Pringle, Jr. – pressed into duty after an injury to fellow back Mark Fletcher Jr. – has totaled 220 yards.
Fellow freshman Malachi Toney, who has dazzled for Miami all season, has become a multi-dimensional offensive weapon showing his ability to not only catch the ball, but throw it and run it as well.
Add to that mix the fact the Hurricanes are getting healthier – Fletcher and veteran receiver CJ Daniels both returned to action last week at Virginia Tech – and Miami feels good about the way its offense has been performing.
“I think we’ve just played really good complementary football, right? The run game has been very explosive. The pass game has been very explosive … We’ve converted on third down in a very high percentage [and] once we’ve gotten into the red zone, we’ve been able to obviously punch it in and finish drives with points,” said Beck, whose 74.3 completion percentage on the season ranks second in the nation. “Again, I don’t think it’s a me thing. I just think it’s just collectively as an offense, we’ve been executing and we’ve eliminated negative plays, penalties. We’ve really done a god job of playing disciplined, but still playing fast and being explosive, which can be challenging to do at times. So, I mean, offensively, we’ve been playing really, really well and just looking to do that as we head into this game.”
Miami’s defense, meanwhile, has held its last three opponents to under 20 points and has forced six turnovers in the Hurricanes’ wins over Syracuse, NC State and Virginia Tech.
That unit knows, though, they’ll face a challenge against the Panthers (8-3, 6-1).
After entrusting the reins of the offense to freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel in early October, the Panthers have gone 6-1. Since taking over the starting role, Heintschel ranks second in the ACC in passing yards (1,863) and third in both completions (151) and passing touchdowns (14). He’s also thrown for 300-plus yards in four of his seven starts.
Fellow freshman Ja’Kyrian Turner, meanwhile, has rushed for a team-high 615 yards and seven touchdowns.
That combination, the Hurricanes know, will be a test.
“They have a pretty complete offense,” said Miami defensive end Akheem Mesidor, who has a team-high seven sacks and 12 tackles for loss on the season and ranks second on the team with 44 tackles. “They can run the ball. The quarterback can throw the ball really well, so the goal is to make them one dimensional and just beat them.”
Added safety Zechariah Poyser, “They have a lot of explosive guys. That quarterback’s [gotten] better. I think he’s 6-1 since he’s been starting. … He’s young, but he’s very mature. He’s gotten better. He’s their playmaker. He gets things going and they have a lot of explosive guys. That’s what stands out to me.”
For the Hurricanes, all season long, the mantra has been to find ways to go 1-0 every week.
That won’t change now at the regular-season’s end, not given the goals they still want to achieve.
“We’re just taking it a week at a time, focusing on Pittsburgh, just controlling and playing loose,” said Hurricanes receiver Keelan Marion. “We’re just doing the things we’ve been doing the past few weeks.”
Said Beck, “It would be stupid to not at least recognize the magnitude of the game and what it means and the implications behind it. But you’ve just got to go play football, and again, go out there and have fun and do what we’ve been doing and go out there and execute. That’s all you really can focus on.”
