2024 SOTU Awards: Worst Game of the Year

2 options but only 1 choice in our collective opinion.

As we continue the SOTU Awards, it’s time to talk about a lowlight of the 2024 Miami Hurricanes season. As I’m sure you’ve surmised by the title, the SOTU Award for Worst Game of the year goes to the regular season ending loss at Syracuse.

10-1 and fresh off a bounce back win over a hapless Wake Forest team, Miami went into the regular season finale with everything to play for. A win put them in the ACC Championship game. And, even with a loss in that game to 11-1 SMU, likely into the College Football Playoffs as well. BUT — and here’s the thing — Miami had to beat Syracuse to make those things happen.

Heading into the game, it was clear that, in classic 2024 fashion, Miami was gonna have to win a shootout. Similar to Miami, Syracuse’s offense, led by their passing game, was explosive while the defense left much to be desired. So, this was a Spiderman pointing at Spiderman matchup of half teams.

When the game started, Miami started fast. The Canes walked down the field with a nice combination of passing and running to take a 7-0 lead on a Mark Fletcher TD run. So far, so good.

Syracuse did their best to punch back immediately. Operating at a breakneck pace, up-tempo with no huddle, Syracuse caught Miami confused in the secondary (how many times did we see that last year?!) and hit a 62 yard touchdown pass.

Luckily for Miami, however, there was a flag for an illegal formation (correctly called; One Syracuse receiver who should have been on the line was aligned off the line of scrimmage) and that negated the score. Syracuse ended up turning the ball over on downs shortly after the penalty, but their aggressive mentality to go for it on 4th down — similar to what Louisville did against Miami earlier in the year — showed that they knew points were there to be scored.

After that, Miami did Miami things again, walking up and down the field with ease. A touchdown from Cam Ward to Xavier Restrepo made the game 14-0 late in the 1st quarter.

Syracuse stalled and punted on the next drive, giving Miami a prime opportunity to score again. The Canes did just that, with a Cam Ward to Elijah Arroyo touchdown pass pushing the lead to 21-0 early in the 2nd quarter. And the trip to Charlotte for the ACC Championship game seemed near certain.

Except, it wasn’t.

Slowly, but surely, Syracuse started to chip away at the Miami lead. A quick 2 minute TD drive cut the lead to 21-7, and the Orange had hope. After forcing a Miami punt on the ensuing possession, Syracuse went on a nearly 6 minute drive, one that included the Orange going 4/4 on 3rd down, and ending with a touchdown to cut the lead to 21-14.

The teams traded short drives that ended with punts, and score remained 21-14 heading into halftime. Syracuse, however, had all the momentum, and Miami was trying to get things right to move forward with their season.

A quick 2 play, 75 yard TD drive right out of halftime, however, was a living nightmare for Miami’s porous passing defense, and just like that, Syracuse tied the game at 21.

To their credit, however, Miami fought back immediately, methodically going down the field for a touchdown to go back ahead 28-21. But the fight was on, and Syracuse answered back with a quick touchdown drive of their own to tie the game at 28.

Miami went to answer back, and hit a 60 yard run up the middle on the first play of the next drive. One of the worst penalties I’ve ever seen was called on Jalen Rivers for holding — he unequivocally DID NOT HOLD on the play — negating the run.

After Miami punted, Syracuse was on the move. But, the defense stepped up and forced a fumble, recovered by freshman LB Bobby Pruitt, and the Canes were in business.

And then, everything fell apart. Miami went to their record-setting receiver, Xavier Restrepo, on a quick inside screen to convert 3rd and short, the veteran standout player fumbled the ball (nice play by Syracuse going after the ball), which the Syracuse defender scooped and scored, giving the Orange their first lead of the game at 35-28. It was then that the “oh boy, this is gonna be bad” feeling increased exponentially.

To their credit, Miami responded well. The Canes worked their way down the field for a tying touchdown early in the 4th quarter, making the game 35-35. Unfortunately, the game didn’t stay tied for too long. Syracuse took 11 plays to march for their own touchdown, going up 42-35.

Miami then made yet-another fatal mistake. After failing to score on 3 goal-to-go plays inside the 10, Miami elected to kick a FG. I (and many others) screamed at Miami to go for it with Cam Ward and the offense on 4th down, instead of putting the game in the hands of a defense that hadn’t gotten a stop since the 1st quarter. Those cries fell on deaf ears, however, and the game was 42-38 and the potential championship season came down to one thing: Miami would need to get a stop to force a punt.

That stop, however, did not come. Syracuse had all the answers on offense, completely confused and dominated Miami’s moribund defense, and quickly gained 4 first downs, the final one on a reverse to their slot receiver, and then kneeled out the clock. Miami’s offense never saw the ball again, and the upset was complete.

I could detail all the failings from this game, but that’s why I put The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly up top. After going up 21-0, Miami got boatraced 42-17. In this spot, with an ACC Championship game appearance, and likely a College Football Playoff berth, on the line, it was unacceptable. Fireable, even, and that’s why Lance Guidry doesn’t work at Miami anymore.

I tweeted this during the final CFP rankings release, but this sums up my thoughts about this game:

I know that some might look at the Georgia Tech loss as worse, which is a valid opinion. But being up 21-0 and then doing basically nothing, and with the season on the line, electing to rely on a defense that was group of 5 level AT BEST instead of putting the ball in the hands of the best QB in the country? Unconscionable.

Syracuse coach Fran Brown talked cash shit after the game, which is his right. And I mean, what would Miami say about it? Nothing. Just like what they did when the season was on the line: nothing.

All that work all season long. All the dynamic plays. All the comeback wins. Beating Florida. Beating Florida State. Beating Louisville. Setting offensive records. Setting career records. All of that went down the drain thanks to this game.

Worst game of the year, by far. The other option was the loss to Georgia Tech, but that wasn’t as bad as this debacle was.

This will go down with the likes of the Pittsburgh game in 2017 (the one that got Kenny Pickett drafted int he 1st round because of his performance then as a true freshman, basically) as nightmare fuel memories for Miami players and fans for years to come.

Oh well. We blew it. Maybe next year though, right?

Go Canes