The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Syracuse Orange 2024 edition

Miami blew it.

All that good work, down the drain.

Miami bottled it. Folded. Capitulated. Whatever you want to call it. and lost to Syracuse 42-38 to be eliminated from the ACC Championship game.

Mike Schiffman has the 3 stars from today’s game.

(will post when finished)

And now, let’s dive into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

• QB Cam Ward. A pedestrian performance for the standout signal caller: 25-36 passing (69% completions) for 349 yards with 2 TDs, along with 5 carries for 19 yards.
• Updating the Cam Ward season stats: 293 for 435 passing (67.4% completions) for 4,123 yards with 36 TDs and 7 interceptions. He’s also added 196 yards and 4 TDs rushing, and 1 catch for 7 yards and 1 touchdown.
• RB Damien Martinez. 10 carries for 84 yards and a TD.
• RB Mark Fletcher. 13 carries for 46 yards and 2 TDs.
• WR Xavier Restrepo. 9 catches for 148 yards and a touchdown.
• WR Jacolby George. 6 catches for 121 yards.
• LB Kiko Mauigoa had 13 tackles.
• K Andres Borregales made his only FG attempt
• 4 TFLs
• 2 sacks
• Cam Ward taking the checkdowns early. Not forcing the ball, just taking what the defense gave him.
• Miami scored a TD on their opening drive, a Mark Fletcher 2yd run. That was the 5th consecutive game with an opening drive TD. That is #good.
• Wesley Bissainthe with a 4th down PBU on Syracuse’s first drive to force a turnover on downs. Big plays can happen in the first quarter and this was one of them!

• With the yardage from his 2nd catch of the day, WR Xavier Restrepo became the first Miami Hurricanes receiver to ever have multiple 1,000 yard seasons. Congrats, X!!

• Restrepo followed that up with a great catch, run, and dive for a touchdown to put Miami up 14-0.

• Freshman Linebacker Cameron “Bobby” Pruitt with a huge play, forcing a fumble and recovering it himself to kill a Syracuse drive with the game tied at 28!!!
• Miami continued to fight back, this time with a 42 yard TD pass 40 yard pass from Cam Ward to Xavier Restrepo (incorrectly ruled short of the endzone) to tie the game at 35. give Miami first and goal on the 2. Damien Martinez would score 1 play later.

The Bad

• Loses. It fucking sucks.
• Losing to Syracuse. This is a team you have to beat.

The Ugly

• Losing. No, seriously, it’s bad and ugly.
• Losing after going up 21-0.
• Letting Syracuse go on a 42-17 run to eliminate you from the ACC Championship game.
• Bottling this season. 11-1 and the ACC Championship game were the MINIMUM expectation for this team. And they didn’t get either of those things. Fucking pathetic.
• Jaden Harris with another terrible angle on a tackle attempt lets Syracuse score. It’s negated late by an illegal formation penalty, but still, Harris has to be better or be benched.

• Jaden Harris with more missed tackles, on a 26 yard pass and a subsequent 8 yard rushing TD for Syracuse to cut the Miami lead to 21-7. An abominable performance from #7, to be honest.
• Clear offensive pass interference not called and Syracuse cuts the lead 21-14 Miami

• A terrible holding call negating a 60 yard Damien Martinez run. Total bullshit.

• Disaster. Restrepo with a fumble in the 2nd consecutive game, this one returned for a Syracuse touchdown and the lead.

• The decision to kick a FG and rely on the defense when they hadn’t stopped Syracuse in the 2nd half AT ALL.

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Team Grades

Offense: B

Solid numbers, but not good enough when it counted.

Defense: Fireable

Good start for 2 drives. Fucking pathetic after that.

Special Teams: B

Kicking was fine. No returns to speak of. Punting was average at best.

Coaching: Fireable

After the performance in this spot, somebody has to get shown the door. Whole season on the line. All the goals and expectations ahead of you. A 21-0 LEAD AFTER 3 DRIVES. And you lose. Fireable. 100%.

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That’s it for this installment of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Hop in the comments and keep the conversation going.

Go Canes