It’s a two-week swing for Duke’s football team that fits this phrase: Out of the frying pan into the fryer.
There are four ACC teams that haven’t lost a league game yet — Duke just lost in heartbreaking fashion to one of them and plays another one, the highest ranked of them, this weekend.
Miami isn’t just unbeaten in four ACC games, the Hurricanes are one of eight unbeaten teams left in college football. They’ve had everything click into place, starting with a dynamic quarterback, and are ranked No. 5 by the Associated Press poll.
Here are five things to know about Miami ahead of Saturday’s game:
1. The Miami that was promised?
Miami won double-digit games in each of its last four seasons as a Big East member, going 46-4 from 2000-03 and winning the 2001 national championship.
This is Miami’s 21st season in the ACC and the Hurricanes have had one double-digit season — going 10-3 in 2017 — as a league member.
So, with a month left in the season: Is this the version of Miami that the ACC thought it was getting with its expansion two decades ago?
It has been a while since any ACC team other than the litigation duo has been a national championship contender. Part of the reason the conference faces the circumstances of today is because Miami and Virginia Tech haven’t lived up to their billing since being added in 2004.
Now, for this year at least, Miami looks the part of a team that can compete at the highest level of college football.
2. Cam Ward’s brilliance
You can’t win the Heisman Trophy in September or October.
But you can position yourself to win it and that’s what Miami’s QB has done.
Ward was the crown jewel of a large transfer class the Hurricanes brought in, coming from Washington State after starting his career at Incarnate Word (two seasons at each). He’s thrown 24 touchdowns and five interceptions this season; he’s throwing for 343.3 yards per game; he’s completed 68% of his passes; he’s also run for 186 yards and three scores.
“You’ve got to defend two plays,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said of facing Ward. “The first thing is he’s got great anticipation, very quick release, very accurate. And then he’s a hard guy to get on the ground. He runs around and can make great plays scrambling to throw and scrambling to run.”
3. Close calls
Miami has an unblemished record but it’s not like the Hurricanes have stormed through every opponent.
It took an overturned touchdown on the final play of the game to give Miami a 38-34 win over Virginia Tech in the Hurricanes’ first ACC game. They trailed California by 25 before coming back to win 39-38, and spent most of the second half at Louisville uncomfortably outpacing the Cardinals, winning 52-45.
Even last weekend’s 36-14 win over Florida State was a 10-point game at halftime; it was Ward’s first game of the season without a touchdown.
Miami’s 445 total yards and 5.86 yards per play last weekend both marked season lows.
4. Susceptible defense
Taking that last sentence about Miami’s offense and seeing what its defense did against FSU really drives home how much of a slog last weekend’s game was.
The Seminoles 248 yards of offense against Miami, at a clip of 4.13 yards per play.
Those were the best numbers against the Hurricanes’ defense in about a month.
In the other three ACC games, Miami has been vulnerable to big plays. Virginia Tech scored touchdowns on runs of 55 and 20 yards, with a passing score of 25 yards. Cal had touchdown passes of 57 and 66 yards against the Hurricanes; Louisville had a 43-yard touchdown run, 21-yard touchdown pass and 100-yard kickoff return.
Miami has given up 33 plays of at least 20 yards, which is right in the middle of the country — tied for the 66th-most in the country, or tied for the 62nd-fewest.
5. Last four
This month lines up as an interesting one for Miami.
All four opponents — Duke and Wake Forest at home, Georgia Tech and Syracuse on the road — are either at (WF) or above .500. None of them are ranked, though, and none of them has much of a chance of reaching Charlotte for the ACC championship.
But they can all play the role of spoiler. Given the Hurricanes’ previous two Novembers under Mario Cristobal, it wouldn’t be all that shocking if they drop a game or two.
Last year, Miami entered November 6-2 and lost three straight games; two years ago, the Hurricanes were 4-5 entering the final month and lost three of their last four to miss out on a bowl berth, the three losses coming by a combined 98 points.
As much as it’s a team that’s proven something is different about this season than previous ones at Miami, that’s a process that’s not quite finished.