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CaneSport Roundtable: Was the Miami Hurricanes Loss To Louisville a Big Deal or Just a Bump in the Road?

On3 imageby: Matt Shodell6 hours agocanesport
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Neil Gershman - Zooba Images

A week ago at this time the Miami Hurricanes were flying high, ranked No. 2 nationally with some pundits saying perhaps UM was the top team in the nation. An ESPN metric showed that the Canes had the best chance of going undefeated of any team, with a 29 percent chance.

What a difference a few hours makes, right? Because after Friday night’s loss to Louisville it sort of has that same old, same old feel for Miami fans used to UM underperforming as the favorite and losing at least a game or two each season … for the better part of the last two decades.

Which brings us to today’s CaneSport Roundtable. Because the reality is that Miami is likely to still be favored in the rest of its games and is ranked No. 9 in the nation. If the season ended today, Miami is in the playoffs.

So we pose this question to the CaneSport staff: Was this loss a big deal or not?

GARY FERMAN

It absolutely was a big deal because of the way it played out. The Hurricanes were badly outplayed and badly outcoached. It was a complete breakdown of everything Mario Cristobal is trying to build, all the way down to D.J. Khaled running wind sprints in the middle of Miami’s pre-game warm-up. Look, these are games between kids. They are supposed to be fun, happy affairs. But that Louisville team came down here on a mission to beat the No. 2 team in the country. The Hurricanes, top to bottom, did not bring the same kind of urgency to the deal and it caught up to them. Why is it a big deal? Because it’s a bit of a rinse and repeat of an ongoing problem within the program and for Cristobal. In fairness, most teams blow games that people think they should win. There are rarely many undefeated teams anymore. But there has been a huge emotional and financial investment into this season. It is year four of Mario. This is the time for Miami to start winning. And to lose like that, beaten badly in every area, so clearly out-prepared, was just a huge setback and a reminder of last season and the loss to Syracuse. That said, now let’s take the drama out of it. That was a mulligan. If Miami wins out, it can still acconplish its goals and even if a tiebreaker keeps it out of Charlotte, which would be a shame since the Hurricanes have never won an ACC title, they would at least make the college football playoff. But a second loss puts it all in jeopardy, just like it did last season. There is zero margin for error so this is a team that needs to get itself together. When you are winning, some things get covered up. When you lose, fractures start to show and that has happened. Everyone needs to take a look in the mirror and decide if they are going to be accountable toward getting the train back on its tracks.

MATT SHODELL

If I’m forced to answer a straight up yes or no to the question of whether the loss on Friday night was a big deal, it’s pretty obvious the answer is a resounding “Yes.” Because we aren’t in a position to get in a time machine and see how the rest of this season plays out. But if you could, it will either end with another loss (or more) and likely no playoffs, or an undefeated final six games. And in either of those time stream avenues we will be looking back at this Louisville game as the turning point. In the former time stream it’s either going to be the game that told us Miami wasn’t what we thought it was, that this is still a program not quite there yet with question marks perhaps at the coordinator positions. Another loss and the noise will be louder and louder that adjustments aren’t being made, the starters Mario Cristobal has aren’t good enough, etc., etc. In the alternate timeline an undefeated finish will have us looking back at the loss as a turning point, a game that ensured this team won’t eat the rat poison again. A game that brought the team together against all the outside noise, a game that showed Miami its warts early enough in the year that they could be fixed and move forward off it and keep getting better and better with that nose-to-the-grindstone approach. So yeah, there is no world where I don’t see this loss as a massive deal. It’s either going to put this team in a spiral or get this team to raise up its level of play and have answers for the teams ahead on the schedule that copycat what Louisville did.

STEPHEN WAGNER

I predicted Miami would have two losses before the season and felt it was pretty doubtful the Canes would actually go undefeated, and the Hurricanes still have one of the more favorable schedules of teams currently ranked in the top 15. There’s no doubt Miami will be favored in each of its remaining games and will have far more talent than its competitors. But the pressure will be on Cristobal to make sure this loss doesn’t cause Miami to go into a spiral and lose three out of its next four games — a stretch Cristobal has had each of his last five seasons as a head coach and six of his last seven seasons (his 2019 Oregon team that won the Rose Bowl is the exception). I’d be lying if I said that stat doesn’t make me nervous, but Miami should effectively have a get-right game against Stanford and ought to have a significant talent advantage over every remaining team on its schedule. Plus UM should be able to dominate the trenches and defensively against each team. So no, I don’t *think* this loss will be a big deal, but I’ve been wrong before.

LUKE CHANEY

As someone who – likely mistakenly – predicted this team to finish 9-3 at the start of the season, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with these first six games. Yes, Miami played a sloppy and unprepared brand of football last Friday against a well-coached Louisville team that could end up with 10-plus wins, but still, it had a chance to tie or win the game on its final possession. I’m going to choose to be optimistic and say that this loss was simply a bump in the road on the way to what I now expect to be a College Football Playoff appearance. What gives me confidence about this Miami team is that it can win in a multitude of ways. The Hurricanes can win a 16-13 type of game but also have the offensive firepower to win a shootout. Credit to Corey Hetherman and this revamped defense for that luxury. I think the run game will turn around for the better, starting with this weekend’s game against Stanford. As long as Miami doesn’t get another ‘F’ performance from Carson Beck, which I think is unlikely, I fully expect the Hurricanes to win their remaining six games.

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