Written & Photos by Chuck Bethel
Miami Gardens, Fl — The Miami Hurricanes find themselves in a very uncomfortable and, disappointingly, a very familiar position.
After opening the 2025 season with five straight wins, Miami has lost two of its past three games — falling from being the No. 2 team in the country (AP poll) at the beginning of October to sitting at No. 18 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.
Still, as hollow as it’ll sound to UM fans, the Canes still have a lot of things on the table in front of them — including the program’s first ACC championship and an outside shot at earning one of the 12 CFP spots.
Keeping hope alive on both fronts begins this weekend as Miami hosts Syracuse on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami (6-2, 2-2 ACC) stubbed its toe this past weekend, losing 26-20 in overtime thanks to a sloppy performance at SMU. UM committed 12 penalties for 96 yards, including an unnecessary roughness penalty that kept the Mustangs’ final drive of the fourth quarter alive and led to their game-tying field goal. Senior quarterback Carson Beck tossed a pair of touchdown passes but also threw two interceptions — his eighth and ninth of the season — the second of which came on Miami’s overtime-opening drive.
If UM fans are willing to accept a “bright side outlook,” the team’s two losses came by a total of nine points. It is troubling, however, that Miami has allowed so many explosive plays and productive drives to opposing passing games.
Luckily, the Orange is limping into town as a team that just threw for 39 yards in a loss to North Carolina.
Syracuse (3-6, 1-5) has lost its past five games, and Miami should have a chip on its shoulder because it was the Orange who played spoiler for UM’s 2024 season when they beat the Canes 42-38 last November.
“I think it’s very evident this team is always going to fight all the way up to the very end no matter what. But the margins we were winning in early in the season, in a couple of games this year, we have slipped up on those,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal told reporters this week. “Devils in the details, and we’re going to work hard and find a way to get those details back and play Hurricane football and get it done.”
Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
