The hurricanes look to come up big in the ACC championship game

Miami, FL- After suffering a loss to ACC opponent Pittsburgh last week the canes look to bounce back in a big way.

This Saturday Miami will take on the No. 1 Clemson Tigers who are looking to secure a spot in the College Football Playoffs. Miami is currently sitting at No. 7 in the College football rankings and look to be a long shot in making an appearance in the College football playoffs.

Miami will have the odds stacked against them due to some key injuries. Senior tight end Christopher Herndon IV will miss the remainder of the season with a left knee injury that happened during the canes game last week against Pittsburgh. Herndon racked up 40 catches, 477 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns in 11 games. Miami’s star wide receiver Ahmmon Richards who has been plagued by injuries all season sustained a meniscus injury in his left knee during practice Wednesday, and will miss the remainder of the season. Richards will undergo surgery this week. Richards played in eight games this season, catching 24 passes for 439 yards and three touchdowns.

Although the canes will be without two offensive stars, their defense will be full go. The Canes are ranked 15th nationally in scoring defense, allowing an average of 18.3 points per game. In addition to that Miami has gained 21 turnovers over its past six games – more than 93 FBS teams have gained all year. Miami’s defense has been playing at a championship level all year and they’ll need another championship performance to take down Clemson.

Mark Richt will be short handed going into the ACC championship but he believes his team is up for the challenge. During Richt’s press conference Tuesday he praised Clemson by stating “They are really an amazing team. They’ve won 42 of the last 45 games – that’s pretty special…Not a good team, but a great team. A championship team. We know we’ve got a tremendous challenge. We’re thankful for it.” When asked about why his team seems to perform better when the “lights are brighter” Richt stated “I don’t know. I’m glad we do. The lights will be as bright as they can be [Saturday], for sure. So far we have embraced the moment, embraced the amount of importance of a game or how much hype goes into a game. We’ve gotten excited, and that’s good…all I ask from them is every ounce of their competitive spirt, let it go. Turn it loose. That’s it. That’s all we can ask from these guys. Just get after it and we’ll see where we end up in the end. If they keep playing as hard as they’ve been playing, and with the type of spirit and all, I think we’ll be fine.”

Miami has been in good spirits all week before the ACC championship because two things are happening for the first time ever in Miami’s football history. First off this will be the Hurricanes’ first-ever appearance in the ACC Championship Game. Second on Nov. 28, 2017 Mark Richt became the first Miami Hurricanes head coach to win ACC Coach of the Year.

Saturday, December 2nd you can catch all the action on the ABC network at 8 p.m. ACC Coastal Division champion No. 7 Miami (10-1, 7-1 ACC) will take on Atlantic champion No. 1 Clemson.

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