Miami beats Clemson in double-OT: What does Mario Cristobal’s first ACC home win mean?
Don’t count Mario Cristobal and Miami out of the ACC race just yet.
The Hurricanes put an end to their woes at home in league play and kept their hopes of reaching the ACC title game alive with a 28-20 double-overtime victory against Clemson on Saturday night. It marked Cristobal’s first ACC home win; he was 0-5 before Saturday.
A few quick takeaways:
• Backup linebacker Corey Flagg made the game-saving tackle on fourth-and-goal, hunting down Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik after he faked a handoff to Will Shipley and tried to run around the end for the score.
Miami’s defense won the game with a terrific performance, limiting Clemson to 31 yards rushing and sacking Klubnik five times. Fab freshman Rueben Bain Jr. led the team with eight tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble.
• The questions surrounding Cristobal’s clock management skills will continue after yet another mind-numbing late-game decision hurt his team.
With the score tied at 17 and the Hurricanes possessing the ball near their own 40-yard line with 40 seconds left in regulation, Miami huddled up and ran the ball twice, never bothering to try and set up a long game-winning field goal attempt despite having a timeout left to work with.
At this point, there’s not much you can say about Cristobal that hasn’t already been said. He failed to take a knee at the end of the Georgia Tech loss, and on Saturday he left Miami fans shaking their heads once again. But his team won in double overtime — and that’s all that ultimately mattered.
• With starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke and leading rusher Henry Parrish sidelined, Miami went with an uber-conservative offensive game plan with freshman Emory Williams and managed only 197 yards — 80 on a Brashard Smith run — on its first eight drives. It was a mistake.
Williams took the first-team reps in practice all week and should have been able to take more shots down the field even against a very good Clemson defense. Cristobal instead opted to throw a bunch of receiver screens and underneath passes to protect the football. Miami’s offense did not run a play in Clemson territory until late in the third quarter.
The Hurricanes came in averaging an ACC-leading 9.4 yards per pass attempt and ranked second in the league with 37.7 points per game. How Miami wasn’t better prepared to score points and move the football falls solely on offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson’s shoulders.
Miami waited too long to get serious about running the football in the second half and nearly ran out of time. As impressive as the Hurricanes’ 15-play, 75-yard, nine-minute scoring drive was on its ninth drive, Dawson waited too long to commit to the power running game.
• Dabo Swinney’s team, meanwhile, continues to struggle offensively. As good as the Tigers are on defense, Clemson’s turnover and red zone woes haven’t gone away. Klubnik got an earful from Swinney after losing a second-quarter fumble and then threw a bad interception right before the half.
Clemson has now lost 10 fumbles in seven games including one at the goal line on Saturday.
• Tight end Jake Briningstool nearly willed Clemson to victory. He made a sensational 32-yard touchdown catch in the first half, a dazzling 19-yard TD grab in the third quarter and had a season-high five catches for 126 yards. He needs to be incorporated more and more.
(Photo: Rich Storry / USA Today)
