Connolly’s prediction: Will Miami be able to overcome injuries and upset Clemson?
Beating Clemson was always going to be a tough task for Miami. That task got more difficult over the past eight days.
The Hurricanes lost starting running back Mark Walton for the season in October and lost two other stars recently.
Starting tight end Christopher Herndon suffered a season-ending knee injury last Friday against Pitt, while star receiver Ahmmon Richards was lost for the season with a knee injury suffered Wednesday in practice.
That means Miami will be without two of its top three receiving targets, as well as its starting running back, in the ACC championship game against the Tigers. Miami coach Mark Richt is hopeful others will step up.
“Those three guys really were the most dynamic players at their position on our team,” Richt said Friday. “I think the guys know it’s just a matter of not reinventing the system or anything like that. It’s just making the plays we ordinarily do in practice, sometimes at an extraordinary time, but you’re basically doing what we always do.”
The injuries come at a difficult time for the Hurricanes as starting quarterback Malik Rosier had perhaps his worst game of the season in the loss to the Panthers.
The junior completed 44 percent of his passes and threw for 187 yards as Pitt stuffed the box and tried to make Rosier beat them with his arm.
Richt eventually benched Rosier for a series in the fourth quarter but is pleased with the way he bounced back this week in practice.
Still, there is a lot working against Miami as the Hurricanes are without several playmakers, Rosier is coming off a rough outing and Clemson has one of the fiercest defenses in the country.
The Tigers also have the experience of playing in back-to-back ACC championship games and back-to-back national title games. This will be Miami’s first ACC title appearance.
“Being used to winning at a high level, being used to being a champion, not only an ACC champion but a national champion, playing in two national championship games in a row, it doesn’t get any bigger than that,” Richt said. “They’ve all experienced that. Experience is a great teacher. We all know that. We’re just experiencing some things for the first time as a group of coaches and players. It should be an advantage to have lived through those types of moments.”
Miami has a tough defense, as well, that will keep the Hurricanes in the game, but Clemson is too deep and talented and playing too well to suffer a loss at this point.
Prediction: Clemson 27, Miami 17
This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Connolly’s prediction: Will Miami be able to overcome injuries and upset Clemson?."