Miami football vs LSU is ACC’s 2nd most important NC game in 2018
The Miami Hurricanes September 2 game against LSU at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas is the second most important non-conference game in 2018. That designation was made by Athlon Sports.
If it wasn’t for the Miami Hurricanes game against Notre Dame in 2017, it would be the most important non-conference game for Miami since 2014. Miami lost the fourth game of the 2014 season 41-31 at number 24 Nebraska to drop to 2-2 that year.
The Hurricanes 2018 season opener against LSU will be Miami’s first against a ranked opponent in the season opener since 2014. It’s also their first season opener against an FBS team since that same season. Miami opened 2014 with a 31-13 loss at number 24 Louisville. It was the Cardinals first game as a member of the ACC.
Miami has not opened the season against a non-conference ranked opponent since defeating Ohio State 23-12 in the 1999 Kickoff Classic at the now torn down Giants Stadium in East Rutherford New Jersey.
LSU will likely begin the season ranked somewhere between 15th and 25th nationally. Athlon has the Tigers just outside their top 25 at 26th in the country. Those rankings were posted on June 20. The Sporting News posted their rankings earlier this week. LSU came in at number 18.
In the rankings of the Top Ten ACC non-conference games for 2018 Athlon has Clemson at Texas A&M as the best non-conference game this season with Miami and LSU second. Pittsburgh at Penn State is third and Florida State at Notre Dame is fourth.
Somehow the Florida State bloggers will come up with a reason why the Seminoles and Irish should be higher. It likely should be a higher ranked game than Pittsburgh and Penn State. After last season though maybe the Panthers and Seminoles are on similar levels. We will have to see how this season plays out (is this sarcasm?, HMM).
A lot of the emphasis on the Hurricanes focuses on the last three games of 2017. There were of factors that went into the three-game losing streak to end the season. One that is rarely mentioned is that Miami was playing without its three best offensive players to begin 2017.
If you told Mark Richt he would 10-0 without Ahmmon Richards and Mark Walton for a combined 11 games by that point of the season he would ask where to sign on the dotted or bottom line. It’s nearly miraculous the job that Richt and his staff did last season to get Miami to 10-0.
Add to that Chris Herndon missing the last two games and it’s understandable why the offense was so bad in the ACC Championship game. Richards is the only one of those three returning in 2018. If he can stay healthy there is no reason he cannot challenge for an All-American season.
Richards greatest test of 2018 could come in the opener. LSU’s Greedy Williams is one of the best cornerbacks in the country. He could be the first corner taken in the 2019 NFL Draft.
"“Mark Richt’s team brought the swagger back to South Florida last season when the Hurricanes won their first 10 games. But then the wheels came off over their last three. We will know right away which Miami is coming to play this season when the ‘Canes face the Bayou Bengals in AT&T Stadium in week one”"
Miami should have one of the ACC’s marquee non-conference games for the next eight seasons.
After 2018, Miami will play Florida at Camping World Stadium in Orlando in 2019, at Michigan State in 2020, open the season in Atlanta against Alabama in 2021 and host the Spartans two weeks later, play a home and home with Texas A&M in 2022 and ’23 and another home and home with Notre Dame in 2024 and ’25.
Next. Mark Richt not able to win big games fallacy perpetuated by rivals. dark
With Mark Richt pointing Miami in the right direction, the Hurricanes should continue to push their way towards the nation’s elite teams. As long as that continues Miami’s non-conference games will be at or near the top of the most important in the ACC each season.