Miami Hurricanes will need help repeat ACC Coastal title
The Miami Hurricanes loss at Virginia on Saturday took away their ability to control their own destiny in a bid to repeat at ACC Coastal Division Champions this season.
The road to the ACC Coastal Division title now goes through Blacksburg, Virginia. The Miami Hurricanes play at Virginia Tech on November 17.
The biggest games in the Coastal this season will be on back to back weekends at Lane Stadium. The Miami Hurricanes trip to Blacksburg is followed six days later with a visit from Virginia in a battle for the Commonwealth Cup.
Virginia Tech has had ugly non-conference losses to Old Dominion and Notre Dame. In the ACC they have remained perfect. The Hokies currently lead the Coastal Division with a 3-0 record. Miami, Pittsburgh and Virginia are one game behind at 2-1.
The Cavaliers one conference loss was at North Carolina State two weeks ago when they were dealing with injuries. UVA opened conference play with a win over Louisville.
The Miami Hurricanes began conference play with a convincing win over North Carolina. They followed that up with a miraculous comeback against Florida State before the lackluster loss to Virginia on Saturday.
Pittsburgh has wins over Georgia Tech and Syracuse sandwiched around a loss to North Carolina. It’s hard to believe that the Panthers are genuine challengers to winning the Coastal.
Virginia Tech looked impressive in the season opener with a 24-3 win at Florida State. The Hokies had a decisive victory at Duke who was ranked at the time of the game before barely defeating inept North Carolina 22-19 in Chapel Hill this weekend.
| Overall | Conference | SRS | Polls | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coastal | W | L | Pct | W | L | Pct | Pts | Pts | SRS | SOS | AP Curr | AP Pre | AP High | Notes |
| Virginia Tech | 4 | 2 | .667 | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | 32.8 | 24.5 | 3.24 | -2.26 | 20 | 12 | ||
| Miami (FL) | 5 | 2 | .714 | 2 | 1 | .667 | 37.4 | 18.1 | 9.34 | -0.66 | 16 | 8 | 8 | |
| Virginia | 4 | 2 | .667 | 2 | 1 | .667 | 27.8 | 19.2 | 6.95 | -1.05 | ||||
| Pitt | 3 | 4 | .429 | 2 | 1 | .667 | 24.3 | 30.9 | 1.11 | 4.54 | ||||
| Duke | 5 | 1 | .833 | 1 | 1 | .500 | 32.0 | 17.7 | 13.23 | 1.89 | 22 | |||
| North Carolina | 1 | 4 | .200 | 1 | 2 | .333 | 20.6 | 33.8 | -11.00 | -0.40 | ||||
| Georgia Tech | 3 | 4 | .429 | 1 | 3 | .250 | 37.4 | 28.3 | 1.86 | -0.42 |
Provided by CFB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 10/15/2018.
The teams that are currently in the top four in the Coastal Divison play each other the final weekend. Miami hosts Pittsburgh the day after the Cavaliers and Hokies play in Blacksburg.
At 1-1 Duke still has a chance to win the Coastal. The Blue Devils evened their ACC record with a victory at Georgia Tech on Saturday following their loss to Virginia Tech last month.
The Blue Devils fate in the Coastal could be determined in the next three weeks. Duke hosts Virginia on Saturday before traveling to Pittsburgh and then playing at Hard Rock Stadium the following two weeks.
Virginia hosts North Carolina and Pittsburgh and plays at Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech with a bye week November 10. The Cavaliers have to lose at least one more time for Miami to have a chance at earning a trip back to the ACC Championship game.
If Virginia loses once more and the Hurricanes win out, Miami would win the Coastal Division outright. The Cavaliers, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech are the only three teams in the Coastal Divison that control their destiny.
After the bye week, Miami plays one of their two ACC Crossover games at Boston College on October 26. That’s followed up with their first home game in four weeks when they host Duke.
The Hurricanes then go back on the road with games at Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech before closing out the season at home against Pittsburgh.
Next. Miami offense subpar versus Power Five teams under Richt. dark
The schedule in October and November for Miami is tough. They have a stretch of four out of five games on the road with the bye week in between. The Hurricanes have home games only twice in the last seven weeks of the season. With a young team that’s difficult.