Miami football likely to play in Music City or Gator Bowl
A lot was expected from the Miami football team this season with the nation’s number eight ranking in the preseason. A 7-5 regular was a great disappointment. The Hurricanes can still play can a marquee bowl matchup in December.
The destination that the Miami football program winds up in won’t be as sexy as playing at home in Orange Bowl or where they began the season at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in one of the two National Semifinals in the College Football Playoff.
The Hurricanes won’t even reach a consolation prize of playing in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta or one of the other three New Year’s Six Bowl games. There are still some options out there for the Miami football program to have a bowl matchup that should intrigue the Miami fans and College Football fans at large.
Countless sites project where their teams and the other 79 football programs that will be invited to bowl games this season will be participating. Some of the matchups for the Miami Football team are appealing while others will draw a sigh and a lot of analysis of why the Hurricanes are not in a bigger game.
The most common projections for Miami are trips to Nashville for the Music City bowl or Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl. The projections below have three national prognosticators have Miami playing in the Music City Bowl against three different potential opponents. Two others have Miami in the Gator Bowl.
A less popular prediction among the national prognosticators has the Hurricanes traveling to Shreveport, Louisiana for the second time in five years. Miami lost to South Carolina 24-21 in the 2014 Independence Bowl.
The Sporting News’ Bill Bender has the Hurricanes and Gamecocks rematching four years later in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. Miami holds an 8-6-2 record all-time against South Carolina. The teams also played during Miami’s 1987 National Championship season when both teams were ranked in the top ten.
"John Mitchell, Saturday Blitz: Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: 1:30 pm ET, ESPN – Nashville, Tennessee, vs. Auburn, Brad Crawford, 247 Sports vs Texas A&M., Pete Fiutak, College Football News vs Mississippi State.Jason Kirk, SB Nation: Gasparilla (Tampa): vs. South FloridaBill Bender, Sporting News: Dec. 31, TaxSlayer Gator Bowl: vs. South Carolina, Steve Lassan Athlon Sports, vs MissouriJerry Palm, CBS Sports and Eric Single, Sports Illustrated: Independence Bowl, Dec. 27, Shreveport, La., Vs UABEric Smith, USA Today: Pinstripe Bowl, December 27, Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY vs Purdue"
The highest-profile matchup for Miami among the projected games would be against Auburn in the Music City Bowl. The Gator Bowl is more prestigious, but playing against Auburn would match a pair of preseason top ten teams.
Miami was eighth in both preseason polls, while Auburn was ninth in the AP and 10th in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll. If Miami gets a matchup against one of the SEC teams or South Florida there would be a lot of anticipation and potential storylines.
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The potential reunion with Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher in Nashville would be another chance for the Miami football team to defeat Fisher. The Hurricanes were 1-7 against Fisher while he was at Florida State. The Hurricanes finally ended a seven-game losing streak against Fisher and the Seminoles in Tallahassee in 2017.