For the second straight season, the Miami football team defeated the ACC Coastal Champion. Miami has not lost to the Coastal Division titlist since 2016. The Hurricanes were unable to parlay their victory over the Cavaliers to a Coastal Division title in 2019. Miami has hosted the Coastal winner in the last two seasons.
Virginia had a tough matchup in the Orange Bowl against Florida who was playing with a home crowd behind them. Virginia had as close to a dream season for their football program as could be expected. The Cavaliers won their first game against arch-rival Virginia Tech since 2003 and their first Coastal title.
Led by quarterback Bryce Perkins, Virginia was in the Orange Bowl until the final minute. Perkins threw for 323 yards and four TDs and ran for an additional 24 yards. Lamical Perine had 181 total yards and three TDs to earn the Orange Bowl MVP for the Gators on their way to a 36-28 victory.
Throughout the offseason, a sizeable portion of the fanbase for the Miami football program has perseverated on the Hurricanes’ loss to Florida International in November. The loss to Georgia Tech following the victory over Virginia was worse measuring the seasons the Yellow Jackets and Panthers had.