ESPN Gameday unanimously chooses Clemson over Miami Hurricanes

After the Miami Hurricanes were a unanimous choice by the ESPN Gameday analysts two weeks ago against Florida State, the crew unanimously chose Clemson on Saturday.

The Miami Hurricanes were featured in their third straight ESPN Gameday on Saturday morning and will have its third straight game telecasted on the ABC Primetime Game of the Week on Saturday night against Clemson. The Gameday analysts unanimously chose Clemson over Miami on Saturday night.

Miami won 47-34 at Louisville two weeks ago when the Gameday analysts chose the Hurricanes in a majority decision. The following week the Hurricanes won 52-10 against Florida State and were the unanimous choice by Gameday live from Hard Rock Stadium earlier in the day.

On Saturday, telecasting from Memorial Stadium at Clemson the Gameday analysts all praised Miami for its 3-0 start. Miami will have to go out and pull off the upset on Saturday night for national analysts to be convinced that Miami has returned to the elite of college football. At the least, the Hurricanes have to be competitive.

After making picks for other important games on Saturday, as Gameday tradition, the feature game of the week was last. Host Rece Davis introduced the Miami game by noting “Miami hasn’t beaten the number one team on the road since wide right I against Florida State in 1991 and beaten any top-ranked team since wide right III.”

The wide right III game broke a Miami losing streak to Florida State and was the game that brought Miami back among the college football elite in 2000. The game against Clemson is not as big as the 2000 game for many reasons. Playing Clemson will give the Miami Hurricanes a chance to prove this year’s team is different.

Howard received a text during the telecast from Miami Hurricanes legend Ray Lewis telling the Heisman Trophy winner “I am watching who you pick”. Howard went against Miami saying he likes “Clemson in a close one.”  Former Georgia linebacker David Pollack who played for Mark Richt at Georgia was up next.

Pollack was the only ESPN analyst to select Louisville three weeks ago. Clemson has owned the ACC for the last five seasons for various reasons. Pollack stated, “I got Clemson, too much firepower, too much high level recruiting for too long  (for Miami) to hang with Clemson for the whole game.”

Alex Rodriguez represented Miami as the celebrity guest picker. The baseball legend chose with his heart. “Going to be the jersey and the heart. Boys are back. Going to take down number one today.” The final pick on Gameday always comes from iconic former coach Lee Corso, a Miami native.

Corso stated “Nobody texted me. Clemson Tigers number one in the nation. Miami will challenge Clemson. Clemson (will win).” Corso followed his pick by putting on the Tiger head from the Clemson mascot. The Miami Hurricanes and Clemson will kickoff on ABC at 7:30 ET with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit announcing.