Dan LeBatard calls Georgia Tech worst Miami football loss in history

On his eponymous show on Tuesday, Dan LeBatard called the loss by the Miami football team to Georgia Tech as the worst in program history. LeBatard went as far back as the 14-7 loss to Penn State in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl that cost Miami the national championship. LeBetard discussed the attention the Miami loss was getting.

LeBatard rehashed the series of events that led to the Miami football loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday. The abridged version is Miami not taking a knee with 33 seconds left and Georgia Tech not having any timeouts, followed by a Don Chaney Jr. fumble and allowing a four play, 74-yard drive in 26 seconds for the winning touchdown.

The comments by LeBatard probably were in synch with the vast majority of Miami football fans. Mario Cristobal and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson not having quarterback Tyler Van Dyke take a knee set in motion what should have been a sure Miami win. It wasn’t the sole reason like some fans have stated.

The fumble by Chaney and subsequent breakdowns by the Miami secondary on the final drive were equally major contributing factors in what should have been a Hurricanes win. As a 20.5-point favorite Miami arguably played down to the level of Georgia Tech. Miami was disjointed throughout the entire game.

"“I’m going to go through the ones from memory in my head that felt the worst. You got two national championship games that the University of Miami lost because they committed a million turnovers and one of them was decided by a penalty flag. That was not neither one was as bad as Saturday night was.You’ve got losses to Middle Tennessee State. You’ve got losses to FIU. You’ve got a loss that closed the Orange Bowl losing by seven touchdowns to Virginia. You have a probation loss to FSU yeah that was by a million points Saturday night was the worst loss in program history.”"

The loss by the Miami football team to Georgia Tech was the latest in a pair of decades that have been full of shocking defeats. LeBetard highlighted the futile losses for Miami since the Hurricanes won their first national championship in 1983. Some games could have been listed that LeBatard left out.

Miami entered the 1986 Sugar Bowl with a chance to win the National Championship with a win and a Penn State win over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. Oklahoma won, but Miami was dominated by Tennessee 35-7 in New Orleans. The 1987 Fiesta Bowl loss to Penn State was the one LeBard referenced with a million turnovers.

Miami outgained Penn State 445–162 but lost 14-7 because of five Vinny Testaverde interceptions and a minus-four turnover margin. The Penalty Flag reference was the 2003 Fiesta Bowl loss in double overtime after Miami was flagged for pass interference in the first overtime.

Miami lost 42-28 to Middle Tennessee State last season, the loss to FIU was in 2019  (and only once), and presumably, the probation loss to Florida State LeBatard referenced was a 47-0 defeat in 1997. That was the third of five straight losses to FSU. Several other losses to FSU during that streak were blowouts.

The difference between Saturday night and the other losses, other than Ohio State, is that Miami had the game won. Miami did not have the outcome versus Ohio State in their own hands. That game was influenced by a bad to at the least extremely questionable call. Poor decisions cost Miami versus Georgia Tech.