The Miami Hurricanes (6-0) hope to remain in the national title picture with a win over heavy underdog, the North Carolina Tar Heels (1-7). Game time from Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina starts at noon EST. The game will air on ESPN2.
It wasn’t pretty, but one week after Syracuse upset defending champion Clemson, Miami was able to stop their momentum. The Hurricanes aren’t lighting teams up, but they’re finding ways to keep their undefeated season alive.
The “U” isn’t back yet, but coach Mark Richt has done wonders in only his second year with the team. And even with possibly the ACC’s best running back, Mark Walton, out for the year, they’ve still carried through. Travis Homer has filled in brilliantly with a combined 265 rushing yards in his last two games.
What’s more is the discipline Miami is working with, limiting penalty issues and allowing only four turnovers (2nd best). It’s given them the edge in three straight close games against FSU, Georgia Tech, and Syracuse.
For North Carolina, they’re as far away as they can get from that ACC Championship appearance they had two years ago.
Coach Larry Fedora has had to work with a lot of injuries, and his squad has shown so little offensive firepower in ACC play. After scoring 35 in a loss to Louisville, they’ve had conference games with 17, 7, 14, and 7 points.
They come in as 20-point underdogs, having been outscored 145-38 in their last four contests.
The Hurricanes have indeed skated by average ACC teams the past few weeks. But they’ve also shown they can take it to a lesser team, a la Duke and Toledo, once they sniff blood in the water.
Homer has almost allowed the Hurricanes to completely forget about the misery of Walton going down. Though Malik Rozier is not yet the type of quarterback to lead Miami in the CFP, Homer will do most of the damage for them here. And it’ll be more than enough to cover, with the Tar Heels 112th-ranked rush defense featuring leaks all over the board.
If they couldn’t stop a team like Duke on the ground, then they’re in for a rough ride against the Canes. They have a fair amount of attention to pay on the perimeter too, with Braxton Berrios being no pushover at the WR position. Ahmmon Richards (21 yards-per-catch) is another deep threat to worry about.
All these teams the Tar Heels have been playing recently have been sound defensively. And they’ve been relying on a freshman QB, Chazz Surratt, who is naturally going through trial by fire. The results haven’t been so hot. Between Notre Dame and Virginia Tech the last two games, he was only 23 of 50 with no more than a small knee injury to show for his efforts.
Miami relies on its secondary, one that’s given up over 250 yards only once. Don’t expect Surratt to improve drastically while also playing past the tweak in his knee. North Carolina’s run game is in enough shape to put the ball in the end zone, but not at the rate they’ll need to stay competitive.
Look for this to end up much like the Duke game, with Miami using their turnover margin (plus-8) for an early advantage and a strong pass defense to keep the Tar Heels down late.