The 2022 football seasons for the Miami Hurricanes and the Virginia Cavaliers have probably had more similarities than the two teams have ever had before in their histories.
Saturday’s 14-12 win for the Hurricanes in four overtimes was a microcosm of those likenesses.
There were no touchdowns, eight field goals, many missed opportunities on offense by both teams while they used the athleticism of their defenses to stay in the game.
The history of the Hurricanes has netted five national championships from 1983 to 2001 and they could have potentially won three more during that timeframe.
Miami joined the ACC in 2004 and the Hurricanes have yet to win an ACC title in football. Virginia Tech and West Virginia left the Big East at the same time as Miami, and the Hokies have won four ACC championships, but have gotten no further. West Virginia has yet to win the Big 12.
If these three teams had stayed in the Big East and eventually made it to the American Athletic Conference, we are talking and writing different stories about where the Hurricanes have been the last 20 seasons as well as the history of Virginia Tech and West Virginia.
The AAC has a plethora of competitive and talented teams with Cincinnati, UCF, Memphis and Houston generally at the top every season.
These four teams and the three who left the Big East would have raised each other to the point where the AAC would not have to be worrying about playoff berths. It would have been a power conference as room would have been made for a sixth league.
That said, Cincinnati picked up the AAC’s first CFP berth last season.
In fact, there has only been one ACC champion other than Clemson, Florida State and Virginia Tech since 2001 and that was Wake Forest in 2006.
Meanwhile, Virginia had ACC staying power in the George Welsh Era, and the Cavaliers shared championships in 1989 and 1995.
Welsh escorted his team to No. 1 in the nation in 1990 before an injury-riddled second half of the season caused them to bow to Bobby Ross and Georgia Tech, who went on to win the national championship.
The Hurricanes and Cavaliers in 2022
As Miami backup quarterback Jake Garcia took in a two-point conversion in the fourth overtime of Saturday’s 14-12 win over Virginia, the style and winning score was reminiscent of how far the Hurricanes have fallen.
This season’s wins have come against Bethune-Cookman, Southern Miss, Virginia Tech and Virginia.
Injuries have played a huge role in Miami’s quagmire as at one point, the ‘Canes were missing quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, three offensive linemen and their top three wide receivers in terms of yardage.
As the season began, the Hurricanes were looked at as the ACC Coastal Division winner in Mario Cristobal’s first season as head coach.
Virginia, meanwhile, has started to build from the ground up as the Cavaliers picked up their lone ACC win last week over Georgia Tech, 16-9, to go along with earlier wins over Richmond and ODU.
The 14-12 loss on Saturday showed the Cavaliers with chances to take the upper hand, but mistakes caused them to not be able to secure a victory.
“The biggest frustration right now is finding a way to win,” said Virginia strong safety Antonio Clary. “Those games right there, they really hurt. There are three or four plays that determine the game, so when you slip like that it’s just a frustration to try to get it done.”
Coach Tony Elliott and his staff have had their work cut out from day one as they inherited a defense that gave up 466 yards per game a year ago and that number has dropped back to 349.5 yards per game through the first eight outings.
Offensively, it has been a challenge to turn from a pass-happy entity of a year ago under quarterback Brennan Armstrong into a balanced attack. One major focal point for the Virginia coaching staff has been to set up both the run and pass as Armstrong threw for 392 yards per game last season while Virginia only rushed for 123.3 yards per outing.
“It seems that has been the scenario for us offensively and that is we leave points on the field,” said Elliott. “There were several trips to the red zone.”
Elliott has seen his team go from a 34-17 home loss to Louisville three weeks ago to the win over Georgia Tech and then a four-overtime loss to the injury-riddled Hurricanes.
“Look at two games ago against, Louisville,” said Elliott. “We came back and we bowed to adversity so today we were in a four-quarter game in four overtimes and we wanted and the guys are going to be sick on the four or five maybe six plays that we didn’t make and we could have.”
