Yahoo Top 10: Miami tumbles out of rankings after all-time coaching blunder by Mario Cristobal
Imagine this scenario.
Your team is leading 20-17. You’ve got a third down. There are 35 seconds left in the game. The play-clock in college, unless after a timeout or other break such as a penalty, is 40 seconds. Your opponent has zero timeouts.
Here are your choices: (1) run a play; (2) kneel down.
Miami and coach Mario Cristobal chose the first option. The Hurricanes, despite needing to only kneel to win the game, ran a play. Running back Donald Chaney, in a handoff up the middle, fumbled the ball to Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets went 74 yards in 26 seconds to score a touchdown and win the game, 23-20, in a most improbable victory that will surely go down in college athletics lore as one of the more baffling coaching decisions in the sport.
As Miami broke the huddle to run a play as the time ticked under 40 seconds, ACC analyst Tim Hasselbeck immediately knew it was a bad idea. “Just take a knee. You should not be handing this football off. I don’t know what Miami is doing.”
And then, well, it happened. Fumble. Two completions. Touchdown. Game over.
“It needs to be said: That’s one of the biggest coaching mistakes at this level I have ever seen in my lifetime,” Hasselbeck said.
Georgia Tech’s wild comeback capped another stellar day in college football. Three ACC teams remained undefeated (it could have been four, Miami!), including Louisville, the newest member of our Top 10. We’ve got a new No. 1 as well, after the unranked Sooners knocked off Texas. Colorado and Deion Sanders found the win column again (over Arizona State), Clemson’s offense still has real problems (17 points in a win over Wake Forest) and LSU barely survived Columbia, Missouri.
On to the Top 10, we go!
1. Oklahoma
This week: won 34-30 vs. Texas
Next week: Bye
Best win: vs. Texas
Does any team have a better win than the Sooners’ victory on a neutral site over Texas? Florida State has victories over LSU and Clemson, but each of those teams lost a second game. Sure, Ohio State won at Notre Dame, but the Irish dropped a second game as well on Saturday. Georgia beat Kentucky, and North Carolina beat South Carolina, but neither are as impressive as what the Sooners did in Dallas. OU QB Dillon Gabriel threw for 285 and ran for 113 more, tossing the game-winner with 23 ticks left.
2. Florida State
This week: won 39-17 vs. Virginia Tech
Next week: vs. Syracuse
Best win: vs. LSU
For much of the season, the talk around Florida State has been on (1) FSU’s ACC plight, (2) Jordan Travis and his bevy of NFL receivers and (3) the Noles being back. But on Saturday against the Hokies, it was running back Trey Benson who stole the show. The Oregon transfer ran for 200 yards on 11 carries.
3. Ohio State
This week: won 37-17 vs. Maryland
Next week: at Purdue
Best win: at Notre Dame
The Buckeyes trailed Maryland 10-0 in the second quarter and then 17-10 in the third. Ohio State didn’t score an offensive touchdown until six minutes into the third quarter. At home. To Maryland. So, no, the Buckeyes’ offensive issues are not resolved. They did score on their last five possessions, so there’s that. With Penn State coming to town in two weeks, OSU needs improving on offense.
4. Georgia
This week: won 51-13 vs. Kentucky
Next week: vs. Missouri
Best win: vs. Kentucky
Look who finally made it into our Top 10! That’s right — the two-time reigning national champions. What can we say? We drive a hard bargain! In reality, we value schedules and Georgia opened with quite a weak one (not as weak as Michigan, but weak). The Bulldogs hadn’t looked so dominant either — until Saturday, when TE Brock Bowers and QB Carson Beck worked Mark Stoops’ defense.
5. Penn State
This week: Bye
Next week: vs. UMass
Best win: vs. Iowa
The Nittany Lions arranged this schedule quite nicely. They were on a bye last week and get UMass this week before the Big Ten collision at Ohio State. Chalk one up for the Penn State scheduler, no? We’ll find out soon enough if James Franklin can break his nasty skid. He’s 1-8 against the Buckeyes, having lost the last six games.
6. Washington
This week: Bye
Next week: vs. Oregon
Best win: at Michigan State
The Pac-12 showdown that we’ve all been waiting for has arrived. The Huskies and Ducks duke it out in a top-10 battle in Seattle with Pac-12 supremacy on the line. Each team still plays the Trojans, so we’re a long way from anything being decided, but this one looms large in the CFP hunt. Michael Penix vs. Bo Nix. Kalen DeBoer vs. Dan Lanning. The nation’s No. 1-ranked offense vs. the nation’s No. 7-ranked defense.
7. North Carolina
This week: won 41-7 vs. Syracuse
Next week: vs. Miami
Best win: vs. South Carolina
Drake Maye hit the 400-yard mark for a second time in three weeks in what served as the Tar Heels’ tune-up for what would have been an undefeated showdown against the Hurricanes had, you know, Miami closed out Georgia Tech by kneeling in the final seconds. But you already know how that ended.
8. Texas
This week: lost 34-30 to Oklahoma
Next week: Bye
Best win: at Alabama
Our first team this season to remain in the Top 10 with a loss. And why not? The Longhorns have one of the better wins in the country this season in Tuscaloosa and while they did lose at Red River, they rolled up more than 500 yards against the Sooners before blowing a late lead. They remain comfortably in the Top 10.
9. Oregon
This week: Bye
Next week: at Washington
Best win: vs. Colorado
What looked like a couple of marquee wins for the Ducks — at Texas Tech and vs. Colorado — aren’t looking too hot these days (those two teams have combined for five losses). But that doesn’t change this week’s opportunity to pick up what would arguably be the best win of the season. Lanning, a defensive guru, has his work cut out. The Huskies average 564 yards a game — No. 1 in the country — and score 46 points a game.
10. Louisville
This week: won 33-20 vs. Notre Dame
Next week: at Pitt
Best win: vs. Notre Dame
No, your eyes are not deceiving you. Don’t look now (we’re looking!) but the Cardinals are 6-0 under first-year coach Jeff Brohm. Junior RB Jawhar Jordan — don’t forget that name! — carried the ball 21 times for 143 yards. It was his fourth 100-yard outing in five games.