TFW life comes at you fast

Remember how some of you cast longing eyes at Dan Enos to fill the OC position on Smart’s staff?  Well, after leaving Arkansas for an analyst’s spot in Tuscaloosa, he spent this season as Miami’s OC.  The results haven’t been especially pretty.

Miami entered the game with the nation’s worst third-down conversion percentage, and going 5-for-14 on Thursday didn’t help that much. The Hurricanes finished the year with three straight losses and averaged only 25.7 points per game. It raised more questions about the future of offensive coordinator Dan Enos, whose lone season with the Hurricanes saw the offense perform well below expectations.

The teams set the game record for punts at 18, with both tying the single-club record of nine.

Last night was the first time since 1994 that Miami was shut out in a bowl game and only the third time ever.

As for raising more questions, it seems Manny Diaz had already answered those before kickoff.

Miami OC Dan Enos will no longer be w/Hurricanes after today’s @IndyBowl, sources told @Stadium. 1st reported by @ByTimReynolds

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 26, 2019

I guess that’s what mailing in your playcalling looks like.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

I don’t know what you guys are complaining about.  The other team I rooted for yesterday lost 62-17.

All bad things must come to an end.

I had a lot of folks reach out yesterday after Virginia finally ended a fifteen-year (!) losing streak to its hated in-state rival, which was damned nice, considering.  Some asked me how the win felt in comparison to Georgia winning.

All I can tell you is I felt the same way watching this play unfold…

BALL GAME!

Virginia snaps a 15-game losing streak to Virginia Tech to advance to its first ACC Championship Game! pic.twitter.com/oFRoQZMSPB

— ESPN (@espn) November 29, 2019

… as I did seeing Robert Edwards’ clinching touchdown run against Florida in 1997.

Matt Hinton put it well yesterday.

The scene in Virginia right now is the reason this is true. The catharsis after years of disappointment is worth it. https://t.co/GhGC9RZBt3

— Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) November 29, 2019

It’s not that you wouldn’t trade years of losing for something better.  Of course you would.  But there is something about being in the moment when your team finally overcomes that heavy weight of futility that is worth cherishing.

Sports are great sometimes, yeah?

Today, in awesome

That would be your ACC, ladies and gentlemen, which is on the verge of helping to make an Orange Bowl for the ages.

By contract, some ACC team has to play in the Orange Bowl. Also by contract, that berth would go to the next highest-ranked ACC team after Clemson, assuming the Tigers once again make it to the playoff.

With Clemson as the ACC’s only currently ranked team, that decision would kick back to the Orange Bowl board of directors. It is believed that would be the first time in the CFP’s six-year history that a New Year’s Six bowl could be picking an unranked team.

Never mind the rarity of the situation, what would the Orange Bowl and ACC do about some school’s (or schools’) feelings perhaps getting hurt?

“It’s a great question,” said Eric Poms, Orange Bowl CEO. “We are hopeful, obviously, with [three] weekends of football still to go there is a path for some team from the ACC to get back in there.”

“Please, Gawd!” is a helluva plan of action, Eric.

TFW it just means less.

Here’s a sad, but oh-so-likely scenario heading down the turnpike.

Interesting note from CFP conference call tonight on ACC/Orange Bowl, if Clemson makes it to the playoff, the Orange Bowl is supposed to take "highest ranked ACC team not ranked in the top four", but they won't keep ranking teams even if there isn't another ACC team in top 25 pic.twitter.com/dtotCj7wwo

— michaelniziolek (@michaelniziolek) November 13, 2019

Before you laugh too hard, I’ve seen a few bowl projections putting Georgia in the Orange Bowl.  Sounds like we could be in for an epic face off if that’s the case.

“Fascinating”

NFL Network analyst and Hall of Famer Deion Sanders has emerged as a candidate for the Florida St. head coaching job, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo. A fascinating situation that could unfold.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 8, 2019

Like a car wreck on the side of the road, I suppose.

TFW you lose to Georgia Tech

Shot.

Manny Diaz: "You can see the promise of the future and the ugliness of the present. This is a rebuild."

— BrianTheBeastLondon❄️ (@MiamiRadioBeast) October 19, 2019

Chaser.

A team that won 10 games two years ago and had Top 12 recruiting classes in 2017 and 2018 is now a rebuild? https://t.co/ctnUtVqpuc

— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) October 19, 2019

Man, when you’ve got Andrea Adelson dunking on you…