Paul Finebaum: Miami 'always fails' to deliver

Miami surrendered a three touchdown lead to eventually lose to Syracuse 42-38 on the road during Week 14. It marked the second loss suffered to an unranked team in three weeks.

The Hurricanes not only missed their chance to play for an ACC Championship, but their College Football Playoff hopes may have fallen to the wayside after the hearbreaking loss. Paul Finebaum didn’t hold back when blasting the fate that ultimately befell Miami.

“You just can’t do that when you have everything on the line,” Finebaum said during SportsCenter on Sunday morning. “This has been a tendency of Mario Cristobal’s teams at Miami. Remember, they had the Georgia Tech game and they blew it.

“They had this game in hand. They were up 21-0, and they let it slip away on the road. I realize Syracuse is a very good team, but when you have one of the best quarterbacks and one of the best players in the country — you have to deliver. And the Miami Hurricanes always fail to do that.”

Miami’s Cam Ward turned in another Heisman-worthy performance with 349 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns. Still, it wasn’t enough to overcome Syracuse, who rattled off 35 points between the second and third quarters behind the hot arm of Orange quarterback Kyle McCord.

However, just because Miami suffered defeat doesn’t mean that they’re completely out of luck in the College Football Playoff race. ESPN’s Heather Dinich predicts that the ‘Canes will be ranked 11th in Tuesday’s CFP Top 25 rankings.

Due to Boise State‘s prominence, the Big 12 is expected to have their conference champion play a first-round playoff game. That pushes the No. 12 team in the rankings (Alabama in Dinich’s predictions) out of the field, so if this comes true then Dinich labels the ‘Canes as “safe.”

Although there’s little to no chance they host a home playoff game after Saturday, a lot can still happen across conference championsship week to help Miami’s case. For now, Tuesday’s rankings reveal can’t come quick enough.