CaneSport publisher Gary Ferman joins Andy Staples discussing the fallout from the Georgia Tech loss and where team goes from here

The Miami Hurricanes lost in shocking fashion at home on Saturday night to Georgia Tech, 23-20, after the Canes didn’t take a knee at the end of the game and RB Don Chaney fumbled. Georgia Tech recovered with 26 seconds left and a 30-yard pass over Te’Cory Couch was followed by a 44-yard TD toss in a total defensive bust with Christian Leary running past safety Kam Kinchens.

Miami also didn’t play well prior to that awful last minute of the game that received tons of national attention, either – there were three interceptions thrown by Tyler Van Dyke as Georgia Tech confused him with some mixed coverages and forced him to have patience. The Canes only led at halftime against the overmatched Yellow Jackets (which was coming off a blowout loss to Bowling Green), 3-0.

CaneSport publisher Gary Ferman joined Andy Staples to share his thoughts on what happened … and where things go from here.

“It was just a very strange sequence,” Ferman said of the end of the game. “You have to believe that the subject of taking a knee came up somewhere on the sidelines with Shannon Dawson, the offensive staff, Mario (Cristobal). But I will say this: As I’ve watched Mario Cristobal through the years, he’s not a guy that believes in taking a knee. You can see he believes in playing the football game to the final whistle.”

Ferman adds “I’m really not making an excuse, it was one of the greatest blunders in Miami football history. But I’m guessing that if he told Shannon Dawson to run the football it was with these next four or five weeks of the season in mind when they are going to be in some tough football games and will have to play a full four quarters. That’s the only rationale I can come up with, because in a football sense it makes no sense.”

Ferman said it’s a safe bet that Cristobal now will be taking a knee in these end-of-game situations with his 4-1 team.

“This has been a career-changing moment for him,” Ferman said. “Fair or unfair – he’s getting undressed all over the country in every form of media over what happened in that game.

“This was devastating.”

The 24-hour rule that Miami has after games – enjoy a win for 24 hours, get over a loss in 24 hours – may not apply this time.

“They may pretend there is (a 24-hour rule) – this is nothing you recover from in a week, two weeks, a month,” Ferman said.  “This will linger with Mario Cristobal for a long time.”

With undefeated North Carolina up next, Miami’s players and coaches have to quickly put this in the rearview mirror.

“Knowing Mario he just goes back to work,” Ferman said.

Ferman says the hope from a Miami perspective is this will be a refocused Miami team at UNC on Saturday night. But he also says this was probably the most stunning ending for Miami since Hail Flutie.

“There weren’t many with the ramifications this one had,” Ferman said. “There’s a big difference between 4-1 and North Carolina next week and 5-0, closer to top 10, top 12 and people are really starting to make Miami relevant again, which is what they’re trying to accomplish. Now they are 25 in the polls, are reeling a little bit and have to gather themselves. And there’s a question what they will look like when they show up at North Carolina.”

With Miami trying to show improvement off a 5-7 2022 season, now the team needs to recover from the loss and beat some really good ACC teams moving forward.

“This is not a built program, a complete team,” Ferman said. “Their depth is very tenuous. I think they just have to take it one week at a time, keep trying to get better and see where it takes them.”

A lot of what happens in the next few weeks will show if this supposed player-led team is ready to bounce back from this disappointment.

“You want this to be a season of progress,” Ferman said. “This could be either way now.

“Go beat North Carolina, Clemson, get back into this thing, show you are having a season of progress that it looked like you were having. … But I don’t think Mario Cristobal will forget anytime soon.”