Miami’s surprise at Syracuse sets up ACC title game: Reeling Clemson vs. red-hot SMU

It turns out that the email the ACC sent out on Black Friday (and quickly deleted) selling early tickets to a Clemson-SMU matchup in next week’s league championship game in Charlotte accurately predicted what would happen last day of the regular season would happen in the conference’s wild title race.

With a 42-38 come-from-behind victory over No. 6 Miami, Syracuse knocked the Hurricanes out of the ACC Championship Game and topped No. 12 Clemson, which lost 17-14 to rival South Carolina the previous Saturday his third defeat. It was Syracuse’s first win against a top-10 opponent since 2017.

The Tigers, who have won eight league titles, will face ACC newcomer No. 9 SMU (11-1) at Bank of America Stadium. The Mustangs completed a perfect ACC season with a 38-6 win over Cal on Saturday afternoon and entered Saturday night with an 89 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to projections The athletic oneThis is Austin Mock.

Canes’ wild ride is cut short by Orange

Miami (10-2) will likely spend the offseason lamenting what could have happened if its defense had stepped up quarterback Cam Ward against fellow transfer Kyle McCord and the Orange (9-3). McCord threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns and handed the ball off to LeQuint Allen for what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown run with 9:16 left.

Miami took a 21-0 lead after two Ward touchdown passes and a 2-yard touchdown run by Mark Fletcher. But Syracuse quickly erased the problem, tying the score at 21-21 with McCord’s second touchdown pass of the game 39 seconds into the second half.

The teams traded touchdowns before Syracuse’s Devin Grant recovered a fumble by receiver Miami tied it at 35 with a two-yard touchdown run by Damien Martinez with 13:02 left.

In the final minutes, Miami drove into the red zone but was forced back due to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against receiver Jacoby George. Facing a fourth-and-goal from 10th base, the Hurricanes elected for a field goal to cut the deficit to 42-38, but never got the ball back.

Miami will now have to wait and see if the College Football Playoff committee will show them mercy and keep them in the 12-team field. The loss dropped the Hurricanes’ chances of making the playoffs to 20 percent, according to projections The athletic oneThis is Austin Mock. — Manny Navarro

Cristobal’s regrettable decision

Miami’s best offensive player had a chance to tie the game late, but instead of keeping the ball in Ward’s hands and playing fourth down at the Orange 10, head coach Mario Cristobal decided to send out kicker Andy Borregales for a 27-yard field- Goal and brought his defense back onto the field.

It’s a decision Cristobal will likely regret all season. He should. The Hurricanes couldn’t stop McCord in the second half. Syracuse scored on three of its first four drives without much resistance. If not for a forced fumble by freshman linebacker Bobby Pruitt at the Miami 17 with 3:49 left in the third quarter, the Orange likely would have scored at least a field goal on their third possession.

Miami rushed for a season-high 479 yards. Syracuse finished 7 of 10 on third-down conversions. Miami was also flagged nine times for 90 yards, including five times on defense for 50 yards. On the final drive of the game, an offsides penalty on second-and-4 gave Syracuse another string of losses within the two-minute warning, all but sealing Miami’s fate. — Navarro

Clemson’s rollercoaster day

At least one South Carolina fan wanted Clemson to reach next week’s ACC Championship game.

“No disrespect to Miami, but I’m the biggest Syracuse fan in the world,” Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer said Saturday afternoon. “I hope Syracuse wins the game and Clemson can also win an ACC (title) next week.”

Beamer, whose team had just won an emotional rivalry win against Clemson, got his wish.

And so did the Tigers.

In what appears to be a near-impossible scenario, after Beamer’s South Carolina team rode star quarterback LaNorris Sellers to a 17-14 victory at Death Valley, three-loss Clemson is still in the college football hunt -Playoffs alive. Beat SMU next week and Clemson has a chance to clinch an automatic berth in the 12-team playoff field as one of the five top-seeded conference champions. Austin Mock’s latest projections have the Tigers having a 62 percent chance of winning the ACC and reaching the CFP.

Welcome to CFP expansion at its finest.

“I’ll watch what happens, but whatever God has for us, he has for us and that’s how I see it,” a dejected Dabo Swinney said earlier Saturday when asked if he would consider the second Halftime would watch the Hurricanes and Orange. “We’ll find out our next step here soon.”

The Tigers had to beat South Carolina to clinch a spot at the table for an at-large bid, and Swinney spoke at his postgame news conference like a coach ready to accept reality: His team had blown its chance and would begin to look forward to next year. Swinney said his team won’t get together to watch Syracuse-Miami – “Everyone’s mad.”

“We had a good year. We could have had a great year,” Swinney said, speaking as if his season was all but over. “But you have to win this game to have a great year.”

Maybe not.

The Tigers now turn their attention to an SMU team that has only suffered one loss this season, against BYU in September. Quarterbacks Cade Klubnik and Kevin Jennings will be the focus as the Tigers’ season hangs in the balance – for real this time.

“We have one more game and a chance to hopefully finish with a win, a 10th win and another postseason win and build on that,” Swinney said early Saturday afternoon, not knowing how true those words would ring a few hours later . “A lot of football ahead of us.” — Grace Raynor

(Photo: Bryan M. Bennett / Getty Images)