{"id":48315,"date":"2025-11-30T14:47:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T14:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/48315\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T14:47:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T14:47:14","slug":"miami-eliminated-from-acc-title-game-despite-dominant-win-over-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/48315\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami eliminated from ACC title game despite dominant win over Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">PITTSBURGH \u2014 Miami players left Acrisure Stadium on Saturday afternoon feeling like a team still alive in the ACC race. They had just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2025\/11\/29\/malachi-toneys-big-day-lifts-no-12-miami-over-no-22-pittsburgh-in-38-7-win\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2025\/11\/29\/malachi-toneys-big-day-lifts-no-12-miami-over-no-22-pittsburgh-in-38-7-win\/\">blasted No. 22 Pittsburgh 38-7<\/a>, extended their winning streak to four games and completed one of the most dominant closing stretches in program history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">They did not know that their ACC Championship Game hopes would be gone just hours later. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Following Miami\u2019s win, Duke and Virginia both recorded victories in their evening matchups, results that eliminated the 12th-ranked Hurricanes from the conference title game through a crowded and unforgiving five-way tie for second place. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The ACC Championship Game is officially set: Virginia vs. Duke.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Hurricanes \u2014 who believed they still had a path when they walked off the field \u2014 never got their chance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Miami (10-2, 6-2 ACC) surged into the final weekend with real momentum. The Hurricanes responded to an overtime loss at SMU on Nov. 2 by winning four straight by an average of 27.5 points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">That SMU loss, however, became one of the deciding factors in the tiebreaker that kept the Hurricanes out of the title game. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">It created the five-way knot atop the league standings and eventually left Miami on the wrong side of the ACC\u2019s computer-driven, head-to-head sorting process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Cristobal said before Saturday night\u2019s elimination games that he felt his team had done all it could.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI just think people have got to stop and trying to place value on conferences,\u201d Cristobal said shortly after the win in Pittsburgh. \u201cThere are a lot of really good football teams in all conferences, especially the ACC, and we\u2019ve proven it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">At that point, Cristobal still believed \u2014 correctly \u2014 that Miami remained mathematically alive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">It just didn\u2019t last much longer.<\/p>\n<p>Hurricanes Roll Past Panthers<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Against Pitt, Miami looked every bit like a team surging toward a championship opportunity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Quarterback Carson Beck delivered one of his most efficient performances, completing 23 of 29 passes for 267 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Miami\u2019s defensive front overwhelmed Panthers quarterback Mason Heintschel, producing four sacks and near-constant pressure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">It was also a record-setting day for receiver Malachi Toney. The 18-year-old broke Miami\u2019s freshman records for receptions and receiving yards, eclipsing marks set by Ahmmon Richards in 2016. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Toney finished the regular season with 84 catches for 970 yards and seven touchdowns, added 89 rushing yards and a score, and even threw for two touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The win secured Miami\u2019s second straight 10-win season under Cristobal and pushed the Hurricanes to 4-0 against ranked opponents \u2014 a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 line that would typically put a team in firm championship contention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Virginia dispatched Virginia Tech 27-7 to clinch its spot. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">All eyes then turned to SMU\u2013Cal, where the Mustangs \u2014 who could have forced a different tiebreaker scenario by winning \u2014 missed a potential game-tying field goal at the horn. That opened the door for Duke, which took advantage with a steady, businesslike win to secure the league\u2019s second berth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Cristobal had said earlier Saturday that he believed Miami \u201cpassed the eye test and the field test.\u201d But no amount of dominance late in the season could erase the SMU loss \u2014 the one that came back to haunt Miami most.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s Next: The Playoff Question<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">With their ACC Championship dreams gone, the Hurricanes now have only one remaining path to the College Football Playoff: an at-large bid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">It is a long shot, but not an impossible one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Miami owns a 10-2 record, four ranked wins and a head-to-head victory over No. 6 Notre Dame. Whether that is enough to impress the committee \u2014 particularly without a conference title shot \u2014 will be revealed next week when the 12-team bracket is announced.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com\/ Associatedpress.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Miami players left Acrisure Stadium on Saturday afternoon feeling like a team still alive in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4036,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-48315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-horizontal","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}