With Saturday’s result, Miami’s record drops to 9-1 this season, and the school will likely fall from the No. 4 spot in the next set of College Football Playoff rankings.
Georgia Tech opened the matchup with a four-play, 85-yard touchdown drive, and the Hurricanes quickly realized that their opponent wasn’t going to make things easy for them.
Miami was able to immediately respond on the very next drive when Ward connected with Hurricanes tight end Elijah Arroyo for a 74-yard touchdown.
A 41-yard field goal by Miami kicker Andres Borregales at the end of the Hurricanes’ second offensive drive of the contest gave them a 10-7 lead over the Yellow Jackets midway through the first quarter.
But that’s when things began to change for Georgia Tech.
Following that made field-goal attempt by Borregales, the Yellow Jackets went on a 21-6 scoring run that resulted in them having a 28-16 lead in the middle of the fourth quarter.
A Ward 38-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Xavier Restrepo cut Miami’s deficit to five points with less than seven minutes to go in the game. But that would turn out to be the final scoring drive of the day for the Hurricanes.
Ward actually had another outstanding performance on Saturday, as he finished the matchup with 348 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
His standing in this season’s Heisman Trophy race should still be intact, but his fumble in the fourth quarter proved to be just enough for Georgia Tech to hand Miami its first loss of the year.
The Hurricanes would have probably been able to prevent the upset on Saturday if not for their defense literally getting run over by the Yellow Jackets’ rushing attack.
Georgia Tech finished Saturday’s matchup with a whopping 271 rushing yards, which allowed them to control the clock and keep the football out of the hands of Ward and the rest of Miami’s explosive offense.
The Hurricanes’ run defense was a problem earlier in the season against Virginia Tech (allowed 206 yards on the ground), but Miami was still able to escape that contest with a four-point win.
Obviously, the same outcome didn’t happen for the Hurricanes on Saturday, and now it’s fair to wonder if their run defense will ultimately prevent them from winning a national championship this season.
