CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes are off to their best start since 2017, but you wouldn’t know it by watching them work.
While the No. 9 Hurricanes are 6-1 and winners of three straight games, they are not getting complacent ahead of this week’s game at Virginia Tech (4-3, 4-2 ACC). Kickoff is set for noon on ESPN.
With a win Saturday, the Hurricanes (6-1, 5-1 ACC) would have at least seven wins in their first eight games for the second time in the last four years (2017, 2020).
A victory also keeps the Canes alive in their quest for an appearance in the ACC Championship Game, but Miami knows it cannot get to the conference championship game in December without taking care of business in November.
“That’s what we talked about,” head coach Manny Diaz said. “I told them I called the ACC and asked them what the tiebreaker was and they said, “Go 1-0 this week.’ That’s all we can control. I’m joking of course when I say that, but nothing else matters.
“If we’re sitting around talking about what December is going to look like, we will get beat in November. Our guys have done a pretty good job with that.
“Every week we sort of pull the lens out and we sort of look where the league is and when we’re done talking about it, we don’t talk about it again for the rest of the week and everything goes into beat Virginia Tech, beat Virginia Tech. Winning on the road in the league, that will be enough for us to focus on in one week.”
Miami leads the all-time series, 22-15, and has won four of the last six matchups against the Hokies but beating Virginia Tech is no easy task. Just last season, Miami erased a 28-point deficit, but ultimately fell to VT, 42-35, inside Hard Rock Stadium.
The longtime foes have met every year since 1992 and the Hokies have a slight advantage on their home turf, going 8-7 in games played in Blacksburg, Va. Miami has won two of the last three matchups at Lane Stadium, including a 38-14 win in its last trip to Blacksburg in 2018.
