After a hard-fought game, the Miami Hurricanes football team lost to the number one ranked Clemson Tigers. The highly anticipated matchup, scheduled as the game of the week, had two Associated Press top 10 teams facing off for the first time this year. Hurricane fans have looked forward to this game since 2017 when they made it to the ACC championship and lost to the Tigers. Since then, Miami has spent the last two years in a rebuilding phase— making this game a revenge game for the Hurricanes. Yet even with a completely new coaching staff, Miami could not clinch the win as they once again became overwhelmed in all aspects of the game, leading to a final score of 17-42. 

The game kicked off to a poor start for both teams, as miscues, turnovers, and even a blocked kick filled the first half. Both teams went to the locker room at halftime, needing to fix big mistakes in order to win. The game being 10-21 at halftime meant that whichever team could fix their problems would most likely win. 

That team was the Clemson Tigers. Despite a quick turnover by Trevor Lawrence to start the half, the Clemson Tigers turned things around. The Tigers offense doubled their points and kept the ball all while Travis Ettiene took over the game. On top of this, the Clemson defense had their best performance of the year as they held the fast striking Miami offense to only 10 points. They also held the Miami Quarterback and possible Heisman Candidate D’Eriq King to 127 yards passing and two interceptions throughout the game, by far his worst performance since transferring to the Miami Hurricanes. 

While this was not a game Miami fans should be hugely proud of, this is not the end of the world for the team. Regardless of where they remain ranked next week, Miami still has a chance to end the season in the top four and make it to the College Football Playoffs. In order for this to happen, they likely have to win out the regular season and win the ACC Championship Game, which will likely pit them against Clemson. This is a challenging, but not impossible plan.

As number two seed Alabama struggled against Ole Miss and number four Florida lost to Mississippi State, every team seems to be showing their weakness at this point of the season except for Clemson. As they continue to dominate on both sides of the ball, the Tigers look miles ahead of everyone else, becoming an easy favorite to win the 2020 national championships. Their dominance much resembles the undefeated 2019 Louisiana State University Tigers, who beat Clemson for the National Championship last year.