Statement game? Miami Hurricanes trying to get to where Clemson consistently stands

Was it a statement win when the Miami Hurricanes' offense exploded against then-ranked Louisville on the road? Or demolishing rival Florida State, 52-10?

Both of those were prime-time ABC Saturday night broadcasts featured on ESPN’s College GameDay, like Saturday’s game between No. 7 Miami and No. 1 Clemson will be, but Louisville and FSU are nothing like the Tigers — winners of two of the last four national titles.

UM coach Manny Diaz downplays the “statement game” notion heading into Clemson’s Death Valley.

“Statement games are only statement games until there’s another statement game,” Diaz said. “That goalpost of whatever statement you’re trying to make always moves, regardless. What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to put ourselves in a position where playing these games is not extraordinary for Miami anymore. That we’re in these types of prime-time matchups, the College GameDay thing, playing a team like Clemson. This is how you build a program to be in these positions and have it feel kind of natural and normal, which is exactly what it does to Clemson.”

There was once a time, in 2017, when Miami made back-to-back “statements” in the regular season, blowout victories over Virginia Tech and Notre Dame on consecutive November Saturday nights to eventually catapult to No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings.

Those Hurricanes were humbled quickly. Getting upset at Pittsburgh in the regular-season finale, they dropped the ACC Championship Game to Clemson, 38-3 and fell out of the playoff to then lose the Orange Bowl game to Wisconsin. What followed was 7-6 in 2018 and 6-7 in 2019 before this 3-0 start.

Diaz notes Clemson “had to earn the right to be there.” Before this consistent run of five consecutive ACC championships, it was called “Clemsoning” to show some flashes, get to the big game and falter like the Tigers used to do against, say, Florida State earlier in coach Dabo Swinney’s tenure leading Clemson.

“They weren’t always this way,” Diaz said. “That was always a thing for them early on. Someone told Clemson that there was a statement game, and they had to sort of move through these same [scenarios] to get to where they are today.”

Diaz also tries to stay away from the hype of what is certainly his biggest game as a head coach.

“It doesn’t really change the job,” he said. “There’s still a football game you have to win on Saturday, and to do that, you have to do the things that it takes to win a football game.”

He quickly shifted the conversation from the magnitude of the moment to things like winning the turnover battle, hitting on explosive plays and converting on third downs and in the red zone.

“I just think for players and coaches alike, no matter the hype that surrounds the game, it’s still just going to be decided by the things that decide football games,” Diaz said. “We just try really hard to focus on doing those things against a team that, again, this is not a big game to Clemson. This is just what they do, and we’ve got to get our program where it’s just the same way. We just go play football against those guys.”

A big X’s and O’s showdown will take place between Miami offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee and Clemson’s esteemed defensive coordinator Brent Venables.

“There’s no question he’s the best defensive coordinator in college football over the past five years, just because of their consistency,” Lashlee said.

Since 2017, only three teams have reached 28 points in a game against Venables' defense and the Tigers.

“That’s incredibly hard to do,” Lashlee said. “You just look every week, and it seems like someone’s scoring 3 or 10. They score 17, you’re like, 'Wow, they must’ve had a really good day on offense. I think it’s his multiplicity. He plays a bunch of different fronts and a bunch of different coverages.”

Diaz hopes to establish a consistency at Miami that transcends recruiting classes, like Clemson has done.

“What you see [at Clemson] is a culture now that’s used to winning, where the leadership of the team is able to pass it down generations,” Diaz said. “When freshmen come, it’s, ‘Hey, this is the way we do things around here.’ You see the stability that they’ve had on their staff, which is immeasurable.”

Having quarterbacks like Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence come through the program also helps.

“We make things sometimes over-complicated, but when you have a guy like that, it gives you a chance to win,” Diaz said. “If you have a guy like that and you play defense like they’re going to play defense, you’re going to have a chance to win every game you play.”

Maybe the addition of Hurricanes signal caller D’Eriq King from Houston can lead UM into its next great quarterback, and, following Clemson’s model, it can continue that way for years to come.

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