There is little doubt about the team to beat in the ACC.
No. 3 Miami capitalized on three Florida State turnovers in a 28-22 win over the No. 18 Seminoles on Saturday evening that wasn’t as shut as the last rating would point out for a lot of the sport.
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The Hurricanes led 14-3 at the half earlier than Carson Beck discovered Malachi Toney open in the center of the area on fourth down. Toney then outran everybody else into the finish zone for a 40-yard TD.
On Florida State’s subsequent drive, QB Tommy Castellanos considerably underthrew a deep ball to the finish zone and Jakobe Thomas made the interception.
Eight performs later, FSU had no actual hope of coming again when WR CJ Daniels scored his second TD of the day on a 24-yard go from Beck. The Seminoles mounted a futile comeback in the fourth quarter with 19 unanswered factors, however the sport was up to now out of attain earlier than then that there was no actual drama.
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Beck picked aside the Florida State protection and had extra touchdowns than incompletions via the first three quarters. He completed the sport 20-of-27 passing for 240 yards and 4 TDs.
Castellanos, in the meantime, threw two interceptions. His first got here in the second quarter as Florida State trailed 7-3.
A play later, Miami ran a flea-flicker and Beck hit Toney for a 44-yard rating.
Castellanos transferred to FSU from Boston College after the 2024 season and was a spark in the Seminoles’ win over Alabama as he threw for 152 yards and rushed for 78 yards and a TD in the Week 1 victory.
He hasn’t been almost pretty much as good in ACC play, nonetheless. Every week in the past in FSU’s double-overtime loss to (*18*), Castellanos was 18-of-32 passing for 254 yards with a landing and two interceptions.
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Beck, in the meantime, seems to be like the Heisman frontrunner he was speculated to be in 2024 at Georgia. After a tough sport towards Florida, Beck has now thrown for 11 touchdowns and three interceptions whereas finishing roughly 75% of his passes.
He’s received quite a lot of assist from receivers like Toney and Daniels. Toney has been one among the most dynamic freshmen in faculty soccer and Daniels has been a direct affect participant in his first season with the Hurricanes after transferring from LSU.
As Beck changed Heisman finalist and No. 1 NFL Draft choose Cam Ward at QB, Miami additionally had an enormous void at receiver with the departures of Xavier Restrepo, Isaiah Horton and Jacolby George. The place may have been a query mark. Instead, it’s a energy.
The protection has been spectacular too. Opponents are averaging simply over 4 yards per play after Miami gave up 5.3 yards a play a season in the past. The protection was susceptible at key factors throughout the season in 2024 and was a giant motive why Miami didn’t make the playoff.
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This season, opponents have scored simply six touchdowns in 5 video games.
At this charge, the largest query remaining in the ACC is who will be a part of the Hurricanes in the convention title sport. Right now, the two favorites to play Miami are (*18*) and Georgia Tech. Neither team performs the Hurricanes in the common season and have believable paths to the title sport.
The Cavaliers moved to 5-1 general and have become the first team to get to 3-0 in the ACC with an extra time win at Louisville on Saturday. (*18*) does not have a ranked team remaining on its schedule and simply a kind of groups (Cal) has fewer than two losses.
Georgia Tech has already taken down Clemson and is the solely different undefeated team in the convention. Like (*18*), the Yellow Jackets have only one convention sport remaining towards a team with fewer than two losses.
(*3*)