National outlet sets ceiling and floor for what Miami Hurricanes can reach in 2024, and it seems they hit the nail on the head
The Miami Hurricanes are looking to take a step forward from what nearly was a special season in 2024. However, despite an offense that featured a pair of First Team All-Americans in Cam Ward and Xavier Restrepo and a host of other NFL talent, the Canes fell short of their goal of reaching the College […]
The Miami Hurricanes are looking to take a step forward from what nearly was a special season in 2024. However, despite an offense that featured a pair of First Team All-Americans in Cam Ward and Xavier Restrepo and a host of other NFL talent, the Canes fell short of their goal of reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time ever after dropping their season finale at Syracuse 42-38.
Now, Ward, Restrepo, and a bunch of starters, particularly on offense, are gone, and Mario Cristobal will have to figure out how to get back to double-digit wins without them in 2025.
So, just how good – and bad – could this season be for the Hurricanes? CBS Sports college football writer Chip Patterson did a series of best- and worst-case records for each ACC team, and he sees a high ceiling and a reasonable floor for Miami.
This is what Patterson had to say about the Canes' best- and worst-case scenarios in 2025:
"Best case 11-1: Carson Beck returns to full health and assumes the NFL-ready form he displayed before the injury in a quarterback-friendly offense that helped propel Cam Ward to the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. New coordinator Corey Heatherman helps Miami's defense limit explosive plays and the Hurricanes make their first-ever appearance in the CFP.
Worst case 8-4: The Hurricanes not only fail to capitalize on the big moments against Notre Dame and SMU, but drop a couple more games to leave Miami feeling wholly unsatisfied given the level of talent on this roster. It speaks to the recruiting efforts of this staff that 8-4 is a floor projection, but for a program that has not hit its ceiling in a while Miami is much more focused on maximizing what it's got in house."
I think those are very fair and accurate marks as far as where the season could realistically go for Miami.
Fortunately for them, their defense should be better than pull-a-college-student-out-the-stands-and-put-them-in-the-secondary performance they got last year in Lance Guidry's defense. Guidry is gone, and the Canes have made some major changes on defense, hiring Minnesota DC Corey Hetherman to run the defense, adding Florida safeties coach Will Harris, and landing some important players in the transfer portal in Wisconsin CB Xavier Lucas, Washington State CB Ethan O'Connor, and Jacksonville State DB Zechariah Poyser, among others.
Offensively, Shannon Dawson has a new signal caller to run his offense in former Georgia QB Carson Beck. If Miami can get some new faces at WR to emerge – and they have a list of talented candidates in Jojo Trader, Ray Ray Joseph, CJ Daniels, and Malachi Toney – the drop off from Miami's offense from 2024 to 2025 might not be as giant as some might think.
The Canes' season will largely come down to splitting against Notre Dame and Florida at home in the non-conference, holding serve at home against both pesky Louisville and Syracuse, and winning at least 3 of 4 road conference road games at FSU, SMU, Virginia Tech, and Pitt – the latter two coming in cold late November.
If Miami manages to do that, they should be right in the thick of the ACC and CFP races by the end of the season. But with that schedule and so many talented but unproven players entering the fold, neither 11-1 nor 8-4 would be too much of a surprise.
