The Miami Hurricanes have a lot to prove in the ACC opening game against Virginia

CORAL GABLES – Manny Diaz did the only thing he could after Miami beat an overwhelmed opponent with 10 touchdowns on Saturday, making the game more physical.

But he also threw in a dose of reality.

“A game from last weekend doesn’t fix everything.”

Especially this game.

The destruction of FBS member Central Connecticut State proved nothing. Miami (2-2) is still 0-2 against the only Power 5 opponents (Alabama and Michigan State) on its game plan, which were surpassed with 82-30 points.

If Diaz really wants people to believe the Hurricanes are moving forward, it has to start Thursday at home against Virginia (2-2) in their ACC opener, with or without D’Eriq King, UM’s quarterback, whose status is for Thursday is unknown after he missed the CCSU game due to a right shoulder injury.

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Because when things heat up and Diaz is forced to defend his university over the perception that there is a separation between the administration and the sports department, another home defeat to another P5 team would bring out the pitchforks.

Diaz, in his third year, is trying to achieve something in Miami that no one has ever achieved: win an ACC title.

The Hurricanes joined the league in 2004 and the best thing they did is play in a championship game in 2017 and get embarrassed by Clemson.

“We know what’s at stake in the next eight weeks and we believe we have as good a chance as anyone,” said Diaz.

This is not smoke now. The ACC is clearly the weakest of the Power 5 conferences, currently the only one that realistically has no chance of sending a team into the college football playoffs.

And the Coastal Division, which has had seven different champions over the past seven years, is as open as ever, especially since preseason favorite North Carolina has two Conference losses.

That means that even Miami, despite three nondescript games followed by a glorified scrimmage, has just as good a chance as anyone of ending up in Charlotte on December 4th.

“We can do that,” said cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. “Just going out every day and going in the right direction should give us a great chance.”

But Diaz isn’t worried about December or even next week. He knows the importance of winning the high profile games to his ailing program in order to convince a very frustrated fan base that there is hope.

“We don’t care about anything other than the tangible things in the moment that we have to focus on, be it the physicality, whether it is about protecting the football, taking the football away, or production in the red zone,” said Diaz.

“We’re not going to talk about championship races and conference races. It’s a reward for doing the little things right for the next eight weeks.”

The last time Miami played against a legitimate college football team, it was pre-dominated by Michigan State, missed more tackles than some programs missed in a month, and treated the football like it was covered in fat.

And now Virginia is entering conference losses to North Carolina and Wake Forest one after the other, outperforming it with 96:56.

But Virginia has the ACC’s leading quarterback, Brennan Armstrong, who has thrown 1,705 yards, 13 touchdowns, and only three interceptions.

And Miami could be forced to rely on Tyler Van Dyke and Jake Garcia, two newbies who had their first significant season against Central Connecticut with a King failure.

“If you’re looking around other than two teams in college football, every conference is wide open,” said Diaz. “That’s right in the ACC. There’s an unpredictability after the first pair and we’re not until September.”

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