If this game was a fancy four course meal it would have started out with the greatest soup ever. Seinfeld Soup Nazi level soup. You'd be content with eating nothing but this soup for the rest of your life. Then the second course comes around and the waiter serves you a salad topped with a giant heap of dog crap. Literally. But you eat it because, well, you figure that soup was so great, surely the chef can redeem himself. Nope. Third course, dog shit on noddles. Then the fourth course is week-old frozen pizza. Not the greatest thing, but dear Lord it is a welcome relief. Then the chef surprises you with a delicious sundae topped in the world's richest fudge, the juiciest cherries, with chunks of warm brownies mixed in, and it's so amazing you totally forgot you had just eaten two courses of dog crap.
The first quarter was (with one serious caveat) pure football nirvana. Stephen Morris chucked the ball to Phillip Dorsett for a 65-yard touch down within the first minute. After trading fruitless possessions, the 'Canes picked up a field goal and then a Tech player fucked up the punt return into a safety. Things were going so great for the 'Canes in the first quarter than the Yellow Jackets were literally scoring against themselves. The 'Canes then tacked on another TD to take the lead at 19-0 in the first quarter. Unfortunately, Malcolm Lewis suffered a pretty nasty ankle dislocation in the midst of all of this, and was carted off the field. Aside from that serious bummer, you couldn't have asked for a better quarter of football.
But, we're Miami Hurricanes fans and we can't have nice things. Not only did the team go completely scoreless in the second quarter, but they managed to let the Yellow Jackets take the lead. Yes, apparently Georgia Tech had the audacity to ask for a better quarter of football and the football gods gave it to them. The football gods, a fumble, and Miami's shifty D that is.
The dog shit menu continued into the third. Tech at one point ran the lead up to 36-19. Miami only managed to answer with a field goal.
The fourth quarter perfectly illustrated why ACC football may not be the prettiest or the most elite, but holy crap can it be exciting. You saw Miami overcoming a 14-0 deficit against Boston College in week one. You saw Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech's overtime shootout that same week. And you saw it here. Yeah, it's generally because these teams tend to have flashes of brilliance mixed in with serious flaws, but that often makes for heart pounding entertainment.
The time-out called right before what would have been a touchdown. The missed field goal. Then, the beautiful drive down the field for that sweet, sweet tying touchdown with just 30 seconds to go.
In overtime, the D stuffed Tech at the two-yard line, and Mike James ran the ball in for what looked like a deceptively easy touchdown. Hurricanes win! Slurp up that hot fudge.
Yes, the ACC may be a hot mess, but right now we're improbably sitting atop that hot mess. The Hurricanes are the first ACC team to rack up two conference wins, and both of those were on the road. Despite that loss to Kansas State, the 'Canes could yet make a serious statement this season, and the Coastal Division is still wide open for the taking.
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