Miami Hurricanes’ chance to clear the playoffs is getting narrow each week. The team that started the season with a solid championship hope and kept living up to that mark until a spoiled day against Georgia Tech on Saturday now has to worry about a playoff spot. Unbelievable, right? But then, it’s football, and this is how unpredictability takes over here within a week. The Georgia win left Miami with a No. 12 spot in multiple polls, marking an 8-step setback from the previous. But the painful first loss of the season can be just a wake-up call for the coveted team instead of a kiss of death if they continue to win the rest of their schedules. Joel Clatt issues the ultimatum ahead of their game against Wake Forest.

”They didn’t have any margin for error in any of these games, and now, as a team, they have no margin for error because they better win the rest of their games and go to the ACC championship game and win it because one more loss and they’re not going to the playoff. I told you earlier there is likely going to be a 10 and two SEC team that is left out that 10 and two SEC the team is going to have a better resume than a two-loss ACC conference Championship Game loser. That’s just the case. That’s the facts of the matter, so Miami is up against it,” said Clatt, indicating a ranking bias ahead of the Hurricanes’ victory path.

But this is not just for their Georgia woes. Even when they were unbeaten, they tied the record with SMU. ”So they’ve put themselves in quite a bind prior to this when they were undefeated and sharing that undefeated, you know, rank with SMU in the ACC,’‘ Clatt added. Mustangs are the only undefeated left in the ACC and will look to hold on to that tag against Boston College and Virginia in the upcoming weeks.

But regardless of Miami’s fall from the grace, the road to the championship seems to be murkier than all the teams involved. For Mario Cristobal, it is certainly a pressure situation since they headed to the season as a top favorite and didn’t face any hitch on the road until last week. But let’s get it clear: the Hurricanes are still very much in the game.

Given that Miami won’t play against Clemson or SMU, they will only have to avoid a second upset on the road. If the hypothesis comes true, they are still in control of their own destiny. Mario Cristobal, however, is ready to take full responsibility for how they let their undefeated run be ruined, surrendering to a bad day.

Mario Cristobal is aware of his duty ahead of the narrow playoff lane ahead

Miami is 4-0 against their common opponents, while the Tigers run a step behind with their recent loss to Louisville. So, as per the percentage game, if both Miami and Clemson come out victorious in the rest of their tests, the Hurricanes will win the tiebreaker and hit the ACC title game. But that didn’t make their in-between hustle any easier. To reach this point, Miami needs to focus on its past mistakes leisurely without any excuses or complaints.

The coach is quite ready. He will look to make full use of their bye week to better reflect on where things went wrong during their Georgia disaster and chalked the master plan for the next weeks. The fight ahead is undoubtedly tricky but not impossible. Cam Ward’s usual Heisman energy can be instrumental in the chase, but it won’t do alone. the sloppy defense needs to be taken care of making room for Ward to go for his best.

The good thing is Mario Cristobal knows the bottom line. ”It’s time to buckle up, it’s time to be a grown-a– man and to go to work,”. The coach can make peace with the Georgia loss only if it makes them ‘‘feel sick to the point where it drives us to be better because certainly that was not our best football.”