‘We have to finish strong’: Hurricanes aim to finish on high note with Black Friday trip to Boston College

Miami’s season has not gone to plan. After beating Texas A&M in Week 2 and starting the season 4-0, it looked like the Hurricanes were going to challenge for an ACC title in Year 2 of the Mario Cristobal era.

Doomed by a decision not to take a knee and by poor offense, Miami has won only two games in ACC play. The Hurricanes (6-5, 2-4 ACC) have clinched bowl eligibility but not much else. But there is still plenty to play for in Friday’s regular-season finale at Boston College (6-5, 3-4 ACC): bowl selection, pride and momentum heading into its bowl game and the 2024 season.

“I feel like we’d have a better taste in our mouth,” running back Mark Fletcher Jr. said. “Obviously, we wanted to have a better record. But that’s all in the past now. We want to finish strong. It’s going to be a great game, tough battle. Boston College, they’re a great team. We’re just going to have to put everything together to finish this last one. We know what we’re capable of, and we have to finish strong.”

Boston College is not the pushover many people expected it to be this year. Projected to finish second-to-last in the ACC before the year, the Eagles are bowl eligible and a win away from finishing the season with a .500 conference record. The Eagles’ running game has carried them, thanks in large part to speedy quarterback Thomas Castellanos.

Castellanos has racked up 827 rushing yards this year and leads the team with 10 scores on the ground.

“He’s not only mobile, he’s little, so it’s hard to see him,” Miami defensive coordinator Lance Guidry said. “He’s about 5-9, 5-10, he hides behind his linemen well. He’s a football player, for sure. He runs the ball really well. He can throw the ball. It starts with their offensive line, though. They’re big. They’re going to get multiple offensive linemen on the line of scrimmage and try to bully us around a little bit.”

The logistics of the game also make things a little odd. The Hurricanes have a short week, coming off a heartbreaking Saturday loss to Louisville. The Eagles have a long week after losing to Pittsburgh on Thursday, giving them more than a week to get healthy and prepare for UM.

The game is at noon on Black Friday, coming one day after Thanksgiving. Cristobal said the team will celebrate the holiday together on Wednesday before flying to Boston on Thursday.

“We don’t want to tryptophan ourselves out up there,” Cristobal said. “On Wednesday, we’ll do what resembles a Thanksgiving meal. We’re very grateful for the things that we have. At the end of the day, that’s the biggest challenge is making sure we all play for that U that’s on (the chairs in the meeting room). That’s what we all signed up for, and we have to show gratitude for that. And the best way to show it is by the way we play, by the way we go to class, by the way we earn our diploma, by being real.”

The weather could also present a challenge once the team gets to Massachusetts. Temperatures are expected to be in the mid-40s in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The Hurricanes, with a roster full of South Floridians, will avoid the chillier weather expected Friday night and Saturday, but it is still colder than many of the UM players are used to.

“We tell them how it’s going to be, and the one thing I’ve always told kids — and this strikes home most of the time — is everybody wants to play in the NFL, right? What if Green Bay drafts you? You’re not going to play?” offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “So you better find a way and be mentally tough enough to play in every climate because if you want to play at that level, anybody can take you and then if you want to play late in the season at that level, you’re going to have to play in some cold games.”

Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke is one of the few Miami players who has experience playing in the cold up in New England. The Connecticut native, who was reinserted as the Hurricanes’ starter for the Louisville game, said he does not expect the temperature to be a big factor.

“I told some people as long as it’s not windy, everybody will be pretty warm,” Van Dyke said. “It’s a 12 o’clock game, it’ll be like 47, around 50, degrees. As long as the sun’s out and it’s not windy, we should be alright.”