Cote: Miracle comebacks run out as unbeaten No. 4 Miami Hurricanes fall at Georgia Tech | Opinion

The Miami Hurricanes’ reliance on comebacks this season -- it was getting ridiculous, getting magical, getting dangerous. This was the perfect season that felt fragile, built on miracles.

Saturday, the miracles ran out and the perfection ended.

It ended in Atlanta with Georgia Tech fans storming the field as their Yellow Jackets beat No. 4-ranked Miami, 28-23, the first blemish on a Canes season 9-0 going in.

It was neither an unlucky loss, nor a fortunate win.

Georgia Tech led from the second quarter on and dominated possession with a brute-force offense that mauled what had been a pretty solid UM run defense for 271 yards rushing. The final score was a just one. If anything the score flattered Miami, because this felt a little like an a-- kicking.

“They played better and coached better than we did,” UM coach Mario Cristobal put it simply.

He was just getting started. There was no sugar-coating this.

“Extremely disappointing,” he said. “The routine stuff we’re good at doing did not show up. We gotta own every bit of it. We took one on the chin. This was not our best football; nowhere near it. It’s infuriating. There’s no deflecting it. It will hurt on that plane [traveling home]. Eat it. Buckle up. Be a grown-ass man and go to work. It hurts. it stinks. It’s a really, really tough loss we brought upon ourselves.”

Miami entered the day well-positioned to make the ACC Championship Game as a favorite and to enter the College Football Playoff with high rank. Now? The dream has not died, just been battered.

UM by winning out vs. Wake Forest and at Syracuse still will be a good bet -- almost certain -- for the ACC title game. The CFP ranking will drop but Miami at 9-1 will surely remain positioned to be in the 12-team playoff. (No panicked overreaction, please: If UM wins its last two regular season games and the ACC title, it’s in. One more loss ... then panic.)

Miami’s was not the only top-tier misery in college football Saturday, as No. 3 Georgia fell hsrd ast Ole Miss.

I figured this would be Miami’s toughest remaining game and saw why. The betting line dropping from Canes favored by 11 1/2 points to 9 1/2 by kickoff reflected wagers flowing in on the underdogs.

Georgia Tech also beat Miami last year (23-20) when the Canes were ranked No. 17. Saturday hurt so much worse.

This was the sixth game in 10 that Miami had trailed., the fourth game they had trailed by 10 or more in the second half -- and the first they had failed to summon a Cam Ward miracle.

Miami also had trailed this season in games against South Florida, Virginia Tech, Cal, Louisville and Duke before Saturday. Deficits were 10 or more points vs. Va-Tech, Cal and Duke, all overcome. But not this time.

Ominous signs came fast.

Tech’s Jamal Haynes cracked UM’s defense for a 65-yard run and soon after a 16-yard scoring run for a quick 7-0 Canes hole.

But just as fast Ward hit Elijah Arroyo for a 74-yard touchdown pass and a 7-7 tie. Ward’s 30th TD pass set a single-season UM record.

Miami briefly led 10-7 on a 41-yard field goal before Tech scored on a 5-yard pass for a 14-10 lead the Jackets wore into halftime. They wold never trail again.

Georgia Tech’s first two scoring drives were 85 and 75 yards as the home team used 189 yards on the ground to dominate first half time of possession, 18:17 to 11:43, and help keep Miami’s high-powered offense on the sideline.

Ward, chasing a Heisman Trophy as his team chases a perfect season, was a pedestrian 9-for-18 in the half for a modest (for him) 133 air yards.

He would end up with big stats: 25 for 39 for 348 yards and three TDs. Those numbers won’t hurt his Heisman candidacy as much as the loss will, but Ward did not play great. He was sacked three times and hounded often. His accuracy was off at times.

Tech grew its lead to 21-10 when Miami scored on Isaiah Horton’s 8-yard TD catch followed by a missed two-point attempt to make it 21-16.

The pressure on UM really ratcheted up with a 28-16 deficit followed by as UM possession that included a TD pass negated by a holding penalty in a series that ended with a sack on fourth down.

There was hope for yet another miracle by the Cardiac Canes when Xavier Restrepo’s 38-yard scoring play made it 28-23 with 6:07 left, and then UM forced a Tech punt..

But Ward then lost a fumble on a strip-sack. The Yellow Jackets then went kneel-kneel to end the game as Miami’s perfect season also took a knee.

The Hurricanes have a week off now to reflect, and learn.

In 2017 the Canes were 10-0 under coach Mark Richt and then flamed out with three straight losses.

This team has a chance to absorb this loss, win out, win the ACC crown and be a major factor in the CFP. Will it? Can it?

“We have a bye week with everything in front of us to play for,” said Cristobal. “This loss needs to hurt us badly, and it needs to drive us.”