Breaking News: Isaiah  Taylor announce his departure and decommit from Miami hurricanes…

Breaking News: Isaiah  Taylor announce his departure and decommit from Miami hurricanes…Miami fires DC Lance Guidry after late-season defensive woes

Miami fired defensive coordinator Lance Guidry on Tuesday after late-season defensive woes effectively cost the Hurricanes a chance to play for a conference championship.

 

Guidry spent two seasons on the Miami staff after arriving from Marshall. While Miami showed growth in the early part of the season, the Hurricanes regressed in the final month, including a 42-38 loss to Syracuse in the regular-season finale with an ACC championship game berth on the line.

 

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Miami blew a 21-0 lead and finished the regular season with losses in two of its final three games and failed to advance to Charlotte to play for the conference title. Miami finished two spots outside the final CFP spot.

 

Then, in a 42-41 Pop-Tarts Bowl loss to Iowa State, Miami blew a 10-point third-quarter lead — allowing the Cyclones to score the go-ahead touchdown with 56 seconds remaining.

 

 

In a statement, coach Mario Cristobal said, “In a continuous effort to always improve all aspects of our program, I have decided to make a change on defense. We will move forward and make decisions that provide our players, staff and program the best opportunity to win and develop at the highest paid.

 

Jack Sawyer’s scoop-and-score lands Ohio State in CFP final play.

ARLINGTON, Texas — As the confetti fell around him, Jack Sawyer raised his arms, lifted his head and closed his eyes. As a boy growing up in a Columbus suburb playing catch with his dad in the backyard wearing a scarlet and gray jersey, Sawyer had often dreamed that one day he might become an Ohio State hero with an iconic moment that would go down in Buckeyes history.

 

On Friday night, playing against the Texas Longhorns in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, that moment finally happened.

 

 

On fourth-and-goal with just over two minutes remaining, Texas needed one play to tie the score and potentially force overtime. Instead, Sawyer ended the Longhorns’ season and catapulted the Buckeyes to the CFP National Championship game, where they will face Notre Dame.

Sawyer screamed past right tackle Cameron Williams and sailed toward Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, his freshman-year roommate at Ohio State. As he crashed into Ewers’ back, the ball popped loose. Off one bounce, Sawyer scooped it up and raced 83 yards for a touchdown that won’t be forgotten in Columbus.

 

“I almost blacked out when I saw nothing but green grass ahead of me,” he said.

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With that play, the Buckeyes defeated Texas 28-14. And Sawyer cemented an Ohio State legacy.

 

“To make a play like that in that moment. … You want to leave a legacy behind? You become a legend. He just became a legend at Ohio State,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day told ESPN on the field after the game.

The longing for just that moment is why Sawyer put off the NFL to come back for his senior season. After three losses to Michigan with no Big Ten championships or national titles, Sawyer and several other Ohio State seniors who could have been Day 1 or 2 NFL draft picks opted to return for “one last ride,” as he put it.

Their disappointing 2023 season ended with a deflating loss to Missouri in the same Cotton Bowl stadium. Sawyer said he just couldn’t stomach ending his Ohio State career that way.

 

“I wanted to go to the NFL and chase my dream more than the next guy,” Sawyer told ESPN over the summer. “But I haven’t won a championship. And you walk around the Woody [Hayes Athletic Center] and all you see is championships and championship posters and banners. Having not helped our team win any of those, it’s something that wears on me and it’s something that motivates me every day.”

 

Sawyer nearly had that moment six weeks ago. Yet, in a turn, what followed was a career low point for him and the Buckeyes.

He intercepted Michigan quarterback Davis Warren at the goal line midway through the fourth quarter. But with the score tied, the Buckeyes couldn’t capitalize on the turnover. On their ensuing possession, the Wolverines nailed a game-winning field goal for ARLINGTON, Texas — As the confetti fell around him, Jack Sawyer raised his arms, lifted his head and closed his eyes. As a boy growing up in a Columbus suburb playing catch with his dad in the backyard wearing a scarlet and gray jersey, Sawyer had often dreamed that one day he might become an Ohio State hero with an iconic moment that would go down in Buckeyes history.

 

On Friday night, playing against the Texas Longhorns in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, that moment finally happened.

 

 

On fourth-and-goal with just over two minutes remaining, Texas needed one play to tie the score and potentially force overtime. Instead, Sawyer ended the Longhorns’ season and catapulted the Buckeyes to the CFP National Championship game, where they will face Notre Dame.

Sawyer screamed past right tackle Cameron Williams and sailed toward Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, his freshman-year roommate at Ohio State. As he crashed into Ewers’ back, the ball popped loose. Off one bounce, Sawyer scooped it up and raced 83 yards for a touchdown that won’t be forgotten in Columbus.

“I almost blacked out when I saw nothing but green grass ahead of me,” he a stunning 13-10 victory, handing the Buckeyes — and Sawyer — their fourth straight loss in the series.