Who knows what will happen Saturday at Duke, or if the Miami Hurricanes will even ever get to Duke with the way this bizarre season has transpired.
All University of Miami football coach Manny Diaz knew for sure Monday was that his team would practice at night for the first time in more than two weeks — the initial step in hopefully boarding the plane on Friday that will fly them to Durham, North Carolina, for the 8 p.m. Saturday game that replaced coronavirus-plagued Wake Forest.
"Happy to be back here in game week and be able to talk about a football game," Diaz, whose Canes are No. 10 in the College Football Playoff rankings, told reporters during a virtual news conference Monday afternoon. "A little bit of an unusual Monday for us. We will practice this evening. We're normally a Monday-off team, but we took yesterday off so we'll have maybe an hour-long workout.
"Our players are in the midst of final exams this week which adds another unusual element to a game week. Normally the season is about over at this time. Final exams got moved up because of the academic calendar disruption due to COVID."
The Hurricanes (7-1, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who were off the past two weeks because too many of their players tested positive or were quarantining after contact tracing for the coronavirus, as of Monday had enough players in each position group to be able to travel to Duke (2-7, 1-7), Diaz said. But by now, Diaz, who himself is recuperating from the virus and conceded earlier Monday that not everyone will be available for Duke, knows the only thing on which he can focus is what's right in front of him.
What's true on Monday is often false by Friday.
