When will the The U, the Miami Hurricanes football team, be back? That's a question that's been repeatedly ask for two decades now. The Hurricanes haven't won a National Championship since 2001, where they displayed the greatest college football team imaginable on the field. Although they returned to title game the next season against Ohio State, a late drawn penalty flag in the endzone essentially cost them the game. It's all gone into a downward spiral since then. After the Hurricanes left the Big East for the ACC in 2004, Miami football has only produced one 10-win season in that time and over half that number in head coaches. With last season being one of the worst for the Hurricanes yet, finishing 5-7 and losing to Middle Tennessee State of all teams, head coach Mario Cristobal will have a lot to prove in year two. So, lets get into some bold predictions.

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3. Tyler Van Dyke will have a comeback year

Let's face it, there was nothing good about Miami football last year. Nothing. Last year's Hurricanes squad was virtually unwatchable from every facet, including the quarterback position. Before the 2022 season began, Tyler Van Dyke was on the Heisman watch-list–he soon fell off similar to everyone on the early Cristobal bandwagon. Van Dyke finished his 2021 season with almost 3,000 yards in 10 games, with 25 touchdowns to six interceptions. Last year, in only nine games due to a shoulder injury, he threw for just over 1,800 yards and only 10 touchdowns to five interceptions.

You can chalk injury up to a lot of that, sure. But the fact is, no one in the Miami building down in Coral Gables is sad that former offensive coordinator Josh Gattis is gone. Even though Miami has went through a fair share of coordinators and head coaches in the past, the Gattis hire may be one of the worst, as from a scheming and cultural standpoint, nothing clicked between him and anything Miami football related.

Van Dyke seemed to enjoy more of the freedom and Air-Raid style from previous coordinator and now head coach of SMU, Rhett Lashley in 2021. Cristobal, a former offensive lineman, is known for his big man up front, running the rock offense. However, it says a lot about his hire of Shannon Dawson out of Houston. Dawson runs more of a Air-Raid attack offense, which most likely be more fitting to the Miami athletes, including Van Dyke himself. Look for Van Dyke to thrive once again in 2023, making the All-ACC team.

2. Miami football will be better, but still not great

If you're a Miami Hurricanes football fan, you're probably thinking–We can only go up from here, right? Nothing is for certain in sports but it could be worse. I just don't think it will get worse. Winning only five games is the worst a Hurricanes football team has finished since 2007. They followed that season up two wins better. The Hurricanes currently have a projected win total at 7.5, according to FanDuel. This seems fair.

With the way that college football is constructed now, particularly with the transfer portal, a team can change their identity completely from one season to the next. Miami brought in the seventh best ranked transfer portal class, according to 247 Sports. Some of those notable additions are center Matt Lee from UCF, OL Javion Cohen from Alabama, and CB Jaden Davis from Oklahoma. This is not to mention that Cristobal also brought in the 2023 seventh best recruiting class in the nation.

Miami will be young in some areas and they'll still have some question marks in positions like at linebacker, but this team will be much improved. It just won't live up to high standard that most Miami fans are expecting. I can't see another five-win season in 2023. I believe they'll surprise some people, getting eight wins, which will be phenomenal after the way last season panned out.

1. Mario Cristobal will win ACC Coach of the Year

If Miami can get to eight wins — which, again, would be phenomenal considering how abysmal last season was — Cristobal should win ACC Coach of the Year. But getting eight wins with the Hurricanes 2023 schedule won't be easy. The Hurricanes will have an entire first month of the season in September to get all their non-conference games out of the way, including a showdown with Texas A&M at home and a random visit to Lincoln Financial Field to face Temple. After that, they hit the ground running deep into ACC play.

Facing North Carolina in Chapel Hill, followed by Clemson at home the very next week will be brutal in late October. The most difficult part of the schedule still may be in November, however, where they'll likely face three ranked teams in NC State, Florida State and Louisville. They'll end the season where no Miami, hot-weathered person would want to be at in late November: Boston College.

If Cristobal can show through all the recruiting and changing of his staff that he did this offseason and prove he has a much improved Miami team that can make it through that sort of schedule, then surely he'll win ACC Coach of the Year. Duke's Mike Elko took home the award last year with an 8-4 record. Cristobal can do the same. His biggest competition will in Florida State's Mike Norvell, who would definitely take home the honors if the Seminoles won the ACC.