Early on it had all the makings of something special. The Miami Hurricanes showed up in Lincoln and took it to the Nebraska Cornhuskers right out the gate.
Four quarters later, the way-too-familiar feeling of disappointment was back, with fans left wondering if this ship will ever be righted under this current regime. Another big stage moment wasted in a season where the Canes were primed to take a step forward.
Instead, the textbook definition of insanity; doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results. It’s painful to watch and exhausting to endure.
To Miami’s credit, the offense weathered the storm early and came to play. Rowdy, capacity crowd in a primetime showdown at Memorial Stadium and the Hurricanes’ offense shoved its opening drive directly down the Huskers’ throat.
Miami had bounce in its step—from the heated pre-game circle drill to some late game pushing and shoving. There were moments where things felt right and seemed to be trending upwards, yet in a flash another setback and the reality that things are nowhere near where they need to be.
True freshman quarterback Brad Kaaya continues to grow and show the type of player he’s primed to be come a mere four games into his collegiate career. The first-year starter threw for 359 yards and while there were some rookie mistakes, there’s much to build on.
There’s not a ton to be excited about right now as a Hurricanes enthusiast smarting from yet another big time road loss, but Kaaya is a legitimate bright spot for a program that hasn’t truly had a quality quarterback in over a decade.
Kaaya marched Miami down the field on a 9-play, 75-yard opening drive, spreading the ball around three different receivers before Duke Johnson punched in the two-yard touchdown. The freshman looked poised, sharp and ready to lead.
Unfortunately, the complete opposite on the other side of the ball as the Hurricanes’ defense gave up 81 yards to Nebraska in half the time it took Miami to get its first score.
Frustrating as the loss itself—the fact that the defensive side of the ball hasn’t grown in three years, while the offense is turning things around after in three games.
Second-year offensive coordinator James Coley was painfully conservative at Louisville—effectively costing Miami the game. Coley didn’t trust Kaaya, forced the run when the defense was prepared for it and was shockingly predictable all night.
Fast forward to last weekend’s win over Arkansas State—the gloves were off. Coley finally opened things up. He let Kaaya throw deep and the Hurricanes were gutsy on first and second down, making plays and avoiding third-and-long situations. Speedy receiver Phillip Dorsett scored two 63-yard touchdowns and Miami finally looked electric.
With Nebraska on deck, many feared Coley would revert back to conservative-mode, but stayed on point and kept Miami aggressive offensively, putting the Canes in position to win if the defense did its job.
It didn’t. Not even close.
Mark D’Onofrio—part-time defensive coordinator, part-time punching bag—is going to take a deserved ribbing for this most-recent lack of effort with his unit. Miami gave up 343 net rushing yards, allowed Nebraska to convert 7-of-10 third down attempts, forced one punt all night and had zero tackles for loss.
The Hurricanes’ front seven got zero pressure on the Huskers’ offensive line and were manhandled. Even more frustrating, Miami’s secondary continued playing a mile off the ball all night, despite knowing Nebraska’s game plan was to pound on the ground and occasionally attempt a pass.
Tommy Armstrong Jr. finished 9-of-13 on the night for 113 yards, but made his attempts count—throwing two touchdowns. The sophomore also ran 13 times for 96 yards and seemingly invented new ways to rattle Miami’s defense.
The Canes couldn’t get off their blocks, took bad angles, were of out of position, tackled poorly and played reactive all night, letting the Huskers’ offense dictate everything.
It also proved to be another outing where halftime adjustments proved completely ineffective. Down a respectable, 17-14 after two, Nebraska marched 75 yards in 11 plays, with Ameer Abdullah punching in the six-yard score five minutes into the third quarter—merely one of his career-high 35 carries, en route to a 229-yard, two touchdown outing.
Miami pulled to within seven early in the fourth quarter, but the defense did nothing to stop the bleeding.
After Kaaya was intercepted and the Canes were smacked with a handful of boneheaded penalties, the Huskers took over on their own 40-yard line and ran Abdullah six consecutive times, knowing Miami couldn’t stop him, pushing the lead to 17 with just over four minutes remaining in the game.
The Canes played until the final whistle, putting together a 14-play, 79-yard touchdown drive in the final minute, with Kaaya hitting freshman receiver Braxton Berrios for a four-yard strike on 4th-and-Goal.
Miami also overcame a 15-yard sack and 2nd-and-25 on a drive where Nebraska’s defense was bringing heat and a packed Memorial Stadium was on its feet and rowdier than it was to start the game. Kaaya found Joe Yearby for a 22-yard gain—yet another quarterback-to-running-back pass that Coley has effectively worked into this offense.
On 4th-and-3, Kaaya hit Clive Walford for a nine-yard gain, keeping the drive alive. The senior tight end finished the day finished the day with seven receptions for 80 yards and a score.
Enjoyable as that offensive moral victory might’ve been late, it was the Hurricanes’ defense that needed to rise to the occasion with a much-needed stop, but never found a way.
While it’s somewhat unfair to hit the panic button late September, fact is this is a three-year problem that hasn’t been corrected by year four.
Looking back at 2013, Miami’s defense sealed the upset win over Florida with six turnovers, but still gave up 413 yards to a lethargic Gators’ offense. Weeks later a one-win North Carolina team hung 500 yards on the Hurricanes. Eventual national champions Florida State got 517 and an average Virginia Tech bunch rolled up 549 a week later.
Duke dinged Miami for 565 yards, while a two-win Virginia team rolled up 483. In the bowl game it was the Teddy Bridgewater show and Louisville dropped 554 yards on the Canes.
New year. Solid recruiting class. Instant-impact junior college transfers joining a maligned defensive line. The return of two key veterans who could’ve made the jump to the NFL in linebacker Denzel Perryman and defensive end Anthony Chickillo and Miami still looks as average is it did each of the past three seasons.
2-2 after four, 0-1 in conference play and limping into the true start of the ACC schedule. It’s not a complete surprise—two tough road games with a true freshman quarterback—but it doesn’t sting any less.
Miami welcomes Duke next Saturday an hits the road for Georgia Tech early October. From there a quick out-of-conference home game against Cincinnati before a Thursday night road trip to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech.
Miami then closes out November with North Carolina, Florida State a road game at Virginia and a home season finale against Pittsburgh.
In other words, the road ahead won’t be an easy one with no answers on defense. The lone upside for the Hurricanes—the ACC’s Coastal Division is uber-weak and outside of Florida State, aren’t any other true beasts left on the schedule.
Miami’s offense did a difficult, month one evaluation, made some fundamental changes and is now finding success.
Can the Hurricanes’ defense go back to the drawing board one month into a new season and tweak a system, putting players in position to make plays? Or will this coaching staff continue to ignore the facts, sticking with their process and working to shove a square peg in a round hole?
For those who heard Golden’s post-game presser, they know the answer to that question as the head coach blamed execution over scheme and mistakes instead of the process.
“We didn’t tackle well enough. We came up against a good back. We turned the ball over three times. Look, I don’t know what you want me to say,” said an exhausted Golden.
“There’s no excuse for not tackling. There’s no excuse for not doing better on third down. But, we are not giving up on the scheme. We’ve made a lot of progress so far this year. We didn’t play well enough tonight. That’s it. Against a good team on the road. We turned the ball over three times and had a lot of selfish penalties.”
Things will eventually come to a head and one side will be proven right. Just have to hope it doesn’t happen at the expense of too many more losses and Miami throwing away yet another would-be promising season.