It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but games like this rarely are.
The Miami Hurricanes are a lot of things, but the type of program who consistently comes out and destroys a lesser foe – that’s rarely been the case. Even all-time UM squads have been known to play down to the level of competition, so “only” beating Florida Atlantic, 34-6 shouldn’t raise eyebrows.
Back in 2001, a top-ranked Miami beat Troy State, 38-7 a week before traveling to Tallahassee to take on arch-rival Florida where, where the Canes went on to thump the Seminoles, 49-27. A few weeks later Miami beat Temple, 38-0 and the following Saturday eked out a now legendary win at Boston College, 18-7 — the final six points coming on a fluke return from the great Ed Reed.
A year later Miami was the defending national champion, strolled in Piscataway, having already topped Florida and Florida State, yet was down, 17-14 early in the fourth quarter at Rutgers.
The Canes went on to roll the Scarlet Knights, 42-17, but the lackadaisical effort in a handful of games as the top squad in the land, shows how Miami is known for handling itself in smaller-scale contests.
Some other notable games in that era? A 41-16 win at Florida, with the Canes topping the sixth-ranked Gators. A dominant, 49-7 win at Syracuse. A revenge-fueled, 65-7 win over Washington. There was also a season-opening, 33-7 win at Penn State in 2001 and the, 37-14 beating of second-ranked Nebraska to close the championship season in the Rose Bowl.
The moral of the story; when it counts, Miami is known to show up. When it’s a “scrimmage” — in a half-full stadium, no less — the Hurricanes are going to cruise on autopilot, or at minimum, some mental mistakes and some up-and-down play for sixty minutes.
Prior to Friday’s kickoff, Miami hadn’t seen the field and legitimate game action since last November at Duke. The self-imposed post-season ban, which included sitting out the ACC Championship game in Charlotte, as well as a potential Orange Bowl berth, had the Canes in full-fledged practice mode for over nine months.
Week one is the time when everyone shakes off the cobwebs, but safe to say the Canes were a big more rusty than other major programs — and understandably so.
This year’s opener served its purpose. Miami learned that the offense will certainly run through sophomore back Duke Johnson, who carried nineteen times for 186 yards and a touchdown. It also marked Johnson’s sixth game with 200+ all-purpose yards, as he wrapped the night with 224 total.
Stephen Morris had a serviceable evening, throwing for 160 yards with one touchdown and one interception, on a 15-of-27 outing.
The offensive line performed well, giving both Johnson and Morris ample time and space on the evening and if there was any letdown, it was on the receivers, who at times looked out of sync or flat-out couldn’t haul in perfectly thrown passes.
Herb Waters led all receivers with two receptions for 49 yards, as well as a 63-yard touchdown on a reverse, but true freshman Stacy Coley could’ve stolen the show.
The newbie had two grabs for 19 yards, but was hit in the end zone and dropped what would’ve been an 18-yard touchdown on 3rd-and-7 during the Canes’ second possession. On the ensuing drive, Coley let a 3rd-and-5 pass slip through his hands, which would’ve gone 53 yards for the score.
Add it all up and it could’ve been a four-reception, two touchdown, 90-yard day for Coley, had “freshmanitis” not kicked in.
Allen Hurns had five receptions for 34 yards and tight, Clive Walford pulled in a few clutch grabs at tight end and the best catch of the night proved the most-costly after Rashawn Scott went down hard after a late 26-yard reception, ending in turnover on down when true freshman running back Gus Edwards couldn’t punch it in on four straight tries.
Another in-game whiff came on the opening drive when linebacker Denzel Perryman let a third down pass from Jaquez Johnson sail through his mitts.
Perryman earned a pick six early in the game at Boston College last year, doing his part in cutting a 14-0 deficit, tying things up on the quarter’s final play. This time around, he left a score gift-wrapped around FAU’s 35-yard line.
One for Perryman, two for Coley and Edwards’ inability to get in; the difference between, 59-6 and what was a 34-6 outcome. Miami put up 503 total yards —passing for 200 and running for 303 —but the efforts didn’t all result in scores.
Another nice stat; five sacks on the day for the Miami defense. Some not-so-good numbers; 4-of-14 on third down conversion and eight penalties for 67 yards.
Lots to clean up there, regarding keeping drives alive, as well as a lack of discipline or mental mistakes. That said, time to get things fixed and a lack of focus certainly won’t be this week’s issue.
Any knocks Miami has heard for playing down to competition, the opposite, generally speaking, has been said about good Hurricanes squads over the past several decades. Florida has been circled on the calendar for a good while now and conversely, UM knows how badly UF wants this game, having not beaten Miami at home since 1985.
Final score is how most will measure up the 2013 season opener, as well as a few mishaps, but truth be told it’s just another smaller game against a lesser foe, which never riles this program up. Especially not with an arch-rival a week out.
In the end, Miami got the win and shoot off some dust. It also broke in James Coley as offensive coordinator, Hurlie Brown as running backs coach, Brennan Carroll as receivers coach and Larry Scott with the tight ends. Coley spent last year at Florida State, Scott was at South Florida and both Brown and Carroll had different responsibilities last fall in Miami.
On the other side, defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio called his first game from the press box, after spending the past two seasons on the sidelines for Miami. A minimal change, but change nonetheless and something that needed to broken in game one.
The measuring stick for Miami are big out of conference games, rivalry showdowns and ACC contests that put the Canes in the hunt for a title and BCS game berth.
This coming week hits two of those three as a home game against Florida will go a long way in telling the college football world what kind of squad Al Golden has to work with this season.
See the Florida Atlantic game for what it was, not what it could’ve or should’ve been and now with the Owls in the rear-view, all sights are set on “that team from up north”.