Game Two : Miami 21, Florida 16

Despite what any Gators enthusiasts are saying today, the Hurricanes won yesterday’s Sunshine State showdown at Sun Life Stadium, 21-16 in front of a capacity crowd.

Florida out-gained Miami by 201 yards offensively, but couldn’t convert in the game’s biggest moments. Conversely, the Hurricanes scored early and used defensive turnovers, of all things, to keep the Gators at bay and to escape with the much-needed upset.

Miami couldn’t convert on third down—going 1-for-11 on the day—and only rushed for 50 yards, but forced Florida into five crucial turnovers and came up with big stop after big stop as 76,968 looked on.

Miami won the opening toss, deferred and Florida went to town early. A quick run by quarterback Jeff Driskel for six, a Matt Jones scamper for nine and a 22-yard completion from Driskel to Quinton Dunbar immediately had the Gators in Hurricanes’ territory.

Florida’s self-implosion began with a false start and after a personal foul, the Gators were pegged back on UM’s 43-yard line. Faced with a 2nd-and-11, Jones took another handoff and was popped by Miami linebacker Denzel Perryman, forcing the fumble and giving the Hurricanes possession mid-field.

Nine plays later, quarterback Stephen Morris connected with Herb Waters for the seven-yard score and UM held he early, 7-0 lead.

The teams quickly traded possessions before Florida blocked a Miami punt, setting the Gators up inside the ten-yard line, easily allowing Driskel to run in a nine-yard touchdown on 2nd and Goal, but the Hurricanes quickly answered back and UF’s failed two-point conversion attempt.

Running back Duke Johnson got five, Morris found tight end Clive Walford for 13 and Johnson gained six more. Morris then went back-to-back, hitting Waters for no gain, but connecting with Allen Hurns for eight yards on a 3rd and 4, which set up a perfect 52-yard strike from Morris to Phillip Dorsett for another Miami touchdown.

Florida again moved the ball, highlighted by a 46-yard gain when Driskel hit Solomon Patton, setting UF up on UM’s 21-yard line. Four plays later, Driskel overshot Dunbar in the end zone and a play later was intercepted by Rayshawn Jenkins on the four.

Miami’s 14-6 advantage held until early in the third quarter as the Hurricanes defense continued finding ways to come up big.

Midway through the second, Florida attempted to run Driskel up the middle on 4th-and-1 from the UM 16-yard line, but the quarterback was stuffed. The ensuing possession, Florida was again in the red zone but Trey Burton was popped by Shayon Green, fumbled and it was recovered by Thurston Armbrister.

Florida settled for a 33-yard Austin Hardin field goal when a nine-play, 44-yard drive stalled as Dunbar could only gain eight on a 3rd-and-8 from the UM 18-yard line. A drive later the Gators were in another quick hole as the result of a Tyler Moore hold. Mack Brown picked up 11 yards on 2nd-and-13, but was stopped cold on 3rd-and-2, forcing another punt.

The Gators looked like they’d found a spark when Vernon Hargreaves III intercepted Morris when the Canes were buried with a 3rd-and-25, courtesy of an Ereck Flowers hold, but the Miami defense again rose to the challenge.

Taking over in Hurricanes’ territory, Driskel found Dunbar for an 11-yard gain, before the quarterback’s legs added another 12. Brown picked up two, followed by a five-yard gain by Patton, setting up a 3rd-and-3 from the UM 17-yard line.

With a chance to give Florida the first lead of the game, Driskel threw towards the end zone, but was intercepted by Miami cornerback Tracy Howard—a former Gators commit who switched to the Canes on Signing Day 2012. Howard 36-yard return put Miami at mid-field, but again the Florida defense forced a punting situation.

Cincinnati transfer Pat O’Donnell bombed another punt for Miami, pinning Florida at their own 14-yard line and three plays later, the Hurricanes defense found another way to make the Gators pay. Facing a 3rd-and-7, Tyriq McCord sacked Driskel, forced and recovered a fumble and three plays later, Johnson punched in the two-yard score, giving Miami the late 21-9 lead.

Florida continued to scrap, with Driskel completing back-to-back passes, hitting Dunbar for a 32-yard gain and the Patton for the 21-yard touchdown, but an onside kick attempt went Miami’s way. The Canes punted moments later, but the Gators could do nothing with their final offensive touches. Driskel was sacked by Anthony Chickillo on first down and a false start penalty on second ran the clock out, making the upset official.

The 21-16 upset over UM’s most-hated, longtime rival deserves celebration. Florida was favored and few expected Miami to prevail. Even fewer would’ve predicted that the Hurricanes’ defense would come up with six clutch turnovers—three forced fumbles, two interceptions and a fourth-down stop—or that that UM’s potent offense would be so ineffective overall.

The lone negative takeaway from Miami’s win over Florida falls on the shoulders of first-year offensive coordinator James Coley, as his bunch did little after putting up two early touchdowns.

Morris passed for 162 yards on the day; 55 of which came in his lone hook up with Dorsett. That drive also produced Miami’s only third down conversion of the day.

The Hurricanes also only ran 53 offensive plays to the Gators’ 77 and lost the time of possession battle, 21:40 to 38:20. The 212 total yards by Miami was it’s lowest output in a Hurricanes win since a 10-7 victory at West Virginia back in 1996.

Offense was supposed to be UM’s strong suit this season, making up for an in-progress defense, but after two games, such is not the case. The win over Florida was highlighted by takeaways while the biggest storyline against Florida Atlantic last week was five sacks as the Hurricanes “only” beat the Owls, 34-6.

Thankfully the solving of the offensive woes can be worked out over the next few weeks. Miami has a week three bye coming up and from there, a home showdown against Savannah State on September 21st. The Hurricanes then hit the road for a September 28th showdown at South Florida before welcoming Georgia Tech to Sun Life Stadium on October 5th for the ACC season opener.

Over the coming weeks, Morris can work out his bugs, get on the same page as his receivers and some capable back ups can see some action.

True freshmen, wide receiver Stacy Coley and running back Gus Edwards, had some touches against Florida Atlantic, but failed to come up big. Coley let two sure-touchdowns fall through his hands, while Edwards was unable to punch in a late score from a yard out, on four straight attempts.

Neither saw the field against Florida, with coaches most-likely believing neither was ready for such a big moment, but both will be worked into the offense sooner than later, and will help provide a spark. Especially the highly-touted Coley, as Dorsett has been noticeably off, and with wideout Rashawn Scott sidelined for upwards of a month with a shoulder injury.

Miami also needs a better option behind Johnson at running back as Dallas Crawford never saw the field and Eduardo Clements did little in limited action.

Offensively, it would be nice to see the Hurricanes getting the ball to Johnson in open space or doing more to make sure receivers are getting touches in situations that will provide more yards after a catch.

On the special teams front, Miami is benefitting from the leg of O’Donnell, who punted eight times for 392 yards against Florida, an average of 49.0 yards-per-kick. O’Donnell had two touchbacks, though the second should’ve been downed on the one-yard line. His long of the day was 60 yards

Unfortunately Miami allowed one punt to be blocked and got little out of Dorsett in the return game (2 returns for 15 yards), while Johnson averaged 18.7 yards per return fielding kickoffs.

Still, entering the bye week, there’s much more good than bad. Miami is 2-0, knocked off rival Florida, is relatively healthy and is getting more out of its defense than expected—especially on the turnover front. Also, now that this game is in the rear view, everyone can exhale for a moment and regroup.

While no one wanted to admit it prior to kickoff, this showdown with Florida was enormous for Miami. Look at the past several years and how many big time moments resulted in colossal letdowns. Just the Al Golden era alone, there was the season opening loss at Maryland year one, marred by the then-recent NCAA bomb that had dropped, as well as half a dozen suspensions.

Miami got past Ohio State the following week, but then lost a heartbreaker to Kansas State on the game’s final play. Beat Bethune-Cookman. Lose late at Virginia Tech. Survive North Carolina and handle Georgia Tech. Fall on Thursday night to Virginia.

Beat Duke, lose to Florida State. Grind out a win over South Florida, lose an uninspired home game to Boston College to end the season, 6-6.

Year two’s storyline proved to be falling flat the bigger the stage. Kansas State, 52-13. Notre Dame, 41-3. Florida State, 33-20. Every time this program had an opportunity to take a step forward, it stumbled and with Florida heading south in game two, there was reason to hope for a win, but no legitimate reason to believe.

Miami has to look back to 2009 to find a win of this caliber; a 21-20 win over No. 8 Oklahoma, with an asterisk, as Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford was sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Even with that, the OU  win came a week after a 31-7 loss at Virginia Tech, which took some of the shine off of the upset. As did the fact that the Sooners finished the regular season 7-5 without Bradford.

Until Miami officially notched this first signature win of the Golden era, there was going to be a degree of discomfort and question as to when it would finally take place. Thankfully it now has, so the Hurricanes can almost hit “reset” during this bye week. Treat Savannah State as the new opener, a road trip to South Florida as game two and then welcome Georgia Tech south to kick off ACC season.

There’s much to be addressed in the coming weeks, but for now, let the next few days be about the celebration that comes in the wake of beating the Gators, as well as a return to the Top 25 as Miami is now ranked No. 15 after yesterday’s upset.

Congrats to Golden, his staff and these players for a much-needed win.

Now back to the drawing board as ACC play and the “real” season are just around the corner.

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