The Miami Hurricanes weren’t given much credit for recent, expected throttlings of Florida A&M and Florida Atlantic in recent weeks. Completely understandable as smacking around patsies early September is hardly noteworthy.
The critics pointed to Appalachian State and a road trip to Boone as a mini-measuring stick for “The U”—also understandable as the Mountaineers are a quality lower-tier program. Not to mention, the Canes an unfathomable 5-12 on the road the past seventeen attempts, so this one had “trap game” written all over it.
Had this match-up taken place at any point over the past five seasons; spoiler alert—Miami would’ve shit the bed in Shakespearean tragedy-type fashion.
Instead the Canes played a dream scenario-type game, jumping on the Mountaineers early, silencing the amped-up crowd, weathering an early third quarter storm and closing strong in a 45-10 rout.
The result, a 3-0 start and ten-spot jump in the AP poll to No.15 before an off week, followed by a road trip to Georgia Tech to kickoff ACC play.
The alternate would’ve been a straight-up disaster—as proven a year ago when Miami stumbled into Cincinnati for a Thursday night showdown and got worked by a Bearcats team who finished 7-6 with losses to Temple, South Florida and San Diego State.
Unranked, 2-1 going into an off-week, local sports talk radio blowing up—and an epic fail regarding the new adidas rollout of their “Legends of The U” throwback jerseys, had things gone south at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
The only thing missing would’ve been a disheveled, hot mess of a coach, loosening his tie and rambling about getting beat in all three phases of the game and how it was all on him to get that right before shuffling off dejected yet again.
It’s cathartic to relive the Al Golden experience—forcing oneself to imagine what could’ve been this year if change hadn’t been made last fall. (Miami faithful should put Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney on this year’s holiday card list as that 58-0 pasting proved to the be the final straw.)
Instead, a still depth-starved Canes squad is playing above its overall talent level—new head coach Mark Richt injecting life into his players, staff and the Miami fan base. It’s finally safe to drop the “cautiously” and simply be optimistic about the future at “The U”.
Cynics—or those simply too damaged by the Canes’ recent Decade of Disaster—will write off the rout at Appalachian State, looking at name only and not taking into consideration the program’s body of work.
11-2 last season in their move to D-I football, the Mountaineers won three consecutive national championships less than a decade ago. Three weeks back, ASU rolled into Knoxville and had ninth-ranked Tennessee on the ropes.
A missed extra point came back to haunt the road underdogs, with the Volunteers rallying in overtime, but that hardly diminished the feat. Appalachian State proved they’re a player and Miami going to their house for the biggest home game in program history wasn’t something to be taken lightly.
RICHT GAMEPLAN & CANES EXECUTION UNITED IN FIRST ROAD WIN
For any Canes enthusiast asked to rattle off three keys to the game, nothing would’ve been bigger than the need for a quick start. Silence the crowd, take control of the game and force a solid running team to play catch-up by throwing the football.
Miami did just that, holding the home team to 18 yards on six plays before forcing a punt and then scoring on the first play from scrimmage—Mark Walton bursting up the middle for an 80-yard touchdown.
Another quick defensive stop put the Canes’ offense back on the field and Brad Kaaya immediately got busy. Dayall Harris hauled in three grabs for 26 yards, Ahmmon Richards caught two for 24 and David Njoku reeled in a score on 3rd-and-5, extending Miami’s lead to 14.
The next go-around featured a 55-yard hook up between Kaaya and Stacy Coley on 3rd-and-9 for a 21-0 score late in the first and an eventual 24-3 halftime lead.
Miami looked primed to pour it on first drive of the third quarter, going 71 yards in just over three minutes before Kaaya threw a goal line pick on fourth down from the one-yard line. Njoku ran down John Law after the 60-yard return, but six plays and a few busted coverage moments later, all the Canes’ early dominance was reduced to a 14-point lead and the home crowd was feeling it.
It’s precisely in this moment that the last incarnation of the Miami Hurricanes would’ve begun to unravel. A few conservative runs would’ve set up a third-and-long, an incomplete pass and a punt—giving the opponent field position, momentum and purpose.
Instead, Miami came out firing—Richt knowing that Kaaya wanted to make up for his blunder. The Canes still faced that third-and-long, but threw incomplete on first down before Joe Yearby was stuffed on second.
Come third, time to let shit rip—Kaaya going deep, hitting Richards for a 54-yard completion and visibly animated as the quarterback ran downfield to finish the drive. A delay of game could’ve been a minor setback, but even that didn’t matter as Yearby rolled 12 yards for the score, putting the Canes back up by 21.
From there it was merely piling-on as the defense continued to clamp down and the offense chipped away. Kaaya went back to Richards on the ensuing drive for a 62-yard gain and found Coley on 3rd-and-Goal for the eight-yard score—with Walton adding one more for good measure early in the fourth, extending the lead to 35 and quieting the “upset special” crowd.
MIAMI’S DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT MEASURABLE BEYOND STATS
While it’s tough to get jacked up on overall stats when the two previous opponents with the Rattlers and Owls, the Canes held the Mountaineers to just 2.6 yards-per-carry and 2-of-13 on third down.
For those keeping score, Appalachian State rolled for 184 yards on the ground at Tennessee and looked much more dominant—a credit to a once-maligned Miami defense.
Regarding the Canes sitting at No. 3 in the nation with fewest yards-per-carry at 1.57 after three games—it’s where they were last season that make the improvement so impressive; jumping up 112 spots from No. 115 at 5.26 yards-per-carry.
Furthermore, the Canes’ defense is doing it with three true freshmen linebackers—Shaq Quarterman, Michael Pinckney and Zach McCloud—and defensive end Chad Thomas, whose job got harder when Al-Quadin Muhammad was dismissed days before the season opener.
Credit to first-year defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski, who is getting all that and more out of the 5-star end who didn’t live up to the freshman hype.
Miami takes its 3-0 record and No. 15 rank into a late-September off-week—solid timing as it gives Kaaya extra time to rest a swollen knee that got dinged when he turned into a defender on the third quarter interception return.
The down time also provides the Canes a necessary early-season reset and opportunity to soak up all that’s taken place these past three weeks— a solid start, exceeded expectations, unexpected praise and the necessary humility needed before diving into conference play.
Georgia Tech and their quirky offense is never to be taken for granted—though a safe bet Miami’s current staff won’t lose the time of possession battle by double as it did in its last road game against the Yellow Jackets.
Take care of business next weekend and the Canes are the undefeated, higher-ranked team when the Seminoles roll into Hard Rock Stadium for a heavyweight bout on October 8th.
Miami has dropped six in a row to rival Florida State—but based on how things have played out these past few weeks, it’s not crazy for Canes Nation to start dreaming and believing in big time football again.