All I wanted was for the Miami Hurricanes to win decisively and to get out of Thursday night’s game in Hard Rock Stadium with no major injuries and no suspensions. By those standards the game against the Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats was a wild success. The Hurricanes came out in an aggressive up tempo offense early as Shannon Dawson looked to put the Wildcat defense under pressure immediately. Miami went quick when they needed to and huddled up at other points when necessary. It felt like they were working on running their two minute drill stuff with some run plays mixed in. The University of Miami ran 70 plays in the game, which is a blistering pace for them considering they only ran 60 plays against Miami, OH and 54 plays last week against Texas A&M. Also, when you consider that Miami ran the ball 36 times, which drains the clock far more rapidly and therefore shortens the game and reduces the number of possessions; getting off 70 plays is a good number.
There was an element of scientific experimentation in the offense as well. Tyler Van Dyke kept the ball and ran from a few zone read actions that we have not seen before this season. After seeing Tyler run in a touchdown with his legs along with his 201.5 rated 19 of 23 for 247 yards and 2 touchdowns in the air performance, defensive coordinators employed by our future opponents will have a lot to think about when considering how they are going to slow down this highly efficient offense. Shannon Dawson is playing long form Chess and giving these guys lots to prepare for in some of these major showdowns coming up in October and November.
The Wildcats were easily blown off the ball by the Miami offensive line and it showed in the 240 rushing yards that the Hurricanes running backs gobbled up. It was running back by committee as no running back had more than 12 carries (Ajay Allen) and everyone else who toted the rock, that was not a quarterback, had right around 7 carries. Don Chaney looked like a man on a mission as he ran hard and made decisive cuts and jooked Bethune out of their newly purchased jerseys. Henry Parrish was a load and Chris Johnson came in and flashed some athletic ability and blazing speed on his beautiful touchdown run.
While the Canes did not have a 100 yard rusher, they did have a 100 yard receiver in Xavier Restrepo as he went for 6 catches for 120 yards in almost identical numbers to what he had last week in his epic performance against the Aggies of Texas A&M. Xavier has been such a reliable receiver for the Canes over the years, but surprisingly these are the first back-to-back 100 yard games of his collegiate career. Colbie Young and Jacolby George both had 5 catch 50+ yard performances. Colbie would have had another touchdown Thursday night, but a missed targeting call on a helmet-to-helmet hit allowed Bethune-Cookman to keep possession after Colbie fumbled it into the endzone. Besides that stop Miami only had to punt once the whole night.
Some of the young guys got some run in the game as well. Ray Ray got in there and Brashard Smith had a big catch. Robby Washington looked good and so did Emory Williams (9/11 for 102 yards). Emory is going to be a great player for Miami. I don’t see him being a 4 year college player and I believe he is TVD’s true back up on this roster whether Coach Cristobal admits that publicly or not. We may not have to burn his redshift because hopefully TVD will stay healthy for the entire season. However, God forbid (knock on wood) if that does happen, I would not be too worried about burning Emory’s redshirt. I doubt that he stays all 4 years and he seems to be the best passing fit for this offense behind TVD. With that said, Emory looked great for a true freshman. Most of his passes were to the correct reads and right on the money. It was not a perfect performance though, he needs to work on his pocket presence and spatial awareness. No need to take some of the hits that he took in the game Thursday night. Emory will learn from the film on this game.
Defensively the Canes were dominant as expected. Big hits were delivered all night. Rueben Bain was a menace. He was so close to getting his first sack several times in the game but was robbed of it by an intentional grounding and on another play he got to the quarterback a split second after Harrison-Hunte. Later on in the game Bain was able to record his first sack. No worries young man, you were disruptive and pressured the quarterbacks all night. B-CU’s quarterbacks were complaining to HR about the workplace harassment from Bain all night because it is clear when it comes to rushing the QB, Mr. Bain does not believe in social distancing. If he keeps playing like that, the sack numbers will definitely come. We will definitely need him if Akheem Mesidor misses significant time due to his injury.
Kiko Mauigoa laid some wood with 4 solo tackles, one tackle for a loss, and forced a fumble on the opening drive for the Wildcats in the second half. The Wildcats were driving but the defense stood tall by forcing the turnover. Ultimately, the defense could not hold on to the shutout, but in the grand scheme of things, a shut out was very low on the priority list of importance. I will take a 48-7 win with no injuries and no suspensions any day of the week. I have to make an honorable mention of the offensive line who once again played an absolutely dominant game in the run and pass. The only blip was the Javion Cohen 15 yard unnecessary roughness penalty that ended the night for the upperclassman. Coach Mario was not happy with that penalty one bit, but I am sure that Javion will make it up to coach and his teammates in the following outing. Up next, the 22nd ranked Canes make the quick trip up to Philadelphia to play the Temple Owls! Go Canes!
