Are the Miami Hurricanes back?

by Jim March

The opening kickoff went out of bounds Thursday night, giving the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets the ball at their 40 to start the game. Tech had last year’s 472 yard rushing performance in mind when they carried the ball on all 12 plays of the first drive. For the first five minutes of the contest, it looked like the Yellow Jackets might be picking up where they left off the last time the two teams met. However, things didn’t work out the way they planned as the Miami Hurricane defense gained a great deal of confidence when they ended Tech’s 12-play, 60-yard drive. The drive chewed up almost seven minutes of clock, but Miami showed their grit with a third down red-zone stand forcing Georgia Tech to settle for a field goal. ...

 Score: 3-0 Georgia Tech 

 From here on, Miami would be the team setting the tempo in Land Shark Stadium.

 Miami’s new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple dialed up play calls that kept Georgia Tech’s defense guessing all night. From running the ball out of unbalanced formations with offensive tackles lined up at tight end, to throwing clever screen passes out of the backfield to executing the play action pass to perfection. The Canes’ stretched the field deep and put points on the board.

 The Ramblin’ Wreck defense looked awful. Defensive end Derrick Morgan didn’t have his name called all night. Georgia Tech was unable to muster anything resembling a pass rush looking winded from their first series. 

 Georgia Tech was playing their third game in 12 days. They looked tired and sluggish. Miami quarterback Jacory Harris certainly didn’t felt sorry for them. With protection all-day from his O-line on every pass play the entire game but one, Harris lit up the Tech secondary. The sophomore field general completed 20 of 25 passes for 270 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. There’s no doubt about who got the game ball Thursday night in Miami. 

 While Harris gets all the praise and looks amazing on paper, this was truly a team effort. The O-Line play has already been mentioned, but it bears repeating: It was absolute domination. The Canes had skill players lining up all night to get the ball into their hands.

 The biggest play of the first half for the GT defense was a Miami injury with 2:19 left in the second quarter.  After surrendering points on the first three series, Tech was down 17-3 with the Hurricanes driving. The injury timeout gave the gassed Yellow Jackets defense time to rest and gave defensive coordinator Dave Wommack time to dial up a drive-killing blitz. 

 After Miami’s quick strike drive to start the second half (6 plays, 60 yards 3:10 TOP), Tech answered with a scoring drive of their own. Anthony Allen scored on a 3 yard run after a big play was made on a jump ball by 6’3” WR DeMaryius Thomas. You can’t fault the Miami defense for that. Thomas’ jaw-dropping catch just reminded Yellow Jacket fans of what Tech could be capable of if they had a second playmaking wide out or a quarterback with any accuracy or timing.

The score was 24-10 with 8:07 left in the 3^rd quarter. However, it hadn’t been a game since Miami’s offense stepped on the field for the first time. The Hurricane defense fed off the offense, and grew more confiden that they could shut down Georgia Tech’s option attack with each successive stop. The Hurricane’s knew Tech’s QB Josh Nesbitt couldn’t beat them with his right arm. Honestly, following Tech’s second drive of the game, the Hurricanes knew this wasn’t going to be a repeat of their ‘08 match-up.

 At the end of the day Georgia Tech tallied 95 yards rushing (only two more than Miami RB Graig Cooper).

As a team, Miami has two weaknesses:

 Special Teams- Each of Georgia Tech’s first four drives began within around the forty. The Hurricanes had two kickoffs go out of bounds and two returned near mid-field. Sloppy play on kickoff won’t fit the bill as they prepare to meet Oklahoma and then the rest of the ACC. Coach Randy Shannon needs to remind his young team that championship football is played when, and only when all three phases of the game are running well. Significant improvements are needed from this squad or you can bank on the Hurricanes getting exploited in the next couple weeks.

 Killer Instinct- Leading 33-10 at the end of the 3^rd quarter, Miami got the ball in excellent field position.  They had a great opportunity to end this game with a touchdown drive. A Touchdown drive on that drive squeezes the last little bit of hope out of GeorgiaTech and would have given them an entire quarter to let their second stringers gain valuable game experience. 

 If Miami can’t finish with authority against a team that put up 41 points and the aforementioned 472 rushing yards against them last year, this Hurricane squad has a ways to go before they are to be considered BCS bowl contenders. The same can be said for the Hurricane defense. They allowed Georgia Tech’s only pass catcher Thursday night get behind them on the following drive to make it a two-possession game again. How do you let the opposition’s only receiving threat get behind your entire defense? A better question might be how do you let it happen twice in the fourth quarter? Thankfully for the Miami secondary, the second deep ball to Thomas bounced harmlessly off his fingertips, sealing 16 point victory. 

 Miami has to learn how to close out games because they’re going to face more dynamic squads than Paul Johnson’s Yellow Jackets before the season’s over.