The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: UVA Edition

Breaking down the ups and downs of today's game, plus team grades.

The Good:

The Hurricanes got their 8th win of the season in a rain soaked Sun Life Stadium 45-26, against a very porous Virginia team.  By the 4th quarter the sun even broke out from behind the clouds. Symbolic perhaps?

Honoring Miami's 27 seniors, who stayed on board amongst the storm that was the Shapiro scandal, is a very very good thing......

Guys like Allen Hurns, Eduardo Clements, Shayon Green, Maurice Hagans, Jimmy Gaines, and Brandon Linder, among others deserve our respect and well wishes as wonderful student athletes.

On the opening play of the game, Tracy Howard perfectly read a poorly executed bubble screen and converted perhaps the easiest pick 6 in College Football history.  Thank you David Watford.

In the not too distant future, Stacy Coley is going to be an absolute superstar.

Another great day for Hurns,with 6 catches for 126 yards and a big TD,

Dallas Crawford (now 12 TDs this season) remains money in the red zone.

Forcing 4 turnovers usually leads to a win.

The Bad:

In the first half, Miami's defense continued to have trouble stopping a nose bleed. Over 200 first half rushing yards allowed?!  Yikes!

Bad tackling, lack of physicality, bad angles, can't get off blocks, bad scheme, lack of intensity, broken coverages, you name it. Luckily the opposition was an extremely error prone offense, or things could have been worse.

3 first downs on offense in the first half? UGH!!

Too many low throws from Stephen Morris.  The offensive line was not exactly a model of consistent pass protection either.

The new targeting rule in College Football is for the birds,  leading to one bad call each way. Luckily for UM, upon further review Rayshawn Jenkins' call did not lead to an ejection.

Ladarius Gunter, who nearly had a pick 6 of his own, appeared to hurt his neck late in the game. The medical staff immediately stabilized him, and he tossed up a "U" on his way off the field.  Hopefully he is ok.

The Ugly:

Lots and lots of empty seats.  The mini monsoon in Miami probably didn't help the cause.

Game Ball goes to: Hurns.  He remains the Canes most solid performer.  Coley and Howard get honorable mentions.

Team grades:

Offense: C They really didn't move the ball consistently but did enough for a win. Morris had a few nice throws, but was shaky at times as well.

Defense:  C Still a lot of issues here, UVA's untimely penalties and  forcing 4 turnovers covered a lot up.  Howard and Anthony Chickillo had nice games though.  Tyriq McCord re-emerged and forced a fumble on a sack, that lead to David Gilbert's 4th quarter TD return.

Special Teams:  B Tim Smith's 45 yard punt set up a first quarter FG for the Hoos, but the coverage else wise was solid.  Pat O'Donnell's 71 yard punt in the 4th quarter was outrageously good,  rolling out of bounds inside the 5.