Miami Hurricanes Football: Additional Notes, Mark Richt Quotes

Good Morning ‘Canes Nation.

What a hangover we all have this morning (even if you did not drink).

Miami dropped last night’s contest to VT, and this season now looks like a lost one in terms of accomplishments.

The team can still use the remainder of 2016 to develop and right the ship for next year, but UM fans are certainly tired of that narrative.

ICYMI, Co-Managing Editor Cam Underwood did double duty last night with,

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly,

&

The Game Recap.

Props to Cam for getting it done.

Some Game Notes: (Courtesy UM)

-Junior quarterback Brad Kaaya finished the game 23-of-38 for 323 yards.

-With his 38 attempts, Kaaya (963) has now passed former Hurricane quarterback Stephen Morris (955) for fourth on the all-time career passing list.

-Kaaya has now thrown at least one touchdown in 28 career outings.

-Kaaya has now thrown for over 300 yards in nine career games. Kaaya has thrown for over 300 yards twice this season.

-With his 323 passing yards, Kaaya passed Morris for third on the all-time career passing list.

-Freshman Ahmmon Richards led the team with 78 yards receiving.

-Tight end David Njoku finished the game with 69 yards receiving.

-Njoku’s 48-yard first-half reception from Kaaya marked the fifth time this season in which he has caught a pass of 20 yards-or-more.

-With his five receptions, senior wide receiver Stacy Coley (132) passed former Hurricane wide receiver Travis Benjamin (131) for sixth on the all-time career receptions list.

-Coley has now caught a pass in 16 straight games.

-Junior wide receiver Braxton Berrios caught his first touchdown pass of the season.

-Senior offensive lineman Danny Isidora got the start at right guard to increase his consecutive start streak to a team-best 34 games.

-Fellow offensive linemen Trevor Darling and Nick Linder also extended their consecutive start streak to 25 garmes.

-Freshman Joe Jackson made his first career start on the defensive line.

-Jackson and Kendrick Norton led the Hurricanes with 2.0 tackles for loss. They both also tallied a sack.

-Senior Jamal Carter led the way for the Hurricanes with a game-high 11.0 tackles (6.0 solo). His 11.0 tackles tied a career high.

-Senior Corn Elder recorded six tackles and led the team with two broken-up passes.

And here’s what Coach Richt had to say post game:

Opening Statement:

“First of all, congratulations to Virginia Tech, Coach Fuente and his staff. They did a great job. It was a disappointing loss for us. Coming into a hostile atmosphere, I thought our guys handled it well and all that. We were not able to execute well enough to sustain drives offensively. Obviously, we had very little run game. It made it very difficult to sustain anything. We had a couple shots and a couple big plays here and there, just not enough. I thought we put up a great fight once again - getting a stop, blocking the field and giving us a chance to get within a score. Unfortunately, we were not able to make it a one score game in the fourth quarter. It could have changed everything right there. We just had missed opportunities. We have to improve. It starts with me. Without a doubt, it starts with me.”

On what Tech’s defense was doing against the run game:

“From what I can [tell], I think they were just defeating blocks and making plays. I can’t really tell for sure. I have to look at the tape.”

On the offensive line:

“I’m not going to throw anyone under the bus. Sacks have to do with a lot of things. It has to do with the concepts that the coach calls. It starts there. It goes through the protection of the lineman and tight ends. It has to do with route running and making decisions. It has to do with getting the ball out too. Sometimes you just have to get the ball out. Putting all the sacks on the offensive line is really not a fair assessment. If you throw the ball as many times as we throw, there are going to be some sacks here and there. There are going to be some big plays both ways. It’s kind of feast or famine sometimes against that type of defense.”

On the injuries on defense:

“The bottom line is that we have to put more points on the board offensively. I’ll take points anyway we can get them. There have been a lot of injuries on the defensive side of the ball. There’s been a couple on offense, but the defense has taken the brunt of the injury front. Some guys weren’t here. Hopefully, a couple of them will get back sooner rather than later. We just have to score more points period.”

On the three-game losing streak:

“What do I say? I say continue to work hard; continue to be a law to your teammates and continue to fight. It starts with the coaching staff.”

On how much the crowd noise impacted the team:

“I wouldn’t say so. We did flinch at least once … They will shift really quick and sometimes that will cause the offense to flinch. I don’t know if they shifted on that one or not. We got maybe one and there may have been a second. We pretty much ran all the plays that we called and signaled for. It wasn’t like no one could understand what we were doing. We would do the nonverbal cadence. That’s how we started camp because we knew that there would be moments like this where we couldn’t function. We functioned fine as far as communicating our plays.”

On how the team is going to put this three-game losing streak behind them:

“They are great kids. They are awesome. They are going to fight. That’s what I see.”

On the quarterback:

“You have good compassion for people. It’s part of the game. You are going to get hit, and you are going to get tackled. If you are a running back, you are going to get hit every time you run the ball. You should feel bad for those guys sometimes. He ran 25 times, and he got hit 40 times. The quarterback is in a more vulnerable position, though, when he is in the pocket and he is looking downfield trying to make decisions. In my opinion, I don’t think I coached him well enough in this game for him to be able to cut the ball loose with confidence. In other words, was his decision making process clean enough for him to cut the ball loose on time? The tape will show more, but to Virginia Tech’s credit, they do mix a lot of different coverages and difference coverages that a lot of people don’t run. Some of the traditional passing game doesn’t fit. I have to do a better job where Brad knows.”

Have a great day ‘Canes Fam.

Keep it classy.