FINALLY!!! THE MIAMI HURRICANES HAD A DOMINANT PERFORMANCE IN A GAME THAT MATTERED!!!!!

Facing their toughest ACC Coastal opponent, the Hurricanes dominated Virginia Tech en route to a 28-10 victory. Here’s our game recap by Stefan Adams:

And with that being said, let’s get into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

• A SIGNATURE WIN FOR MARK RICHT, AND THE 2017 MIAMI HURRICANES!!! NO CLOSE GAME THIS WEEK!! DOMINATION!!! TOTAL CONTROL!!! VIOLENCE!!! WOOOOOOOO!!!!!
• You’re gonna think I’m lying, but the variety on offense. I formation. 5 wide. 3 wide with H-back and RB. JET SWEEP. Jet sweep QB counter. Not one but TWO throwbacks to the quarterback. The thought that CMR was holding things back until the games that matter was proven true. Miami showed TONS of stuff that was new on offense.
• Dominant defense. VT was averaging 35.4 points per game entering tonight. MIAMI HELD THEM TO 10 POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boom.
• Miami finally got on the board with an 8 yard TD from Rosier to Berrios. The Canes had been outplaying VT handily to that point, and finally cashed it in, to make the score 7-0 early in the 2nd quarter.

• Travis Homer. 64 yards. Touchdown. Boom. That was the longest run of his college career, and put Miami up 14-0 midway through the 2nd Quarter.

• Jaquan Johnson forced a fumble, recovered by RJ McIntosh, WHICH MEANS WE GOT THE TURNOVER CHAIN BACK!!!

• Rosier bounced back from a few interceptions to hit TE Christopher Herndon IV in the flat, who then stepped out of a tackle and went 33 yards up the sideline to score a touchdown and extend Miami’s lead to 21-10, midway through the 3rd quarter. Big play in a big spot when VT had all the momentum. HUGE.
• JAQUAN JOHNSON WITH A 1 HANDED INTERCEPTION MY GAWD!!!!!!!!

• Malik Rosier. 13 yards. Touchdown.

• Jon Garvin with a huge individual play. Got around the corner for a sack, forced a fumble, and recovered the fumble he himself forced. Just a freshman. So, SO good. Oh, and he got the turnover chain, too. Yessir. Remember the name. That kid is GOOD.

• Sheldrick Redwine with the game closing interception. And a declaration for the people #BallGame

• DeeJay Dallas. Increased work load, and he did a very good job. 6 carries for 32 and 1 catch for 5. Would have had a TD pass on the first drive to Rosier on a throwback, but he defense snuffed that out and forced and errant throw. Either way, great game by the freshman.
• Rosier’s final line: 10/21, 193 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT, 13 carries, 84 yards, TD, 1 catch, 17 yards. Highs and lows, to be sure, but nearly 300 yards and 3 TDs of total offense has more good than bad so it goes in the good.
• Travis Homer. 14 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown. Big game for him today.
• Joe Jackson. 7 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack, 2 QB hurries, and a bunch of other pressures and times he got held (but it wasn’t called because of course).
• Jon Garvin. That tackle/tfl/sack/ff/fr play showed his burst and explosiveness. SUPER DUPER underrated as a recruit, and proving it more and more every game.
• Offensive balance. 429 yards of total offense: 210 yards passing. 219 rushing. A thing of beauty.
• 21 first downs
• 8 Tackles for loss
• 4 sacks
• 7.4 yards per play
• 19.1 yards per completion
• 13 chunk (10+ yard) plays — 7 runs, 6 passes. This included 3 TDs (Homer run, Herndon IV catch, Rosier run).
• 4 turnovers created (2 fumbles, 2 interceptions)
• 4.0 yards per play allowed
• 3-8 on 3rd down
• Held VT quarterback Josh Jackson to 20-32 for 197 yards, 0 TD, and 2 INT, 15 carries, 12 yards, 4 sacks, and hit him a bunch of other times.
• Held VT to 3-14 on 3rd down and 0-2 on 4th down. 3-16 on money downs. FANTASTIC.
• Held VT to 2.4 yards per rush
• Held VT to 10 points, 24.4 points below their season average of 35.4 PPG.
• Held VT to 299 yards total offense — THE FIRST TIME THEY WERE HELD UNDER 300 THIS SEASONS
• It wasn’t a full 4-quarter game, BUT MAN IT SURE WAS CLOSE!!!!!!
• MIAMI ROSE TO THE OCCASION! (side eye to Al Golden)
• Miami extending their nation-long win streak to 13 games.

The Bad

• Malik Rosier’s first interception. It was just a bad, BAD throw to Jeff Thomas, which was compounded because another receiver was open on the play.
• Questionable calls on the last drive for Miami’s defense. There were some iffy calls throughout the game as well, but on that last drive, there were a couple bad calls.
• Miami DL never get held, even when they’re tackled. Whatever. Still making plays.
• The takes from people who thought Virginia Tech was gonna beat Miami. TAKE IT AWAY, COLD TAKES EXPOSED!!!

• 7 penalties for 66 yards (plus the hidden yardage). Too many penalties. Period.
• Miami got 4 turnovers, but only scored on 1 of them (the last kneel-down notwithstanding). Getting the ball out is great. But Miami has to turn turnovers into points.
• Another sub-50% passing day for Rosier (10/21 = 47.6%). Gotta tighten that up.
• A 75-58 disparity in offensive plays in favor of Virginia Tech. That was inflated on a couple drives that were extended by penalties.

The Ugly

• The finish to Miami’s first drive. 1st and goal on the 2......and the Canes didn’t score. DeeJay Dallas getting carries before Travis Homer in goal line situations. A fade to Langham where he was clearly interfered with and no call. A throwback to the QB (the 2nd such play of the drive) ALMOST WORKED but didn’t. And a toss play to lose 4 yards on 4th and goal on the 2. Atrocious.
• Rosier’s interception on the first drive of the 2nd half (his 2nd of the day). Miami was moving the ball, Ahmmon Richards was open on the RPO.....but Rosier never saw the LB spy and threw it right to him. Ugh. Really, really terrible, and in a very bad spot, too.
• Rosier’s interception on the second drive of the 2nd half. (his 3RD of the day). Stared down Jeff Thomas. Threw the ball right to the VT defender (who admittedly made a good play to catch the ball but still). ATROCIOUS. My God.
• Malik Rosier’s cold spell. After the TD to Berrios, Rosier threw 3 interceptions in his next 6 passes. WOOF.
• Rosier forcing balls, which turned into interceptions.
• Again, a game where the other team is literally ripping the jerseys off Miami DL when rushing but nary a holding call to be seen. It’s coming eventually, but it didn’t today and that’s ugly AGAIN (just like the week before, and the week before, and....)
• Trevor Darling with 2 false starts early. You’re a senior. C’mon man.
• Miami with 3 total false starts, all before halftime. Woof.

---

Team Grades

Offense: B

If not for the failed redzone trip to start the game and the 3 bad interceptions, this would have been a performance for the ages. As it was, a B is fair, seeing that Miami had nearly 500 yards of offense, scored 28 points, and controlled the game for the majority of the night.

Defense: A-

Held VT 24.4 points below their average. Got 4 turnovers. Just dominated from start to finish. The only TD VT scored was after a Rosier interception the Hokies returned to the 17 yardline. This was flat out great. Minor demerit for the penalties at the end

Special Teams: B

Badgley 4-4 on XPs, and most kickoffs were touchbacks. Feagles did well with his punts, including a 50 yarder. No kick returns (touchbacks). Berrios smart with the fair catches this week (no room to return, and securing the ball is huge). Steady is good, and I’ll take it.

Coaching: A

CMR diversified the offense while maintaining high level production. Manny Diaz had the defense playing at a championship caliber. The position coaches obviously did a good job, as evidenced by the performance of their players. A tour de force performance from all parties. Well done.

---

That’s it for another week of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Hop in the comments and keep the conversation going.

See you back at HRS next Saturday night at 8pm for the ND game.

Go Canes