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Wednesday, the Miami Hurricanes football team ended their final scrimmage of the preseason but with a different strategy compared to their previous practice matchups. According to The Palm Beach Post, the Canes’ last scrimmage was held at Southridge High, a school only 23 minutes away from Miami’s campus. However, instead of doing a normal scrimmage against backups, The U’s starting offense and defense were pitted against a fake version of LSU (everyone not a starter) in order to make situations as realistic as the game scheduled for September 2nd.
While the imaginary season opener turned out to be a closer game than what analysts and bookies in Vegas say about the chances of Miami winning, the scrimmage ended with the Canes winning by one point. The piece states that the No. 1 team went 21-skunk by scoring three touchdowns on the Tigers, but the bootleg LSU team fought back to make the bout closer, even getting a lead near the end. However, The U scored another touchdown and an extra point from the projected starting kicker, Bubba Baxa. The game ended with Miami on top 28-27.
There were several takeaways that answered questions about Miami’s depth after a few of there starters suffered from injuries in camp, according to the report. While the final scrimmage solidified Malik Rosier’s consistency as the starting QB, cornerback Trajan Bandy was able to practice after being benched the last two scrimmages, and freshman tight ends Will Malory and Brevin Jordan have progressed significantly. However, critical players like Joe Jackson didn’t practice and there’s still a plan being made about who would be in the trenches with defensive tackles Pat Bethel and Gerald Willis.
Overall, even with high expectations under their current circumstances, the Hurricanes still manage to have the talent to win their opener against LSU. More importantly, this shows that they’re ready for a close battle if it goes down to the wire. The U takes on the Tigers next Sunday at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.