The Miami Hurricanes opened the ACC schedule with a dominating 47-10 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Here’s our game recap by Gaby Urrutia

Here’s our 3 stars from the game by Matt Washington

Justin Dottavio hopped in with a halftime film review when Miami was up 33-10

And here are hot, fresh game highlights from the ACC Digital Network

Now that I’ve whet your appetite and piqued your fancy, let’s get into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:

The Good

• The blackout entrance for tonight’s Miami Nights game (all black alternate jerseys) was super cool.

• After much speculation, N’Kosi Perry was revealed to be Miami’s starting QB when the team took the field for the first snap of the game.

• Travis Homer’s 56 yard run (the longest run of the year) followed immediately by a 4 yard DeeJay Dallas TD to open the scoring for Miami just over halfway through the first quarter. Lethal combo right there. Here’s Homer’s run:

• Shaq Quarterman with a sack-forced fumble combo, ball scooped up and returned 9 yards by Jonathan Garvin for a Miami Touchdown!! GIMME THE CHAIN!!!

• ANOTHER defensive touchdown, this time by Joe Jackson, who intercepted a screen pass and took it back 42 yards to pay dirt! CHAIN ME, BABY!!!!

• N’Kosi Perry getting on the board with a passing TD to Darrell Langham. The Anticipation. The Vision. The Touch. The Ball Placement. AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE DOUBLE DEKE MOVE ON THE ROUTE BY LANGHAM?! Gorgeous.

• Yet ANOTHER Turnover Chain. This time an interception by Jhavonte Dean, returned 25 yards to set up a Miami FG just before halftime.

• I swear this isn’t trolling....but YET ANOTHER TURNOVER CHAIN!!!! Jon Garvin recovers his 2nd fumble of the game, getting Miami their 4th takeaway of the game.

• Yes, you guessed it, YET ANOTHER TURNOVER CHAIN!!!! This time on a Romeo Finley 83 yard INT-TD on the first play of the 4th quarter:

• A new career high for DeeJay Dallas, who had 114 yards and a TD on just 11 carries for the night

• YET ANOTHER TURNOVER CHAIN!!!!!!! LB Bradley Jennings Jr. recovered at UNC fumble with 15 seconds left in the game for Miami’s 6th (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) takeaway of the day. Whew!!

• Mark Richt the troll gawd engaged his troll muscle on Larry Fedora AGAIN #LetsBeJerks

• Overall, solid first start for Perry. 8-12, 125 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 6 carries, 26 yards. No the offense didn’t have to carry the full load today, but I’m pleased with what we saw from Miami’s QB today, and continue to have sky high hopes for his potential moving forward.
• LB Shaq Quarterman had 5 tackles, 3 TFLs, 2 Sacks, a QB Hurry, a PBU, and a forced fumble before leaving the game with an ankle sprain.
• LB Zach McCloud! 8 tackles, and 2 TFLs and plenty of solid play on the day. Good to see him have a strong game out there.
• CB Trajan Bandy. He might be small, but he’s a beast. 6 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, and a couple BIG hits. Mess with him if you want to.
• RB Travis Homer. 88 yards on 14 carries, including a 56 yard run that set up the first TD for Miami on the day.
• DE Joe Jackson. 5 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 1 QB hurry, 1 PBU, 1 Interception returned 42 yards for a TD, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 player of the game award

• 14 TFLs
• 3 sacks
• 4 PBUs
• 3 interceptions
• 3 forced fumbles
• 3 recovered fumbles
• 6 total turnovers created (see the turnover chain recap above)
• 229 yards rushing at 6.7 yards per rush
• 14 first downs (in 46 plays, that’s good)
• 3-6 on 3rd down
• 7.7 yards per play
• 15.6 yards per completion
• 12 chunk plays (3 passes, 9 rushes). 3rd week in a row with 9 chunk plays in the run game.
• Allowed 2-13 on 3rd downs
• Allowed 5.7 yards per completion
• Allowed 3.26 yards per passing attempt (which would be the lowest in America by a quarter yard)
• 5-5 in the red zone (3 TD, 2 FG — and 1 FG was right before the half so I feel confident saying that would have been a TD if there was more time on the clock)
• Average starting field position: 50 yard line. LMAOOOOO that’s CRAZY.

The Bad

• Not containing UNC’s QB run on read option or zone read. Just too much running room for the QBs on the day (even if they didn’t score much, needs to get fixed)
• N’Kosi Perry’s interception. Just too many iffy variables on the play. A tight window. Good coverage. A ball (that was on the money, by the way) that wasn’t caught cleanly by the WR — Mike Harley. Harley tipping the ball up to himself, which left the ball in the air for when he was taken out by a defender and the 2nd (or 3rd, I can’t remember) defender came over to pick the ball off.
• The absences of Jaquan Johnson and Ahmmon Richards...again. Those are 2 of Miami’s best players, and even though the game was won, it would have been better to see them on the field. Hopefully they’ll return sooner than later.
• 24 first downs allowed to UNC
• 26:48 time of possession.
• only 46 plays run (but that’ll happen when the defense is scoring 3 TDs in a game)
• 2 fumbles
• 1 lost fumble
• Allowing 76 plays for UNC
• Allowing 33:12 time of possession to UNC (I know Miami scored ON DEFENSE 3 times to keep the play and TOP numbers down, but those are things we can’t count on moving forward so I’m including them here in The Bad, not The Ugly)
• Hearing Jason Strowbridge’s name called early and often for UNC. The Deerfield Beach (FL) native and alum was a thorn in Miami’s side all day long with 2 tackles, several other penetrating plays, and the blocked extra point. I know Strowbridge held an offer from Miami under the previous staff, but chose to go to Carolina instead. But after watching him play today, it’s hard not to think that Miami missed on a good one here.

The Ugly

• 15 yard penalty on Gerald Willis III to extend a UNC drive. He did nothing. Bullshit call by the refs to let UNC hang around when the defense had already stopped the Tar Heels. Such bullshit, man.
• Also, ugly on Willis III for even being in a situation that could possibly be construed as “unsportsmanlike” when heading off the field after getting a stop. 5th year seniors gotta know and do better. Period.
• Tackling in the run game in 1Q. UNC rushed for 89 yards in the first quarter of the game, and would have been WELL over 100 if not for -21 yards worth of sacks on their starting QB.
• Michael Carter routinely gashed Miami on the ground with 81 yards IN THE QUARTER, and backup QB Chazz Surratt scored untouched from 17 yards out. Woof. About as ugly as ugly can get.
• The 3rd quarter. I’ll let my tweet do that:

• Some REALLY BAD plays from Tyree St. Louis. He whiffed on a block on the play that ended in a Perry fumble, and others as well. Can’t get beat clean on the OL. Just can’t have it.
• The return of missed tackles. Whether they were arm tackles or just whiffs, this has to improve.
• 7 penalties for 65 yards. Remember when Miami had 1 penalty in 2 weeks? Me either. Clean it up, gentlemen.

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Team Grades

Offense: B

Super explosive, very efficient, and handled business. It was a light night for them with the defense doing so much. But the 3rd quarter sucked, and that’s part offense and part CMR’s playcalling (he mentioned it in his post-game presser), so that takes the grade down a bit. A couple plays could have hit for more, but in the first start of Perry’s career, a solid, if unspectacular, outing for the offense.

Defense: B+

The penalties were mostly against the defense. Manny Diaz mentioned how poorly the team played the QB run. IDC if it’s by overall schematic design or lack of execution. That has to improve. But dude. 6 turnovers and 3 defensive touchdowns. Those are PRETTY numbers. But, there were just a few too many mistakes to give this presentation an A. Yes, I’m a tough grader, but I stand by this fully. Can’t overlook the errors just because of the fun with the turnover chain.

Special Teams: C-

Only 2 punts for 75 yards for Jack Spicer. Not great, but not TERRIBLE. 1 punt was almost blocked. And 1 extra point WAS blocked. But Bubba Baxa hit both his FG attempts, so that’s a step in the right direction. Returns were negligible, at best. Nothing great a bit of terrible.

Coaching: B+

THANK YOU MARK RICHT FOR FINALLY STARTING N’KOSI PERRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But the 3rd quarter play calling sucked and CMR said it himself. Manny Diaz’s defense played VERY well, and got a ton of turnovers and scored points themselves, but he admitted Miami played the QB run game poorly, and that factors into the lowered grade here. But, a win by 5 TDs against a conference team is a 5 TD win against a conference team.

For all the times that we’ve said CMR and/or Manny Diaz didn’t have the team or unit prepared, this wasn’t that. But, there are details to fix and items to shore up, and when that happens, I’ll raise the grade.

BUT CMR STARTED PERRY WHICH NEEDED TO HAPPEN FOR MORE THAN A YEAR SO I’M BUMPING THE GRADE UP!!!! DEAL WITH IT!!!!!!

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That’s it for The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Celebrate the win and discuss the action in the comments section.

ON TO FLORIDA STATE WEEK WE GO!!!!!!!!

GO CANES