THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your Miami Hurricanes came out and dominated the #18 USF Bulls, rolling to a 49-12 victory on Saturday afternoon/evening. Luck ran out, and the clock struck midnight for Cinderella here at Hard Rock Stadium.
Craig T. Smith has your game recap:
Mike Schiffman is back with the 3 stars, a thankless job tonight with all the options he had to pick from:
And before we go on, COLLEGE GAMEDAY IS COMING TO CORAL GABLES NEXT WEEKEND!!!
Let’s get into this brief edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:
The Good
- A win! Winning isn’t easy, so I’m always going to start with this. Deal with it.
- A crisp, clean game from Carson Beck. 23/28 passing (92.1% completions), for 340 yards, 3 TDs, and 2 INTs. Beck added 6 carries for 28 yards and TD on the ground.
- To this point of the season, Beck’s stat line is solid. 65/82 passing (79.3% completions), for 812 yards, 7 TDs, 2 INTs. And 26 yards and a TD rushing. And, most importantly, 3 wins out of 3 games.
- 49 points, on the back of 45 points against Bethune last week. If we’re doing that every week, I think we’ll go far.
- 8 receivers with a catch tonight
- RB Mark Fletcher Jr. with 120 yards and 2 TDs rushing. He’s in the best form of his career and getting better. I love it.
- Welcome to the spotlight, Joshua Moore! The OTHER superstar freshman receiver announced his presence with 3 catches for 61 yards and Miami’s first 2 touchdowns of the day. Bravo!
- DL Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor. Constant pressure on Byrum Brown, 12 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 0.5 sacks, and a PBU. They’re basically unblockable, and continue to wreck shop every week. I love it.
- S Bryce Fitzgerald with another interception. I love it.
- LB Chase Smith with arguably his best game as a Hurricane. 5 tackles and a PBU. He was a heat seeking missle on the field, and his combination of size and length was super impressive.
- CB Ethan O’Connor. It seems like a different DB is up here every week. 3 tackles and a TFL.
- WR Keelan Marion. Not just a return guy, Marion had 6 catches for 81 yards, both team-highs. Hell yeah!
- A nice, tidy 9 play touchdown drive to start the game. Miami’s OL was dominant, Carson Beck was precise, and the receivers were great. You love to see it.
- The touchdown was the first of Joshua Moore’s Miami career. Congrats!
- Joshua Moore’s breakout day continued on the next drive, with a leaping contested catch over a defender for his second score, this one from 39 yards out.
- Mark Fletcher showing the WIGGLE on his 38 yard TD run to put Miami up 21-6 early in the 2nd Quarter.
- Bryce Fitzgerald with another interception. The freshman gets his second interception in as many weeks. REMEMBER THE NAME!!!!!!
- USF QB Byrum Brown’s nation-leading streak of passes without an interception, dating back to November 2023, ended at 253 with the Fitzgerald pick.
- Another week, another highlight reel catch for CJ Daniels. This guy is so good. My GOODNESS.
- Jakobe Thomas forcing a Byrum Brown fumble on a 3rd down scramble. Recovered by Chase Smith, who played a hell of a game tonight.
- Keelan Marion says CJ Daniels, Malachi Toney, and Joshua Moore aren’t the only talented WR’s on the team.
- Mark Fletcher Jr. with his 2nd TD of the day, this one from 13 yards out.
- Another Carson Beck touchdown pass, this one to RB Marty Brown from 1 yard out on play action.
- Even with a 30 point lead late in the 4th quarter, Miami’s defense was swarming to the ball and gang tackling. This play forced a turnover on downs. It’s the little things, yanno?
- Held USF to 4.9 yards per play.
- Held USF to 1.5 yards per rush.
- 36:01 time of possession.
- 576 yards of offense — 371 passing, 205 rushing.
- 18 chunk plays — 11 passes (15+ yards), 7 runs (10+ yards).
- Another week of solid tackling. Actually, every good tackling from the defense.
- Held USF to 332 yards of offense — 292 passing, 40 rushing.
- 3 games, 3 opponents held under 100 yards rushing. That’s the blueprint.
- 26 first downs
- 7/11 on 3rd down
- 1/1 on 4th down
- Held USF to 7/19 on 3rd down, and 0/2 on 4th down
- 4 TFLs
- 2 sacks — Mesidor (0.5), Blount (0.5), Pickett (1)
- 1 forced fumble — Jakobe Thomas
- 1 fumble recovery — Chase Smith
- 1 interception — Bryce Fitzgerald (for the 2nd consecutive week)
- Only allowed 2 TFLs
- Only allowed 1 sack
- Another advanced stats snapshot that tells the story of a Miami blowout win (that should have been worse than it was)
The Bad
- Even though Miami completed a pass on the play, and converted a 3rd down on the next play, Carson Beck missed (as in didn’t see him) Keelan Marion on a wheel route for what would have been an 80+ yard touchdown. Would have liked that one.
- Letting USF hang around by not scoring after multiple 3 and outs by USF’s offense. That’s the path to a blowout, and we need to sustain drives in these situations.
- Allowing the late USF touchdown. I wanted to keep them out of the endzone.
- No Jordan Lyle, but that was because Big Fletch was hooping.
- No JoJo Trader. He wasn’t even on the sideline. Hold on…..this is actually ugly. I’ll leave it here and revisit.
The Ugly
- The Lightning delay. Nearly 2 hours of stoppage. But I get it. It’s a health and safety thing. But, that’s why I’m finishing this piece at nearly midnight for a 4:30pm kickoff game smmfh.
- Damari Brown getting beaten deep on a scramble drill on a 3rd down play to allow USF’s 2nd offensive drive to continue. Can’t have ANY lapses of focus. Tighten up, 2!
- Giving up a 53 yard completion on a go route to USF. You simply cannot have that.
- Carson Beck’s interception. Miami was driving late in the 2nd quarter, and the veteran QB forced a ball into coverage. The Canes could have gone up 35-6 with a TD there.
- Letting USF hang around. After going up 28-6, these were Miami’s next 4 offensive drives, including both of Carson Beck’s interceptions. Atrocious. We should have boat raced this team.
- Beck’s interception ended a streak of 202 consecutive passes without an interception.
- Beck’s 2nd interception. Can’t throw a high ball for Malachi Toney in traffic. He’s only 5’10”. That led to a tipped ball and another pick.
- #WellActually, Beck was throwing to Tony Johnson, but Malachi Toney jumped to make a play on the ball and tipped it.
- 9 penalties for 69 yards
- 5 false starts. But these were due to USF simulating the snap with late movement that was uncalled until the bitter end of the game.
- Only 2 accepted penalties by USF (there was a pass interference call that came on CJ Daniels’ crazy catch so we declined).
- USF blocked Rueben Bain Jr, Akheem Mesidor, and the rest of the defense all day with nary a holding penalty called? Yeah. Sure. In your fucking dreams.
Team Grades
Offense: B+
49 points is great, but 2 turnovers (interceptions) were not. Plus, the offensive lull from the end of the 2nd quarter through the majority of the 3rd quarter let USF hang around (if that’s what being down 28-6 is) longer than they should have. The false start penalties were insane. I know USF was simulating the snap count, but this has to be fixed, immediately if not sooner.
Glad to see Joshua Moore have his breakout. And Mark Fletcher Jr. with his career day rushing. And more. But, I’m nitpicking, and the couple of issues I’ve raised keep this from being in the A range, when Miami should realistically have scored close to, or over, 60 points in this game. Not sorry fo having high standards.
Defense: A-
Another strong game from the defense. Corey Hetherman is a psychopath, and I mean that as the biggest compliment possible. His defense is playing at a very high level, and I’m excited for that to continue throughout this season.
My only complaints were the couple of vertical plays that the defense allowed. But they stiffened up in the red zone, getting multiple turnovers on downs, forcing USF to 2 field goals, and keeping them out of the endzone until the game was well and truly in hand. This is what a Miami Hurricanes defense is supposed to look like.
Special Teams: B+
No field goals, but 2 kickers made extra points. Malachi Toney was good on punt returns, but I still think he needs to step up 5 to 10 yards. He had one great return he almost took to the crib. Coverage was good and allowed nothing. Punting was good in limited action. I’ll take it.
Coaching: A
Another strong week for the staff. This wasn’t a perfectly played game, but with the narratives about USF and many people trying to pray for Miami’s downfall, the Canes came out prepared, focused, and dominated a solid team. The talent played up, and it was beautiful to see.
I liked what I wrote here last week, so I’m gonna leave it: To have the kind of season that we desire, Miami cannot look past any opponent. That’s how disasters have happened in years gone by. But not tonight. They were ready, and that’s a credit to the staff. The players knew the scheme, knew the tendencies of the opponent, and made plays when they were there to be made.
Like last week, I wanted more points on the scoreboard, because the only thing that stopped this from being a 60 burger was Miami’s offense sputtering for about 10 minutes of game action. But, if that kind of lull still ends up with Miami scoring 49 and blowing out a ranked team at home, I’ll take it.
That’s it for this installment of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Hop in the comments and let me know your thoughts.
IT’S OFFICIALLY FLORIDA WEEK!!!!! #BeatUF
