Another week, another win for the Miami Hurricanes.
Facing the Bethune Cookman Wildcats, your Miami Hurricanes came out and played a (mostly) clean and efficient game, winning by score of
Craig T. Smith has your game recap:
Mike Schiffman is back with the 3 stars:
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. 22/24 passing (91.7% completions), for 226 yards, 2 TDs, and 0 INTs.
- To this point of the season, Beck’s stat line is solid. 42/54 passing (77.8% completions), for 472 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs. Not eye popping numbers, but very solid and consistent. And, importantly, no turnovers.
- Starting offense went 5/5 with touchdowns on every drive they played. Can’t do better than that.
- 14 receivers with a catch tonight. This is what you want to see in an FCS game
- Miami got the scoring started with this 40yd DIME from Carson Beck to CJ Daniels. It’s only been 2 games, but it’s easy to see why Mario Cristobal chased after Daniels in the portal multiple times.
- Carson Beck completed his first 15 passes of the game. This set a new program record, breaking the previous mark of 14 consecutive completions to start a game set by Heisman Trophy winning QB Vinny Testaverde in 1986 against Oklahoma.
- Rueben Bain Jr. with a strip sack, forced fumble, and Chase Smith with the recovery, to end a Bethune drive.
- True Freshman RB Girard Pringle Jr. showed his speed with this 30 yard touchdown.
- True Freshman Safety Bryce Fitzgerald with this diving interception to keep Bethune out of the endzone. Cristobal made a special point to praise him last week, and you see why. Sky is the limit for him.
- Held Bethune Cookman to 3.9 yards per play.
- Held Bethune Cookman to 2.8 yards per rush.
- 28:55 time of possession.
- 543 yards of offense — 344 passing, 199 rushing.
- 15 chunk plays — 6 passes (15+ yards), 9 runs (10+ yards).
- Good tackling tonight. Few missed tackles, and better angles from the secondary.
- Held Bethune Cookman to 191 yards of offense — 99 passing, 92 rushing.
- 2 games, 2 opponents held under 100 yards rushing. That’s the blueprint.
- 31 first downs
- 4/6 on 3rd down
- Only facing 6 3rd downs all game
- Held Bethune to 1/9 on 3rd down, and 0/1 on 4th down (Fitzgerald’s interception).
- 10 TFLs
- 1 sack — Bain
- 1 forced fumble — Bain
- 1 fumble recovery — Chase Smith
- 1 interception — Fitzgerald
- 0 turnovers. Again.
- Only allowed 3 TFLs
- Only allowed 2 sacks
- P Dylan Joyce got the night off. Miami did not punt tonight.
- Advanced stats tell the story of a Miami victory. Again, Green = good, purple = bad, and the darker the color, the better/worse the stat.
The Bad
- Miami allowing a Bethune Cookman field goal. I’m greedy. I wanted the shutout.
- More seriously, allowing a 6 minute, 47 second drive to get that field goal. An 11 play drive with only a single 3rd down attempt. That means BCU kept getting 1st downs on 1st or 2nd down all drive until they stalled for the FG attempt. It was only one drive, but that’s 1 too many against this kind of competition IMO.
- Miami allowed another long Bethune drive in the 4th quarter as well. I know it was against the 2s/3s on defense, but still. Need to be better.
- Allowed Bethune Cookman 31:55 time of possession. WAY too much of the ball. Needed to get them offt he field a bit faster on their drives.
- Allowed 5 chunk plays to Bethune — 1 pass (15+), 4 runs (10+). Would like this to be even lower. Yes, I’m nitpicking. No, I don’t care.
- No Jordan Lyle. No JoJo Trader. No Hayden Lowe. And a couple other players sat out tonight. Which can only mean they’re dinged up. Hopefully sitting out tonight will help them be ready for future games.
The Ugly
- Wesley Bissainthe ejected for Targeting on the 3rd play of the game.
- Honestly……that’s the only “Ugly” I can think of. If you have something I missed, drop it in the comments.
Team Grades
Offense: A-
Starters scored TDs on all 5 of their drives. Backups (which includes the 2’s and 3’s) scored a couple of times, but also failed to convert a 4th down try. The efficiency was elite all night. The explosion was there, too. I’m giving a half grade deduction because I wanted more explosive plays and quick drives (fewer plays). But there’s nothing to HATE from this game. Dominated an FCS team like we should have. Well done.
Defense: B+
Another strong game from the defense. Hated seeing Bissainthe get ejected for targeting, but if there’s ever a game for that to happen (and in the first half so he’s back for the full game next week), this was it. Nearly 32 minutes TOP allowed isn’t great. And I know we were rotating the 2’s and 3’s in a lot tonight, but I would have liked to see more 3 and outs/quick defensive possession through the game.
But, the identity of this defense is quickly becoming clear: a fast, physical group with tons of talent at every level, that relentlessly pursues the ball all over the field. I like what I’m seeing on this side of the ball, but the major tests for this season are ahead.
Special Teams: A
1/1 on FGs (Bert Auburn kicked it cuz we were up by a bunch already). No punts, so that’s cool. Keelan Marion only had 1 KR but was a step away from taking it to the house. Both Malachi Toney and Ray Ray Joseph got chances at PR. There was one issue where a blocker on PR almost got blocked into the ball, but other than that, this was a solid day from special teams.
Coaching: A-
This was a game I needed to see. Coming off an emotional win against a major rival and one of the best teams in the country, but facing an FCS sacrificial lamb, would this team be prepared, focused, and execute. To a man, this staff had the team dialed in and ready to go, and they played with laser sharp focus all night long.
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.
My only gripe isn’t reasonable, but whatever: I wanted an 84-0 type blowout. But, with Miami working at a pedestrian tempo, and Cristobal’s respect for Bethune’s coaches, there was never going to be a blowout in the offing. That’s a ME thing that *EYE* have to deal with. But, in terms of what we saw, how it worked, and how it was handled, I’m good with 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. On to USF we go.
