Opening the season with a 31-0 shutout of the Bethune-Cookman Cougars the Miami Hurricane defense looks like it may have returned to its glory days.
Against Bethune-Cookman, Miami’s defense played as dominating a game as defensive coordinator Mark D’Onfrio could ask for, allowing a whopping total of 79 offensive yards – 26 passing and 53 on the ground. Miami sacked quarterbacks Larry Brihm and Quentin Williams five times, and allowed only 1.72 yards per play. The Cougars must have felt as if they’d been battered by Category 5 force winds.
Bethune-Cookman finished last season ranked 25th in the FCS Coaches Poll after a 9-3 season. Their offense finished second overall in the MEAC last season behind their two quarterbacks and running back Michael Jones. So, the Cougars aren’t just a team of ordinary FCS scrubs.
The season opener, and to an extent this upcoming weekend against Florida Atlantic, are meant to be tune up games for the ‘Canes. The FAU Owls opened the season with a tough, heartbreaking 47-44 overtime loss to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Miami will host FAU for the first time this upcoming Friday.
On offense Miami’s performance was pedestrian at best. Brad Kaaya has been slated to emerge as one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC within the next few years. He finished 16/27 for 173 yards and two touchdowns, while Mark Walton added 85 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.
This isn’t to say the Miami offense is subpar; but with the suffocating play of their defense there wasn’t much for the U’s offense to do. But this was against a B-C team that lost nine starters from last year’s defense, and a group that accounted for 52% of the teams’ tackles.
Maybe it was due to the weather delay – which lead to officials shortening the second half to 10 minute quarters – or Miami just taking it easy on an inferior opponent. Whatever the case, the Miami defense has given themselves a lot of hype to back up to start the season.
But after playing nothing more than a varsity vs JV scrimmage, Miami may have already found itself on upset alert early this season.
For Florida Atlantic the ground game was clicking Saturday as the Owls accumulated 300 total rushing yards. The legs of Greg Howell (20 carries for 138 yards) and Jaquez Johnson (20 carries for 97 yards) carried the load. Johnson also added 263 yards and 2 touchdowns on 23/34 passing. Though the game was a barnburner, FAU showed that they have the offensive muscle to cause problems for teams this year – especially a Miami team that is susceptible to faltering under its own hype.
FAU will host Miami on short rest and may not have time to fully recover physically and mentally after their opening day loss. The same can be said for the Hurricanes, who did nothing more than show up in Coral Gables Saturday. They scrimmaged against another team for half an hour; and twiddled their thumbs for another, before watching the second team play against air for another 20 minutes.
Having a full game under their belts will give the Owls much needed confidence as they head home to Boca Raton, while giving the U a chance to assert its defensive dominance.
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