Miami’s quarterback carousel keeps spinning. Mark Richt still doesn’t have an answer
The offense had sputtered for too long and Mark Richt was finally desperate for a spark. The Miami Hurricanes were in danger of losing any realistic chance to achieve any of its preseason goals after Malik Rosier led Miami to a meager 12 points in three quarters, so the coach finally pulled the plug. With 12:36 remaining and the Hurricanes trailing by five, N’Kosi Perry trotted on to the field.
The quarterback made a brief cameo in the first quarter — Perry led a pair of drives in the pouring rain — but now Richt was asking the redshirt freshman to save Miami’s season.
“I knew I was going to get in,” Perry said after the Hurricanes fell to the Duke Blue Devils at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday. “I didn’t know how much I was going to play.”
Perry got four cracks at a game-winning or -tying drive. A five-point deficit turned to eight when Duke sunk a field goal with 9:14 and Perry couldn’t piece together a good enough drive in the time allowed. After a turnover and two three-and-outs, Miami ended the game at the Blue Devils’ 28-yard line when a desperation heave was batted down. Duke hung on for a 20-12 win in Miami Gardens.
The first five drives Perry worked against the Blue Devils (6-3, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) amounted to nothing. He went three and out once in the first quarter, then had a second drive stall after only six plays. When Perry returned in the fourth, running back DeeJay Dallas fumbled on his first play back in the game, then the Hurricanes (5-4, 2-3) went three and out twice. With one final chance, Perry took over from Miami’s 13-yard line with 4:15 to play.
The final drive of the game wound up being the Hurricanes’ longest. Perry guided a 15-play drive for 59 yards and nearly gave Miami a chance to knot the game when an apparent touchdown pass to wide receiver Lawrence Cager was called back for offensive pass interference with 10 seconds left. A desperation pass fell incomplete from Duke’s 28-yard line.
“I feel like we’re not executing when we have to,” Perry said. “I feel like sometimes the quarterback will mess up or the receiver, or something like that, but for the most part we did not execute.”
Perry went 2 for 4 with 36 yards on the drive to finish the game 5 of 16 with 35 yards. Statistically, Rosier was slightly more effective, finishing 8 of 12 with 76 yards. Neither quarterback threw a touchdown nor an interception. Rosier ran for 32 yards on eight carries, while Perry amounted just 7 yards on five.
Richt’s standard line when defending Rosier has his starter has been to say the redshirt senior puts Miami in a better position to win. In the fourth quarter against the Blue Devils, Richt no longer felt it was the case.
Of course, a change isn’t unprecedented. Perry played the majority of the Hurricanes’ win against the FIU Panthers in September and took the reigns as the starter for Miami’s ACC-opener against the North Carolina Tar Heels. After guiding the Hurricanes to wins against North Carolina and the Florida State Seminoles, Perry started once again against the Virginia Cavaliers, but was benched in favor of Rosier in the second quarter. Perry didn’t see the field again until Saturday.
In the meantime, Perry and Rosier have split first-team reps in practice, although Rosier has gotten more.
In recent weeks, Richt has committed to a quarterback relatively far ahead of time. He named Rosier the starter for the game against the Boston College Eagles more than a week ahead of time with a bye week leading into the game. He said he’d stick with Rosier for the Duke game last Sunday on his weekly postgame teleconference.
Late Saturday, Richt wasn’t ready to make a decision for next week yet.
“I can sit here and try to say who it’s going to be,” Richt said in his postgame press conference, “but sometimes you say something now that you may not want to say after all the film’s reviewed.
This story was originally published November 4, 2018 at 12:18 AM.