Miami can’t solve pitiful offense or Wisconsin star running back in Pinstripe Bowl loss
The beginning of the end for the University of Miami started frightfully soon after the opening kickoff Thursday at Yankee Stadium.
By the time the game clock struck 0:00, the 2018 Miami Hurricanes were out of their misery — until, perhaps, 2019.
Aided by a Malik Rosier interception on the Hurricanes’ first offensive play of the Pinstripe Bowl, the Wisconsin Badgers led by two touchdowns only three and a half minutes into the game, proceeding to methodically bludgeon the Canes with national rushing leader Jonathan Taylor for a 35-3 Badgers victory.
“Offensively, there’s not many nuggets you can really pull from today,’’ UM coach Mark Richt said. “My guess is it wasn’t a very good performance, just put it that way, obviously. Starts with me, for sure. Really that’s where the buck stops. Head football coach, play-caller, the whole bit. Just a poor job by me.”
The Canes, who had 169 total yards in front of a crowd of 37,821, ended their season at 7-6 overall and 4-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the fewest victories in Richt’s tenure after going 9-4 in 2016 (including a bowl victory) and 10-3 in 2017.
About an hour and a half after the game, UM athletic director Blake James posted on Twitter this statement: “Our football team’s performance tonight — and at other times this season — is simply unacceptable to all of us who love The U. I am committed to getting UM Football back to national prominence and that process is underway. We will compete for ACC and national championships and I know that Coach Richt is alongside me in that commitment to excellence.’’
UM running back Travis Homer, who came 15 yards shy of the 31 he needed to reach 1,000 for the season, was asked if the effort was there Thursday.
“No,’’ answered Homer.
Why no?
“It just wasn’t there,’’ Homer said. “We weren’t focused. We weren’t locked in. We didn’t want it bad enough. ...I didn’t feel the energy when we first went out there, but it definitely went down more [after Wisconsin went up 14-0].”
Miami, 1-8 in its last nine bowl games, won only two times this season (Toledo and Virginia Tech) in games played away from Hard Rock Stadium.
Led by Taylor’s 205 rushing yards and a touchdown on 27 carries, Wisconsin, which gained 406 yards, ended its season 8-5 and 5-4 in the Big Ten.
Much-maligned Hurricanes senior quarterback Rosier, who started in place of redshirt freshman N’Kosi Perry, had a career-ending game he won’t want to remember. Rosier, booed almost immediately by UM fans, completed 5 of 12 passes for 46 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions. He added a UM-leading 90 yards rushing on three carries in nearly three quarters of play.
And instead of expected true freshman Jarren Williams replacing Rosier with 3:36 left in the third quarter and UM down 21-3, it was redshirt freshman N’Kosi Perry, who threw UM’s fourth interception of the night of five total Canes turnovers that included a fumble lost by running back Homer.
Williams never played, and Perry finished 1 of 5 for 2 yards and the pick. He also ran four times for 11 yards.
“Well, he was going to play at the very end,’’ Richt said. “...At that point it wouldn’t have been anything more than just an opportunity to get in the game. We just felt like N’Kosi was second team.”
Added Richt of Williams: “I would think, if I’m him, I have a very outstanding shot at competing for the job.’’
Richt was asked what made the quarterback situation this season so difficult to manage and whether it had to do with performance or grasping the playbook or off-the-field issues.
“I mean, you have different quarterbacks with different issues,’’ Richt said. “But probably a combination of all those things you mentioned.”
Miami’s first catch by a wide receiver, a 22-yarder to Lawrence Cager, came in the first minute of the third quarter.
The Canes won the coin toss and deferred, and the Badgers immediately went to work. Wisconsin drove 65 yards on six plays that culminated in a 35-yard touchdown pass from Jack Coan that beat UM cornerback Jhavonte Dean and landed in the arms of a sprinting Kendric Pryor. Taylor began the game with four consecutive carries for 28 yards to set up the touchdown. Wisconsin led 7-0 at 11:56.
Enter Rosier, who launched the weakly thrown interception on UM’s first offensive play of the game. Badgers safety Eric Burrell took the pick and returned it 30 yards to the UM 7. On the next play, Taylor ran in untouched to make it a two-score lead just 26 seconds after the previous touchdown.
The Canes finally scored with 1:15 left in the opening quarter on a 33-yard field goal by freshman Bubba Baxa. Miami started that drive with a career-long 62-yard run by Rosier, who brought his team to the Wisconsin 30-yard line. Of UM’s 127 yards in the first half, nearly half came on Rosier’s run.
After one half, Wisconsin, which missed a 41-yard field-goal attempt wide left and a 39-yard attempt wide right, had amassed 220 yards, with Taylor leading the way with 107 and his touchdown on 17 carries. Taylor had 2,096 yards for the season by halftime.
Hurricanes starting center Tyler Gauthier was announced as academically ineligible about 30 minutes before kickoff, a blow to an already challenged offensive line. Gauthier, a senior, had started 29 consecutive games. He was replaced by redshirt junior Hayden Mahoney, who had started nine games this season at guard.
Homer insisted UM’s problems “can get fixed.’’
“Like I said, people just got to have that want to fix it.’’
But does he sense that “want’’ now?
“Not right now,’’ he said.
This story was originally published December 27, 2018 at 8:17 PM.
