It was another heart-pounder for the Miami Hurricanes, but this time they came out on top
Maybe all the Miami Hurricanes needed was a change of scenery.
Or maybe all they needed was a little help from quarterback Jarren Williams.
Hurricanes receiver K.J. Osborn caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Williams, who replaced starter N’Kosi Perry midway through the fourth quarter, with 58 seconds remaining Saturday to lead Miami to a 16-12 victory over Pittsburgh.
For the second time in three weeks, the Hurricanes defeated a team ahead of them in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division standings, fueled in large part by a gritty defensive performance at Heinz Field that held the Panthers to four field goals and included three takeaways.
“Extraordinarily proud of the staff and players,’’ UM coach Manny Diaz said. “It’s another week in the ACC Coastal. ...The outstanding red-zone defense — keeping the score down and keeping Pitt out of our end zone — ultimately gave us a chance to put together one drive at the end of the game for the win.
“It’s a league of very fine margins, and today we were the team that made the plays in the critical situations.’’
The Canes won despite only garnering 208 yards of total offense (62 yards of that on their game-winning drive), but their defense held the Panthers to 322 total yards.
Perry completed 10 of 24 passes for 104 yards, no touchdowns and an interception, and was sacked only twice by a Pitt defense that averaged more than five a game and ranked No. 1 in the country in sacks coming into Saturday.
Williams was 4 of 8 for 50 yards and his go-ahead touchdown pass to Osborn, who led all receivers with six catches for 94 yards.
“I’m just trying to be the best quarterback I can be,’’ said Williams, who has been recuperating from a throwing-shoulder injury sustained earlier this season and watched as Perry, who played with a separated left, non-throwing shoulder sustained last week, started the Pitt game and two previous ones. “I said, ‘Hey, I gotta step up. The guys need me. The team needs me. This program needs me. So, I’m going to give everybody everything I’ve got.’ I believe in those guys, and we marched down the field.’’
Williams missed Wednesday’s practice for unspecified reasons, according to WQAM’s radio game broadcast, but the quarterback declined to elaborate, saying he wanted to “keep that in house.’’
The Hurricanes (4-4, 2-3) badly needed this win to increase their chances of qualifying for a bowl game and preserve the enthusiasm of whichever fans had remained painfully patient amid a difficult season for first-year head coach Diaz.
Pittsburgh (5-3, 2-2) snapped a four-game winning streak, but still remains in the hunt for the Coastal title.
Miami must win at least two of its remaining four games to qualify for a bowl, and three of those four will be away from Hard Rock Stadium, beginning with Florida State in Tallahassee at 3:30 p.m (ABC) next Saturday. The Seminoles, also 4-4 overall (2-2 ACC), defeated Syracuse 35-17 late Saturday afternoon.
UM’s lone remaining home game, designated Senior Day, is Nov. 9 against Louisville.
With the Miami defense doing all it could to help the Canes’ cause, Pitt scored all 12 of its points on field goals of 54, 25, 29 and 29 yards. The last field goal came with 7:19 left and gave Pitt its final lead of the game after UM’s defense stopped the Panthers on three plays from the 7-, 6- and 1-yard lines.
Redshirt freshman defensive end Greg Rousseau had three of UM’s four sacks, including one on the Panthers’ last-gasp, fourth-quarter drive. Pitt’s go-ahead score had culminated a 14-play, 64-yard drive that elapsed 8:14 off the clock and gave the Panthers a 12-10 lead.
Before that, an instrumental decision by Diaz was made with UM leading 10-9 and at the Pitt 25-yard line with 3:45 left in the third quarter. Diaz opted to go for it instead of trying for the field goal. But Perry badly overthrew Dee Wiggins and the Panthers took over.
The Hurricanes’ defense was heavily criticized inside and outside the program last week for missing nearly 30 tackles in Miami’s overtime loss at home to Georgia Tech.
On Saturday, the Canes’ defense revved up its intensity, earning the three takeaways in the first half, including two interceptions by cornerback DJ Ivey, and converting them into all 10 first-half Miami points.
“It absolutely meant a lot,’’ said Ivey, who in last week’s loss gave up a special teams touchdown and one on defense. “I felt like I made up for last week for my team. I gave it my all.’’
But the Canes’ anemic offense could garner only 100 total yards in the half, with Pitt’s vaunted rushing defense holding the Canes, playing without starting running back DeeJay Dallas, to 23 rushing yards. UM went into the locker room at halftime with a 10-6 lead.
Tailback Cam’Ron Harris finished with 16 carries for 60 yards and a touchdown in his first career start.
UM’s first interception about midway through the first quarter came off linebacker Zach McCloud’s deflection and the Canes took over at the Pittsburgh 35. But after driving to the Pitt 9-yard line for a first down, Perry threw three incompletions and Miami could only come up with a 22-yard field goal. Then again, it should be noted that amid the Hurricanes’ kicking horrors this season any field goal made for UM might be celebrated this season.
UM’s second takeaway was a fumble recovery by Gurvan Hall and forced by fellow safety Bubba Bolden. This time UM took over with 1:18 left in the first quarter at its own 38, but went three-and-out.
On Ivey’s second interception in the first minute of the second quarter, defensive end Trevon Hill put the pressure on Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett to help in the process. Four plays later, Harris rushed for his 1-yard touchdown to give UM a 10-3 lead with 12 minutes left in the second quarter.
This story was originally published October 26, 2019 at 3:24 PM.
