Miami savors win over FSU with fans ‘in sea of garnet and gold,’ then gets ACC gift
The Miami Hurricanes just wanted a victory over the Florida State Seminoles. They got that and more by the time Saturday turned into Sunday and they were back on campus.
A season that two weeks ago seemed hopelessly in disarray, is now looking promising enough to put the Hurricanes smack in the middle of the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division title discussion.
That’s right. It could happen, as crazy as that sounds. Miami’s 27-10 victory Saturday at Florida State’s Doak Campbell Stadium, the most lopsided victory in the series since the Seminoles crushed the Canes by 27 points in 2013, was the best the Canes have looked all season in all three phases of the game.
Afterward, Virginia’s victory over North Carolina on Saturday night kept Miami alive in the Coastal — but more on that later. UM coach Manny Diaz and his Hurricanes were focused, at least for a few hours, on savoring their biggest win of the season.
“It’s lit!’’ UM running back DeeJay Dallas said of the post-game locker room atmosphere, only to be outdone by thousands of loyal Hurricanes fans chanting, “It’s great, to be, a Mi-a-mi Hurricane!’’ as Miami players leaped atop the brick stadium wall to share the win with the diehards.
“Yeah, the Doak leap,’’ said Dallas, who scored a touchdown and had an integral 42-yard screen-pass reception that led to a perfect 39-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jarren Williams to Jeff Thomas.
The several thousand fans who traveled from South Florida to Tallahassee to give the Canes support touched the hearts of Dallas and his teammates.
“For them to travel all the way up here, man...,’’ Dallas said. “That means a lot for us when we see the orange and green in the stands in a sea of garnet and gold. It gives us a lot of motivation.”
Dallas reiterated that the post-game players meeting leading to the Pittsburgh game the previous week was “the big turning point” for the Hurricanes.
“The guys just came together and we said, ‘We want this to be a player-led team...’ Our urgency is up and it shows on the field,’’ Dallas said. “We’re 2-0 since that meeting. So, yeah, I think that was our turning point and it’s going to keep going. We got Louisville next. Hope to see you all there.
“Man, I’m having fun!”
The Hurricanes, though still a longshot to win the Coastal, are in a conference jumble of mediocre teams vying for a trip to Charlotte to play likely Atlantic Division champion Clemson on Dec. 7 at Bank of America Stadium.
Virginia (6-3, 4-2 ACC) defeating North Carolina on Saturday night kept the door open for Miami, as the Hurricanes (5-4, 3-3), UNC (4-5, 3-3) and Virginia Tech (5-3, 2-2) are all .500 in league play.
Those three teams trail Coastal Division leader Virginia (6-3, 4-2) and second place Pittsburgh (6-3, 3-2). Even Duke, at 4-4 and 2-3 is still mathematically alive.
Miami holds the head-to-head tiebreaker with Virginia and Pittsburgh, but lost head-to-head matchups with North Carolina and Virginia Tech. The Canes close the regular season at Duke on Nov. 30.
“This week was really the first week I felt we put it all together,” said Diaz, who described exemplary practice sessions in the days leading to the big game and lauded the play of quarterback Jarren Williams (21 of 37 for 313 yards and two touchdowns).
“Jarren during the game, just calm,’’ said Diaz, who also said it was a misconception that Williams can’t throw deep. “Never rattled. The poise. We threw an RPO to Jeff Thomas on maybe the second to last drive at the end when we got the field goal. They’re bringing field blitz, I mean all these bombs are going off around him and he just sits in there and puts it right on Jeff.’’
Williams had plenty of time to throw Saturday, usually not the case earlier this season. He was only sacked twice (and twice a week ago against a Pittsburgh team that came into the game leading the nation in sacks). Miami’s offensive line, which allowed 10 sacks in the season opener against Florida, has significantly improved.
“It’s really experience because up front we’re young,’’ Williams said. “But it’s Week 9 so they’ve got a lot of games under their belt now. They’re each game getting better and better and better, so we’ve just got to keep working.’’
Added Dallas: “They pieced that D-line up the whole night. From 10 to 2, bro, that’s a big improvement.’’
Dallas also hadn’t forgotten the spectacular play of his defense, which had a season-high nine sacks and 16 tackles for loss. He was among the first Hurricanes to congratulate the defense after it stuffed a fourth-and-1 late in the first half.
What I said was, ‘Let’s choke them out. Let’s put ‘em to bed,’’’ Dallas said. “I just wanted to shut the door.’’
▪ UM’s last 2019 home game against Louisville at 3:30 p.m. Saturday will be broadcast by ESPN2.
▪ Canes redshirt freshman defensive end Greg Rousseau was named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week on Sunday after amassing four sacks and five tackles for loss in the win over FSU. Rousseau had eight total tackles and helped lead a UM defense that had a season-high 16 tackles for loss and nine sacks. Including the sacks, the Canes held FSU to 31 rushing yards.
This story was originally published November 3, 2019 at 10:58 AM.
