Podcast: We know UM’s offense is great. Its defense finally looked like old self vs. FSU
It has almost been a week, and we still can’t quite get over the Miami Hurricanes’ 52-10 beatdown of the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday. Miami scored more points than anyone ever had in the rivalry and scored one of the most lopsided wins in the history of the game a year after putting together a sub-.500 season.
It begs the question: Did the rout tell us more about how good the Hurricanes are this year or how dysfunctional Florida State is right now?
This is where we started on the latest episode of the Eye on the U podcast, as David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Miami Herald’s Hurricanes beat writer, give their final thoughts on the blowout, the state of the rivalry and why things tend to go in runs when the in-state archenemies square off.
No matter how one-sided Miami’s win was, it still provides another early-season data point for the No. 8 Hurricanes as we try to learn what they’re going to look like down the road with offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee and star quarterback D’Eriq King. Those early returns look better and better every week.
In a Week 1 win against the UAB Blazers, Miami ran for 300 yards. In a Week 2 win against the then-No. 18 Louisville Cardinals, the Hurricanes threw for 300 yards. On Saturday, King completed passes to 10 different receivers, and Miami had nine players chip in at least 40 yards from scrimmage.
This was all great, but maybe even more exciting was the play of Miami’s defense, which looked like a Manny Diaz-coached defense for the first time all season, generating sacks and turnovers and making at least one highlight-worthy play when defensive lineman Jaelan Phillips made a diving interception in the backfield.
It all leads the Hurricanes (3-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) into an Oct. 10 meeting with the top-ranked Clemson Tigers. First, Miami has a more difficult opponent to contend with: a bye week. The Hurricanes went 0-5 last season when they had more than a week to prepare, and now they have to spend the extra time away from the facilities worrying about COVID-19, too.
