Sleepless nights and hard truths: How D’Eriq King plans to bounce back against Pittsburgh
D’Eriq King didn’t sleep very much on the night he returned home following the Miami Hurricanes’ 42-17 loss to the Clemson Tigers. Miami didn’t touch down in South Florida until well after midnight and King lay awake deep into the morning hours Sunday.
It had been, as he later admitted, one of the worst performances of his career. He threw for only 121 yards. He tossed a pair of interceptions. The Hurricanes didn’t score an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter when it was already a blowout. The quarterback had as many mistakes to replay in his mind as ever, which meant his mind would spend a lot of time racing as he tried to fall asleep.
“That’s a fact. That’ll be a fact. That’s not just him saying something,” said Kirk Martin, who coached King at Manvel in Texas and is now the coach at Coleyville Heritage in Texas. “He’ll replay the whole thing over and over, and over and it’ll be that way all the way until they get to play again.”
A week after losing his first game with the Hurricanes, King will have a chance to bounce back Saturday against the Pittsburgh Panthers at noon in Miami Gardens.
King, whom Pro Football Focus still grades as the No. 3 quarterback in the Power 5 Conferences despite his dud against Clemson, will have another serious test, though, against Pittsburgh’s talented defense. The Hurricanes (3-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) will need him to get the offense back on track at Hard Rock Stadium.
In the first three games of the season, King managed No. 13 Miami’s new-look offense nearly flawlessly. The redshirt senior ran for 83 yards to beat the UAB Blazers in a run-heavy Week 1. He unloaded for 325 passing yards to beat the Louisville Cardinals in a pass-happy Week 2. He dismantled the Florida State Seminoles with 332 total yards in a Week 3 win. Altogether, he was 62 of 93 for 733 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions, with 28 carries for 157 yards and another touchdown.
On Saturday, he often was helpless against the top-ranked Tigers. He went just 12 of 28 — his worst ever completion percentage — for 121 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. It was the first time his single-game passer rating was ever worse than 100, only the second time he threw more interceptions than touchdowns and only the third time he threw multiple picks. The only time he had fewer yards was in a blowout win against the Tulane Green Wave in 2018, when he only attempted 15 passes.
He did run for 84 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries Saturday, but 56 of those rushing yards came on a single play.
“Honestly, I think that was probably one of my worst games I’ve played in my career,” King said Wednesday. “I just came in the building Sunday, I was open I wanted to be coached and I’m as hard on myself as anybody is.”
Most of the self criticism — from King, from offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee and from the entire offense — centered upon the Hurricanes’ defective passing attack. Miami’s 121 passing yards were its fewest since the 2018 Pinstripe Bowl loss to the Wisconsin Badgers and Miami’s only wide receiver with 25 or more yards was Keyshawn Smith, who had his 42 yards on a garbage-time reception.
The Panthers (3-2, 2-2) will follow the blueprint Clemson established because it’s the style they prefer anyway. They will load up the box to shoot down the Hurricanes’ dangerous running game and hope star defensive end Patrick Jones and their defensive line can overpower Miami’s offensive line. They will try to make the Hurricanes’ wide receivers win 1-on-1 matchups against star safety Paris Ford and the Pittsburgh secondary, and force King to make difficult throws without much time to stand in the pocket.
With star tight end Brevin Jordan questionable, King might not have his leading receiver and security blanket, either.
“There’s going to be opportunities for us to make plays on the outside at the receiver position. For me, I’ll take a lot of the blame, but we’ve got to get on the same page,” King said. “We came here this week and everybody was honest with each other. I was honest with myself, they were honest with their selves, and they know and I know that we’ve got to get better, throwing and catching the 1-on-1 balls.”
So far, King has earned the benefit of the doubt, based on his track record for four years with the Houston Cougars, and both the way he has performed and carried himself since arriving in Coral Gables.
The biggest reason Miami expects this season not to spiral out of control is because of its quarterback.
“D’Eriq has such a quiet confidence about him,” coach Manny Diaz said Wednesday. “He’s never rattled. Even when he wasn’t playing well in the game, there’s never any sense of panic on his face.”
