Miami Hurricanes lose valiant fight — and D’Eriq King to knee injury — in Cheez-It Bowl
Despite a nearly miraculous comeback, what could have gone wrong for the University of Miami did go wrong Tuesday night in the Cheez-It Bowl — and worse.
The No. 18 Hurricanes lost their final 2020 game and their star quarterback in one dramatic finale at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, putting up an intense, but ultimately futile battle to overcome a three-touchdown deficit. Final score: Oklahoma State 37, Miami 34 for UM’s 10th loss in its past 11 bowls.
“At no point did I think we’d lose that game,’’ coach Manny Diaz said of his Hurricanes, who nonetheless made plenty of mistakes in dropping at least five crucial passes and losing two fumbles, including a punt return. “The way we battled, the way we fought, the way we played for each other was inspiring. We just made too many mistakes to win.”
Miami, which ended its season 8-3 overall and 7-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, now will wait and wonder what the future holds for quarterback D’Eriq King.
King, a fifth-year senior who on Saturday announced to a joyous Diaz and the public via a video that he was returning in 2021 instead of entering the NFL Draft, sustained a right-knee injury while running with 4:06 left in the first half and the Canes down 21-7.
“In terms of D’Eriq, we’ll evaluate him tomorrow,’’ Diaz said. “That’s really all we know at this point. ... It’s harsh in a year to have so much adversity, and for a guy that does everything right. Hopefully we’ll get good news tomorrow. That’s a difficult pill to swallow. The fact that everybody rallied says a lot about our football team.’’
Flanked by trainers and attended to by UM Dr. Lee Kaplan, King limped off the field, putting virtually no pressure on his right leg. Only two plays before his injury, King had rushed seven yards for an apparent touchdown, but the touchdown was nullified by a holding call on lineman Jakai Clark.
‘I prayed’
“When I saw D’Eriq go down, first thing I did was I prayed for him,’’ said Canes tight end Brevin Jordan, who had a stellar performance with eight catches for 96 yards and two touchdowns and said he hadn’t yet decided on his future in terms of whether to enter the NFL Draft. “I thank God for having him on this team and I asked for protection, that’s the first thing I did. Next thing, I gathered up the whole offense and said, ‘Yo, bring it in,’ and, ‘It’s next man up.’
“But when he went down it rattled us. That’s the energy D’Eriq brings to this team. That’s the passion he brings to this team. We rallied. We said, ‘Alright, cool, you want our quarterback? Let’s go play football.’’’
Enter redshirt junior backup N’Kosi Perry, who despite starting several games in his career, this season had only thrown 13 passes in four games because King had dominated. Perry finished 19 of 34 for 228 yards and two touchdowns.
“I think we took a positive step tonight even though we didn’t come out with a W,’’ Perry said. “We need to improve in all areas. We’re not bad at all, but if we improved, I feel we could be unbeatable.’’
King, who transferred to UM from Houston last January, entered the bowl with 3,093 total yards in 10 games — 15th nationally in total offense. His 2,573 passing yards also was 15th nationally.
Brace and crutches
King returned to the sideline late in the third quarter wearing a heavy brace and using crutches, while cheering for his guys. In 2018 while with Houston, he tore the mensicus of the same knee.
“D’Eriq cares so much for his teammates and our football team, and that’s who he is every day in our facility and locker room,’’ Diaz said. “He loves these guys he plays with, and I know it hurt him not to be out there with them.’’
“He was giving me encouragement, just positive energy,’’ Perry said of King, adding that the Hurricanes were positive all night.”
At the point he entered the game, Perry threw two incomplete passes and All-American Jose Borregales cut the lead to 21-10 with a 22-yard field goal.
UM scored the next nine points on a late second-quarter 40-yard field goal by Borregales and a 42-yard touchdown run by Cam’Ron Harris to culminate an eight play, 80-yard drive at 8:45 of the third quarter. The two-point conversion attempt failed, and UM got painfully close at 21-19. But not for long, as Oklahoma State scored the next 10 points and led 31-19 with 14:19 left in the game.
The Canes wouldn’t quit, as Perry led them to another 80-yard touchdown drive to make it 31-26 with 12:03 left, but the Cowboys (8-3, 6-3 Big 12) wouldn’t quit, either. With 9:50 left, Spencer Sanders (27 of 40 for 305 yards and four touchdowns) threw his fourth touchdown of the night to give Oklahoma State a 37-26 lead.
Miami answered with a 75-yard drive, five-yard touchdown pass from Perry to Mike Harley and two-yard conversion run by Marshall Few to go down by only 3 — 37-34 for the final score.
First quarter demise
After one quarter, the Cowboys had a 21-0 lead and 198 total yards, the prospect of 800 undoubtedly clogging the minds of upset Hurricanes fans who made it clear by then they wanted coaches fired.
“It was missing tackling, not fitting gaps,’’ UM safety Bubba Bolden said. “It’s on the defense. It’s on us. We had to make an adjustment, went back and from there it kind of went up.’’
Oklahoma State ended with 418 yards to Miami’s 512.
King finished 10 of 13 for 113 yards and a touchdown before he was hurt.
Senior Mike Harley added eight catches for 69 yards and a touchdown, but also had a key punt-return fumble at the UM 39 with just under two minutes left in the first half.
Bolden, a redshirt junior who also said he also hadn’t made a decision about his future, was asked his emotions.
“Mad,’’ he said. “We just lost.’’
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 9:24 PM.
