Miami starts slow but stops Southern Miss (and Frank Gore Jr.) to set up Texas A&M showdown
It wasn’t a blowout like Miami Hurricanes fans were probably expecting, but the No. 15 University of Miami still delivered a win Saturday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium.
Despite a rocky first half for reigning ACC Rookie of the Year quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, the Canes defeated Southern Miss 30-7 in front of an announced paid crowd of 46,421.
“Sluggish first half,’’ UM coach Mario Cristobal said. “We certainly hurt ourselves. Give credit to them: Southern Miss certainly did some things, especially on defense, that caused us a couple issues in protection. Some pretty good halftime adjustments, particularly by the defense to go out and have the type of second half they did — shut down the run, shut down the pass and create great field position opportunities for us.
“We’re 1-0 for the week, that’s your goal. But certainly we want to play more polished, more precise football. ...We gotta go get better.’’
Now it should get even harder for the Canes, as UM (2-0) travels to College Station next Saturday night to meet No. 6 Texas A&M. The Aggies, who were upset 17-14 on Saturday by Appalachian State, will no doubt play with extra fervor in front of a wild home crowd.
Van Dyke completed 20 of 29 passes for 253 yards and a touchdown, with an interception. At halftime, Van Dyke had completed 12 of 19 for 141 yards and no touchdowns, with the pick — and had been sacked three times.
“I just missed throws that I never usually miss,’’ said Van Dyke, who also was sacked on his final play. “I just gotta hit ‘em. The offense, we started slow. We can’t do that. We gotta start fast and stay at that level the entire game until the last play.’’
The Canes defense held Southern Miss (0-2) to 24 yards rushing (231 total) and had three takeaways: an interception by Tyrique Stephenson, forced fumble by Antonio Moultrie (recovered by Chantz Williams), and fumble recovery by Kamren Kinchens.
“I mean, really, I felt like I didn’t do too much in the first half,’’ said UM sophomore defensive tackle Leonard Taylor, who had a sack and two tackles for loss. “So I was talking to myself in the locker room, like, ‘I gotta get right,’ telling my teammates I gotta make some plays. And [I] went out there, and I made it happen.”
Miami held star running back Frank Gore Jr. to 10 yards rushing and 13 yards receiving on two catches. Last week, Gore, the son of UM running back great Frank Gore Sr., rushed for 178 yards and two touchdowns.
“Yeah, that was definitely the main game plan,’’ UM defensive tackle Jake Lichtenstein said of stopping Gore. “[It] was ‘These guys are gonna come in here and try to run the ball,’ so that was a huge emphasis. We’ve got to stop the run, so we did a great job of that.
“Obviously, we started a little bit slow. They came out and played good ball.’’
Miami scored back-to-back third-down touchdowns in a little more than two minutes to mount a 24-7 lead. The first: a powerful 7-yard rush by Thaddius Franklin to culminate a 13-play, 77-yard drive. The second: a 35-yard completion from Van Dyke to Key’Shawn Smith — Smith’s first touchdown of the season — on the opening play of the drive.
Tyrique Stevenson’s interception in the end zone with 2:28 left in the third quarter prevented a Southern Miss touchdown to secure UM’s cushion.
Xavier Restrepo led UM with six catches for 72 yards. Henry Parrish had 116 yards rushing and a touchdown on 24 carries.
The Hurricanes had to feel fortunate to get a 10-7 lead heading into halftime.
With 20 seconds remaining in the first half, Parrish barreled 1 yard for the UM touchdown. The Canes began the 10-play, 86-yard drive — their longest of the season in yardage — at their 14-yard line.
The drive included an 11-yard slant to Restrepo, 16-yard completion to Mike Redding III, 11-yard completion to Brashard Smith and 18-yard completion to Romello Brinson. It also included a 15-yard rush by Parrish that brought UM to the Southern Miss 30-yard line before Brinson’s catch.
UM scored first on a 30-yard field goal with 1:39 left in the opening quarter.
The Golden Eagles scored early in the second quarter on a 32-yard pass from Zach Wilcke to Jason Brownlee that culminated a six-play, 75-yard drive for a 7-3 lead.
“We’ve given up explosive plays and we’re not getting explosive plays, so we’ve got to go in there and just get better, grind, no BS, no nonsense,’’ Cristobal told WQAM at halftime.
“We’ve got to get to work, man.’’
UM’s final six points came on fourth-quarter field goals of 33 yards and 48 yards.
This story was originally published September 10, 2022 at 3:15 PM.
