Miami to go from one type of adversity to 102,000-seat stadium with angry Texas A&M opponent
An early season game college football aficionados (not to mention Miami football fans) awaited is almost here, but if folks figured former No. 6 Texas A&M would be tough before, multiply the difficulty factor by whatever you choose.
The then-No. 15 Hurricanes (2-0), who rose to No. 13 Sunday in both major polls, had their share of unexpected challenges Saturday against Southern Miss (0-2), yet conquered any adversity by rising to win 30-7 with a much better second half. But Texas A&M’s 17-14 home loss Saturday to unranked Appalachian State will likely make the Aggies a focused, dangerous team.
The Aggies plummeted to No. 24 in the AP Top 25.
Of course, the Aggies game wasn’t over by the time reporters filed into the Hard Rock Stadium interview room to speak to players, but the Canes appear to have fully bought coach Mario Cristobal’s philosophy to “go 1-0” every day, every practice, against every opponent. And if the 1-0 isn’t across the board, then do the work to fix it.
After four quarters of football played in 90-plus degrees that by the end of the game, according to weather apps, felt like 105, Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke planned to head to the UM athletics “facility” Saturday night to “throw a little bit” and knock out the mechanical kinks that plagued him in the first half.
Van Dyke (20 of 29 for 253 yards and a touchdown, with one interception) was sacked four times, a couple of those due to miscommunication, he said, and was uncharacteristically off target in the first half. “We’re gonna fix it,’’ he said, “and we’ll be better.”
Extra work
Receiver Mike Redding III said he’d be up for some Saturday-night game studying and “extra work” with teammates.
You guys are getting together tonight? a reporter asked Redding almost incredulously.
“Yeah,’’ Redding said. “If you want to be a great football team, man. We come together and get extra work in and find ways to get better. We’ve got a group chat, man. We can go to Greentree, each other’s houses. That’s how we do it.’’
Redding was targeted five times Saturday and caught three passes for 45 yards. He said he’s been “finding time” to work on his body or catch extra footballs so he can improve. “There were some plays we left out there,’’ Redding said. “if everyone would have done their job we would have gotten what we needed.”
He indicated the mental mistakes affected players catching football. “We were making some blocks but we also missed some blocks. We missed some assignments. ...We’re going to watch the film tonight and focus on [Texas A&M] this week.... The biggest thing is staying locked in and focusing on what we need to do. We know there’s going to be a lot of outside noise but we gotta focus on our heart noise and the inside noise in our organization.
“It’s not necessary to focus on the outside noise and all the fans. Focus on what we need to do to win the football game.’’
Early adversity
Facing adversity, agreed Redding and 6-5, 270-pound Southern Cal defensive tackle transfer Jacob Lichtenstein, was important before the Hurricanes travel to College Station to play at a stadium that seats 102,733.
“Sometimes you want to face adversity so you can learn from it,’’ Redding said. “The more times you make mistakes the more you learn. The biggest thing is not to make the same mistakes you made last time.’’
Said Lichtenstein, who “didn’t feel fatigue” in the seemingly unbearable heat: “We learned we can respond to a little adversity after not playing the best first half. Texas A&M of course is a big game but we’re not going to look at it any differently. We’re just going to take it one step at a time, go 1-0 every day.
“Practice hard on Tuesday and Wednesday full pads, and that’s where the game is won.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2022 at 1:52 PM.
