Canes back home with energized QB, budding star, passing attack. Will they make fans sweat?
The Hurricanes are back at Hard Rock Stadium, where the home crowd for Miami’s 12:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday against Duke will want to enjoy a game without having it go down to the last few minutes — that is, if the nine-point-favorite Canes are ahead at that point.
The Blue Devils (4-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) have lost each of their past two games by three points, including last week’s 38-35 heartbreaker in which North Carolina scored with 16 seconds left on a touchdown that was reviewed at length because the receiver appeared to step out of bounds before the catch.
Last week at Virginia Tech, UM (3-3, 1-1) harped on starting fast, which it did with an impressive 20-0 lead through three quarters and an eventual, stress-inducing 20-14 victory. Now the Canes would like to maintain that level of play through four quarters without having to “stop the bleeding,’’ as quarterback Tyler Van Dyke described it.
“Fast start, but obviously we’ve got to continue that throughout the entire game and play four quarters of football and score every quarter,’’ said Van Dyke, who the past two weeks has combined for 71-of-103 passing (68.9 percent) for 838 yards and five touchdowns, with one interception. “We gotta do a better job of putting the game away. We had so many opportunities, so many chances to not even make that a close game.’’
Coach Mario Cristobal said this week that UM’s 17 penalties for 159 yards against the Hokies were “unacceptable,’’ and that he would attack the problem directly this week during practice.
“It’s a bunch of BS, right?’’ he told WQAM, telling reporters later that he blames a “lack of discipline, focus, technique, fundamentals, laziness and just a flat-out disregard for playing football the way it’s supposed to be played.’’
‘Positivity’
Van Dyke said the difference in his play the last two weeks has been “positivity and always staying up when things aren’t going great.”
“Throw a bad ball and I’ve just got to stay positive and move on and not worry about, ‘Oh, that was a bad throw,’ and sulk on it and the next one is a bad throw,’’ he said.
Van Dyke’s attitude has been further boosted by a budding, big-bodied star in 6-5, 215-pound sophomore receiver Colbie Young, who had nine catches for 101 yards and a touchdown last week, and might get back receiver Jacolby George from injury, though other Canes receivers, such as Clemson transfer Frank Ladson, have significantly improved the past few weeks.
Ladson was asked about Van Dyke’s ability to respond with two strong games after being benched during the loss to Middle Tennessee.
“He just continued to work,’’ said Ladson, who has 19 catches for 182 yards and a touchdown the past three games. “He’s not perfect. Nobody’s perfect. But he’s continued to prepare at a high level. With consistency it was going to show. I don’t think nobody has even worried or questioned him. It’s football. Sometimes you get in a funk... He’s always been the same Tyler Van Dyke.”
Duke defense/offense
Duke is 99th nationally in passing yards allowed (260.6 yards a game) to Miami’s 14th best passing offense (319.8 yards) and 64th in rushing defense (142.9 yards allowed) to UM’s No. 78 rushing offense (143.8). The Canes, hit by injuries among running backs and offensive linemen, have rushed for 209 yards total the past three games.
“We just haven’t been in sync in the run game,’’ Cristobal said. “We have to improve, bottom line.’’
Miami’s defense, with 11 sacks the past two games, will face a Duke offense led by 6-4, 212-pound sophomore quarterback Riley Leonard (130 of 198 for 1,557 yards and nine touchdowns, with four interceptions. He ranks third in the ACC in pass completion percentage (65.7). He also has a team-best 420 yards and five touchdowns rushing, including a 74-yard touchdown run against UNC.
“He’s very good with his feet,’’ UM defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said of Leonard. “In this day and age when you get a quarterback that can throw a ball accurately and beat you with your feet, you’ve got to be on point. We’ve got to make sure we keep him in the well, don’t let him scramble and move the chains.’’
Winning at home
After Duke, UM continues its ACC schedule with a 12:30 p.m. road game against Virginia (2-4, 0-3) at Charlottesville. The Canes, 2-2 at Hard Rock, have only two home games left after the Blue Devils.
“Without a doubt it’s always the most important thing, right?” Cristobal said this week about the importance of winning at home. “Principles of Miami football were always based on having the best home field advantage and having the longest home winning streak in college football history.
“I was fortunate enough to carry that on to other places and other stops I’ve been at. Of course that’s always going to be paramount to our program and the way we prepare and perform.”
