Hurricanes’ blowout victory against Temple fueled by the ground game

You’ve heard of the Miami Sound Machine, of course. Well, this was the Miami ground machine.

Playing on the soggy turf at Lincoln Financial Field with swirling winds, Mario Cristobal’s Miami Hurricanes let their running game do the talking in Saturday’s 41-7 romp over Temple. And the Canes (4-0) spoke loudly, amassing a season’s high 323 yards — 312 more than the overmatched Owls.

As much as Miami’s stable of running backs enjoyed having their number called so often, no one loved it more than the offensive linemen. “Going into the game we knew we were going to have to run because of the weather,” said right guard Anez Cooper, helping lead the way for starting running back Don Chaney Jr. , who was followed by Henry Parrish Jr., Mark Fletcher Jr. and Chris Johnson. “We thought there’d be rain, but it was more wind and drizzle.

“Offensive linemen want to run the ball a lot. We made sure the run would first be our plan.”

Mission accomplished. The Canes simply shredded Temple’s defense, tacking on another 220 Tyler Van Dyke yards and three touchdowns passing to take the competitive charm out of this one early.

Speaking of competition, Miami’s running back room is filled with it. While Homestead native Chaney got his first starting nod — and responded with 61 yards on nine carries — it seemed to trigger something in Parrish. All he did in his backup role was rack up a career high 139 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries, before leaving late in the third quarter with an undisclosed injury.

According to Chaney, though, it’s all for one, one for all in the running back room. “It’s great competition and Henry’s amazing,” said Chaney, who didn’t find out he was starting until Friday, “He deserves everything he gets.

“But it felt really good being out there and helping the team. They allowed us to be able to have a little gap here and there, and we were able to take advantage. It was sweet.”

So why start Chaney after Parrish had gotten the call the first three games? “He just did a really good job in practice and in the game before,” said Cristobal of the fourth-year sophomore. “It’s not like guys are blowing each other away.

“It’s really tight among that entire position group in terms of the competition. Whenever one can create a little bit of separation we’ll run with that.

“That’s what we did today.”

“I just tried to do my thing and it happened,” said Chaney, who was sworn to secrecy and couldn’t even tell his family. “I had a great week in practice and showed the team [it] can rely on me.

“I showed the team I was reliable and they’d be able to trust me in the game.”

He wasn’t alone, to the delight of his quarterback. “The running game opened up the passing game,” said Van Dyke, who got a kick seeing all the Philadelphia Eagles’ banners as a longtime Eagles’ fan, even though he’s from Connecticut. “We have four really good backs,

“You hand it off to one of those guys and know they’ll get you yards. Henry’s such a tough runner and Don had a great day.

“It’s a great room.“

Now Van Dyke and the rest of the Canes get to take what Cristobal says is a needed break before starting Atlantic Coast Conference play the following week against Georgia Tech.

That’s when he will see if the Miami ground machine is still clicking.