Halfway through the regular season, Miami facing somber reality as goals begin to slip
Halfway through the regular season, the Miami Hurricanes are hurting.
After Miami’s two consecutive losses, the prospect of thriving in the Atlantic Coast Conference that seemed so real when UM was 4-0 two weeks ago, all but vanished after then-No. 12 North Carolina dominated then-No. 25 Miami 41-31 late Saturday at Kenan Field in Chapel Hill.
Now, with six regular-season games left and significant competition such as Clemson (4-2, 2-2 ACC) home at Hard Rock Stadium next week, at No. 4 Florida State (6-0, 3-0) November 11 and a Nov. 18 home game against No. 21 Louisville (6-1, 3-1), the Hurricanes (4-2, 0-2) are still waiting to get two more victories to ensure a bowl berth.
The now-No. 10 Tar Heels, which rose to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the ACC, has a Heisman contender in quarterback Drake Maye, by far the best UM has faced this season.
UM, which already dropped out of the LBM Coaches’ Poll a week ago, also dropped out of the AP poll Sunday..
Some sombering facts:
▪ The Hurricanes team that two weeks ago was fifth in the nation in “turnovers lost” with just one interception and two lost fumbles, is now ranked 97th of 129 FBS teams after allowing nine turnovers in two weeks. On Saturday, Tyler Van Dyke (31 of 48 for a season-high 391 yards and four touchdowns) threw two interceptions, including one on his last attempt late in the game. The first one in the third quarter led to a UNC touchdown.
One of the two fumbles that especially hurt Saturday came when UM was down 7-0 and Henry Parrish was stripped of the ball as he was approaching the goal line for a would-be touchdown.
“We’ve been really good about holding onto that ball early in the season, and the last couple of games it’s gotten us,’’ coach Mario Cristobal said after the game.
“We do have a ball security circuit we do during the week,’’ UM offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said nearly two weeks ago when the Canes were being lauded.. “We stress it hard. We have people that are stressing it every time a play is run.”
▪ Van Dyke, whose offensive line has clearly been the strongest team unit, was hit more Saturday. He came into the game having been sacked only three times in five games. He was sacked three times Saturday, but harrrassed and hit multiple times. He disclosed during his post-game press conference that during fall camp he had three torn ligaments in a finger on his throwing hand. That’s why he wore a splint on that hand early in the season.
“It’s getting a lot better,’’ Van Dyke said. “But there are time that if it gets hit I feel it a little bit. It’ll be alright.’’
▪ Miami is hurting itself with especially undisciplined penalties. The Canes rank 108th in fewest penalty yards (423) and 109th in fewest penalties per game (7.1). Yes, the Tar Heels had a whopping 14 penalties for 147 yards — only three yards fewer than their all-time record in 1947. But they still were good enough to win.
Miami’s seven penalties for 69 yards included a situation in which defensive coordinator Lance Guidry was flagged by officials for unsportsmanlike conduct for running onto the field with just under three minutes left in the first half during a confusing situation in which UM coaches were trying to substitute players and call a timeout. The moment began with UNC down 14-7 and at fourth-and-1 from the Canes’ 20-yard line. After the penalty, the ball was moved to the Miami 11-yard line and North Carolina scored three plays later to make it 14-14.
In another instance, Keontra Smith also drew an unsportsmanlike penalty conduct penalty when he seemed to purposely bump into UNC player J.J. Jones, then swipe at him with his hand, as UM was transitioning to punt defense. Instead, the penalty resulted in an automatic first down for UNC. Ultimately, UNC didn’t score as a result.
▪ Like any team at this point of the season, the Hurricanes’ flaws are being exposed, and the defense had trouble keeping up with the Tar Heels’ super-fast, up-tempo offense — especially in the second half after rallying from the 7-point deficit to end the first half up 17-14.
“It was definitely I would say tough,’’ cornerback Te’Cory Couch said. “But it’s just something we’ve got to work on to improve and get better throughout the year because now that they’ve done it, other teams are going to try to do the same thing.
“It’s nowhere near possible to simulate how fast they go with our scout team,’’ Couch said, when asked how the speed compared to what they saw preparing for the game. “They took advantage of it tonight.’’
▪ UM’s rushing defense, ranked No. 1 coming into Saturday (58.2-yards-a-game allowed) gave up 235 ground yards to the Tar Heels. Tailback Omarion Hampton averaged 8.2 yards a carry in tallying 197 Saturday.
“They’re disappointed,’’ Cristobal said when asked about the morale of his players. “I told them they should be disappointed. They know it. They should be pissed, but also in the right kind of way.
“There’s a lot of good effort. There are some bright spots, and the stuff that needs to be cleaned up can be cleaned up. So we can be a good football team — as good as we can be. There’s no sugarcoating or masking or trying to pretend there are areas where we can coach and play better, and some other areas where we have to remedy with schemes and whatnot. We’re very realistic about that.
“I think they have a realistic approach to the future and the progress of this team. They’ve seen what we can do when we’re really good and what we can do when it gets away from us a little bit. I think they’re ready to get back to work.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2023 at 11:50 AM.
