Damien Martinez, run game steps up as Miami Hurricanes hold off Louisville Cardinals
Damien Martinez’s biggest play so far with the Miami Hurricanes came at the most opportune time on Saturday.
With the sixth-ranked Hurricanes holding onto a one-score lead late in the fourth quarter against Louisville, Martinez took a handoff and ran forward. Martinez, a stocky 6-0, 232-pound running back, barreled his way through a pair of Cardinals defenders and then carried a third and fourth into the end zone for a 30-yard rushing touchdown.
That touchdown ended up serving as the game winner as Miami held off Louisville’s comeback with a 52-45 win at L&N Financial Credit Union Stadium.
“The offensive line did their job. The tight ends did their job blocking and creating the hole — I just did the rest,” Martinez said. “I’m coached to get to the spot in the second level [of the defense] and then do what you do.”
The Hurricanes have been waiting for Martinez and the run game as a whole to do what it did on Saturday for some time now.
With Cam Ward playing at a Heisman Trophy-worthy level, the lack of production when it matters sometimes gets pushed to the side.
But on Saturday, the backfield stepped up.
The combination of Martinez, Mark Fletcher and Ajay Allen ran for 193 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries.
Martinez in particular had a team-high 89 rushing yards on 12 carries — a 7.4 yards per carry average. After averaging just 4.9 yards per carry and only having one carry of at least 20 yards through Miami’s first six games, Martinez looked more like the player who dominated for two years at Oregon State before transferring to Miami this offseason.
His size and physicality has the ability to wear down defenses, especially when he’s particularly fresh late in games.
Miami relied on Fletcher early in the game — Fletcher ran the ball 10 times in the first half compared to Martinez’s three carries — before coach Mario Cristobal turned to Martinez and Allen in the second half.
The strategy paid off.
Allen put Miami up 45-38 with 11:17 left in the game when he ran for a 2-yard touchdown after rattling off runs of 20 yards and 9 yards earlier in the drive.
And then Martinez had that 30-yard touchdown run one drive later to give Miami enough of a cushion to hold off Louisville’s final comeback bid.
“Credit to [running backs coach Matt] Merritt,” Cristobal said. “He felt that Ajay had a great week of practice was and going to provide a great change up — and he really did. And then Damien got going, and he just about carried everybody in.”
Aguirre’s touchdown
One play that is likely to get lost in the midst of the wild second half: Sophomore linebacker Raul “Popo” Aguirre landing on a Louisville fumble in the end zone for a second-quarter touchdown.
The play unfolded after defensive tackle Simeon Barrow Jr. burst through a hole at the line of scrimmage and laid a hard hit on Cardinals running back Isaac Brown at the 2-yard line. Brown fumbled after Barrow made contact and the ball rolled into the end zone, where Aguirre was ready to pounce on it.
“It was special,” Aguirre said. “It was special to have guys open up the gap for me. Just being blessed to jump on the ball.”
Added Barrow: “We just executed at an elite level. Coach said, ‘We need to get this ball.’ We just executed. We got the ball.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2024 at 5:48 PM.
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