Hurricanes use run game and defense — and a Cam Ward TD catch — to beat FSU for 8-0 start
The No. 6 Miami Hurricanes had to pivot from their customary ways of winning football games on Saturday.
But they still found a way to keep their perfect season alive with a 36-14 win over Florida State Seminoles at Hard Rock Stadium for their first win in the rivalry since the 2020 season.
Quarterback Cam Ward had a rare subpar outing, completing 22 of 34 passes for 208 yards and no touchdowns while being sacked four times — although he did catch a 7-yard touchdown pass from Elijah Arroyo in the fourth quarter to put Miami up 29-7.
It was Ward’s first time this season not throwing for at least 300 yards and the first time without multiple touchdown passes, let alone going without finding the end zone at all.
Instead, Miami (8-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) relied on the run game to build its lead in the first half and its kicking game and defense in the second half to pull away from the Seminoles (1-7, 1-6 ACC).
The Hurricanes led 17-7 at halftime on a pair of rushing touchdowns from Mark Fletcher and Damien Martinez and a 20-yard Andres Borregales field goal.
Martinez finished with a season-high 148 rushing yards, his first time eclipsing 100 rushing yards in a game this season and the second-most rushing yards of his career behind a 178-yard game as a freshman at Oregon State.
Borregales tacked on two more field goals — from 42 and 45 yards — to push the lead to 23-7.
The defense took care of things from there.
After allowing an average of 39 points through their first three conference games, Miami held FSU just 14 and yards in a game (248).
Before scoring a garbage time touchdown in the final minute, the Seminoles’ only score came on a 12-play, 78-yard drive in which it converted a pair of fourth downs — the final of which was a 1-yard rushing touchdown from Caziah Holmes — midway through the second quarter to cut Miami’s lead to 14-7.
Miami forced FSU into turnovers on downs on each of its first three second-half drives, which all led to Hurricanes’ scoring drives.
Tracking Restrepo
With four catches and 24 receiving yards on Saturday, fifth-year wide receiver Xavier Restrepo now has 174 catches and 2,427 receiving yards in his Hurricanes career.
That moves him past Reggie Wayne (173 catches) for the second-most career receptions in UM history and Michael Irvin (2,423 yards) for third-most career receiving yards in school history.
Up next
The Hurricanes host the Duke Blue Devils on Nov. 2 for their second-to-last home game. Kickoff is scheduled for noon and the game will be televised on ABC.
It will be the return of Manny Diaz, who was the head coach at Miami from 2019-2021 after spending three seasons before that as the team’s defensive coordinator.
This story was originally published October 26, 2024 at 10:33 PM.
.JPG)