‘It took a lot of hard work.’ How preparation played a big role in FIU upsetting UM
Preparation, practice, diagnosis.
Those words were repeated ad naseum throughout FIU’s press conference following their 30-24 win over the University of Miami Hurricanes.
Why?
Because they alluded to a team with the better gameplan, team and coach — at least for Saturday night’s showdown at Marlins Park.
“It took a lot of hard work,”said FIU coach Butch Davis. “We diagnosed what we felt like we had to do to win the game.”
From the moment the boos rained down as FIU emerged from their smoke-filled tunnel, it was obvious they were the more energetic team. What they lacked in crowd support, however, they made up for in preparedness.
Davis said it started with special teams. Knowing how electric a returner K.J. Osborn was, they wanted to keep the ball out of his hands. And it worked — Osborn averaged 18 yards on kick returns and only two yards on punt returns.
Then came defense. FIU’s defenders seemed to know UM’s offensive playbook better than the Canes themselves. They stayed in the passing lanes and were rewarded with three interceptions, two of which were thrown right at the Panthers.
“Jeff Copp is our linebackers coach and he did a really, really good job of knowing exactly what the route combinations were going to be like,” Davis said, “and [telling our guys] once you knew it was going to be either a RPO or a dropback pass, get in the lane.”
The final piece was offense. Despite quarterback Joe Morgan only throwing for 160 yards, there were open receivers on nearly every passing play. On one in particular — a 13-yard touchdown strike to Tony Gaiter IV — there wasn’t a Cane defender within 10 yards of the senior receiver.
Said Diaz of the play: “[The defensive backs] both just jumped the same guy which is obviously catastrophic.”
“Catastrophic” was an adept characterization of not just that play but the Canes’ game in general. But for FIU, it was testament to the two-a-days in the muggy Miami sun, the hundreds of hours spent reviewing film and, to paraphrase Davis, the power of believing in your teammates.
“Those kids, they did exactly what I would’ve ever dream and wanted them to do for the last two weeks,” said Davis. “They practice hard [and] they were on each other about doing the right thing.”
Put simply, their dedication resulted in a program-defining win, a bowl birth and, just maybe, the dawn of a rivalry no one saw coming.
“We wasn’t even calling them the University of Miami during the week,” FIU linebacker Sage Lewis said. “We were calling them the University of Coral Gables.”
“We’re the true Miami school.”
