CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Barring lightning strikes or one of the biggest upsets in recent memory, the Miami Hurricanes should pick up their first victory of the season Saturday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium against Bethune-Cookman, a 41 1/2-point underdog.
Miami, 0-2 for the first time since 1978, should be able to get players who have yet to take a snap against Florida or North Carolina — like quarterback N’Kosi Perry and running back Lorenzo Lingard — into the game for some meaningful work.
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As tailback Cam’ron Harris put it Tuesday, the plan for the Hurricanes is to “suck it up” after their two narrow losses by a combined seven points and “punish Bethune-Cookman.”
But, before they do, here’s a look back at some of the biggest reasons why Miami is 0-2. You can call them the six plays of separation between being unbeaten and being winless.
1. North Carolina converts fourth-and-17
Is it any surprise this play tops the list?
Miami was never closer to a win this season (89.2 percent win probability according to ESPN) than when the Tar Heels lined up on fourth-and-17 from their own 40-yard line with 2:55 remaining in the game.
North Carolina freshman quarterback Sam Howell, who had been sacked on the two previous plays by Shaq Quarterman and Gregory Rousseau, stepped up in the pocket without facing much of a pass rush and easily found receiver Rontavious Groves open for a 20-yard gain.
Hurricanes coaches didn’t want to point fingers, but replays showed Groves, who lined up in the slot, was never really covered by cornerback Trajan Bandy or safety Gurvan Hall, whose coverage duties were over the top.
“The bottom line is we didn’t execute the call,” defensive coordinator Blake Baker said on Monday. “We had run the same pressure earlier in the game and actually got a sack on it. I don’t necessarily want to go into specifics as far as who was supposed to do what, but we watched it as a defense last night and if we execute the call, it probably ends a little bit differently. But that’s part of it, and that’s part of coaching. … As a coordinator, I own that, so we’ve got to move on from it.”
Linebacker Michael Pinckney said after the game the Hurricanes were not as intense as they needed to be on the play. Officials had spent several minutes the play before deciding whether or not Howell had been stripped of the football.
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At one point, North Carolina considered punting but decided to leave its offense on the field knowing Miami could potentially run out the clock with the lead.
Five plays later, Howell hit Dazz Newsome in the corner of the end zone — Newsome was also lined up in the slot with Hall providing coverage over the top — for the go-ahead, 10-yard touchdown pass with 1:01 left on the clock.
Asked about Miami’s struggles through two games covering slot receivers, Diaz said: “I wouldn’t say it’s picking on our strikers, but I think they’ve been up and down. I know Coach Patke has been hard on them this week. … We’ve got to continue to build consistency and trust in our technique. If they make a play, let’s line up and play again and not change what we’ve been taught to do.”
2. Miami allows 65-yard pass to set up Florida’s go-ahead TD
Miami’s woes in the secondary against North Carolina probably could have been foretold after the Canes gave up two 60-yard pass plays against the Gators and had trouble with communication, as Baker told us.
Although Florida scored on a 66-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter against Miami after a series of missed tackles, the biggest mistake made by Miami’s secondary came in the fourth quarter right after their disastrous red-zone series ended with a missed 27-yard field goal by Bubba Baxa.
Trailing Miami 20-17 with 9:48 remaining, Gators quarterback Feleipe Franks faked a handoff and hit slot receiver Josh Hammond on a 65-yard pass down the middle of the field. Right after that play, Miami’s win probability dropped from 62.2 percent to 40.4 percent. It fell even further (26.7 percent) after Franks scored on a 3-yard touchdown run three plays later with 8:18 left to play.
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Sophomore striker Gilbert Frierson got beat by Hammond on the 65-yarder, but Baker said it was safety Amari Carter who bore much of the responsibility.
“Gilbert’s obviously the guy that everyone on TV sees chasing the guy down, but we’ve got to have a middle-field safety playing in the middle of the field,” Baker said. “If he’s in the middle of the field, then that ball should never be thrown. But we didn’t do that, and we paid the price for it.”
Miami’s secondary later made up for the play when Romeo Finley picked off Franks and returned it 19 yards to the Gators’ 25-yard line with 4:20 to play. But Al Blades Jr. was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for taunting Franks (with a pair of middle fingers), and Miami ended up with the ball at the Florida 40.
The Canes only went backward from there and never seriously threatened to score again.
3. Jeff Thomas’ muffed punt costs Canes dearly
While UM was no lock to beat the Gators when Thomas fumbled, the Hurricanes were ahead 13-10 late in the third quarter, and there’s no doubt the play gave a struggling Florida offense a jolt.
Miami’s win probability went from 59.7 percent to 24.8 percent after Florida’s Van Jefferson pounced on the ball at the Canes’ 11-yard line. Shortly thereafter, Florida took the lead on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Franks to running back Lamical Perine out of the backfield. Michael Pinckney stumbled getting to Perine in coverage.
Diaz said Thomas did the right thing calling for a fair catch on the punt.
“We want the ball caught,” Diaz said. “Their punter was one of the MVPs of the game. I mean, he did a great job pinning us deep. I mean, the way he was punting the ball, if we don’t catch that, we’re probably starting on our 1- or 2-yard line again. So, no issue with that. He’s got to get his body on the ball, which he knows.”
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The bigger issue for Miami on the play was that there were no Hurricanes around Thomas to try and recover the football. Bandy and Carter — the two Hurricanes tasked with blocking on the wings for a Thomas return – stopped running toward the ball when they saw Thomas call for the fair catch. When the ball squirted free, there were four Gators in the area and Carter and Bandy were about 10-15 yards away.
4. Miami sees extra point blocked after scoring what should have been tying touchdown
Miami’s special-teams woes have been well documented. Baxa has missed three of his seven field-goal attempts including two from within 27 yards and a potentially game-tying, 49-yard boot at North Carolina.
The special-teams blunder that ultimately stung the most came after Cam’ron Harris scored what should have been the game-tying touchdown with 2:58 remaining. Instead, North Carolina defensive lineman Jason Strowbridge, who also blocked a kick against the Hurricanes a year ago, powered past snapper Clay James and easily got into the backfield for the block.
Strowbridge got there in part because starting left guard Navaughn Donaldson got blown off the ball by fifth-year senior Aaron Crawford and the sliver of space allowed him to move past James, who didn’t do much to stop Strowbridge.
What’s troubling for the Canes, though, was that earlier in the game, North Carolina partially blocked a 26-yard field goal attempt by Baxa when it shoved right guard Kai-Leon Herbert backward into the kick. So, there was precedent for Miami to be extra careful on the game-tying extra point.
The missed PAT proved costly later when Miami was forced to go for a two-point conversion after it took a 25-20 lead with 4:38 remaining after an 11-yard touchdown catch by Will Mallory. North Carolina then converted a two-pointer of its own after it scored the go-ahead touchdown later on.
5. Will Mallory catches TD, then drops two-point conversion attempt
Speaking of Mallory, the sophomore has had a rough start to the season for the Hurricanes. He’s had more drops (three) than catches (one) thus far and has been called for a holding penalty and a false start.
It looked like he was going to make up for the drops and the penalties when he hauled in the go-ahead touchdown for the Canes against North Carolina, but when Miami went for two right after, Mallory dropped a catchable ball in the end zone as he fell to the turf. The play wasn’t an easy one, but it badly hurt the Canes because it left their lead at five instead of seven.
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There’s no telling if Tar Heels coach Mack Brown would have opted to go for two or just kicked the extra point when Howell threw the late touchdown pass to Newsome to give UNC the lead. But odds are Miami would have had a better shot in overtime (presuming the game was tied at 27) than on a long field goal by Baxa with five seconds to play.
6. Jeff Thomas is unable to come up with fourth-quarter TD catch
Like Mallory, Thomas had a chance to be a hero for Miami against Florida but couldn’t come up with the catch.
The Hurricanes were in prime position to beat the Gators, up 20-17 with 13:19 to play in the fourth quarter after Carter intercepted Franks and returned it to the Florida 25-yard line. Miami’s win probability went up to 76.7 percent after Florida was called for a personal foul on Baxa’s fake field goal run.
With the ball spotted on the Gators’ 11, Jarren Williams threw an incomplete pass off the hands of Mallory before Dan Enos called a poorly executed trick play with Tate Martell under center. Facing a third down, Enos turned to his prime-time playmaker in a spot where he could make up for his muffed punt.
Williams threw a beautiful pass to Thomas on an out route. Although CJ Henderson did make some contact, Thomas should have held onto the football. That’s what stars do when the game is on the line.
(Photo of Jeff Thomas: Kim Klement / USA Today)
