OPINION: Five-Star commit before kickoff made lopsided Bethune Cookman game somewhat bearable for Miami

Just as a rainbow was adorning the skies above Hard Rock Stadium Thursday night, the biggest news of the night broke. for Miami.

Five-star 2025 defensive lineman Armando Blount of Miami Central High had committed to the Hurricanes, the highest-rated player to commit to Miami in the Mario Cristobal era.

Hey after that kind of news, was there really a need to even bother playing the game against ridiculously overmatched as usual Bethune Cookman?

Or even without that kind of news, actually.

When Tyler Van Dyke had two rushing attempts in Miami’s first series, including a 10-yarder for a touchdown, there wasn’t a person in the stadium who wasn’t holding their breath. There was a single thing that mattered Thursday night, with several starters who were casualties of the Texas A&M game already standing on the sidelines. That was getting out of Hard Rock healthy.

Mission accomplished.

The Hurricanes opened a 34-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 48-0 victory.

Van Dyke threw for 247 yards in one half with two touchdowns. Miami outgained Bethune 589-165.

And there didn’t appear to be any major injuries.

“I like the way we’re evolving,” Cristobal said. “You know, our offense has played a little bit different each week. The more we can show the ability to run the ball inside and outside, to push the ball down the field but also stretch it horizontally, it’s hard to defend.

“The way the quarterback is playing….Tyler is playing at such a high level, that makes it difficult. He knows where to go with the ball. He knows if trouble is coming and you don’t have any way to pick it up that this is your outlet, this is your alert. If so and so fell off and you have the chance for a chunk play, you can take it. I think that’s happening a lot now because your release time is getting shorter and shorter. And then, defensively, a lot of guys got better. I thought our back end is playing really, really well. They’re playing at a high level. They communicate really well and without Kam [Kinchens] today. Regardless, whoever you play, when you’re down a starter, especially one of that magnitude, who communicates the way he does, lines us up like he does, I thought those guys did really well. Credit to Jaden Harris. It was a really good job by him in his first start.”

Beyond that you had a scrimmage in a half-empty stadium with very little intrigue. The crowd was announced at 40,077 but that’s tickets sold. There were less than 100 students in attendance. Bethune didn’t even bring its band. Enough said.

I’ll propose this: Unless one of the best defensive linemen in America is going to commit in the minutes leading up to kickoff like Blount did Thursday to make it a grand day regardless of anything else, maybe it’s time to stop scheduling these games against Bethune and FAMU.

Now that Miami is showing up more competent, they are kind of unbearable. If they were not before. Last year’s score was 70-13. And the Hurricanes finished 5-7.

Let’s make Miami-Ohio and next week’s road opponent, Temple, the scheduling baseline. Just a thought. The Miami-Ohio game seemed to get Miami oiled up for Texas A&M, for example. Temple should be good preparation for the road trip two weeks later to North Carolina.

Think of it this way. After beating Texas A&M Saturday, the Hurricanes stormed out of Hard Rock Stadium and then back inside with a world of momentum. Beating the Aggies at home and before a large national television audience was just the boost the program needed to begin recapturing relevance and respectability in the college football world. It was no surprise that two big commitments followed this week.

Then Thursday night all that momentum hit the brick wall that is the remaining sin of college football.

Cupcake pay-for-play games.

Miami got very little out of the actual game and Bethune got to go home a bit demoralized, pawns for the school’s athletic budget.

It was 20-0 by early in the second quarter after the extra point attempt that followed the Hurricanes’ third touchdown was botched by a bad snap. By the middle of the quarter when Don Chaney peeled off four carries for 55 yards and a touchdown, it was 27-0. After Brashard Smith caught a 27-yard touchdown pass 27 seconds before the half it was 34-0.

“Obviously Miami is a really good football team,” Bethune-Cookman HC Raymond Woodie, Jr. said. “I’m sure they’re going to keep winning a lot of games. They have weapons all over the place.”

Cristobal played the straight man in evaluating the performance. He tries to treat every game the same.

“I thought early on we started taking control of the game,” Cristobal said. “There were not a ton of explosive plays but we methodically drove the ball down the field. The defense played relatively well. They gave up some yards in the middle early, but tightened up and it wasn’t until the last few drives that they held them to under 100 yards.

“Overall, a lot of guys played. I felt we had enough in the first half to play a lot of guys on defense in the first half and then had one series with Emory Williams at quarterback with the one offensive line and some of the one wide receivers and tight ends before scoring and pulling those guys and putting in most of the twos and threes on offense. On defense, we probably played more guys than we did on offense. But, overall, there were some improvements in some areas and you see the drop off at some of the twos and threes and some of the areas that we need to keep getting better to not have a drop-off in our performance.”

Emory Williams came in at quarterback in the third quarter and immediately led a 65-yard drive in which he completed a five-yard pass to Jacolby George, a 16-yard pass to Colbie Young and a 22-yarder to Brashard Smith without an incompletion. All three passes were delivered perfectly on the money.

The coaches purposely gave him one series with the first team. It is obvious Williams is the backup quarterback right now. They hope to redshirt Jacurri Brown.

“I think he looked really good when he had the supporting cast, most of the ones [first string] and some of the twos [second string],” Cristobal said. “He understands the offense really well. He was protected well. He seemed to operate at a relatively high level and did a good job.

“And then, as the game went on a bit, we were a little bit sloppy. There were some free hitters in there. We gave up a sack and there really should have been a second one. We didn’t look as sharp as an offense and that’s the part that’s the letdown. That’s what you don’t want to see. You want to see your team get better, even when you put in some of the other guys. Overall, a solid day by him.”

But at the end of the day, the story of this Thursday really was recruiting and the way it all is coming together in South Florida.

Blount plays at Miami Central where Miami freshman defensive lineman Rueben Bain was also a superstar. Bain was a bit of a pacesetter in choosing Miami and now others like Blount and Waden Charles, a rising receiver from Palm Beach Central who also committed to Miami in the past week, seem to be following in his footsteps.

“The local players are starting to stay home,” Bain said. “That’s what we did back in the day as Canes. That’s what made Miami, Miami. Coach Cristobal is very adamant about that. Being a Cane is the best thing I ever did.”

“Miami is working its way to looking what Miami should look like,” Cristobal said without commenting on individual recruits per NCAA rules. “I think what you’re seeing, in terms in recruiting, is monstrous.”

And the grind doesn’t stop. Cristobal already had plans to spend all day Friday recruiting, visiting schools and observing games.

”I get to grab one of those PB&Js and hit the road and be at the first school tomorrow morning, bright and early,” Cristobal said.

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