OPINION: Friday night was about ending an ugly streak and beginning to change the public perceptions of the Miami program
Mario Cristobal went 22-1 at home in his four years at Oregon, the lone blemish coming in a fluky loss to Stanford, the team that we ironically learned Friday will be joining the ACC fray next season.
Now think about this. The Miami Hurricanes that walked into Hard Rock Stadium Friday night to kick off a new season lost five games in a row at home to end the 2022 season, Cristobal’s first as head coach at The U.
That created a natural edge to start the new season that you could feel cutting through the humid air from the heavy storm that delayed the opening night kickoff by 22 minutes.
There was so much pent up emotion. So much anxiety to right a wrong, so much urgency to show up looking real this time around.
“Just growing up watching the Canes and getting back on that winning streak,” linebacker Wesley Bissainthe said.
That’s what a new season brings – a clean slate. And Miami made the most of it Friday by outclassing the other Miami from Ohio, 38-3.
“It means a lot,” safety Kam Kinchens said. “Coach Cristobal talks all the time about making sure that Hard Rock is the hardest place to play in college football. So day in and day out, we make sure that we work as hard as we can so that when we get here we have earned it.”
Guys like Bissainthe and Kinchens and all the rest from South Florida came to Miami to bring back the storied greatness of the program. That’s why Cristobal, a former offensive tackle, came here too. So going 5-7 a year ago and losing all those games at home was a bitter thing to swallow. Miami didn’t just lose all those games in front of family and friends, but the Hurricanes were blown out in four of them.
So it was really important that Friday night went differently. Really important. The only way to change the narrative around the program is to change the things that were creating that narrative. Nobody was respecting the Canes because of the horrible way that they played last season.
I know I was looking for more from so many of them, guys like Leonard Taylor and James Williams and Kinchens who have so much ability that they have a chance to be a gamechanger every time they step on the field.
It is significant this season that the best players on the team began to feel the significance of these moments and bring a level of effort commesmorate to that. I thought we saw that Friday night.
The Hurricanes of 2023 looked quite solid, very professional.
They were very organized. The coaches worked in 60 players on opening night but we didn’t see many mental errors. Guys seemed to know what they were doing. The Hurricanes had good moments on both sides of the ball.
“We played a lot of guys tonight and played a pretty solid brand of football,” Cristobal said.
Very solid indeed.
The four running backs combined for 251 yards rushing. Henry Parrish had 90 yards on nine carries and clearly is going to benefit from a little lighter load than a year ago. True freshman Mark Fletcher had 76 yards on nine carries. Nebraska transfer Ajay Allen had 47 yards on nine carries. And Don Chaney had 38 yards on eight carries.
“They are tough, hard running backs,” Van Dyke said. “I trust each and every one of them. Each one has a different skill set that they bring to the table. I’m very excited to see what they are going to do moving on.”
“They’ve all been competing and competing hard,” Cristobal said. “It was hard to tell who was separating, but you probably saw some of that tonight. Everybody looks good. Look at Don [Chaney, Jr.]’s run at the end and then Ajay [Allen] comes out and breaks that run out to the side and, wait a second, Mark Fletcher’s run went over some people for a touchdown. It’s the way it should be. When Miami’s been really good, you remember those running back rooms, right? What they were like with Edgerrin James, Najeh Davenport, James Jackson, and then you have Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee and Frank Gore. I’m not saying we are there yet, but I’m saying that’s the type of competition. We benefit a lot from it and we intend to keep that competition going.”
Tyler Van Dyke finished 17-22 for 201 yards despite playing with a brace on the ring finger of his right hand that he smashed against a helmet in practice 10 days before the game. He had one bad pass that was intercepted, just put too much air under the ball intended downfield for Jacolby George. But all in all, you have to give him credit for toughing it out and playing so efficiently while clearly not being 100 percent.
“I thought we executed well,” Van Dyke said. “We ran the ball well, passed not to my standard, but t was all right.”
The defense held Miami-Ohio to 215 yards and was particularly effective on third down where it held the Redhawks to 2 of 12 conversions. At Marshall last season, defensive coordinator Lance Guidry had the best third down defense in the country, so Guidry clearly has an idea of how to attack those situations.
“I was certainly proud of the way our defensive guys came out and put a lot of pressure on their offense,” Cristobal said. “They got us some really good field position and, while we didn’t capitalize all the time, we put a couple good drives together.
“And then the second half, we just started to methodically take over the football game. I’m proud of the offensive and defensive lines. I felt they controlled the line of scrimmage for a majority of the game. They make it difficult with their angles, with their leverage, with their numbers in the run game. They sure bring a lot of pressure and our guys did a decent job. The defensive line put a ton of pressure on their guys.”
Opening day began with the news that the ACC had voted to expand with Stanford, Cal and SMU. This threw a lot of people up in arms for some reason, but look at it this way. How bad would it have been if that had been Cal on the opposite sideline on Friday night as opposed to Miami Ohio. Or SMU in a couple weeks instead of Bethune Cookman. And tell me you roadies are going to pass up that trip to Palo Alto or Berkley every couple of years.
The expansion gives the ACC 17 football members plus the league’s partnership with Notre Dame for Olympic sports. Cal and Stanford give the ACC two of the best schools out there from an academic perspective. SMU bringing in the Dallas TV market is a bonus. When the 2024 season begins, only the Big Ten will have more active members after it recently expanded to 18.
The deal also provides an insurance policy against FSU or Clemson going rogue and bolting from the league. The ACC has a clause in its deal with ESPN that states if the league drops below 15 members, ESPN can reopen negotiations for a contract that runs until June 30, 2036.
The ACC champ will get an automatic invite to the newly expanded College Football Playoff.
No argument that this was a reactive move by the ACC, which watched as the SEC added Oklahoma and Texas and the Big Ten grabbed Southern Cal and UCLA. But everybody can’t play in those two conferences and it might be wise if Miami accepts the status quo in the ACC as opposed to banging heads with too many behemoths in the regular season in the SEC or Big 10. Even if FSU and Clemson leave, or Miami does too for that matter, the ACC secured its future with Friday’s move. And all that really matters is finding a path to the Playoff every year.
That kind of lofty goal obviously was not on the radar as the Hurricanes took the opening kickoff Friday night. This night at Hard Rock was simply about this team representing itself better than in the past.
Henry Parrish gained 11 yards on first play of the season. Three plays later, Van Dyke threw a simple receiver screen to Colbie Young who went 44 yards untouched for a touchdown just 1:34 into the season.
After a quick three and out fueled by a Jahfari Harvey sack, the Miami offense was in action again as the skies opened once more above Hard Rock. That drive went 66 yards before stalling at the RedHawks 18 from where Andy Borregales knocked home his first field goal attempt of the season from 34 yards out.
Van Dyke was operating as efficiently as possible but you could tell he was clearly not 100 percent. His throwing motion was more sidearm than usual and the ball wasn’t coming out of his hand anywhere near as clean on deep throws.
But there was no way he was missing opening night, opting to play with a black brace on his right ring finger.
Early in the second quarter, Van Dyke suffered his first interception of the season when he put too much air under a downfield pass intended for Jacolby George.
But the next time Miami had the ball, it ran seven straight run plays, throwing backup lineman Matthew McCoy out there as a second tight end to create a seven-man blocking force that could play power football.
“We showed it last year but it’s just different body types executing it now, so it didn’t look as clean [last season],” Cristobal said. “We are a little bit bigger up front. Shannon Dawson has done a lot of offense in his life. Certainly, we have some things that we’ve done before, as well, so it’s really a good blend. All in all, it looks a little bit different, but there’s some similarities.”
The drive stalled after 64 yards inside the red zone when Isaiah Horton came up short off a screen on third down. But Borregales knocked home another field goal to put Miami up 13-0.
It all seemed too easy for Miami but that was the way it was supposed to be. And it was except for a brief moment.when Te’Cory Couch got caught sleeping in coverage on Miami-Ohio ‘s last possession before intermission, allowing 30 yards to Gage Larvadain on a simple in cut that set up a 48-yard field goal by Graham Nicholson.
But the Hurricanes then met little resistance in driving 50 yards in five plays and 58 seconds before Borregales nailed a 43 yarder before the half to erase the RedHawks points and give the Canes a 16-3 halftime lead.
Miami-Ohio was pretty much done.
On Miami’s first possession of the third quarter, the Hurricanes quickly drove 65 yards in five plays, scoring on a 26-yard run by Fletcher behind a massive hole created again by that seven-man blocking scheme.
Early in the fourth quarter they made it 31-3 on an amazing 12-yard run by Parrish where he brandished a nice inside move and cut outside to win a foot race to the pylon. Don Chaney scored later on a 20-yard run to cap an eight-play 69-yard drive orchestrated by true freshman Emory Williams.
Nothing we saw Friday will mean a thing next week when Texas A&M comes to town. But it was a great building block.
“Obviously, they’re a really talented group,” Miami-Ohio Coach Chuck Martin said. “I felt good about our defense. I thought our defense played their tails off in the first half. They were really fighting. Offensively, obviously, we didn’t really get anything done. We came here to win a game, we didn’t make the plays.
“Credit to Miami. They stayed on the field offensively and we didn’t stay on the field offensively. So, that’s going to be the result. It’s not by accident. It’s not bad luck. So, credit to them. They are a big, physical, athletic team. Obviously, they’ve got a bunch of talented players – big, strong athletic dudes. Their defense was very aggressive and got after us and we didn’t handle it.”
Miami Athletic Director Dan Radakovich came into the media room after the game to ask for help generating interest in ticket sales for next week’s massive game against Texas A&M. Obviously there are a bunch of tickets left.
But Friday night’s performance should generate some positive feelings and momentum with the fan base.
“We are going to need all the energy.” Bissainthe said.
Who else can’t wait for the 3:30 kickoff to get here to see a bit more of what these 2023 are all about?
The post OPINION: Friday night was about ending an ugly streak and beginning to change the public perceptions of the Miami program appeared first on On3.
