Canes aim to end year on high note
UM will be working to buck a trend of bowl flops in recent years when they face Oklahoma State at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on Tuesday in the Cheez-It Bowl.
As dreary as the night seemed a bit more than two weeks ago when the Hurricanes were demolished by North Carolina in their final regular-season game, the dark clouds seem to be clearing.
Hey, “it’s 2020,” as everyone on Earth seems to be saying, and it could end with a resounding, pandemic-proof elbow bump among Canes fans coast to coast should
Miami do what it hasn’t done since 2016, and before that hadn’t done since 2006 — win a bowl game.
Armed with one of the nation’s top quarterbacks, who has given Miami hope after announcing Saturday that he will return next season, the No. 18 Hurricanes (8-2, 7-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) face the Oklahoma State Cowboys (7-3, 6-3 Big 12) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday for the second time in history in the Cheez-It Bowl at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium.
“There’s a way we want to do things and a way we want to establish the program,” UM coach Manny Diaz said Monday. “We’re trying to sort of knock down these things that have gotten us in the past, and a bowl win is staring us right in the face.”
The Canes just hope it’s not something else staring them in the face, like the way bowl games ended in 2008, ’09, ’10, ’13, ’14, ’15, ’17, ’18 and most recently and maybe most disheartening, 2019, when Louisiana Tech defeated Miami 14-0 to put an exclamation point on an ugly 6-7 season.
“Every year still exists in its own universe,” Diaz said. “Obviously, we’re nothing like the team that played in Shreveport a year ago.”
Said King, whose 3,093 yards of
total offense (2,573 passing and 520 rushing) is 15th nationally: “Bowl games are kind of weird. The team that wants to be there, that wants to play and has a lot of energy, that’s the team that most likely will win the game. So for us, it’s very important.
“I know we have a nasty taste in our mouth from the North Carolina game and I’m trying to forget about that. I’m trying to go out there and have a good performance.
“We’ve had two weeks of practice and they’ve been really good. We’re ready to show it. We’re ready to get a win.”
UM UNDERDOG
Despite UM being the higher ranked team, however, Vegas thinks otherwise. The Cowboys, who finished third in the Big 12 this season, are favored by a slim 1 1⁄ points.
2
Oklahoma State’s thirddown defense is ranked second nationally, allowing opponents to convert third downs a mere 26.3 percent of the time — “a staggering number,” UM offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said Sunday.
The Cowboys, who will be missing opt-out cornerback Rodarius Williams as well as top running back Chuba Hubbard and offensive tackle Teven Jenkins, also are eighth nationally in team tackles for loss and 11th in sacks.
Their scoring defense: No. 33 of 127 FBS teams in the rankings.
“You don’t play 10 games and hold five teams under 20 points and be top-10 in the country in negative plays and sacks and [No. 2] in third-down defense, which is a staggering number, then all of a sudden do something different,” Lashlee said. “Who they are is they play a lot of tight coverage. They are really aggressive.”
Going into the game, the Canes were 55th nationally in third-down conversions, converting 41.8 percent of their opportunities.
COWBOYS QB
Offensively, the Cowboys are led by 6-1, 205-pound redshirt sophomore quarterback Spencer Sanders, sixth in the Big 12 with 212.8 yards a game. He is 128 of 207 (61.8 percent) for 1,702 yards and 10 touchdowns, with eight interceptions in eight games. He also has run for 224 yards and two touchdowns. The Cowboys have allowed 24 sacks.
Sanders’ top target is receiver Tylan Wallace, who entering the bowl season led the Big 12 in receiving yards (877), receiving yards per game (97.4) and receptions per game (5.9).
Wallace was asked if the Cowboys watched film of UM’s 62-26 loss to UNC, to whom the Canes allowed 778 yards of total offense.
“For sure,” he said. “I try to look at mostly the season as a whole. Looking at the last game, it can be deceiving.”
MIAMI OPT-OUTS
Miami’s opt-outs this game were starting defensive ends Jaelan Phillips and Quincy Roche. Both are training for the NFL Draft, and both are exceptional players. UM will have young, somewhat inexperienced players taking their place — although veteran senior linebacker Zach McCloud began practicing at end before the bowl and will get his first playing time at the position, Diaz said.
“The entire football team was in a funk,” Diaz said Monday of the UNC game. “I know we have a lot of guys that have a lot of individual pride and I’d expect that they’ll make sure they put that performance behind them.”
Safety Bubba Bolden said the Canes “are coming into this game with a lot of fire, I’ll tell you that right now. ... We take this very personally, and after the last game’s performance, that was not the Miami way.”
Diaz, who said the Hurricanes should be in good shape Covid-19 wise, was asked what message he had for Miami fans who, like their team, has withstood a long, hard year.
“Our message is it’s been a difficult year to support the team,” the coach said. “We hope we get some Canes fans out in the stadium on Tuesday night. That would certainly be great for us to have the support of the UM family behind us.
“This team, they have advanced us a level in our program. I am proud of them for that. We haven’t done everything the right way, and we respect the expectations that we all have for this program. But we’re building and I think our players see that.
“There’s more to come.”