Defense still lags, but key plays late seal wins
The University of Miami offense, thanks to quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, has its mojo humming.
The defense? Still far behind, but has improved in its pass rush and tackling and done enough with big plays late in games to preserve the Hurricanes’ past two victories over top-20 teams and allow them to climb out of their funk.
How long the Canes can keep those big plays coming — such as safety Kamren Kinchens’ game-saving tackle against N.C. State, his breakup in the end zone of a trick play early in the fourth quarter on Saturday at Pittsburgh and fellow freshman safety James Williams’ lategame interception Saturday — will obviously affect future outcomes.
But the Hurricanes (4-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who meet Georgia Tech (3-5, 2-4) at home Saturday, still need to beef up their defense to run the table and get to a decent bowl game.
Saturday in UM’s 38-34 victory at Pittsburgh, the Hurricanes allowed 519 passing yards — a school record for Pitt and the most ever allowed by UM.
As of Monday, the Hurricanes were ranked 97th in scoring defense of 130 FBS teams, allowing 30.5 points a game. They were 120th in passing yards allowed (279.2 yards allowed a game) and 93rd in total defense (414.8).
The Canes are 47th in rushing defense (135.5), improving from 72nd two weeks ago after their loss at North Carolina.
DIAZ’S TAKE
UM coach Manny Diaz, who also serves as defensive coordinator, said he always wants consistency as a defense, but that the Canes have faced some exceptional quarterbacks in the ACC. Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett, a Heisman candidate and soon-to-be NFL pick, threw 55 times Saturday compared to 23 Pitt rushes.
Diaz also said he was proud that UM “has only given up six points in the final 10 minutes of the last four league games we’ve played.”
The Canes allowed only a field goal in the fourth quarter at Pitt, and that at 13:55. Before that against N.C. State, they allowed a field goal with 3:49 left. At North Carolina, UM allowed a touchdown with 9:22 left. And against Virginia, the Canes allowed a field goal with
3:12 left.
“Obviously for us it’s consistency as a defense and definitely consistency on the back end,” Diaz said Monday on Zoom. “We played probably the top quarterback in the country [at Pitt] with three freshmen starting in the secondary. It’s difficult. They threw for a bazillion yards. But they also dropped back and threw the ball [56 times, including the trick play] during the course of the game.
“That doesn’t mean we covered as well as we wanted to cover. But they made it difficult for us in man. They did a better job in getting open in man than we did covering them at times. And then when you played zone, Pickett is good enough to check it down.
“The big thing in that game was Pickett’s ability to extend plays. We put him on the ground four times, we had him [on the ropes] a couple more times that he scrambled out of. If he wasn’t as athletic as he would have been, I think we could have gotten him on the ground about 10 times.
“We knew going into the game that we weren’t certainly happy with giving up as many passing yards as we did. But we knew that the formula for success on beating those guys was to not let them run the football and try to make them one-dimensional throwing it.”
PASS RUSH/TFL
The Hurricanes had four sacks at Pitt (1 1⁄2 by Zach McCloud, with Jordan Miller combining on one; and one apiece by Gil Frierson and Deandre Johnson) and eight tackles for loss. They’re 15th nationally in tackles for loss and 36th in team sacks.
“Look how we played in the fourth quarter on defense the last couple of weeks — we got some really key stops at critical times,” UM defensive line coach Jess Simpson said. “Where we are as a rush unit, I saw some things Saturday I was excited about. Probably for Deandre Johnson and Zach it was their best game of the year. …
“Inside, even with Jon Ford and Jared HarrisonHunte, and Jordan Miller gave me some snaps as
rushers. They probably don’t get the credit, but we moved them a bunch and got a bunch of pressure. A lot of that were those inside guys pushing and grinding and moving forward.”
UM REPRIMANDED
The NCAA has issued a “public reprimand” to UM for violating rule 1-4-12 involving coaches’ phones, headsets and communication devices.
Because of the violation, UM was not only issued the public reprimand, but also “a 20-percent reduction in
communication for this week’s game against Georgia Tech,” according to a release sent out late Monday afternoon by the ACC.
“Teams must exchange a ‘headset sheet’ and ‘team credential list’ at least 90 minutes prior to its scheduled contest. Schools are limited to 23 communication devices,” the release said.
When asked for a comment, UM had none other than referring the Miami Herald back to the ACC release.