South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Hurricanes trampled
Lopsided loss could cost UM spot in a New Year’s Six bowl
MIAMI GARDENS — The Miami Hurricanes can kiss any hopes of a New Year’s Six bowl appearance goodbye.
No. 10 Miami was embarrassed, allowing the most yards of total offense it ever has in a 62-26 rout at the hands of No. 17 North Carolina on Saturday evening at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Tar Heels (8-3, 7-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) carved up Miami for 778 yards from scrimmage, topping the previous record by a UM opponent, 670 by UCLA in 1998. The 554 rushing yards Miami surrendered is also a singlegame mark.
The demoralizing defeat for the Hurricanes (8-2, 7-2) essentially shuts down the possibility of playing in one of college football’s New Year’s Six bowl games. Various bowl projections before Saturday’s results had UM playing in the Orange Bowl against either Florida or Texas A&M, but now, Miami has been on the wrong side of lopsided scores against its two toughest opponents (42-17 at No. 3 Clemson on Oct. 10) with its only win against a team currently ranked coming against No. 23 North Carolina State.
UNC senior running back Michael Carter rushed for 308 yards and junior back Javonte Williams 236. Williams scored three touchdowns and Carter two.
Tar Heels quarterback Sam Howell was 14 of 19 for 223 yards, a touchdown passing, a touchdown rushing and a touchdown receiving. His top target, receiver Dyami Brown, had four catches for 167 yards.
Miami quarterback D’Eriq King went 18 of 30 for 239 yards, two touchdowns, an interception and
53 yards rushing as the Hurricanes were held to 314 yards of offense.
North Carolina started fast with touchdowns on its first three drives to jump out to a 21-3 lead by the end first quarter.
The first one from Williams, the 220-pound power running back, came from a yard out and was set up by Howell finding Dyami Brown deep, beating Miami cornerback DJ Ivey in single coverage for a 51-yard gain.
Ivey appeared to redeem himself on the ensuing drive with an interception, but an illegal substitution penalty nullified the takeaway as a
12th Miami defender was too slow to get off the field against UNC’s up-tempo pace. Williams ended up with his second touchdown, on an option pitch on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line.
Miami then turned its following possession over on downs, stuffed on a Donald Chaney Jr. rush attempt on fourth-and-1 from the North Carolina 35-yard line. On the very next play, Carter jolted down the Miami sideline for a 65-yard touchdown run.
Carter then scored a second-quarter touchdown from 25 yards out where he escaped poor tackle attempts in the secondary from Gurvan Hall and Te’Cory Couch.
North Carolina kicker Jordan Atkins also kicked two field goals in the second quarter. One was set up by a 65-yard scamper from Williams. The other saw an 87-yard connection from Howell to Brown, where he was tackled at the UM 5-yard line.
Miami scored with 10 seconds left in the first half with King finding an open Michael Harley from 2 yards out to go into halftime trailing 34-10.
UM never fixed its first-half defensive issues to mount a serious comeback in the second half. Carter and Williams kept pounding the Hurricanes, and Howell first ran for a touchdown, then caught one — off a double-reverse pass from wideout Rontavious Groves — and then threw one to tight end Kamari Morales. Williams scored for the third time with 3:58 remaining to put UNC over 60 points.
Miami scored two touchdowns in the second half — a 76-yard pass over the middle from King to tight end Brevin Jordan and a 6-yard run from Cam’Ron Harris — adding two-point conversions on the end of each.
The Hurricanes actually started with a 3-0 lead on Saturday, converting on a Jose Borregales 47-yard field goal before the Tar Heels touched the ball.
Saturday’s game was the last one remaining on the UM regular season schedule after Georgia Tech canceled its Dec. 19 game with the Hurricanes on Friday night. Miami will learn its bowl destination on Dec. 20 after conference championship games are played.