When a win just isn’t enough

’Canes are good enough, but want to be better

MIAMI GARDENS — Saturday’s winner didn’t smile. Question upon question, answer upon answer, Mark Richt kept running through the list of what went wrong — the drops, the mistakes, the missed chances — with a universal look that said, “I’m not happy.” Those precise words never came out of his mouth after a hold-on-for-your-life win Saturday against Syracuse, 27-19. The chosen words were more ambiguous at times, like his starting phrase:

“We found another way to make it really exciting.”

Or the good-news/ bad-news at times like:

“We’re resilient. We won’t quit or panic or feel like all is lost. We made some decisions that just weren’t very good, like one time we had a defensive substitution where we thought they’d subbed in, then didn’t … we had guys running on and off … we got a fumble but had 12 men on the field.”

But the message he delivered was simple.

“We’ve got to be better than that. I think that’s pretty obvious. We’ve got to get to work.”

You know what this sounds like in another win? Honesty. And progress. They did look as sloppy as the rain-

“It’d be nice to be more consistent.” Mark Richt, Hurricanes coach

slicked field at times. They’ll look at the video Sunday and wince at the mistakes. Their offense blew chances and their defense too often couldn’t get off the field.

But they still won, still are undefeated, still lead their ACC Coastal Division, still should be ranked no lower than the No. 8 they entered Saturday as and so still have all their hopes intact more than halfway through the season.

In other words, they won twice Saturday by beating Syracuse and knowing they have to be better. They all knew, too. It wasn’t just Richt.

They turned touchdowns into field goals in the first half.

“We [can’t] lose those opportunities,” quarterback Malik Rosier said.

And receiver Ahmmon Richards was asked about his “two drops.” “I had four,” he said. This wasn’t humblespeak after a win. This was don’t-duck-it honesty.

Oh, there were still Saturday heroics as Miami won in exhilarating lastminute fashion by holding on to the lead this time rather than taking it like the previous two weeks.

This time, they didn’t need receiver Darrell Langham to come off the bench and provide a big catch on the winning drive.

This Saturday, they needed Langham to provide a 19-yard catch to get the winning drive out near midfield. Running back Travis Homer took it the final 33 yards on a simple, off-tackle play he’d run so many times Saturday he wasn’t sure of the exact number. A lot? “Oh, yeah,” he said. There’s the philosopher’s line about the stonecutter tapping a gem 100 times and nothing happening. And then the rock is weakened enough so it breaks on the 101st time.

That was that winning run. Both teams looked exhausted at that point, like two fighters barely able to stand up. Syracuse, fresh off an upset of defending national champion Clemson, had Miami in its sights until that point.

Richt had to pass up a 45-yard field-goal attempt earlier in the fourth quarter due to the slick field. “Couldn’t risk a slip, a scoop and they’re throwing a party right now,” he said.

It wasn’t until a final incompletion by Syracuse’s tough quarterback, Eric Dungey, with 91 seconds left that Miami could celebrate the win. Even if it

didn’t exactly celebrate this win.

“We, for some reason, can’t find a way to play really good on both sides of the ball at the same time,” Richt said. “We kind of take turns. It’d be nice to be more consistent.

“You become consistent offensively when you throw and catch like you should. You become consistent when you convert third downs a little better than we have been. We haven’t been very good at all.

“Obviously, a couple of dropped balls would’ve meant two more touchdowns in the first half. I think that’s pretty evident. We’ve got to get better than that.”

The previous two Saturdays against Florida State and Georgia Tech were exhilarating, exhausting wins. This one against Syracuse? It was just exhausting, as the parade of unsmiling winners showed afterwards.