Hurricanes outlast upset-minded Orange
MIAMI GARDENS After needing fourth-quarter comebacks against both Florida State and Georgia Tech, the Miami Hurricanes found themselves on the other side of that equation Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium.
On this day, the Hurricanes didn’t quite start slow. But their offense sputtered too often and Syracuse, fresh off its upset of defending national champion Clemson last week, refused to go away.
Though the Hurricanes never trailed, the Orange kept chipping at Miami’s lead, even pulling within one in the fourth quarter. Then, with 2:48 left, Travis Homer broke free on a 33-yard touchdown run that gave the Hurricanes some much-needed breathing room and eventually clinched No. 8 Miami’s 27-19 win over the Orange.
The victory — ugly as it was — extends the Hurricanes’ win streak to 11 games dating back to last season. That ties the nation’s longest such streak, held by USF, which was playing Tulane late Saturday.
More importantly, the win keeps Miami unbeaten in Atlantic Coast Conference play as the Hurricanes continue their push to try and win their first Coastal Division crown since joining the ACC in 2004.
“We, for some reason, can’t find a way to play really good on both sides of the ball at the same time,” Hurricanes coach Mark 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 can convert third downs a little bit better than we have been. We’ve just not been very good at all. We have to continue to work. I think a lot of the times we had opportunities to make plays and didn’t make them.”
Entering Saturday’s matchup, the Hurricanes — to a man — said putting an end to Miami’s slow starts would be a key point of emphasis. Against a fast-moving Syracuse team known for its uptempo style, falling behind as Miami did against both Florida State and Georgia Tech couldn’t happen.
And it didn’t. most part, early For on, the the Hurricanes (6-0, 3-0) played with that muchneeded sense of urgency. Quarterback Malik Rosier’s passes were largely on target. The offense moved the ball. And Miami’s defense harassed Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey relentlessly, forcing four interceptions and sacking him twice in the first half.
The only problem for Miami was that two promising drives that should have ended in touchdowns instead resulted in field goals and steady-handed receivers — including Ahmmon Richards — dropped more than a handful of well-thrown passes from Rosier.
That issue emerged early, when on its opening drive, Miami had to settle for an 18-yard field goal from Michael Badgley, the kick capping a 13-play, 74-yard drive that took 5:31 off the clock.
On that drive, Miami converted on five firstdown opportunities. Rosier — who finished 26 of 43 for a career-high 344 yards and two touchdowns — completed five consecutive passes. But inside the Syracuse 5-yard line, three straight runs came up short.
While the Hurricanes later pushed their lead to 13-0 on the strength of a 10-yard scoring pass from Rosier to Chris Herndon early in the second quarter and a 39-yard field goal from Badgley four minutes later, the missed opportunities kept Syracuse in the game, even as the defense limited the Orange to just 137 yards in the first half.
Early in the second half there was more of the same for Miami, with the Hurricanes first two second-half drives ending in punts, the second one drawing a few boos from some of the 56,158 fans at Hard Rock.
“I was trying to keep the guys’ heads up,” Rosier said. “Tell them we have to keep driving, keep scoring, keep putting points on the board and help our defense out.”
It wasn’t until their third drive of the half that finally, the Hurricanes got a big play and a much-needed touchdown. It came when Rosier connected with receiver Jeff Thomas, who showed off his speed, got past Syracuse’s Devin Butler and scored easily on a 48-yard touchdown that gave Miami a 20-6 lead with 2:51 left in the third quarter.
But Syracuse (4-4, 2-2), which last week showed its ability to knock off top-10 teams with its 27-24 win over then-No. 2 Clemson, answered.
On a quick-moving drive that lasted all of 1:43, Syracuse marched down the field, its tempo testing Miami before Moe Neal scored the Orange’s first touchdown of the day on a 15-yard run.
And then, in the fourth quarter, Syracuse crept ever closer, a 45-yard field goal by Cole Murphy pulling the Orange within 20-16 with 9:52 left. Syracuse added another long field goal from Murphy — this one from 53 yards — with 5:23 left to make things even more uncomfortable for Miami.
It was Homer’s late score that finally, seemed to end the threat.
“It’s always a good feeling to win, but just seeing your team stay strong and pull through, it’s the best,” Homer said. “We’re 6-0, but, like I said last week, that’s not our final goal. That’s all great, people are going to talk, but that’s not going to get to our head.”
Homer, in his second start, finished with 95 yards. Herndon had 10 catches for 96 yards and Richards, who returned to action after missing last week’s game because of a nagging hamstring issue, had six catches for 99 yards.
ccabrera@sun-sentinel .com, Twitter @ChristyChirinos