Hurricanes have a 2017 squad throwback feel
How does this Miami squad compare to ’17 team that began 10-0
BLACKSBURG, VA.—The way the Miami Hurricanes continue to eke out close Atlantic Coast Conference victories is reminiscent of the last time they were ranked this deep into a season.
In 2017, Miami maintained an undefeated record through 10 games, escaping with narrow victories against Florida State, Georgia Tech, Syra cuse and North Carolina — all unranked at the time — before big back-to-back statement wins in blowouts over No. 13 Virginia Tech and No. 3 Notre Dam eto get ranked as high as No. 2.
After Saturday afternoon’s 25-24 win at Virginia Tech, these 2020Hurricanes (7-1, 6-1), which were actually dropped to No .12 in the AP Poll, have won four straight with thepast three by a combined 9 points. They’re getting by in similar fashion, although UM
won’t go into Thanksgiving without a loss this time for themere fact that it played Clemson in October instead of suffering that decisive loss in the ACC Championship Game.
The 2017 team was doing it in different ways too. Not as explosive offensively with Malik Rosier at quarterback instead of D’Eriq King, those Hurricanes leaned on an inspired defense in a season where Miami introduced the Turnover Chain to the college football universe.
“2017 was a little bit different because, in 2017, we were just so dominant in the turnover category,” said UM coach Manny Diaz, who was defensive coordinator under previous coach Mark Richt at the time. “We would be four-up, three-up in the turnover category and still be in close games. These are legit ball games. These are battles. Virginia Tech played very well [Saturday].”
Miami has only forced two turnovers during this four-game winning streak, both coming in the fourth quarter after coming from behind to take a lead in the form of a Te’Cory Couch interception on Saturday and a DJ Ivey pick theweek before at North Carolina State.
They’ ve come as the UM defense continues to collect itself late in games after struggling early. At N.C. State, the Hurricanes surrendered 41 points but only allowed 6 yards of offense in the fourth quarter as they came up with three stops. At Virginia Tech, the Hokies came up empty on their final five possessions and were held 119 yards below their season rushing average.
Mix it with late magic from King, and it’s been a winning formula for what’s becoming a fourth-quarter team. Miami is plus-28 in fourth-quarter scoring against opponents through eight games.
“I think it’s the way we practice, our tempo offense and the work we are doing in the weight room with [strength and conditioning coach] David Feeley,” said Diaz of outlasting opponents deep into games. “We’ve seen it. We’ve seen teams wear down with our tempo andjust not being able tohang. Our guys are able to play a lot of snaps and still play verywell in that time of the game.”
On Saturday, itwas done with a defense that didn’t have the luxury of rotating many defensive linemen with players out.
“It’s definitely hard when you don’t have any backups,” said defensive end Jaelan Phillips, who playe dall but a handful of snap son Saturday and had 2 ½ sacks and 4
½ tackles for loss among his eight total tackles. “What it boils down to is controlling what you can control.”
And King is having different pass catchers step up for him. Against Virginia and N.C. State, it was Michael Harley putting together two ACC Receiver of the Week performances and scoring the winning touchdown against the Wolfpack.
Mark Pope posted career highs at N.C. State and then scored a game-winner of his own at Virginia Tech. Dee Wiggins’ eight receptions for 106 yards were both career highs on a team-leading 12 targets as he bounced back from a key early drop.
“No matter what goes on in the game, you have to play the next play,” Wiggins said. “If you stick with that play, youare going to play bad the whole game. I just had to stay focused on ‘keep playing.’ “
Along with the wideouts, tight end Will Mallory stepped up during B rev in Jordan’ s three-game absence, and now Jordan is back to replicate the fierce tight end tandem.
With a run game slowly picking itself back up, the offense has followed King’s lead.
“One thing about King, he’s going to be himself— fourth quarter, no matter what the score is,” Pope said. “I’m all for him. I’m going to be there to help him, and we go get the job done.”
Set to host Georgia Tech (2-5, 2-4) this upcoming Saturday, so long as neither team has aCOVID19 outbreak significant enough to lead to a postponement of the game, it could be an opportunity for Miami to pivot from the tight victories and put together a more dominant effort.
Miami, in 2020, hopes to finish stronger than the 2017 team wrapped up that season — with the loss at Pittsburgh in the regular-season finale, an ACC Championship Game defeat to Clemson and then an Orange Bowl loss to Wisconsin. That three-game losing streak led UM into a 7-6 2018 season and 6-7 record in 2019.