Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
’Canes take look in the mirror to fix themselves before UNC
CORAL GABLES — As most of college football opened its season on Week 1, the Miami Hurricanes wrapped up an early bye week that was a look in the mirror to fix themselves before focusing in earnest on North Carolina for an ACC opener on Saturday.
After the Tar Heels won their opener 24-20 against South Carolina, Miami looks to rebound in Chapel Hill from a loss by the same score to No. 8 Florida last Saturday — all while Hurricane Dorian watch shifts from the east coast of Florida to the Carolinas later in the week.
“It’s all about Miami,” said junior running back DeeJay Dallas during the bye. “We’re going to do what we got to do on Greentree Practice Field to get Miami better. It’s not about who we play next or we played yesterday or the day before. It’s about Miami and what Miami is going to do to get better.”
It was a message from Dallas that resonated from coach Manny Diaz.
“Let’s get to work on Miami because what they saw on Saturday is, if we will compete and do all the things that we have preached all offseason, which we have not proved but we went out and did it on Saturday, we can win against anybody,” Diaz said. “So what that means is let’s get Miami right. Let’s work on us. Let’s work on our mistakes. Let’s work on the
things that we did that to not allow us to win the football games and let’s correct those things.”
That involves getting two inexperienced tackles in true freshman left tackle Zion Nelson and redshirt freshman right tackle John Campbell more comfortable in pass protection after their first college starts. The UNC pass rush sacked the quarterback three times and was credited four other quarterback hurries against the Gamecocks.
Tar Heels defensive back Myles Wolfolk intercepted a pair of passes in the fourth quarter. While redshirt freshman firsttime starting quarterback Jarren Williams often watched the pass rush instead of keeping his eyes downfield as he was hit with 10 sacks against the Gators, he did not throw an interception. While many came away satisfied with Williams’ 19-of-29 performance for 214 yards and a touchdown, offensive coordinator Dan Enos was instead critical of Williams, attributing five of the sacks to him and not the line.
Through the shortcomings, which also included a muffed punt that led to a Florida touchdown, a missed chip-shot field goal in the fourth and 14 penalties for 125 yards, the UM had four takeaways and the team fought to the end against a top-10-ranked rival on a neutral site.
“What I don’t want is, now when we go from playing a top-10 team to a team that’s not ranked, is that going to be a [dropoff ]?” Diaz said. “We found out on Saturday that we are the opposition, you know, that we are playing against the best version of ourselves every week. And so now to try and make sure that we present the best version of ourselves. I think our players believe that it doesn’t matter who is the opposition, that we will beat anybody as long as we’re at it. Let’s try to find things that we didn’t do well, and not repeat our mistakes.”
The Hurricanes will look to be more opportunistic of an opponents’ mistakes, which there were plenty against the Gators, instead of flipping them back in favor of the opponent. Diaz, who said every position group both competed to give the team a chance to win but also had a hand in what got the Hurricanes beat, was encouraged with the team’s approach to the loss he saw early last week.
“I think when it really came down to it, that we made one or two more mistakes at the crucial times than what they did,” Diaz said. “A lot to build on. I think the players saw it as a missed opportunity because there was a different mentality in here yesterday when they came in.
“It wasn’t a sadness, maybe like it had been in the past with some losses, or kind of a moping around. It was a little bit more of an edge and an anger, maybe even a little bit of a disgust, which I thought was really good and healthy. And something to build on for sure going forward.”