VALIANT COMEBACK FALLS SHORT
Tyler Van Dyke’s career-high 496 yards passing weren’t enough as the Hurricanes lost to the Tar Heels for the fourth consecutive time and fell to 2-3 in Mario Cristobal’s first year as head coach.
The fresh start is over — and so is any honeymoon period for University of Miami coach Mario Cristobal just five games into his tenure.
The Hurricanes opened their Atlantic Coast Conference slate Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium with another frustrating performance, losing their third consecutive game, 27-24 to the North Carolina Tar Heels and falling to 2-3 overall.
But you can’t blame Canes quarterback Tyler Van Dyke for this one.
After being benched in UM’s last game two weeks ago, Van Dyke completed 42 of 57 passes for a career-high 496 yards, three touchdowns — and an interception with eight seconds left that sealed UNC’s victory.
Van Dyke’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Colbie Young with 2:20 left in the game got Miami within three points. The Hurricanes nearly recovered their subsequent onside kick before it was ruled that Al Blades Jr. was out of bounds when he swatted the ball to keep it in play for what seemed like a UM recovery by Chase Smith. Instead, North Carolina took over.
But UM forced a three-and-out to get one final possession, which started at the Miami 10-yard line with 1:13 left. Van Dyke completed five of his first eight passes to get Miami to the UNC 47 before being intercepted by DeAndre Boykins.
UM has not had a lead for the past three games.
UNC, which beat UM for the fourth consecutive time, hit a
19-yard field goal that culminated an 81-yard drive that took 8:21 off the clock to go up 27-17 with 4:10 left.
UNC star quarterback Drake Maye, who entered the game with 19 touchdowns against just one interception, finished 19 of 28 for 309 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Miami, a 3 ½-point favorite coming off a bye week, has begun its ACC slate at 0-1, with the final seven regular-season games all league opponents. UNC (5-1, 2-0 ACC) belongs to UM’s Coastal Division in the league, which will make it even tougher for the Hurricanes to win the Coastal en route to a goal of playing in the ACC title game.
Not only did UM’s quest for early ACC supremacy take a hit, but the announced crowd of 53,751 also included at least nine of Miami’s 17 Class of 2023 commits, plus other top recruits as well. How they view the program and where they fit in remains to be seen.
The last time the Hurricanes started 2-3 was just last season under former coach Manny Diaz. In 2021, UM went to 2-4 before finishing 7-5 by winning five of its last six games.
With UNC up 24-17 and the Canes driving from the Tar Heels 26, the ball slipped out of tailback Jaylan Knighton’s hand after he ran through a hole on fourth-and-1 for what would have been a first down. UNC’s Giovanni Biggers recovered with 12:31 left in the game. That began the 81-yard gamesealing drive.
UNC made it a onetouchdown lead — 24-17 — at 7:58 of the third quarter on a seven-play, 24-yard drive that ended with a 38-yard field goal by Noah Burnette.
The Hurricanes were forced to punt on their opening drive, and pinned the Tar Heels at the UNC 5-yard line. But on third-and-3 from the UNC 26, Maye’s pass was caught at the UNC 48 by J.J. Jones, who beat Canes cornerback Tyrique Stephenson and sprinted down the left sideline for a 74-yard touchdown. Stephenson tried to catch up but wasn’t even close. The Tar Heels led 7-0 at 8:55 of the first quarter.
UM took over at its own 25, drove to the UNC 30 in five plays, then stalled and was left with nothing when Andy Borregales’ 53-yard attempt sailed wide left. After two drives, Van Dyke was 5 of 6 for 56 yards.
The Canes took over on downs when they stopped UNC on three plays from within the 8-yard line. By the time the drive was interrupted by the first quarter’s end, Van Dyke was 7 of 8 for 74 yards.
When the drive continued, Van Dyke’s first pass was a 41-yard completion to Jaylan Knighton. Four plays later, UM had firstand-goal from the UNC 2.
Thad Franklin rushed for 1 yard on first down, but UM was stopped on its next three attempts from the 1. In the process, center Jakai Clark and right guard Justice Oluwaseun were injured and left the game on consecutive plays. To make matters worse, the Heels took over at the 1 and drove 99 yards on eight plays, culminating with a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Omarion Hampton. UNC led 14-0.
The Canes roared back by scoring on their final three drives of the half — a 20-yard touchdown pass from Van Dyke to Key’Shawn Smith, an acrobatic 7-yard pass to Henry Parrish and a 38-yard field goal by Borregales with two seconds left (following Keontra Smith’s interception).
Van Dyke’s throw to Parrish came with UNC’s Myles Murphy hanging from the quarterback’s left side. But Van Dyke, in the midst of being tackled, leaned to his right and threw for the score.
In between UM’s two touchdowns, Maye hit Josh Downs for a 15-yard touchdown.
Van Dyke finished the first half 20 of 25 for 289 yards and two touchdowns, more than twice the yards than he threw in the loss to Middle Tennessee State.
UNC, booed by UM fans as they ran into their locker room, led 21-17 at the half.
Miami travels to Blacksburg, Virginia, to meet the Virginia Tech Hokies at 12:30 p.m. Oct. 15. The Hokies were scheduled to play at Pitt at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The Hokies were 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the ACC heading into Saturday.