Hurricanes survive a rough 1st half to beat Southern Miss
MIAMI GARDENS — The Hurricanes’ smooth offense that scored nine touchdowns in 10 attempts in their season opener took a long time to show itself in Saturday’s follow-up effort.
Southern Miss gave No. 15 Miami fits, holding the Hurricanes to just 10 first-half points in an eventual 30-7 victory for UM at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday.
“Obviously, sluggish first half and certainly hurt ourselves,” coach Mario Cristobal said. “But credit to them. Southern Miss certainly did some things, especially on defense, that caused us a couple issues in protection. Some pretty good halftime adjustments, particularly by the defense to go out and have the type of second half that they had.”
The Golden Eagles (0-2) sent blitz after blitz at the Miami (2-0) offensive line, and they found themselves in the Hurricanes’ backfield often. The Hurricanes’ offensive line didn’t allow one sack in their season-opening win, but Southern Miss sacked quarterback Tyler Van Dyke three times in the first half and four times total. When the Golden Eagles didn’t get to him, Van Dyke was forced to throw on the run or scramble for short gains.
The Hurricanes went ahead in the first quarter with a 30-yard Andy Borregales field goal, but the Golden Eagles took a surprise lead on a 32-yard pass from Zach Wilcke to Jason Brownlee.
Miami’s offense struggled to get solid drives going, and Van Dyke threw his first interception of the season in the second quarter.
The Hurricanes finally put together a touchdown drive late in the second half, with Van Dyke going 5 for 6 for 61 yards. Van Dyke tossed an 18-yard pass to Romello Brinson, which played the Hurricanes at the 1-yard line, and Henry Parrish Jr. punched in a 1-yard score to give Miami a three-point lead heading into halftime.
Miami looked much better when they came out of the locker room for the second half. The Hurricanes moved the ball down the field on a 13-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a 7-yard rushing touchdown by Thad Franklin Jr. Parrish, who finished the game with 116 rushing yards and a score on 24 carries, ran for 37 yards and had a 12-yard catch on the drive.
“I just put my head down and work, come prepared every day,” Parrish said.
The Hurricanes stuffed the Golden Eagles on back-to-back drives to start the second half, with Taylor picking up a tackle for loss and sack on back-to-back plays.
After a 30-yard punt return by Tyrique Stevenson, Van Dyke tossed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Key’Shawn Smith on a flea flicker to put Miami up 24-7.
“It was probably my best throw of the day,” Van Dyke said. “Key’Shawn did a great job; he got past the defense.”
Miami’s defense kept Southern Miss in check in the second half. The Hurricanes’ defense held Golden Eagles running back Frank Gore Jr. to just 10 rushing yards on Saturday, and the defense forced two turnovers in the second half.
Borregales hit three field goals in the victory, including two in the fourth quarter to put the Hurricanes up by 23 points.
“When you’re 1-0 for the week, that’s your goal,” Cristobal said. “But certainly, we want to play more polished, more precise football.”
Five takeaways
Pass blockers struggle: Miami struggled to keep Tyler Van Dyke upright in the first half. After keeping the star quarterback off the ground in the opener, the Hurricanes surrendered three sacks in the first half alone and one on the offense’s final drive.
On plays where Van Dyke did get passes off, the Southern Miss defense harassed him and flushed him out of the pocket several times.
“They create some really unique angles with their pass-rush lanes and their pressures,” Cristobal said. “And we didn’t adjust till later on in the second half.”
Tyler Van Dyke shows fallibility:
Van Dyke had a near-perfect game in the season-opener, completing 13 of 16 passes (with two incompletions coming on throwaways). The third-year sophomore did not have as tidy of a game this week. He struggled in the first half, tossing a fourth-down interception and several errant passes, some of which were nearly intercepted.
Van Dyke finished Saturday’s game completing 21 of 30 passes for 263 yards and a touchdown.
“I just missed throws that I never usually miss,” Van Dyke said. “I make those throws in practice every time. I’ve just got to hit them.”
Saturday’s win did not feature many highlights for the Hurricanes’ cornerbacks.
Sophomore Malik Curtis surrendered the lone touchdown in the second quarter, and fifth-year redshirt junior DJ Ivey and third-year sophomore Daryl Porter Jr. had moments where Golden Eagles receivers beat them in coverage. Te’Cory Couch
Cornerbacks get picked on:
was hit with a pass interference penalty early in the game. Southern Miss wide receiver Jason Brownlee finished the game with five receptions for 102 yards and a score.
However, fourth-year junior Tyrique Stevenson did play strong coverage in the third quarter and prevented a touchdown by picking off a pass in the end zone. Ivey had the chance to intercept a pass, but it slipped through his hands.
“As the game progressed, Tyrique got his pick, DJ had a shot for his — no one got over the top of him,” Cristobal said. “Thought we had a chance to make a great play. I know Te’Cory went up for one, I know Porter went up for one. They saw it, they knew it was coming, but they made a play on us on that one. All in all, we’ve got some work — we had some improvement — but certainly, an area where people are coming after us, so we’ve got to get better at it.”
’Canes make second-half adjustments:
Things looked pretty bleak for Miami in the first half. After a third-down sack led to a UM punt, some boos rained down from the Hard Rock Stadium stands.
The Hurricanes came out with a bang in the second half, driving down the field and scoring on their first two drives. The defense also played stronger in the second half, shutting out Southern Miss and forcing a pair of turnovers.
Cristobal and defensive tackle Leonard Taylor said the team had some anxiety in the first half, and they needed to work to overcome that in the second half.
“They really just [said] slow it down, take our time, really be patient,” Taylor said. “We were just too high up. We started off slow at first and then we just changed it around . ... Coach talked some sense into us, made us slow the game down a little bit.”
Leonard Taylor can be a gamechanger:
The sophomore defensive tackle flashed why he was a five-star prospect coming out of Miami Palmetto High. On backto-back plays in the third quarter, he stopped Southern Miss running back Frank Gore Jr. for a loss, then sacked quarterback Zack Wilcke on the following play, setting up a Golden Eagles punt.
Taylor finished the game with just those two tackles, but they made an outsized impact on the Hurricanes’ defense.
“I felt like I didn’t do too much in the first half, so I was talking to myself in the locker room like, ‘I’ve got to get right,’ [and] telling my teammates I’ve got to make some plays,” Taylor said. “Went out there and I made it happen.”