South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Hurricanes record blowout
Miami sets record with 77-0 home opener over Savannah State.
MIAMI GARDENS — For the better part of the past week, the Hurricanes have had to endure questions — from fans, the media and even themselves — about what went wrong in their season opener against LSU.
On Saturday night, they returned to the field and had a chance to begin addressing some of the problems that plagued them last Sunday in Texas and for the most part, things went largely as expected.
No one will argue Savannah State provided even remotely close to the same level of competition that LSU did, but the 22nd-ranked Hurricanes got the victory they so desperately needed, dominating these Tigers 77-0 at Hard Rock Stadium.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak that dated back to last season and was the Hurricanes’ first since a 44-28 victory over Virginia on Nov. 18. The 77-point margin of victory set a new Miami record, breaking the 70-point margin set against these very same Tigers in 2013 when Miami notched a 77-7 win and the shutout was the Hurricanes’ first since a 45-0 win over BethuneCookman on Sept. 5, 2015.
Against Savannah State, the Hurricanes were able to play a plethora of young players including redshirt freshmen quarterbacks N’Kosi Perry and Cade Weldon, both of whom made their Miami debuts in Saturday’s rout.
Also notching significant playing time were freshmen tight ends Will Mallory and Brevin Jordan, defensive end Greg Rousseau and defensive tackle Nesta Silvera. Five-star running back prospect Lorenzo Lingard, who had been fourth on Miami’s depth chart throughout preseason camp, made his Hurricanes debut, too, scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown that gave the Hurricanes a 56-point lead and sent many fans to their post-game plans.
Still, as cathartic as Saturday’s win may have been, it did take starting quarterback Malik Rosier and the offense some time to get going.
The Hurricanes (1-1) did not score on either of their first two offensive possessions, with veteran Travis Homer fumbling on Miami’s opening drive and Rosier
throwing two incompletions on the second.
Those two incompletions and the slow start drew loud boos from the announced crowd of 60,307 but on the next drive, Rosier delivered.
He engineered an 8-play, 31-yard drive that was capped by a 2-yard touchdown pass to Mallory that kicked off the scoring for the Hurricanes.
From there, nearly every offensive veteran and most of Miami’s freshmen had their opportunities, including receiver Jeff Thomas, who was one of the bright spots in the loss to LSU
That night, Thomas made multiple highlight-reel worthy plays, a trend that continued against Savannah State (0-2) where he finished with 183 all-purpose yards and a 67-yard touchdown catch thrown by Rosier that gave Miami a 21-0 lead.
Rosier ultimately finished the night 8-of-12 for 131 yards with two touchdowns. He left the early in the second quarter, paving the way for Perry to take over and play six offensive series.
Perry, who was suspended for the Hurricanes’ opener, directed three touchdown drives completing an 8-yard scoring pass to Lawrence Cager for his first Miami touchdown with 9:08 left before halftime.
He’d add two more touchdowns, both to Jordan in the third quarter before finishing the day 9-of-14 for 93 yards and an interception.
Weldon, who made his debut with 1:04 left in the third, also got in on the scoring bonanza, scampering for a 16-yard touchdown run on his second play. He was one of seven different Hurricanes to score their first Miami touchdowns on this night.
Miami’s offense wasn’t the only one that played well Saturday.
The Hurricanes defense forced four turnovers with cornerback Trajan Bandy’s second-quarter fumble recovery coming first and prompting Miami to unveil its new, upgraded Turnover Chain.
On special teams, the Hurricanes also blocked a punt, with Scott Patchan returning it 10 yards for a touchdown.