South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Just ‘D’-lightful
Defense stands tall as ’Canes win without any TDs
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In
60 minutes of regulation, neither Miami nor Virginia could reach the end zone.
The Hurricanes and Cavaliers combined for 12 points in the first four quarters, scoring on four field goals. In four overtimes the Hurricanes got the edge and beat Virginia
(3-5) 14-12. Quarterback Jake Garcia sprinted for the pylon in the game’s fourth overtime, diving over the line on the two-point attempt to give the Hurricanes (4-4) the win.
“Can’t say enough about the resiliency of the team, which was something we felt needed to take a huge upgrade with some of the recent things, some of our games,” coach Mario Cristobal said. “Just really proud of our guys for effort, for toughness, for playing hard the whole way through.”
Neither team reached the end zone until Garcia’s diving try to end the game. They had to make due with four field goals each.
Miami kicker Andy Borregales notched his four field goals at clutch moments. He hit his first, a
38-yarder, to give Miami a 3-0 lead, at the end of the first half. He kicked a 20-yarder to send the game to overtime and added two field goals
(42 and 37 yards) in OT to keep the Hurricanes in the game.
“Wow,” Cristobal said. “But he does it in practice all the time.”
Said Garcia: “My brother, oh my gosh. I already gave him a big ol’ hug in the locker room.”
But Virginia kicker Will Bettridge, a South Florida native, matched Borregales. He kicked field goals in the third and fourth quarters before notching a pair in overtime.
But the game only went to overtime because both the Hurricanes and Cavaliers struggled mightily
on offense. Fourteen of the teams’ combined
19 drives in regulation ended with punts, including the first 10 drives of the game.
Garcia, making his first career college start due to Tyler Van Dyke’s injury, went 15-for29 for 125 yards. The Hurricanes’ run game improved, but they had just 272 total yards of offense. Despite the victory, it was the second time this season that Miami failed to score a touchdown in a game.
“[Garcia] worked his butt off the entire game and had some good moments, had some other tough ones,” Cristobal said. “But you saw at the end of the game, ball’s in his hands and he finds a way to get in there and make a play.”
But while the Miami offense struggled, the UM defense played arguably its best game of the year. The Hurricanes kept their end zone untouched and racked up five sacks and 11 tackles for a ss.
“We continue to do really well at that and get the quarterback on the ground and create pressure,” Cristobal said, “which makes life a lot easier for our secondary.”
Miami’s defense had some of its best moments at the most crucial points in the game.
After a bad first half on offense, the Cavaliers came out firing in the second half. They connected on back-to-back passes of 30 and 47 yards and reached the Hurricanes’
3-yard line. But the Miami defense held, forcing a 7-yard loss on a touch pass and keeping Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong from gaining more than 1 yard on back-toback runs.
The Cavaliers had to settle for a field goal.
On Virginia’s next drive, Armstrong got down the field in a hurry again, completing a 64-yard pass to Mike Hollins. Miami kept the Cavaliers out of the end zone again, thanks in large part to a dropped pass in the end zone by UVA tight end Grant Misch on fourth down.
The Cavaliers had one last, good chance at the end zone when Armstrong ran to the Miami 4, but defensive lineman Mitchell Agude blew up a third-down run attempt at the 4-yard line, forcing a short field goal.
“I think everyone just had the mentality of dominating,” Agude said. “We came into the game knowing it’s going to take grit, and you’re going to take fight from every single player. We wanted to out-will every player, every down. That’s why we had such good production.”
Virginia got a game-saving red-zone stand of its own at the end of regulation. Miami got down to the 2-yard line, but an illegal-substitution penalty backed them up to the 7. They could not reach the end zone and had to settle for Borregales’ game-tying,20-yard field goal.
Despite the issue on offense, the Hurricanes left Scott Stadium jubilant, celebrating their victory by blasting music and dancing in the locker room before heading back to South Florida.
“I know our team is always going to fight,” Garcia said. “That’s the mindset that our team has instilled in us from the whole coaching staff.”
5 takeaways
1. Offense has its worst game of the year:Miami’s offense has struggled for much of this season, but this was the second time the Hurricanes failed to score a touchdown (they scored nine points on three field goals against Texas A&M).
Miami struggled to move the ball for nearly the whole game. The Hurricanes’ longest drive of the game was a 53-yard march that led to Borregales’ game-tying field goal at the end of regulation. Miami finished the game with 272 total yards of offense — its lowest total of the season — and 17 first downs.
The Hurricanes scored only six points in regulation and did not move the ball well in overtime, reaching the end zone only when forced to try two-point conversions after two overtimes.
“We had a couple shots where we didn’t connect,” Cristobal said. “And it was there, it was designed well, we ran open, we had a chance to make it. I think one time it was overthrown; another time, we just missed, and then a couple times we were just out of sync.”
2.Defenselivesinthebackfield: The Hurricanes consistently beat Virginia’s struggling offensive line. Miami had five sacks and 11 tackles for a loss.
Agude led the team with seven tackles and had a tackle for a loss and a half-sack. Leonard Taylor had four tackles for a loss and 1 ½ sacks. Jahfari Harvey had two tackles for a loss and a sack. Jared Harrison-Hunte and Nyjalik Kelly (who turned 18 on Saturday) each had one sack.
“That defense really, I mean, talk about stepping up,” Cristobal said.
3. Hedley’s day to shine: The Hurricanes’ struggles on offense gave punter Lou Hedley plenty of opportunities Saturday. The sixthyear redshirt senior punted eight times against Virginia.
Hedley had 308 punting yards and pinned UVA inside its own 20 five times.
“Another day at work,” Borregales said of Hedley. “That’s what we practice for, that’s what we live for, honestly. Moments like these is kind of what a specialist dreams of.”
4. Goal-line stands: When needed, the Hurricanes defense stepped up in the second half. On three consecutive drives, Miami allowed Virginia to get inside the 5-yard line but kept them out of the end zone.
On the first drive Virginia kicked a game-tying field goal. On the second it dropped what would have been a go-ahead touchdown.
In the fourth quarter the Cavaliers once again got inside the Hurricanes’ 5-yard line, and Miami held them to a field goal.
When the teams were forced to try two-point conversions in the final two overtimes, UM succeeded where Virginia didn’t.
The Hurricanes stopped the Cavaliers twice, and Tyrique Stevenson broke up a pass in the end zone to set up Garcia’s game-winning scramble.
“It was just never quit,” Agude said. “Every down, just keep playing your hardest, keep fighting. In football, it’s just about inches. If you can get them out of the end zone, you’re going to win the game.”
5. Running game improves: The Hurricanes turned to their running backs to win the game late in the fourth quarter. Henry Parrish Jr. and Lucious Stanley both picked up crucial first downs on the ground, setting up Miami’s game-tying field goal.
The Hurricanes’ running game improved Saturday after struggling for several weeks.
Parrish ended the game with a seasonhigh 113 yards, and the Hurricanes had 147 rushing yards in total. Parrish is Miami’s leading rusher this season, despite missing UM’s game against Virginia Tech with an injury.
“It felt pretty good, getting back into my groove,” Parrish said. “I [was] excited to get back to work with [my guys] and it paid off.”