Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
New QB, different results?
CORAL GABLES — Hurricanes coach Mark Richt has insisted — repeatedly — that even as some of Miami’s goals have slipped away over the course of the last month, he’s not been ready to give up on the season and start looking ahead to next year just yet.
As Miami prepares for a Saturday night showdown at Georgia Tech, the Hurricanes still haven’t secured bowl eligibility. And despite their three-game losing streak, they still aren’t technically eliminated from the ACC’s Coastal Division race, though they’d practically need a miracle to return to Charlotte and play for a conference championship.
And so, while some Hurricanes fans who have made the trek to Atlanta may be watching and wondering if quarterback N’Kosi Perry’s audition to be Miami’s starter in 2019 will begin in earnest at Bobby Dodd Stadium, Richt insisted Thursday that after an intense week of practice, it’s the redshirt freshman that he believes will give the Hurricanes their
best chance to win.
“I’m looking to win games. That’s what we’re here to do, and we owe it to our seniors and we owe it to our veterans and we owe it to everybody,” Richt said earlier this week when asked if he believed it was time to give Miami’s younger quarterbacks more playing time. “Our thought process is to try and win these games. That’s it.”
Perry, who has played in seven games this season and started three, is the quarterback who has gotten the call now and the challenge ahead of him won’t be particularly easy.
Travis Homer, one of the Hurricanes’ top offensive playmakers, has been a limited participant in some practices this week while dealing with a strained calf muscle, and it’s unclear how effective he can be a week after he had a season-high 133 yards against Duke. And Georgia Tech isn’t exactly known for letting opponents have much time to work on offense, with its own offense putting together long, methodical drives that usually provide a significant edge in time of possession.
But Richt is confident that Perry — who has completed 52 percent of his passes for 701 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions — can be efficient.
The Hurricanes (5-4, 2-3) will need that, considering they’ve scored a combined 39 points in losses to Virginia, Boston College and Duke.
“We talked about that to everybody on the offense,” Richt said. “It’s two to three, maybe four series, less per game … we did the stats this year and it’s closer to three drives a game, on average, less than what people would normally get against a different type of offense,” Richt said. “So, that’s crucial. The other thing that’s crucial is the field-position game. We know we’ve got to do a better job punting the ball. We’ve got to do a better job in that area because, if we do get stopped, even if we move the ball, we’ve got to pin them deep. There will probably be some times they’re going to go for it on fourth down and if we get the stop there, then we might get good field position and we’ve got to take advantage of that and get some points on the board. It’s also important to keep drives going.”
While offensively the Hurricanes will have to be efficient, defensively, patience may be the key.
Georgia Tech’s triple-option offense has been running on all cylinders.
Georgia Tech (5-4, 3-3), which has won two straight and four of its last five games, has the nation’s top rushing offense, with quarterbacks Tobias Oliver and TaQuon Marshall combining to rush for 1,439 yards, while running back Jordan Mason has added 604.
Tech has thrown the ball just 42 times all season and that’s one of the reasons Hurricanes veteran cornerback Michael Jackson says he and his teammates will have to be at their best — and on alert.
“I’m not a corner. It’s as simple as that. I’m not a corner, I’m a football player,” Jackson said. “They’re going to test you and see if you can tackle. They’re going to try to see if you’re scared to get cut [block]. No matter if you got cut 10 plays in a row, you’ve still [got to] come up and be as physical as possible on that 11th play, because that play might change the game.”