Miami Hurricanes vs. Arkansas State: Handing Out Game Balls

Every week we’ll hand out game balls to the Hurricanes that had the best performances on both offense and defense.

In a game that had the feeling of something more than just a game against a Sun Belt Conference team, the Miami Hurricanes took care of business against Arkansas State and put some doubts to rest.. for now.

The offense came out swinging, and it was just a really nice thing to see, especially with all the heat they’ve taken from the fans the last couple of weeks.

There’s still some things that the Canes need to tighten up, but we’ll talk more about that on a different post. For now, let’s focus on the good and hand out a couple of game balls to guys that stood out during the game against Arkansas State.

Offensive Game Ball: Brad Kaaya & Phillip Dorsett

I’m usually only going to give the game ball to one guy, but it’ll be wrong of me to not give one to these two guys. And I’m sure you all know who I’m talking about.

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Brad Kaaya and Phillip Dorsett absolutely dominated this game and it took just four offensive plays for them to let the world know what the plan was. The second offensive snap resulted in a beautiful pitch-and-catch that went for 63-yards and a touchdown. Kaaya hit Dorsett perfectly in stride and there’s nobody in the country that can outrun Dorsett one-on-one. The very next drive, they hit the same play yet again. This time was for 51-yards and could’ve been another touchdown if Dorsett didn’t tumble on himself and go down at the 19-yard line.

The third big connection was just a little sample of how fast Dorsett really is. Kaaya recognized a cornerback blitz and hit Dorsett, who cut his route short in the flat. After he made the safety miss on a tackle, it was a footrace, and you can give me number four ten times out of ten.

Kaaya and Dorsett have linked up for four touchdowns the last two weeks and they seem to be getting that chemistry going. Kaaya throws a really pretty deep ball and Dorsett likes to run. It’s perfect, and it’s something that defensive coordinators have to really think about now and it should help free up the running game some more.

Defensive Game Ball: Thurston Armbrister & Deon Bush

Again, I’m really going to try to only give these out to one player from now on, but if I can’t pick between a couple people, I guess that’s a good thing.

Thurston Armbrister has been the talk of pretty much everyone three games into this season. With the offseason issues that got two Canes linebackers kicked out of school, the team desperately needed a linebacker other than Denzel Perryman to step up. Armbrister has answered the call so far.

He recorded a sack for the third straight game (four in total) and led the team in tackles with nine for the first time in his collegiate career.

Deon Bush, on the other hand, was the best defensive back on the team on Saturday. He was running around everywhere and had the hit stick on pretty much the entire night. Bush finished with six tackles and a 15-yard sack on Arkansas State quarterback Fredi Knighten that had the team, and the fans completely pumped up.

It’s good to see Bush slowly coming back into form after he was plagued with injury during his sophomore season. The secondary hasn’t been the strongest unit for the Canes, but it’s good to see Bush starting to stand out.

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