One thing Al Golden and his staff had going for them was that they were undefeated against Georgia Tech during their time at the University of Miami. After Saturday night, that’s no longer the case, and it’s a big blow to the Hurricanes chances of playing in the ACC championship game.
Everyone talked all week about Georgia Tech’s triple-option and what the Hurricanes needed to do to stop it, but Miami had no answers (or no adjustments because we all saw what the problem was) and the Yellow Jackets ran all over the Miami Hurricanes with 311 yards on the ground en route to their 28 to 17 win over the Miami Hurricanes.
I’m not the type of person to bashfully go after the coaches, but Justin Thomas continuously went to the pitch out of the option and there were very few times that there was a Hurricane player in position to stop it. That’s on the coaches. Georgia Tech ran the ball 65 times for 311 yards. That’s not a typo, those are real numbers. Thomas only threw the ball 7 times. SEVEN AND MIAMI LOST.
The game started off pretty much how every Miami game has started this season, with the offense marching down the field and then the defense scrubbing it up right after that. Brad Kaaya had a pretty good game for Miami, aside from two mistakes that led to interceptions. Kaaya threw for 245 yards and threw a pretty pass to Braxton Berrios from 21-yards out to put Miami up 7-0 early.
Miami took the lead and then came the defense. Georgia Tech did what they do. Dennis Green would agree with me that Georgia Tech was who we thought they were, and Miami let them off the hook. (sorry I couldn’t resist myself.) Zach Laskey had 29 carries for 133 yards against the Miami defense. Laskey softened the Miami defense up the middle and that set up the pitch game for Justin Thomas and the Yellow Jackets. The pitch man destroyed Miami all night and it led to touchdown runs by four different guys: B.J. Bostic, Tony Zenon, Deon Hill and Justin Thomas who ran it in from one-yard out to even up the score in the first quarter.
Duke Johnson had his usual good game on Saturday and he racked up 100 yards on just 14 carries and a nifty 24-yard touchdown run that put Miami back up 14-7 in the second quarter. But guess what happens after the offense scores? The defense comes on and for Miami, that’s a disaster. Georgia Tech immediately went on a 9 play 65-yard drive that was finalized by a Tony Zenon run off the pitch. Here’s a warning: you’ll read that again soon.
How soon? How about the very first possession of the second half.
Georgia Tech got bored of the nine play touchdown drive, so they decided to punish Miami for 13 plays on the first drive of the second half, which ended up with a B.J. Bostic touchdown. Guess how? Yup, on the pitch from Thomas.
That touchdown drive by Georgia Tech took them 6 minutes and 50 seconds and that was the theme all night. Tech’s offense was out on the field for 40 minutes and 11 seconds. That essentially means that the Canes offense was only out on the field for 19:49. That won’t win you many ball games.
The Canes offense managed to get a Michael Badgley 27-yard field goal on the board to cut the lead to 21-17. That field goal came on the heels of a play that initially had D’Mauri Jones completing a catch and then fumbling inside the ten. That play was reviewed and overturned for the sake of Miami, and D’Mauri.
The crazy part of that ‘Canes field goal? That was their only possession of the third quarter.
Georgia Tech then rolled off a 13-play 75 yard touchdown drive that ended up in a Deon Hill touchdown run. I would tell you how it happened, you just connect the dots. Oh, and this time, it was on fourth down because Paul Johnson knew it would work. The back breaker in this drive? Justin Thomas THREW it to Tony Zenon for thirty yards on a crucial third and fifteen. After that throw, you could just sense that Miami was in trouble.
That Hill touchdown put Georgia Tech up 28-17 and a Canes punt and another Kaaya interception to Jamal Golden later, Miami fell to Georgia Tech for the first time since 2008.
This loss puts Miami at .500 with a 3-3 record, but most importantly, it gives Miami it’s second loss in the ACC with games against North Carolina, Florida State and Virginia Tech still to be played. This loss immensely deteriorates Miami’s chances at playing for the conference championship. again. On the other hand, Georgia Tech remains unbeaten and improves to 2-0 in the ACC and they seem to have the inside track to earn the right to play Florida State in Charlotte.
The Miami Hurricanes take a break from ACC play next week as they host the Cincinnati Bearcats next week at 12:00 PM at Sun Life Stadium.