Miami Hurricanes beat Toledo 49-24 behind Malik Rosier career day
Malik Rosier had a career day accounting for five touchdowns as the Miami Hurricanes won 49-24 at Toledo. He accounted for five touchdowns in the Canes victory.
Rosier finished with three rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns as the Miami Hurricanes offense started fast and answered everytime Toledo made it a game. He is the first Miami quarterback to run for three touchdowns and throw for two or more since the Hurricanes joined the ACC.
Rosier was one of a few Miami Hurricanes players on offense that had big days. The Hurricanes Senior signal caller completed 13 of 23 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns. He added another 80 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. The maligned Hurricanes quarterback should be the ACC offensive player of the week.
DeeJay Dallas had a career day for Miami. Dallas ran for 110 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown. That’s his first career 100-yard rushing game. Sophomore wide receiver Jeff Thomas continues to be Rosier’s go-to receiver this season. Thomas finished with five receptions for 105 yards and added 19 yards rushing and 47 in kick returns.
The Miami defense did a better job on the Toledo offense then they did a year ago. After gaining 429 yards in a 52-30 loss in 2017, the Rockets gained just 334 on Saturday. The Hurricanes defense added nine tackles for loss, four sacks, four pass breakups and a Trajan Bandy interception.
Miami defensive tackle Gerald Willis continued to terrorize opposing offenses. The Senior finished with five tackles, including three tackles for loss. Jaquan Johnson was on his way to a monster game for the Hurricanes before leaving in the first half with what was reportedly a hamstring injury. He had seven tackles before his exit.
Backup linebacker Mike Smith also added five tackles and Michael Pinckney had five tackles including two tackles for loss. In addition to being without Johnson for the second half, the Miami Hurricanes secondary was also missing backup Safety Amari Carter. Carter did not make the trip to Toledo to attend a funeral.
One of the Miami Hurricanes goals was to get off to a good start to take the Toledo crowd out of the game. Miami did that by taking a 21-0 first-half lead. Toledo battled back and cut to a one-score game a few times but Miami answered every time.
Both the offense and defense came up with big plays on third down throughout the game. What was a weak spot for Miami in 2017 was clutch at the Glass Bowl. Toledo was two for 11 on third down. Miami was seven for 15.
Lawrence Cager also had a big game. Cager and Thomas stepped up with star wide receiver Ahmmon Richards out for the second straight game with a bone bruise. Richards has missed nine games over the last two seasons. Cager caught three passes for 67 yards and a touchdown.
After its first road game of the season, the Miami Hurricanes return home next week to begin a three-game homestand. The Hurricanes host FIU in their final nonconference game of 2018 at 3:30 PM ET. The game will be on one of the ESPN family of networks.
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That follows with their ACC opener on September 27 on a Thursday night. The Hurricanes get nine days off after that before hosting reeling Florida State on October 6.