Miami Hurricanes Football: Hurricanes Lose Duke Johnson To the Draft, Then Lose Duck Commander Bowl Against Gamecocks, 24-21

Before the game started, Matt Porter of the Palm Beach Post reported that Duke Johnson will forgo his senior season and putting his name into the NFL draft.  Unfortunately for Miami fans, they lost the best player they’ve rooted for in a really long time, and hours later, the team loses the Independence Bowl to South Carolina, 24-21.

The game started off well for the Hurricanes, holding South Carolina to zero first quarter points and moving the ball well on offense. Unfortunately, the Miami offense was only able to muster two 27-yard field goals by Michael Badgley to give them a 6-0 lead into the second quarter.

They usually say that you can’t win with field goals, and that was the case for the Canes.

As everything seemed to go Miami’s way for the first 20 minutes of the game, the defense had a break down (surprise) and gave up a 78-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Thompson to Pharoh Cooper. Darrion Owens was lined up on Cooper (no, really) and Cooper took him down the seam for a long gain, a shake on Tracy Howard later Cooper cruised into the end zone to put the Gamecocks up 7-6 with 7:50 left in the first half.

Cooper’s touchdown was the beginning of a rough end to the second quarter by the Miami Hurricanes.

On the next South Carolina possession, Thompson found Mike Davis for a 15-yard touchdown. Thurston Armbrister was a free rusher on the play and he completely whiffed on the play and Thompson was able to find Davis down the middle of the field after multiple Canes players lost track of him. On the ensuing Canes possession, Brad Kaaya throws an unnecessary bullet to Duke Johnson, which ricocheted off his hands into Jonathan Walton’s hands for a South Carolina interception. The gamecocks were then able to convert a Elliott Fry 32-yard field goal to put Carolina up 17-6 heading into the half.

Dylan Thompson finished 22/34 for 284 yards and 2 touchdowns in his last game as a Gamecock.

As you know, the second halves have been awful for the Canes this season, but the Canes actually played a good second half, at least for the most part. However, it wasn’t enough to get a win.

After a defensive start to the third quarter (I promise), the Hurricanes were finally able to break the seal and get into the end zone thanks to a Gus Edwards 3-yard touchdown run with 1:43 left in the third quarter. Al Golden and the Canes decided to go for two and they converted it with a nice play call that resulted in a Malcolm Lewis catch in the corner of the end zone. The Gamecocks still had a 17-14 lead, but it appeared Miami had regained momentum.

Unfortunately, momentum hasn’t always been so kind to Miami.

Duke Johnson appeared to hurt his right ankle on a carry late in the fourth quarter. Canes Twitter stopped breathing for a while and all everyone wanted to see was Johnson get up and be okay. Thankfully, it appears Duke Johnson is okay, but after seeing the replay, it appeared that he had fumbled before his knee was down on the play. After three remarkable years as a Miami Hurricane, it’s a shame that Duke Johnson’s last carry as a Cane is a fumble on a play where he limped off the field.

Duke Johnson finished his last game in a Miami Hurricanes uniform with 132 yards on 24 carries and 5 catches for 51 yards. And I can honestly say: Thank you, Duke. *also a special thank you to Denzel Perryman for everything he did for this defense.

South Carolina took advantage of the turnover and Pharoh Cooper made a ridiculous catch over Deon Bush to pretty much put the game away. On the very next play, Thompson delivered the final blow to the Canes with a 3-yard touchdown run on the quarterback keep to put South Carolina up 24-14.

The Canes did make a small comeback, however. Kaaya drove Miami down the field quickly and finished off an impressive drive with a 11-yard touchdown throw to Phillip Dorsett to cut the lead to 24-14.

Kaaya finished his last game as a true freshman going 19/33 for 236 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

After the Dorsett touchdown, the Gamecocks iced the game with a first-down run by Mike Davis and that was all she wrote for the Hurricanes.

Al Golden and the Miami Hurricanes dropped their 4th straight game to end the season and finished the year under .500 at 6-7. I don’t have to tell you how unacceptable that is here at Miami and it should set up a tumultuous off-season in Coral Gables.

The Miami Hurricanes haven’t won a bowl game since 2006. I was in 6th grade that year.