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Miami Hurricanes Football Game 2 Preview: Florida Atlantic

By Juan Toribio

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After an easy game to start the season against FCS Bethune-Cookman, the Miami Hurricanes travel an hour up the road to play a Florida Atlantic team that is treating this like their biggest game of the season — and understandably so. FAU is trying to recruit better in south Florida and a good performance against the Hurricanes will definitely help their case. But can they hang with Miami? We’ll see.

Game Details

Florida Atlantic Owls (0-1, 0-0 C-USA) vs. Miami Hurricanes (1-0, 0-0 ACC)

Friday, September 11, 8 PM EST, Fox Sports 1

FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, Florida

Line: Miami -17.5

Passing Offense vs. Florida Atlantic

In the ‘Canes win over Bethune-Cookman, Brad Kaaya looked a little off to start the game, but then he was able to settle in and make some nice throws. Kaaya finished with 173 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Wildcats but completing 16 of 27 passes isn’t necessarily a sharp afternoon for number 15, so you know he’s itching at the opportunity to put up even better numbers — and of course, win the game.

On the other hand, FAU’s passing defense against Tulsa wasn’t very good. Tulsa quarterback Dane Evans threw it around for 424 yards, completing 21 of his 33 passes. Despite throwing 2 interceptions last Saturday, Evans and the Tulsa passing attack had a lot of success against an Owls defense that is looking for answers at this point.

The Owls are vulnerable of giving up big plays through the air, and that’s something the Hurricanes need to take advantage of come Friday. FAU gave up 6 passes of 34 or more yards on Saturday against Tulsa and they now face an even tougher offense than what Tulsa puts out there.

Miami will be without Braxton Berrios and Stacy Coley, but Kaaya will have plenty of opportunities to put up some big numbers against an Owls defense that gave up 2864 passing yards last season and are struggling through one game in 2015.

Running Offense vs. Florida Atlantic

While the passing game didn’t look particularly sharp against Bethune-Cookman, the running game was extremely effective for the Hurricanes during the season opener. Mark Walton, Joseph Yearby and Trayone Gray all had good games — all three of them scoring a touchdown for Miami. Walton looked great, just as advertised, while Yearby looked just as quick even with the added bulk. Gray picked up the carries towards the end of the game and he looked great himself, breaking a couple of nice runs.

The Hurricanes had success on the ground and they should have success against the Owls on Friday, too.

Last week, Tulsa running backs ran for 194 yards on the Owls and four touchdown runs, three of them coming from Zack Langer. FAU couldn’t stop the passing attack so running the ball was a secondary option for Tulsa, but they had success when they needed it. Miramar standout Trevon Coley is the big, talented defensive tackle for the Owls and he’ll make plays, but he can’t make all of them.

FAU had a pretty good rushing defense last season, allowing 1963 yards on the ground, which put them 53rd in the nation in 2014.

Passing Defense vs. Florida Atlantic

FAU struggled a ton on defense against Tulsa, but they had a lot of success against the Tulsa defense last Saturday.

Jaquez Johnson is the guy for the Owls on offense and he can do a little bit of everything. Johnson can throw the ball, but he loves to tuck it in and get some yards on the ground. When the pocket starts to collapse, he’s likely going to take off instead of trying to extend the play to find an open receiver. Johnson threw for 263 yards last week with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for 97 yards on 20 carries for the Owls.

Miami’s defense, on the other hand, was pretty damn dominant against Bethune-Cookman. Yes, it’s just Bethune-Cookman, but allowing just 26 passing yards and 79 total yards is pretty freaking impressive, no matter the opponent. The Hurricanes have more depth in their secondary than they’ve ever had and they’ll face a good test against the Owls.

If Miami can stop Florida Atlantic’s passing attack, it’ll be a long night for the Owls.

Rushing Defense vs. Florida Atlantic

If Miami is able to contain FAU’s passing attack, then they should have no problem against the Owls’ running game. The Owls are going to try and spread it out and throw it vertically against the Hurricanes, but when they try to pick up some yards on the ground, they turn to Coral Gables high school standout Greg Howell. The sophomore running back is very talented, but he needs the help of the passing game to get going. Howell ran for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns against Tulsa, but it’s safe to say that he probably won’t reach that against Miami.

Miami’s defensive line played an exceptional game in the opener and they now add Al-Quadin Muhammad, who is coming off a one-game suspension for a violation of team rules. With the addition of Muhammad, the Miami defense gets that much better. Calvin Heurtelou, Ufomba Kamalu and the rest of the defensive line is in charge of shutting down any running game FAU wants to produce on Friday.

Prediction

This won’t be a Bethune-Cookman type dominant performance for the Hurricanes, but they’ll blow out the Owls in Boca Raton Friday night. FAU has a lot of good, young players and they’ve recruited well for a school of their size, but they just don’t have enough talent to hang with Miami. Linebacker Robert Relf is out for the Owls on Friday and that hurts an already weak defense. Brad Kaaya should have a field day on FAU’s secondary, and the running backs are going to have room to roam after the passing game opens up.

The defense will be the unit I’ll be looking at for the Canes on Friday. If Miami can duplicate the type of defensive performance they had in their opener against FAU, then people should really start getting excited about this years team.

Miami 41, Florida Atlantic 14

FAU is able to put up some points against Miami, but the Hurricanes have too much talent for the Owls to keep up with for four quarters. ‘Canes cover the spread, and they do it relatively easy.

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