At the beginning of the season, I predicted that the Miami Hurricanes would win somewhere between 7 and 9 games this season. What I didn’t know is how it would happen and everything that would happen throughout the season.
There was the worst loss in franchise history, a coaching change, an 8-lateral play to stun Duke on Halloween, a death in the family, and so many more things. But with a 29-24 win on Black Friday against the Pittsburgh Panthers, the Hurricanes, against all odds, won 8 games this regular season and have a chance for 9 wins in what should be a pretty good bowl game.
Much like they’ve done all year, the start of this game was a surprise for pretty much everyone watching this game. Miami came into this game as a 7-point underdog, but it didn’t seem that way after the first 15 minutes of the game.
The Hurricanes jumped out to a big 17-0 lead in the first quarter led by good running by Joseph Yearby in the first drive of the game that resulted in a Brad Kaaya rushing touchdown from the half-inch line. And then Kaaya showed off his NFL arm with a perfect throw and a nice grab by Rashawn Scott in the corner of the end zone to give Miami the 17-0 lead.
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Miami jumped on Pitt and the Panthers had no answers for the Hurricanes early on. Michael Badgley added two first-half field goals and the Hurricanes took a 23-3 lead into the break. Again, they were 7-point underdogs.
In the second half, Miami reverted back to being a little too passive at times and the Pitt offense was able to find success against the Miami defense.
Miami was held to just two Badgley field goals in the second half and the Panthers made a late surge only to fall just short after they couldn’t complete a Miami-esque lateral play.
Kaaya threw for 261 yards on Friday and he moved into fifth all-time in Miami history in passing yards. The dude is only a sophomore, by the way.
Joseph Yearby also had a good game and led the team in rushing with 99 yards on 22 carries on Friday. Mark Walton didn’t find much success on the ground, but he had an incredible one-handed grab while he re-adjusted his body and that led to a Miami field goal in the fourth quarter.
Rashawn Scott and Stacy Coley were active all day for Miami. Scott led the team in receptions (7) and yards (74) while also hauling in the only passing touchdown for Miami. Coley had 45 yards on 3 receptions.
Artie Burns picked up his ACC-leading sixth interception in the first quarter on Friday, and it’s likely that he’ll be playing his late game for the Hurricanes in next month’s bowl game.
With the win on Friday, Miami wins 8 games this season and are primed to play in a pretty good bowl game. The two likely destinations for Miami are the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville and the Pinstripe Bowl in New York in Yankee Stadium. Whichever bowl game the Canes are selected to play in, a win would be huge for the program.
The last couple of games have shown how bright the future is for the Hurricanes if the right coach is in place. Miami is still sorting things out, but the coaching search will definitely start heating up now that teams are wrapping up their regular seasons.