Head Coach Mark Richt discussed his own team, Toledo and the difference in the between the first half and the second following the Hurricanes 52-30 win on Saturday.
Miami wasn’t able to put the Rockets away until the fourth quarter. Head Coach Mark Richt was impressed with their resiliency and how long they stayed in the game.
” I’m very impressed with what Toledo did tonight as a football team. We all know the score doesn’t indicate what really happened in that game or how close it was for them to tie this thing and possibly even take it into overtime.”
Mark Richt was also frustrated with the Hurricanes inability to stop Toledo on third down. The Rockets finished the game 13-23 on third down. Bethune-Cookman was 8-17 on third and 2-2 on fourth in the season opener.
Miami did improve late in the game on third down stops. The Rockets converted 13 of their first 18 third down conversions. The Hurricanes stopped the last five. Mark Richt spoke about his defense’s inability on third down in the second quarter.
"“We were going to try and make sure we substituted the best we could, but the thing got out of hand in the first half. We couldn’t really get a stop on defense."
The heat and humidity of South Florida is often credited with giving Miami a big advantage. Richt felt that the weather played in the Rockets favor early. When the game cooled off, the Hurricanes heated up.
"“The second half, I think really when the weather cooled down, it probably helped us more than it helped them. I think they’re in better football condition than we were, and the weather I think helped us, but I also think making a couple of plays helped us too.”"
Richt followed up on the difference between the first and second halves.
"“We just executed better, really and truly. We called about the same game…We just got drives started. I think our line protected extremely well.”"
Mark Walton was scintillating in the victory. He finished with a career-high 204 yards on just 11 carries. Walton had 140 yards and a touchdown on his first four carries of the game. Even after that, the 64 yards on seven carries is over nine yards per carry. Walton leads the nation averaging 13.04 yards per carry.
"“He played great obviously. He had a lot of space. That happens because you block well. He’s a very good instinctive runner. The thing that he can do, when you set a play to go a certain way and they’re defending it, he just has a great instinct to hit the brakes and find the best place to go.He hurt his ankle. He iced it down at halftime, they re-taped it and that first run he had in the second half, I thought he hurt his ankle again but his shoe came off. I don’t know if you all knew that or not, but I didn’t know that until later. I thought he was done and maybe hurt it worse, but that’s not the case. We’re thankful.”"
The Hurricanes second-half explosion was in large part due to quarterback Malik Rosier. Rosier has only 50 yards passing without a touchdown in the first half. He went off for 283 yards and four touchdowns in the second half. Richt spoke about what the difference was.
"“He was rushing himself too much in the first half. He was throwing it sooner than he had to. We were protecting extremely well. I thought his decision-making was excellent, but sometimes his feet were too fast and his brain was going a little too fast.”"
Dawn of the Dawg
Richt also spoke about Braxton Berrios’ career day. Berrios finished with a career-high 105 yards on five receptions and a touchdown. That topped his previous career high by over 40 yards.
"He’s a great route runner. He’s tough. He’s reliable in every way….He’s our punt return man. He does a lot for us, and he’s one of the better leaders we have on the team.”"
Travis Homer had another good game backing up Walton. He finished with 78 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. Richt spoke about his Sophomore running back.
"“He’s a very good runner, good pass protector. He knows what to do. He’s tough. We trust him.”"
Aside from the second quarter, the Miami Hurricanes offense has been clicking through two games. They have been without Ahmmon Richards the first two weeks. There is no indication when they will get him back.
Next: How did Miami Hurricanes Handle Time in Orlando?
Once Richards returns the Hurricanes offense should be able to do even more.