Miami football defeats FIU behind dominant defense, N'Kosi Perry

Miami football defeats FIU behind dominant defense, N’Kosi Perry

MIAMI, FL - SEPTEMBER 22: Malik Rosier #12 walks to the sidelines as head coach Mark Richt speaks with N'Kosi Perry #5 of the Miami Hurricanes in the fourth quarter against the Florida International Golden Panthers at Hard Rock Stadium on September 22, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

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Whether Miami quit or the backups were overwhelmed FIU dominated the final 15 minutes. The Panthers had139 yards in the fourth quarter and averaged 9.3 yards per play. The Hurricanes had 76 yards on 20 plays in the fourth quarter.

Overall Miami finished with 488 total yards to 187 for FIU. The Hurricanes had 27 first downs to the Panthers seven. Miami used good balance on offense with 248 yards rushing and 240 passing.

It’s the third game in a row that Miami ran for over 200 yards. That was after being held to 83 yards on 34 attempts against LSU in the opener.

Several other Miami Hurricanes had big days on Saturday. Travis Homer had his first 100-yard rushing game of the season with 114 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown. Lorenzo Lingard added 50 yards on ten carries and DeeJay Dallas had 28 yards on seven carries.

The Miami receiving corps was not to be outdone by the rushing attack. Sophomore Mike Harley had by far the best game of his Miami career. Harley nearly matched his 2017 season total. He exceeded his 2018 numbers with seven receptions for 76 yards.

As both Harley and Perry have been with the second team since the spring, they seemed to have a good rapport today. Brevin Jordan woke up after being shutout last week against Toledo. The big Freshman from Las Vegas had five receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown.

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