The return of the Miami football program to the grounds that the Orange Bowl once stood on was a flop in a 30-24 loss to Florida International in a game that was not as close as the final score.
The program defining 30-24 victory for Florida International and former Miami head coach Butch Davis over the Hurricanes was marred by a bizarre strategy of flopping and fawning what will likely be excused as dehydration at least five times during plays in the RedZone on offense by the Miami football team.
For the fourth time, this season Miami seemed uninspired during a loss as a double-digit favorite. The Hurricanes nearly lost a fifth time in a 17-12 victory as a prohibitive favorite over Central Michigan in December. The stats for the Hurricanes were not nearly as good as the final numbers indicated.
Miami scored 21 of their 24 points in a wild fourth quarter. The game was almost a flip of last year’s game when the Hurricanes allowed 17 points in the fourth quarter after leading 31-0 through the first 45 minutes of the game. Too many things went wrong for Miami in a game they had no excuse for clearly lacking motivation.
Miami outgained FIU 413-297, but the Hurricanes gained 196 yards in the fourth quarter. It was simply too late. Three Jarren Williams interceptions and 1-10 on third down stymied the Hurricanes offense too much. FIU was 6-14 on third down and did not commit a turnover to overcome 14 penalties for 144 yards.
Williams’ final numbers are far better than he played for the majority of the game. The redshirt freshman QB finished with a QBR of 112.5 and was 19-36 for 249 yards with two TD and the three interceptions. Williams did stay in the game and continue to battle after playing abysmal for three quarters.
FIU QB James Morgan was timely and took care of the ball. Morgan finished 16-30 for 160 yards two TDs and no interceptions. The Panthers had a balanced offense adding 137 rushing yards. Anthony Jones had 16 carries for 116 yards and critical 37-yard TD run to essentially put the game away.
Miami was missing star sophomore tight end Brevin Jordan for the second straight game. Jordan tried to go in warmups but was unable to play. Junior running back DeeJay Dallas left the game in the third quarter with an apparent dislocated elbow that likely ended his season. Backup QB Tate Martell was also missing on Saturday.
Cam Harris ran for 86 yards on 11 carries and Robert Burns had four for 31 on the ground in relief of Burns. Sophomore backup TE Will Mallory had the best game of his Miami career with four receptions for 71 yards. Sophomore WR Mark Pope added two receptions for 49 yards and a TD and Dee Wiggins also added a TD reception.
Miami drops to 6-5 with the loss in a game head coach Manny Diaz called one of the worst losses in the history of the football program. The Hurricanes end the regular season next weekend at Duke. The victory was the first for FIU against a team from a power five conference and third sixth of the season to make them bowl eligible.