Miami Hurricanes punter Lou Hedley and defensive lineman Quincy Roche were named the ACC Players of the Week at their positions following the 31-19 win over Pittsburgh.
After their performances in the 31-19 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday, Miami Hurricanes punter Lou Hedley and defensive lineman Quincy Roche were awarded the ACC Player of the Week at their positions. Hedley was named the specialist of the week after averaging 51.7 yards and helped flip the field in the first half.
Roche led a dominant Miami Hurricanes defensive performance on Saturday. Miami held Pittsburgh to one touchdown in five trips inside the red zone. The graduate transfer had his best performance in four games with Miami. Roche had seven tackles, four tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
The Miami defense and punting set up the Hurricanes offense on short fields often, allowing them to have three of their four TD drives in Pittsburgh territory. Miami began two TD drives in the first half at the Panthers 45 and a third-quarter drive at the Pittsburgh 38. Hedley helped Miami flip the field by 36 yards on the first TD drive.
The other three drives came after Miami stopped Pittsburgh on a fake punt, the first possession of the second half and following a fumble recovery. Field position was critical in the first half and the Miami defense also did their part by holding Pittsburgh to two field goals after trips into the red zone. ACC.Com profiled Hedley and Roche.
• @_Underated2 tied for No. 1 in the country in TFLs
— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) October 19, 2020
• @LouHedleyy is No. 2 in the country in net punting
Now, both are ACC Players of the Week 👏 pic.twitter.com/zhmoFTcN8W
"“SPECIALIST – Lou Hedley, Miami, Jr., P, Mandurah, AustraliaHelped Miami hold the upper hand in the battle for field position in Saturday’s win over Pitt • Boomed a season-long 60-yard punt in the first quarter • Averaged 51.7 yards per punt, tying Matt Bosher (2007) for the best mark by any Miami punter in the last 20 years for a single-game average with a minimum of six punts.•Pitt totaled just 16 punt return yards on the afternoon.DEFENSIVE LINEMAN – Quincy Roche, Miami, Sr., DE, Randallstown, Md.Turned in the best performance of his Miami career Saturday afternoon, delivering a dominant outing in the Hurricanes’ 31-19 win over Pitt • Finished with 4.0 tackles for loss – a season high for a Miami player • Forced a fumble and wore the turnover chain for the first time this season on a strip-sack of Pitt QB Joey Yellen.The nation’s active sacks leader, Roche finished with a season-high seven tackles in the win and helped the Hurricanes hold the Panthers to 22 rushing yards.”"
The performance on Saturday moved Hedley up to fifth nationally with an average of 47.59 yards per punt. At the current pace, Hedley would set the Miami punting average for a single season. Pat O’Donnell averaged 47.13 yards per punt in 2013. Miami is second nationally in net punting at 46.35 yards.
The four tackles for loss Roche had on Saturday push his total to 9.5 for the season. Roche is tied for first nationally and in the ACC with Dorian Etheridge of Louisville. Roche is on pace for 22 TFLs this season. Calais Campbell was the last Miami player to have 20 TFLs in a season with 20.5 in 2006.