Miami football poor start, late collapse vs FSU continues disturbing trend

The Miami football team seemed to turn the corner on poor starts and collapsing at the end of the game during their three-game winning streak. Miami trailed 17-0 in the first half and 20-7 at halftime before rallying to take the lead in the fourth quarter at Florida State on Saturday. Miami started slow and collapsed late again.

A Jaylan Knighton 35-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Tyler Van Dyke on a spectacular catch and run put the Miami football team up 28-20 with 11:04 remaining in the fourth quarter. After Florida State kicked a field goal with 4:43 remaining, the Hurricanes got the ball back with a chance to run out the clock.

The Miami football team got one first down, but on the second set of downs, the Hurricanes completed a pass from Van Dyke to Will Mallory for three yards on third and four turned the ball back over to Florida State with 2:29 left. The question has to be asked why the route by Mallory was not run beyond the first down marker.

Mallory and Van Dyke converted critical first downs against North Carolina State and Pittsburgh. Miami iced the clock following the first downs to win the game. Florida State was ready for the play and defended it well enough to force the Miami football team to punt. The Lou Hedley punt went into the end zone for a touchback.

Florida State had a 59-yard completion on the first play from scrimmage following the punt. On the next set of downs, Florida State QB Jordan Travis completed a 24-yard pass to Andrew Parchment on fourth down and 14 to give Florida State a first down at the Miami one-yard line with 58 seconds remaining.