Miami outlasts Wake Forest with dominant defense and pulling away in 4th quarter

Miami pulled away in the fourth quarter outscoring Wake Forest 22-0 to earn a 42-14 win over Wake Forest. The Miami defense was dominant after the first two drives. Wake Forest had 132 yards on 24 plays and seven points on its first two drives. A Mishael Powell 76-yard interception return for a TD changes the Miami defensive fortunes.

Wake Forest had 33 plays for 46 yards on its last eight drives of the game following the Powell interception. Powell put Miami up 17-7. Wake Forest immediately got back into the game with a 100-yard kickoff return for a TD by Demond Claiborne. Claiborne also had 19 carries for 62 yards and two receptions for four yards.

Both offenses were mostly stagnant after getting into the red zone on each of their first two drives until Miami distanced themselves from Wake Forest in the fourth quarter. On its six middle drives of the game Miami only scored once on a 25-yard Andres Borregales field goal with four seconds left in the first half.

Miami led 20-14 at halftime and it stayed that way through three quarters. The third quarter was abysmal offensively for both teams. Miami outgained Wake Forest 54-13 in the third quarter. As they have done often this season, Miami had a dominant fourth quarter offensively and defensively to put the game away.

Miami outscored Wake Forest 22-0 and outgained the Demon Deacons 173-37 in the fourth quarter. Cam Ward and Jordan Lyle had rushing touchdowns and Jacolby George added a TD receptions as Miami put the game way over the final 15 minutes. George led Miami with seven receptions for 91 yards and two TDs.

Miami had 32 carries for 228 yards and two touchdowns rushing. Damian Martinez led the way early and finished with 16 carries for 63 yards. Mark Fletcher had a huge 30-yard run in the fourth quarter to finish with six carries for 55 yards and Jordan Lyle had seven carries for 115 yards and a TD that includes a 61-yard run.

The win was critical for Miami and sets them up to earn a berth in the ACC Championship Game with a win at Syracuse last week. Miami should move up when the national polls are released on Sunday and College Football Playoff rankings come out on Tuesday night following losses by Indiana and Mississippi on Saturday.