Miami Gardens, FL—A hurricane is brewing in Miami for Coach Diaz and the Miami Hurricanes, and it’s looking like it may have disastrous effects. The Hurricanes fell to the Georgie Tech Yellow Jackets 28-21 after an overtime shocker that left the 54,106 fans in attendance questioning whether the “New Miami” is going in the right direction.
From the beginning of the match the stadium realized they were in for more of an entertaining game than most anticipated of the 1-5 visiting team. The Hurricane offense had a rocky start when Georgia Tech came off a corner blitz to sack Perry, forcing a fumble, and recovering the ball in the endzone for a touchdown. On Perry’s second attempt on the field he bounced back; with the help of his lineman, he was pushed into the endzone for a 1-yard touchdown.
Despite the loss of Jeff Thomas for the afternoon, due to a suspension for a team violation, the arsenal of wide receivers stepped up. Dee Wiggins led the crew with 62 yards, with a long of 50 during the 4th quarter. Michael Harley was second with 4 receptions for 50 yards, followed by Redshirt Senior, K.J. Osborn. Osborn emerged as one of the leaders of the offense with 4 receptions for 39 yards and 1 touchdown. He kicked off his successful evening with a 52-yard punt return to advance Miami to Georgia Tech’s 13-yard line. The following play Perry found Osborn at the corner of the endzone for a 13-yard touchdown pass to give the Hurricanes a 7-14 lead.
Georgia Tech came prepared with their own bag of tricks. On 4th down, Yellow Jacket’s punter, Pressley Harvin III went for a fake punt and found Nathan Contrell downfield for a 41-yard touchdown pass.
“It was literally by far the best play I’ve ever had in my life. I knew coming into the game we were going to have that fake up. Coach put it in earlier in the week to try to make it perfection and we ran it in practice a couple times, so I just took a look I threw it up and they just came down with the ball. Good play.”
One successful take from the competition for Miami was the success of the running game. DeeJay Dallas went out in the 1st quarter with an injury which required Cam’Ron Harris to put the team on his back. The sophomore rushed for 136 yards on 18 attempts, the most any running back has had all season.
The part of the team providing minimal contribution was the kickers. Due to the inconsistency of both kickers the Hurricanes rotated Bubba Baxa and Turner Davidson throughout the game. In a crucial last-minute attempt to steal the game, Turner Davidson’s 25-yard field goal attempt was blocked sending the Canes into overtime. Coach Diaz mentioned how demoralizing it is for the team after the ongoing issues they have had with the position.
“All we know how to do is manage the situation and continue to coach the guys. We give them all of the psychological help that we can afford them. They are who we have, we do not have free agency.”
Both kickers had a missed field goal attempt recorded within 35 yards and went 0-3 on the afternoon.
As the team goes 1-3 in ACC play the frustration is clearly visible amongst the fans, players and coaching staff. Senior Shaq Quarterman is focusing on attention to detail and accountability in the locker room and on the field.
“Being great is a consistent thing. The standard demands that. When you don’t play to the standard this is what happens. When you don’t pay attention to detail, when you don’t put it all on the line for your brothers, when you don’t do what you’re supposed to do.”
The Hurricanes are now 3-4 overall and 1-3 in ACC play. The noise is getting louder in South Florida and fans are waiting for the New Miami to fall in stride with the legacy of the program. Now on the tail end of their season, the Canes will head on the road to face Pittsburgh and Florida State before returning on November 9th to host Louisville.
Written by Merrissa Vault
