The University of Miami wrapped up their regular season in a fairly easy fashion as they coasted to victory over the Pitt Panthers.
It was a big day for the offensive side of the ball as Miami coasted to a 41-31 victory. Stacy Coley is good at tackle football. His 3 touchdown day (2 receiving, 1 rushing) made him just the 7th player in the last 20 years to have 7 touchdown catches, a kickoff return for a touchdown, and a punt return for a touchdown. He's also the only player in the nation this year with at least 1 touchdown via reception, rushing, kick return, and punt return. Of his 7 touchdown catches, 6 are from 25 yards out or more. And of those 6, 4 of them are on screen passes. The touchdown he scored on the reverse just isn't fair. The best part is we still have 2 more years of this at least.
Both Stephen Morris and Allen Hurns moved up the rankings in school history for career yards. Morris moved past Gino Torretta for 3rd most career passing yards in school history. Hurns became just the 4th UM receiver ever to have 1,000 yards receiving in a single season. He also moved passed Andre Johnson for 7th place all time in receiving yards with 1,831.
Highlights:
[video=youtube;cYRTBPFeGt8]www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYRTBPFeGt8[/video]
My official message for this game from the game day post was just to finish the season strong and get the W. The special teams set the tone early by forcing a fumble to start the game and by blocking a punt. Both turnovers led to touchdowns and Miami never looked back. Pitt was never really in this game, and in the 2nd half when it looked like they might get some momentum, UM's offense moved right down the field and tacked on another score to seal the game. The defense is still a dumpster fire, but that's not exactly new so there's not even a point in discussing it.
Let's recap.
First things first, the thing with guys going shirtless during warm ups. Apparently Jared Wheeler ran out onto the field sans shirt and people took pictures of it:
Then the DB's did it:
And the Linebackers:
Pretty soon the whole team was basically shirtless to prove they could handle the cold. Whatever. I said in the game day post that if they came out in long sleeves and ski masks I would vomit, so I can't really complain about this whole act (which it was), without coming off as an *******. Having said that, the whole thing was stupid. No idea why they felt the need to go out of their way and waste the time to prove they won't let the cold affect them in that way. Why not just come out focused and dominate? Or is this some lame storyline for the next Raising Canes? Another bogus metric to show "how far we've come". Anyways, the local media seemed to eat it up and started tweeting out those pictures. It was pretty nauseating. This is the only thing that came to my mind when all of this was going on:
[video=youtube;B0B_ekSrsEk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0B_ekSrsEk[/video]
This team **** the bed against an easy schedule, and we got reporters acting like them playing well in the cold is some kind of big deal. You're supposed to be able to block out the cold. The alternative is being a soft-shouldered, Club Pickle attending, fruit pop that wilts under the pressure whenever the thermostat drops below 55 degrees. Do any of these kids watch the NFL? Don't they realize that almost every playoff game seems to be played in sub-freezing temperatures? Excuse me if I don't genuflect towards the players for the simple fact that they managed to put on their big boy pants and play a decent game in the cold. Imagine how stupid they all would look right now if they ended up losing the game.
1st Quarter:
Miami kicks off to start the game. Lafayette Pitts returns it 34 yards before running into a brick wall...I mean Pat O'Donnell.
Garrett Kidd jumps on the loose ball and Miami is in business early. Stephen Morris and the offense waste little time. On 3rd down Coley runs a corner route in a smash concept and he gets about as wide open as you can get. He catches the Morris pass, tip toes the sideline, and walks into the endzone for the touchdown less than 90 seconds into the game.
7-0 Miami
This is the 2nd week in a row that we kicked off to start the game, but still ended up scoring a touchdown in the first 2 minutes. Pitt went 3 & out on the ensuing possession, and McCord came through to partially block the punt.
Miami takes over at the Pitt 42 yard line. After an 8 yard run by Gus Edwards, Morris throws a screen to Coley.
The blocking is set up perfectly (like the one Flowers is doing above), then Coley hurdles some guy.
Nobody is going to catch this guy, and he strolls into the endzone for another quick score after a turnover.
14-0 Miami
Tyler Boyd returns the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to give Pitt good field position. They start establishing the run and after a few plays, Isaac Bennett runs off the left side. Jimmy Gaines took a bad angle, and Kacey Rodgers can't wrap him up.
He rumbles 45 yards for the touchdown to cut UM's lead in half.
14-7 Miami
Miami's 3rd possession is the 1st time they don't start out in Pitt territory. Miami still moved the ball though. They started at their own 11 because of a block in the back penalty on the kickoff return. While Ron Cherry announced the penalty, the play by play guy said, "ACC fans know Ron Cherry VERY well." I laughed.
After moving the chains a couple of times, it's 3rd and 9 from the 38. Morris finds Hurns for a pick up of 18 yards, moving them across the 50. Miami has to punt after getting stopped on 3rd & 4, but Pitt gets flagged during the punt because of an illegal substitution flag, so the drive stays alive. A few plays later it's 3rd & long again and Morris gets pressured, forcing him to underthrow a pass to Hurns. For some reason the refs threw a flag and once again the drive continued.
Two plays later, Hurns beats his man to the front corner of the endzone, but K'waun Williams breaks up the pass.
Coley drops a sure touchdown on the very next play (he more than made up for it) and Miami would settle for a 29 yard Goudis field goal.
17-7 Miami
On Pitt's next drive Boyd passes Larry Fitzgerald for most receptions by a freshman in school history. On the catch, the ref spots him a yard short of the 1st down, when his forward progress clearly had him past the marker by 2 yards. I'll take it. Miami takes over at their own 20 and on the 1st play Morris goes deep to Hurns.
The catch picks up 66 yards and puts UM at the Pitt 13 yard line. The catch also gives Hurns 1,000 yards receiving on the season, joining Leonard Hankerson, Eddie Brown and Andre Johnson as the only others to do it in a Miami uniform. That's big time. The quarter ends after Dallas runs it down to the 7 yard line. Miami is leading 17-7 and is knocking on the door for another touchdown.
2nd Quarter:
On the 1st play after the break, Gus Edwards runs off the left side for a 7 yard touchdown.
24-7 Miami
Pitt gets to work and puts together a methodical drive that mixed the run and the pass. Miami didn't even force them into a 3rd down situation until they got into the redzone. They stopped them on that play and Pitt sent out their field goal team. The kicker for Pitt has a last name of Blewitt. For real. Naturally, his 43 yard field goal attempt only got 10 feet off the ground and was well short. Twitter blew up with lame Blewitt jokes. During the kick, CanesDaddy noticed that for the whole game, ABC had this graphic up and took a screenshot.
The graphic reads, "Miami Still Alive for ACC Title Game With WIn". It stayed there all game long just in case anyone forgot. It was a nice reminder that we lost to Duke. Miami's next possession doesn't get past midfield, and O'Donnell's punt gets downed at the 8 yard line. Miami almost forces a 3 & out...who am I kidding? Savage avoided the rush and lofted a ball to Isaac Bennett as he left the backfield. Antonio Crawford never located the ball and it ended up being a gain of 19 yards. Bennett rushed for 11 yards on the next play to get another 1st down. Pitt kept churning out yards until they got down to the Miami 10 yard line. On 3rd down Ufomba Kamalu got a coverage sack to force a field goal. Blewitt nails the field goal from 36 yards out.
24-10 Miami
On the 2nd play of Miami's next possession Stacy Coley takes an end around up the right sideline, stumbles, regains his balance, and then cuts back across the field.
The cutback move left linebacker Todd Thomas in the dust.
After that Coley had just 1 man to beat for the touchdown, and there was no way in **** freshman defensive lineman Shakir Soto was going to run him down. Coley used up his last bit of energy and then collapsed in the endzone for an amazing 73 yard touchdown run.
31-10 Miami
Check out the replay here:
[video=youtube;m2qjy11oe44]www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2qjy11oe44[/video]
For fun, watch it from the :11 mark to the :13 mark on a loop for about 2 minutes. It's hilarious to listen to the announcer's voice go up 4 octaves as he screams, "Great leg strength and balance!!!" over and over again. Just an unbelievable play. Pitt went 3 & out, and Miami knelt on the ball to bring a close to the 1st half with UM leading 31-10.
3rd Quarter:
Miami's drive to open the 2nd half goes nowhere, and O'Donnell booms another punt that gets downed inside the 10. 3 plays after Boyd moved the sticks on 3rd and 2 on a crossing route, Rachid Ibrahim picked up 32, and then 14 yards on back to back carries. Pitt was already in the redzone. 4 plays later it was 2nd & goal. Shayon Green burst through the line, but couldn't corral Savage, who then ran right around him and Cornelius to dive into the endzone for a 7 yard touchdown run.
31-17 Miami
Savage has all the mobility of the Tin Man and he just made our guys look they they had their feet in cement. Pitt averaged 304 yards of offense per game going into yesterday's game. Midway through the 3rd quarter they had 305 yards. On Miami's next possession they tried a fake reverse and Morris went deep. It was a dangerous throw, and got broken up by Ray Vinopal. UM punted 4 plays later.
Pitt went 3 & out again, but Tyler Boyd made a pretty sick catch while lying on his back and chilling in the grass on that possession.
Miami took over with 2:33 left in the 3rd quarter. They start running the ball and it gets them past midfield. Then Dallas breaks a 20 yard run to get them into the redzone. Next, Morris dumped it off to Dallas for a pickup of 3 to bring the 3rd to a close. UM still led Pitt 31-17.
4th Quarter:
Miami's drive stalls in the redzone, and Goudis comes out kick another field goal. He's been perfect since the FSU game.
34-17 Miami
Pitt takes over at their own 10 after a block in the back penalty. Bennett gets back to work running over Miami's defense. Pretty soon it's 3rd & 11 from the Pitt 44 yard line, and Savage hits Garner over the middle for a 21 yard gain down to the Miami 35. On the next 2 plays Bennett gains another 9 and 3 yards on back to back runs. Then on the very next play Savage tosses a throw back screen to Ibrahim that goes 23 yards for a touchdown. All of a sudden it's a 10 point game. This was the 3rd 90+ yard scoring drive that Pitt had in the game (2 TD, and 1 FG).
34-24 Miami
With Pitt trying to make the game interesting, UM put a quick drive together to put the game on ice. Hurns caught an 11 yard pass on the 1st play, and then Gus picked up 12 on the play after. Two plays later Hurns moved the chains again on a 15 yard reception that crossed the 50 yard line. On the next play Morris threw it to Walford in the flat. Usually this play goes for no gain, but this time it was set up beautifully. Walford planted his foot in the dirt and turned upfield. He got some nice blocks and rumbled 32 yards down to Pitt's 10 yard line. 2 plays later Morris threw it to Cleveland in the back of the endzone for the score.
It was Cleveland's 1st touchdown as a Hurricane, and it happened in his last regular season game. That's awesome.
41-24 Miami
The game is basically over, and Pitt is still trying to score to save face. On the drive Boyd passes another freshman record that was held by Larry Fitzgerald. Pitt is moving the ball in the hurry up and get to the redzone pretty quickly. Then Savage gets greedy and goes for the endzone. Jenkins deflects it, and Burns catches the tipped pass in the endzone for his 1st career interception.
He runs it out of the endzone and then kneels at the 3 yard line. LOL. Miami goes 3 & out and Pitt gets the ball back with about a minute left in the game. They move down the field and Boyd catches a touchdown with 14 seconds left on the clock.
41-31 Miami
Pitt's onside kick doesn't travel the 10 yards required for them to recover it, and Miami kneels on the ball to end the game.
Final Score:
Miami 41
Pitt 31
Duke beat UNC as I typed this all out. But hey, we went through warmups without our shirts on. That's improvement!!!!!!!!!! We better win our bowl game.
It was a big day for the offensive side of the ball as Miami coasted to a 41-31 victory. Stacy Coley is good at tackle football. His 3 touchdown day (2 receiving, 1 rushing) made him just the 7th player in the last 20 years to have 7 touchdown catches, a kickoff return for a touchdown, and a punt return for a touchdown. He's also the only player in the nation this year with at least 1 touchdown via reception, rushing, kick return, and punt return. Of his 7 touchdown catches, 6 are from 25 yards out or more. And of those 6, 4 of them are on screen passes. The touchdown he scored on the reverse just isn't fair. The best part is we still have 2 more years of this at least.
Both Stephen Morris and Allen Hurns moved up the rankings in school history for career yards. Morris moved past Gino Torretta for 3rd most career passing yards in school history. Hurns became just the 4th UM receiver ever to have 1,000 yards receiving in a single season. He also moved passed Andre Johnson for 7th place all time in receiving yards with 1,831.
Highlights:
[video=youtube;cYRTBPFeGt8]www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYRTBPFeGt8[/video]
My official message for this game from the game day post was just to finish the season strong and get the W. The special teams set the tone early by forcing a fumble to start the game and by blocking a punt. Both turnovers led to touchdowns and Miami never looked back. Pitt was never really in this game, and in the 2nd half when it looked like they might get some momentum, UM's offense moved right down the field and tacked on another score to seal the game. The defense is still a dumpster fire, but that's not exactly new so there's not even a point in discussing it.
Let's recap.
First things first, the thing with guys going shirtless during warm ups. Apparently Jared Wheeler ran out onto the field sans shirt and people took pictures of it:
Then the DB's did it:
And the Linebackers:
Pretty soon the whole team was basically shirtless to prove they could handle the cold. Whatever. I said in the game day post that if they came out in long sleeves and ski masks I would vomit, so I can't really complain about this whole act (which it was), without coming off as an *******. Having said that, the whole thing was stupid. No idea why they felt the need to go out of their way and waste the time to prove they won't let the cold affect them in that way. Why not just come out focused and dominate? Or is this some lame storyline for the next Raising Canes? Another bogus metric to show "how far we've come". Anyways, the local media seemed to eat it up and started tweeting out those pictures. It was pretty nauseating. This is the only thing that came to my mind when all of this was going on:
[video=youtube;B0B_ekSrsEk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0B_ekSrsEk[/video]
This team **** the bed against an easy schedule, and we got reporters acting like them playing well in the cold is some kind of big deal. You're supposed to be able to block out the cold. The alternative is being a soft-shouldered, Club Pickle attending, fruit pop that wilts under the pressure whenever the thermostat drops below 55 degrees. Do any of these kids watch the NFL? Don't they realize that almost every playoff game seems to be played in sub-freezing temperatures? Excuse me if I don't genuflect towards the players for the simple fact that they managed to put on their big boy pants and play a decent game in the cold. Imagine how stupid they all would look right now if they ended up losing the game.
1st Quarter:
Miami kicks off to start the game. Lafayette Pitts returns it 34 yards before running into a brick wall...I mean Pat O'Donnell.
Garrett Kidd jumps on the loose ball and Miami is in business early. Stephen Morris and the offense waste little time. On 3rd down Coley runs a corner route in a smash concept and he gets about as wide open as you can get. He catches the Morris pass, tip toes the sideline, and walks into the endzone for the touchdown less than 90 seconds into the game.
7-0 Miami
This is the 2nd week in a row that we kicked off to start the game, but still ended up scoring a touchdown in the first 2 minutes. Pitt went 3 & out on the ensuing possession, and McCord came through to partially block the punt.
Miami takes over at the Pitt 42 yard line. After an 8 yard run by Gus Edwards, Morris throws a screen to Coley.
The blocking is set up perfectly (like the one Flowers is doing above), then Coley hurdles some guy.
Nobody is going to catch this guy, and he strolls into the endzone for another quick score after a turnover.
14-0 Miami
Tyler Boyd returns the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to give Pitt good field position. They start establishing the run and after a few plays, Isaac Bennett runs off the left side. Jimmy Gaines took a bad angle, and Kacey Rodgers can't wrap him up.
He rumbles 45 yards for the touchdown to cut UM's lead in half.
14-7 Miami
Miami's 3rd possession is the 1st time they don't start out in Pitt territory. Miami still moved the ball though. They started at their own 11 because of a block in the back penalty on the kickoff return. While Ron Cherry announced the penalty, the play by play guy said, "ACC fans know Ron Cherry VERY well." I laughed.
After moving the chains a couple of times, it's 3rd and 9 from the 38. Morris finds Hurns for a pick up of 18 yards, moving them across the 50. Miami has to punt after getting stopped on 3rd & 4, but Pitt gets flagged during the punt because of an illegal substitution flag, so the drive stays alive. A few plays later it's 3rd & long again and Morris gets pressured, forcing him to underthrow a pass to Hurns. For some reason the refs threw a flag and once again the drive continued.
Two plays later, Hurns beats his man to the front corner of the endzone, but K'waun Williams breaks up the pass.
Coley drops a sure touchdown on the very next play (he more than made up for it) and Miami would settle for a 29 yard Goudis field goal.
17-7 Miami
On Pitt's next drive Boyd passes Larry Fitzgerald for most receptions by a freshman in school history. On the catch, the ref spots him a yard short of the 1st down, when his forward progress clearly had him past the marker by 2 yards. I'll take it. Miami takes over at their own 20 and on the 1st play Morris goes deep to Hurns.
The catch picks up 66 yards and puts UM at the Pitt 13 yard line. The catch also gives Hurns 1,000 yards receiving on the season, joining Leonard Hankerson, Eddie Brown and Andre Johnson as the only others to do it in a Miami uniform. That's big time. The quarter ends after Dallas runs it down to the 7 yard line. Miami is leading 17-7 and is knocking on the door for another touchdown.
2nd Quarter:
On the 1st play after the break, Gus Edwards runs off the left side for a 7 yard touchdown.
24-7 Miami
Pitt gets to work and puts together a methodical drive that mixed the run and the pass. Miami didn't even force them into a 3rd down situation until they got into the redzone. They stopped them on that play and Pitt sent out their field goal team. The kicker for Pitt has a last name of Blewitt. For real. Naturally, his 43 yard field goal attempt only got 10 feet off the ground and was well short. Twitter blew up with lame Blewitt jokes. During the kick, CanesDaddy noticed that for the whole game, ABC had this graphic up and took a screenshot.
The graphic reads, "Miami Still Alive for ACC Title Game With WIn". It stayed there all game long just in case anyone forgot. It was a nice reminder that we lost to Duke. Miami's next possession doesn't get past midfield, and O'Donnell's punt gets downed at the 8 yard line. Miami almost forces a 3 & out...who am I kidding? Savage avoided the rush and lofted a ball to Isaac Bennett as he left the backfield. Antonio Crawford never located the ball and it ended up being a gain of 19 yards. Bennett rushed for 11 yards on the next play to get another 1st down. Pitt kept churning out yards until they got down to the Miami 10 yard line. On 3rd down Ufomba Kamalu got a coverage sack to force a field goal. Blewitt nails the field goal from 36 yards out.
24-10 Miami
On the 2nd play of Miami's next possession Stacy Coley takes an end around up the right sideline, stumbles, regains his balance, and then cuts back across the field.
The cutback move left linebacker Todd Thomas in the dust.
After that Coley had just 1 man to beat for the touchdown, and there was no way in **** freshman defensive lineman Shakir Soto was going to run him down. Coley used up his last bit of energy and then collapsed in the endzone for an amazing 73 yard touchdown run.
31-10 Miami
Check out the replay here:
[video=youtube;m2qjy11oe44]www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2qjy11oe44[/video]
For fun, watch it from the :11 mark to the :13 mark on a loop for about 2 minutes. It's hilarious to listen to the announcer's voice go up 4 octaves as he screams, "Great leg strength and balance!!!" over and over again. Just an unbelievable play. Pitt went 3 & out, and Miami knelt on the ball to bring a close to the 1st half with UM leading 31-10.
3rd Quarter:
Miami's drive to open the 2nd half goes nowhere, and O'Donnell booms another punt that gets downed inside the 10. 3 plays after Boyd moved the sticks on 3rd and 2 on a crossing route, Rachid Ibrahim picked up 32, and then 14 yards on back to back carries. Pitt was already in the redzone. 4 plays later it was 2nd & goal. Shayon Green burst through the line, but couldn't corral Savage, who then ran right around him and Cornelius to dive into the endzone for a 7 yard touchdown run.
31-17 Miami
Savage has all the mobility of the Tin Man and he just made our guys look they they had their feet in cement. Pitt averaged 304 yards of offense per game going into yesterday's game. Midway through the 3rd quarter they had 305 yards. On Miami's next possession they tried a fake reverse and Morris went deep. It was a dangerous throw, and got broken up by Ray Vinopal. UM punted 4 plays later.
Pitt went 3 & out again, but Tyler Boyd made a pretty sick catch while lying on his back and chilling in the grass on that possession.
Miami took over with 2:33 left in the 3rd quarter. They start running the ball and it gets them past midfield. Then Dallas breaks a 20 yard run to get them into the redzone. Next, Morris dumped it off to Dallas for a pickup of 3 to bring the 3rd to a close. UM still led Pitt 31-17.
4th Quarter:
Miami's drive stalls in the redzone, and Goudis comes out kick another field goal. He's been perfect since the FSU game.
34-17 Miami
Pitt takes over at their own 10 after a block in the back penalty. Bennett gets back to work running over Miami's defense. Pretty soon it's 3rd & 11 from the Pitt 44 yard line, and Savage hits Garner over the middle for a 21 yard gain down to the Miami 35. On the next 2 plays Bennett gains another 9 and 3 yards on back to back runs. Then on the very next play Savage tosses a throw back screen to Ibrahim that goes 23 yards for a touchdown. All of a sudden it's a 10 point game. This was the 3rd 90+ yard scoring drive that Pitt had in the game (2 TD, and 1 FG).
34-24 Miami
With Pitt trying to make the game interesting, UM put a quick drive together to put the game on ice. Hurns caught an 11 yard pass on the 1st play, and then Gus picked up 12 on the play after. Two plays later Hurns moved the chains again on a 15 yard reception that crossed the 50 yard line. On the next play Morris threw it to Walford in the flat. Usually this play goes for no gain, but this time it was set up beautifully. Walford planted his foot in the dirt and turned upfield. He got some nice blocks and rumbled 32 yards down to Pitt's 10 yard line. 2 plays later Morris threw it to Cleveland in the back of the endzone for the score.
It was Cleveland's 1st touchdown as a Hurricane, and it happened in his last regular season game. That's awesome.
41-24 Miami
The game is basically over, and Pitt is still trying to score to save face. On the drive Boyd passes another freshman record that was held by Larry Fitzgerald. Pitt is moving the ball in the hurry up and get to the redzone pretty quickly. Then Savage gets greedy and goes for the endzone. Jenkins deflects it, and Burns catches the tipped pass in the endzone for his 1st career interception.
He runs it out of the endzone and then kneels at the 3 yard line. LOL. Miami goes 3 & out and Pitt gets the ball back with about a minute left in the game. They move down the field and Boyd catches a touchdown with 14 seconds left on the clock.
41-31 Miami
Pitt's onside kick doesn't travel the 10 yards required for them to recover it, and Miami kneels on the ball to end the game.
Final Score:
Miami 41
Pitt 31
Duke beat UNC as I typed this all out. But hey, we went through warmups without our shirts on. That's improvement!!!!!!!!!! We better win our bowl game.
