BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
When the Miami Hurricanes defeated the Texas A&M Aggies 48-33, on Saturday, September 9 at Hard Rock Stadium, the Canes sent a message to the college football world.
Coach Mario Cristobal earned a signature victory in his second season and Miami will be a force to be in reckoned with during the 2023 campaign.
Miami had a quick turnaround as it faced visiting Bethune Cookman on Thursday, September 14 at Hard Rock Stadium.
When you go into a game that figures to be lopsided, how do you prepare for it?
The only way that Miami could and jump out to an early lead and hope the lead is big enough so you can rest your regulars without the risk of injury.
When these two teams met on September 3, 2022, Miami thrashed Bethune Cookman 70-13. During the week, I wondered if Miami would score 80 points. But that wasn’t the case.
The only thing this game had in common with the Texas A&M game was the amount of points that Miami pinned on the visiting Wildcats and that was 48. Miami mauled the Wildcats 48-7. By the end of the first quarter, the Canes led 14-0 and led 34-0 at halftime.
Tyler Van Dyke had another fine game as he went 19/23 for 247 yards and passed for two touchdowns. When the game is a rout, it’s a good opportunity to use the backup quarterback and Emory Williams went 9/11 for 102 yards.
On the ground, Donald Chaney had seven carries for 73 yards, Ajhay Allen amassed 12 carries for 68 yards and Henry Parrish added seven carries for 52 yards. Chris Johnson had seven carries for 40 yards. The Hurricanes ground attack was definitely balanced.
Xavier Restrepo led all Miami receivers with six receptions for 120 yards. Brashard Smith added three catches for 55 yards, Colbie Young had five catches for 55 yards and Jacolby George had five catches for 52 yards and a touchdown.
From a team standpoint, the Hurricanes out gained Bethune Cookman 589-165. Miami’s time of possession was 35-02-24:58. The Canes had 32 first downs and the Wildcats had eight.
When the contest was over, the Canes were glad to finish 3-0 in their first three contests at home, 3-0. Cristobal and the players available to us knew they took care of business at home as you’re going to find out in the videos included in this story.
As I mentioned, Cristobal had an opportunity to see more players which could come in handy as Miami sizes up its depth.
Miami was also looking forward to hitting the road the following week by going to Philadelphia for a road contest versus the Temple Owls.
With what many would call a mini bye-week since the Bethune Cookman was played on a Thursday, Miami cruised to a 41-7 win over Temple.
The offensive leaders for Miami included Van Dyke who went 17/24 for 220 yards, Parrish had 16 carries for 139 yards and two touchdowns and Restrepo caught seven passes for 41 yards and two touchdowns.
In the month of September, Miami scored 38, 48,48 and 41 points and finishing the month 4-0.
The schedule worked out for Miami and myself. The following week, Miami had a bye and I had surgery as well as both of us would get ready as the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets bring a 2-3 record to town.
This game is at 8 PM on the ACC Network and another victory gets the Hurricanes closer to Bowl Eligibility.
The Month of October after Georgia Tech has three TBD’s, To Be Determined on the game times but you can rest assure that playing at North Carolina, hosting Clemson and Virginia will tell us a lot of how the Canes have progressed in as I mentioned before, the second year of Cristobal.
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