Louisville, who boasts an underwhelming 2-3 record, travels into Tallahassee to take on No. 11 Florida State next Saturday at noon.
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That effort continued Saturday when Miami made changes to its starting rotation against the Hokies.
As a result, the pressure on Golden continues to mount-as does frustration and overall disappointment with the Miami program.
Even worse, it happened on a Thursday night in a nationally televised game. In both cases, that’s Miami. The Blue Devils have Boston College and Wake Forest this year, while the Panthers are pitted against Syracuse and Louisville. Tech will have an opportunity to create mismatches with a shaky Hurricane offensive line. Head coach Frank Beamer wasn’t quite ready to appoint Brewer the starter, but he certainly seemed to be leaning in that direction.
Burns picked off Motley earlier in the quarter for his fourth interception of the season, but the Canes punted after four plays. “Both of them can move in the pocket”.
It looked as if the Hokies would force a field goal, but a scrambling Brad Kaaya amazingly found David Njoku for a 22-yard 3rd down conversion that led to a game-sealing touchdown for the Canes.
The Hokies’ ensuing drive saw a second peculiar decision from Beamer, one that didn’t turn out any better for Tech.
“If I had a do-over, I’d play before half different”, said Beamer. Neither did the lack of a running game (UM ran 39 times for 99 yards), uneven pass protection or more mind-numbing penalties by his offensive line and receivers. He’s really come on strong the past two weeks, throwing for more than 700 yards with a 5/0 TD/INT rate against Florida State and the Hokies.
Stacy Coley had his breakout game for Miami last week, hauling in seven receptions for 139 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown where the Canes briefly took the lead. Miami went 79 yards in seven plays and 54 seconds to take a 20-13 lead into the half. His season high is 146 yards at Florida Atlantic, while rushing for 125 in a win over Nebraska and 113 in a loss at Cincinnati.
The loss marked the Hokies’ third in the past four games. Third-stringer Trayone Gray has been non-existent since the Canes got through their patsy two-game stretch to open the season. Especially that Bud Foster-led defense. The game is over and Miami scored more points than Virginia Tech. We had a big goal line stand down there. He then got serious and isolated six plays on offense and six on defense that featured mistakes that need to be cleaned up.
That’s not meant to be an indictment on the sophomore quarterback, shouldering a major load and often playing well beyond his years. “Second play of the game ball was on the left hash coming out”. Down the stretch, not so much.
The Hurricanes were trying to run out the clock, but on third and 20, Virginia Tech jumped offsides.
Such are the concerned as another do-or-die type game unfolds this weekend.
With the Hokies trailing 10-3 on the road, Motley manufactured a desperately needed 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped off by a speed option to Travon McMillian that actually went down as a 9-yard touchdown catch due to the pitch technically being a forward pass.
Special teams blunders, coupled with a defense that gave up 549 yards, Miami was rocked, 42-24.
-Hurricane opponents have averaged just 51 yards of total offense in the third quarter and are averaging just 2.69 yards per carry on the ground.
As Loeffler alluded to, the Canes cashed in on the very next play with a 3-yard touchdown run from Joe Yearby that gave them a 7-0 lead before many fans even reached their seats.
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This one feels like a coin flip, wither either squad capable of pulling out the close win.
