For a few minutes in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Hyundai Sun Bowl in Texas, interim Miami coach Larry Scott had to think he would go out a victor. WSU had just scored, and the snow began to fall.
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Miami entered the fourth quarter trailing 20-7, which was the same as the halftime score.
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Kohlhausen’s second touchdown run – an 8-yarder in the third overtime – provided the Horned Frogs (11-2) with the winning points . Kohlhausen, who had seen only spot duty this season, struggled as OR ran circles around the Horned Frogs in the first half.
UM died for good when running back Joe Yearby threw a weak, wobbly pass that was intercepted by Shalom Luani.
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Clemson running back Zac Brooks (24) of Jonesboro runs with the ball during the second half of the Tigers’ 37-17 victory over… Punter Andy Teasdall flipped a 31-yard pass to Christian Wilkins, a 315-pound freshman defensive tackle.
Compared with that, preparing for Washington State’s “Air Raid” is just another day in the film room; make that three weeks in the film room, enough to bring D’Onofrio and his players up to speed on what they’ll face in the Sun Bowl on Saturday.
Cougars quarterback Luke Falk, who was 29-of-53 for 295 yards and two touchdowns, was named MVP.
ABOUT MIAMI (8-4, 5-3 ACC): Kaaya was hampered by an inconsistent rushing attack that ranks 116th in the nation but still threw for 3,019 yards with 15 touchdowns and gives 2016 coach Mark Richt a dependable quarterback around whom to build. A halfback pass is risky as is, but with a slick ball in a raging snowstorm, all you’re doing is setting your poor running back up for failure.
Kaaya was 17 of 30 for 219 yards with one interception.
From there, the Canes’ offense inexplicable stalled big-time against a Cougars’ squad not necessarily know for a world class defense.
The Hurricanes, who won four of their past five games after the Clemson debacle, needed to make a splash with their head-coaching hiring and were able to do that with Richt, who for all his flaws at Georgia only won less than eight games in the SEC once since 2001.
True to form, Miami’s mistakes and incompetence was again on display-nine penalties for 94 yards, as well as going a paltry 3-of-13 on third down.
“Plays were there to be made”, Kaaya said.
The game turned into a stalemate in the third quarter, with both teams struggling to move the ball. But there was no question about his performance in WSU’s win, as he caught five passes for 67 yards to lead the team, sneaking behind the Miami defense to score a 25-yard touchdown.
Washington State finished 9-4.
The Hurricanes surprised the Cougars by going to the Wildcat formation and having Yearby take a direct snap.
Miami came into this matchup leading the country in average penalty yards per game at 82.4 and penalties called at 9.3.
Uncharacteristically, Miami’s defense kept Washington State in check-scoreless in the second half and with four fourth quarter punts-but turnovers bit the Canes’ in the ass and cost them the game down the stretch. Braxton Berrios’ 60-yard end-around run out of a wildcat formation set up Mark Walton’ 5-yard scoring run that cut it to 20-14 with 13:10 left.
Even as he studies the Air Raid, he’s anxious about the combined 6.1 yards a carry the Cougars are getting out of Gerard Wicks, Jamal Morrow and Keith Harrington.
He spent two seasons at Washington State. Sophomore offensive lineman Nick Linder said the team has been hardened by them.
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The Hurricanes are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 bowl games and are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games while Miami are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games in December.
