Orlando, FL — The narrative surrounding the Miami Hurricanes for the last ten years or so has been the same question: Is the U back?
The answer: Not today.
One thing is for sure is that the Hurricanes have their quarterback for the future. In his first college football start, redshirt freshman Jarren Williams went 19 of 29 for 214 yards and touchdown and was sacked 10 times.
“There’s a lot of things I can learn from,” said Williams. “Florida is a very talented team. Defensively they threw a lot at us.”
The offense at first look is not as bland as in previous years. First-year head coach Manny Diaz hired offensive coordinator Dan Enos from Alabama, and he has installed an offense that will keep defenses guessing this season. A series of pre-snap motions and shifts have been brought over from ‘The Tide’ and the Canes look like they have suddenly stepped into modern offensive football.
Coach Manny Diaz on @CanesFootball starting quarterback Jarren Williams: “You can see why we picked him to be our guy.” @FootballHotbed pic.twitter.com/1SlAQ4nCFa
— Marcus Benjamin (@_BenjaminReport) August 25, 2019
However, the efficiency of that offense needs some work. Several pre-snap penalties put the Canes in third and long situations making it difficult for Willams to convert on third downs. The Gators came with pressure in those situations which led to Williams trying to stay alive and ultimately resulted in the ten sacks. Canes had a total of 14 penalties for 125 yards.
“All I need is three seconds,” said Williams. “A couple times it was on me. I tucked the ball a couple times instead of being a passer. I tried to evade and took my eyes from being downfield when I had guys open.”
After three years at defensive coordinator, Diaz coached his first game as the head coach Saturday and is one of four new coaches in the ACC. The sure tackling Manny Diaz defense of previous years let Gators slip through their grasp several times in the first half. On the Gator’s first drive of the game, the Hurricanes presumably forced a three and out, that’s when Head Coach Dan Mullen decided to roll the dice early. The Gators executed a fake punt as the punter took off and made the first down. On the next play, redshirt junior quarterback Felipe Franks found junior Ladarius Toney in the flat and Toney broke a few tackles on his way to a 66-yard touchdown. It was the longest play of Franks and Toney’s Gator career.
“I thought we tackled so poorly,” said Diaz. “The tackling is not how the Miami Hurricanes tackle and that will be addressed.”
Head Coach Manny Diaz talks the @CanesFootball’s last drive: “We don’t have the maturity level to see a victory through.” @FootballHotbed pic.twitter.com/NPlYeaUZpj
— Marcus Benjamin (@_BenjaminReport) August 25, 2019
The turnover chain gave Hurricane fans something to cheer about as the jewelry made its first appearance of the season in the first half when redshirt senior defensive lineman Scott Patchan recovered a fumble in the Gator red zone. The new chain is a sparkling ‘305’ charm with the Miami U logo just above the numbers.
“I thought the 305 thing came out really well,” said Coach Diaz. “Kids loved it when they saw it.”
Broken tackles were an issue in the first half with not only the previously mentioned play but particularly with Franks. The 6’6” 227 pound QB was able to escape sacks on a few occasions but Miami would break a tackle of their own that would lead to Miami’s first touchdown. After a pair of field goals by kicker Bubba Baxa. Williams found All-ACC Brevin Jordan over the middle and the sophomore tight end muscled his way through a tackle to get over the goal line. Canes would take a 13-7 lead into halftime and the debut of the touchdown rings appeared. Rings that fit over all four fingers were given to Jordan and Williams on the sideline.
“We got some touchdown rings that they like. Hopefully, we’ll see a lot more of them.”
The third quarter was all Gators as they added a field goal of their own and took advantage of a muffed punt by Canes wide receiver Jeff Thomas and cashed in on the mistake with a Franks to Lamical Perine touchdown from eight yards out.
The Canes started the fourth quarter with a bang as DeeJay Dallas broke free for a 50-yard touchdown run which he spun out of tackles and sped down the sideline.
Amari Carter was the third recipient of the new turnover chain making a one-handed interception and returned the ball just outside of the red zone.
After the ensuing drive stalled, the Canes tried a fake field goal with Bubba Baxa in which he converted. Offsetting penalties on the play resulted in a first down but the Canes could not finish as Jeff Thomas dropped a ball at the goal line and Baxa missed a field goal from 27 yards. Franks bounced back on the first play of the next drive completing his second 66-yard pass to Toney and eventually, the Gators quarterback finished the drive with a go-ahead three-yard touchdown run.
A calamity of errors followed.
The Canes reached the Florida 30-yard line and was sacked on 4th and 9 to turn the ball over on downs. Franks unexplainably three a gift to the Miami defense that Romeo Finley kindly excepted as an interception, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed Miami out of Gator territory. A series of pass interference penalties against Florida kept Miami’s hopes alive but the non-call to a pass to Brevin Jordan was one of the two plays that sealed the Canes fate. The last, a mishandled snap on fourth down and 12 did not give a Miami a final shot at the end zone with 12 seconds left.
Starting @CanesFootball quarterback Jarren Williams: “Those ten sacks, a lot of them were not on my O-Line, a lot of them were on me.” @FootballHotbed pic.twitter.com/Px9p56zMgv
— Marcus Benjamin (@_BenjaminReport) August 25, 2019
“It was a very catchable ball but I took my eyes off it,” admitted Williams. “I was looking down the field and I lost the ball.”
Both teams get a week off until the following when Miami travels to North Carolina and Florida will open at host UT-Martin on September 7th.
Saturday nights game was the first neutral-site game between the two schools since the 2004 Peach Bowl with Miami winning 27-10.
Florida’s win was the first neutral-site win in the series between the two schools since 1984 (Tampa). Florida now leads the series in neutral site games 4-3.
The attendance for the game was 66,543 with the split of fans at about 60/40 in favor of Florida.
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