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Miami Gardens, FL — On Saturday night, the University of Miami honored what is considered the best college football team of all time. The 2001 Miami Hurricanes had a total of 38 players drafted in the NFL and Hurricanes fans have been waiting for the return of that type of glory for two decades.
Hurricane great Ed Reed, the starting safety of the 2001 team, was quoted saying this about the staff of 2001:
“We were on another level in college, but it was about our coaching staff,” said Reed who serves as Miami’s current Chief of Staff. “That is what people don’t talk about.”
The current coaching staff was able to help engineer a 31-30 win over 18th ranked NC State, but athletic director Blake James had this to say about the state of the coaching staff:
“It’s too hard to look into the future,” James said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, again. I think everyone’s constantly being evaluated, and you make the decisions that you feel are best for the program.”
Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football, but developing talent is the engine that moves the program forward. A positive to take away for the Hurricanes is that the team is getting plenty of production from its underclassman.
Second-year running back Jaylan Knighton was instrumental in the win over the Wolfpack as the former Deerfield Beach High School standout had 166 all-purpose yards on 27 touches.
Jaylan Knighton and Charleston Rambo
Miami (3-4, 1-2) started this game well with a three and out on defense and drove downfield for a 9-play 75-yard drive that ended with a 25-yard touchdown catch by Charleston Rambo. The Oklahoma transfer Rambo made a nice adjustment on the football to put the Hurricanes on the board first. Rambo would have a huge game catching 9 for 127 yards scoring two touchdowns.
In the second quarter, the Hurricanes maintained an aggressive approach pushing the ball downfield through the air. On fourth down and one from their own 47-yard line, the Hurricanes decided to go for it and got more than just a first down. Tyler Van Dyke found a wide-open Knighton streaking down the sideline for a 53-yard touchdown.
Van Dyke pushed the ball downfield in this one going 25-33 for 325 yards throwing for four touchdowns and zero interceptions. The Hurricanes quarterback made some controversial comments this week about NC State.
Tyler Van Dyke, Quarterback, Miami
“Yeah, NC State has a great defense,” Van Dyke told reporters. “What are they? Like top something in the country, top whatever … I mean, that doesn’t matter. They’re still the same guys we played last year. We put up 44 points last year on them. They have different types of wrinkles on defense. We feel really confident.”
Coach Manny Diaz thought his quarterback’s words helped fuel his team for the victory.
“I thought our team got better today,” said Head Coach Manny Diaz. “Tyler’s comments during the week could have gone one of two directions. I know for a fact it fired up NC State’s defense. Things were said during pre-game. It was a big deal and you don’t normally see a quarterback with two career starts in conference both losses come out and say hey we did this we did that and we expect to do this. And we kind of took that mid-week with our team. It’s going to rile up NC State’s guys, let’s let it rile up our guys.”
It Was Over When…
On 3rd and 16 from the Miami 42-yard line, Van Dyke found tight end, Will Mallory, on a down the seam for a 21-yard completion. The first down allowed Miami to run out the clock.
“Somehow they left Will Mallory wide open,” said Diaz of the game-clinching play. “He put it right on him. Big time first down. We could run the clock out from there.”
After a Wolfpack field goal, NC State (5-2, 2-1) forced a punt and started its drive with 3:46 left to play from its own 44-yard line. Miami was able to force a 4th and 8 on the NC State 46 yard-line when a quarterback Devin Leary pass to Thomas would be short of the first down marker as Kamren Kinchens made the tackle to force a turnover on downs.
Game Story
NC State would cut into the Miami lead with their first touchdown of the game. Redshirt sophomore Leary would find Thomas for a 7-yard touchdown. Te’Corey Couch almost had a chance to knock the ball away but was a step too late. NC State would take a 17-14 lead into halftime.
The Hurricanes came out firing in the second half as Van Dyke threw a beautiful ball to Rambo for a 60-yard gain. The Canes would capitalize on the drive and score on a five-yard throw and catch from Van Dyke to Mallory. The score would put the Hurricanes back up 21-17.
In the fourth quarter, special teams plays would loom large. The Wolfpack gambled on a fake punt that resulted in a 40-yard run by Trent Pennix. The visitors would cash in on the big play and take the lead with a 17-yard Leary touchdown run to make it a 27-24 game.
The Canes would take the lead right back when Rambo scored on a four-yard touchdown reception. The score and converted extra point would prove to be the game-winning scores.
Miami converted 6-17 on third down compared to NC State just converting 3-14.
Go-ahead score from the press box.
Tyler Van Dyke fires to Charleston Rambo for the score.
Miami upsets NC State 31-30 pic.twitter.com/oGS6l4MOpt
— Marcus Benjamin (@_BenjaminReport) October 24, 2021
Miami will look to build some confidence next week at Pittsburgh while NC State will host Louisville next week.
Attendance – 43, 293
