Atlanta, GA — No matter the opponent, the season opener is the ultimate measuring stick, especially against an elite opponent.
Based on Saturday’s results…Miami has a long way to go to be elite.
It doesn’t get any more elite than the defending national champions, the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Tide as expected ran away with this one, dominating the Miami Hurricanes 44-13 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Quarterback Bryce Young, in his first start, completed 27 of 38 for 344 yards throwing for four touchdowns and zero interceptions. The perfomance set a school record for touchdowns and yards in a debut for an Alabama quarterback.
It Was Over When…
Young, a sophomore, connected with tight end Cameron Latu for their second combined touchdown of the game. The score made it a 27-0 game with 6:55 left in the first half. Latu broke two tackles on his way to the end zone which was the theme of the game, broken tackles.
“I feel we tackled like it was an opener,” said senior linebacker Zach McCloud. And not like how we had been doing it all through camp. It wasn’t our worst performance as far as tackling goes, but definitely not where it needed to be. We’ll improve on that as the season goes on.”
Alabama fielded a mostly an inexperienced offense Saturday afternoon. Young led an impressive scoring drive to start the game. Young has a natural ability to escape and throw under pressure which was on display all game.
“I thought the difference in the game was third-down offense. I thought their quarterback made some plays keeping plays alive outside the pocket,” said Head Coach Manny Diaz. “Their front is as good as advertised, they gave us a lot of trouble.”
The Mater Dei product threw to John Metchie for a 37-yard touchdown to open the scoring. Young bought time and found Metchie on a crossing route and Metchie dove to the pylon for the score. Alabama added a field goal on its second drive as Bubba Bolden nearly picked off Young in the end zone to end the touchdown threat.
Just before the end of the first quarter, Bolden was ejected for targeting on a helmet-to-helmet hit on Bama running back Brian Robinson Jr. Freshman safety Kamren Kinchens (Miami Northwestern, FL) replaced Bolden in the game.
“First play, I was kind of nervous,” said Kinchens. “After the first play it calmed down, the game slowed down. I took a deep breath and was like…I was meant for this.”
Kinchens forced a fumble in the game that was originally ruled a recovery for Miami, was overtuned to a recovery for Miami.
Miami had the life sucked out of them early in the 3rd quarter. King led an impressive drive with a series of intermediate passes to several receivers. A Don Chaney Jr. run got the Hurricanes to the one-yard line and Miami hurried to the line on fourth down and tried to catch Alabama off guard, but an attempted QB sneak fell short of the goal line.
On the ensuing possession, Miami nearly scored on a safety, but Young got rid of the football and he was ruled outside of the tackle box. No intentional grounding was called as no receiver was in the area. On the next play, Young would find Jameson Williams for a 94-yard touchdown, the score would make it a 34-3 game with 9:29 to go in the third quarter. The connection between Young and Williams is tied for the second-longest in school history.
“They have a lot of confidence in him, said Diaz. “The way he played tonight for a young guy was very impressive. We tried to make it hard in changing looks and get him on the run. His receivers did a nice job working against our coverages.”
Miami would finally get in the end zone in the third quarter. King tossed it to second-year player Xavier Restrepo (featured Image) for a 29-yard touchdown. Restrepo made the catch over the shoulder in tight coverage.
The turnover made its first official appearance in the third quarter. Freshman Chantz Williams, with the first official sack of his career, forced a fumble that was recovered by Jordan Miller.
The helmet charm weighs 1,000 grams (one kilogram), while the chain itself weighs 3.5 kilograms and is roughly 34 inches long. There are 2,754 sapphire stones in the helmet – 2,245 white sapphires, 366 orange sapphires, and 143 green sapphires.
Turnover Chain 5.0 took roughly three and a half months to complete.
The Canes squandered the opportunity to score a touchdown and settled for a Andy Borregales field goal. Borregales connected from 37 and 28 yards on field goals in the game.
Miami quarterback D’Eriq King, started his first game since tearing his ACL in the 2020 Cheez-It Bowl. King completed 23 of his 30 passes for 179 yards throwing for one touchdown and two interceptions. In the first half, King was hit awkwardly by Christopher Allen jarring the football loose. The football was recovered by Bama’s Phidarian Mathis.
The reshirt senior Allen left the game with a foot injury and may be out for the season. Junior Alabama linebacker Henry To’o To’o also left the game to what appeared to be a serious injury.
Miami rushed 30 times for 69 yards and failed to gain any kind of consistency running the football.
Running back Jaylan Knighton did not play and is suspended for four games. Tight End Larry Hodges is also suspended for two games.
“Proud for the way the guys competed in the second half,” said Diaz. “There will be plenty of things to correct, but I think there were plenty of positives we can take into week two.”
Miami will host Appalachian State next week. Alabama hosts Mercer in week two.
Attendance 71,829
Featured Photos Courtesy of Miami Athletics
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