As they always say, a win is a win. The Miami Hurricanes overcame a sluggish start and had a great second half on Saturday to defeat a winless Southern Miss team, 30-7.
Game Recap:
Miami and Southern Miss each exchanged punts on the first two drives of the game. Miami scored the first points of the game with 1:39 left in the first with an Andres Borregales 30 yard FG, highlighted with a 30 yard connection from TVD to Brashard Smith, and a few Henry Parrish rushing attempts.
However, on the next drive, Southern Miss would convert a couple of key third downs, and then true freshman Zach Wilcke would find Jason Brownlee 32 yards to take a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter. During the middle of the second quarter, there were boos reigning over Hard Rock Stadium after TVD threw a pick on 4th and 3 in Southern Miss territory. However, before the first half ended, Miami would answer back with a touchdown of their own from Henry Parrish, who had another big day.
Second Half:
One of the big changes that Cristobal brought was the ability to adjust after a bad first half. That showed Saturday afternoon.
After a quick Southern Miss three-and-out, Miami took over. This week, Cristobal discussed in his presser about how he wants to milk the clock when he’s on offense. He did just that, going 13 plays for 77 yards in 6:51 to pull away from Southern Miss, capped off with a Thad Franklin seven yard touchdown run.
After another defensive stop by Miami, they would punt to Tyrique Stevenson, who would set up Miami at Southern Miss’s 35 yard line. On the next play, Tyler Van Dyke would complete a flea-flicker to the end-some for Keyshawn Smith to make it 24-7.
Towards the end, there was a lot of punting, a Parrish TD called back for no reason, and two Borregales’ field goals.
MVP:
The MVP of the game is Henry Parrish. With 24 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown, he carried the big drives for the Canes, and has easily been the backbone of this Canes offense when TVD struggled.
Next Up:
The Hurricanes will travel to College Station to face Texas A&M, who just lost to Appalachian State. That game will now be extremely interesting.