Miami Hurricanes Off To A Roller Coaster Start To The Season

By: Dan Hauser

The college football season might only be one quarter complete but the Miami Hurricanes have already gone through a roller coaster type season just in the first four games. From the offseason filled with NCAA investigations to a blowout loss at Kansas State and then two dramatic wins over ACC opponents, the season has been off to an exciting start. Here’s a recap of the first four games of the year. 

September 1^st AT Boston College- The Hurricanes start their season on the road at an ACC opponent coming off of arguably the toughest off-season in program history. The campus was filled with NCAA investigators and stories were coming out almost daily about Nevin Shapiro and more about the scandal that was taking over the program. The Hurricanes come out flat in the first quarter but a touchdown by Eduardo Clements and a pick-six by Denzel Perryman to end the first quarter jump-start the Hurricanes. Freshman running back Duke Johnson makes his collegiate debut and puts in two touchdowns of over 50 yards and the Hurricanes cruise to an opening weekend win and start conference play 1-0.

Miami 41 Boston College 32 (1-0)

Septmeber 8^th AT Kansas State- Miami continues their road trip to start the season as the travel to Manhattan, Kansas to face the 21^st ranked Wildcats. The Hurricanes lost a heartbreaker to them last year down in Miami as Jacory Harris fell one yard shy of scoring the game-winning touchdown as time expired and Miami looked to exact revenge and knock off the ranked Wildcats on the road. Kansas State quarterback Colin Klein picked up where he left off last year running all over the Hurricane defense for two touchdowns in the first quarter and never looked back. The Hurricanes were over powered on both sides of the ball giving up 498 yards of total offense while turning the ball over 3 times. Klein finishes with 210 yards through the air and another 71 on the ground and the Hurricanes give up 50 for only the fifth time in program history.

Miami 13 Kansas State 52 (1-1)

September 15^th VS Bethune Cookman- The Hurricanes open their home schedule against Bethune Cookman and hope to bounce back from a horrible loss the week before and that’s exactly what they do. Freshman sensation Duke Johnson has a four-touchdown day to power the Hurricanes over the other Wildcats including at 95-yard kickoff return and a 50-yard reception from quarterback Steven Morris.

Miami 38 BCC 10 (2-1)

September 22^nd AT Geargia Tech- This game was the epitome of the roller coaster game and is the first of back-to-back dramatic games. The Hurricanes came out on fire, scoring the games first 19 points and ending the first quarter up 19-0. The offense and defense both came out looking great including the defense causing a safety. That is about the time when it started to go all-wrong for this Hurricanes team. The next four drives for the ‘Canes offense were fumble, punt, interception, and punt all while the defense gave up 36 straight points to the Yellow Jacket offense. Al Golden would not let his team give up and once again it was a Hurricane running back who took over at the end of the game. The Hurricanes defense shut down the Georgia Tech triple option in the fourth quarter and veteran running back Mike James scores two touchdowns including one with just 27 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. In overtime the Hurricanes defense made an incredible 4^th and 1 stop and Mike James scores from 25 yards out to finalize what was an incredible come back. Steven Morris throws for 436 yards and the running back tandem of James and Johnson combine for 173 rushing yards in the victory.

Miami 42 GT 36 OT (3-1)

September 29^th VS NC State- The Hurricanes return home from the overtime thriller victory to face another ACC opponent. NC St, coming off of three straight wins of their own were playing in their ACC opener and for the second straight week the Hurricanes got out to a big early lead only to see the game end in a shootout once again. After the Wolfpack came out and scored the first touchdown of the game the Hurricanes came back and scored the next 23 straight points doing it on both offense and defense again. Three of Miami’s first five drives all resulted in passing touchdowns of over 70 yards. In the second quarter the Miami defense forced fumbles on three straight Wolfpack possesions but the offense could not convert including two missed fieldgoals. Kicker Jake Wieclaw would go on to miss three field goals in the game and NC State took advantage of the lack of scoring by Miami in the second half to tie the game with less than two minutes left in the game. Stephen Morris would prove to be the hero of the day. Not only did he set both school and conference passing records but he hit Phiilip Dorset for the game winning touchdown with 19 seconds remaining. Morris finished the day with a record 566 passing yards and 5 touchdowns and the Hurricanes pulled off another dramatic win.

Miami 44 NC State 37 (4-1)

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