Canes Roll to 38-3 Victory Over Redhawks

Credit: arctic_whirlwind via Flickr

The Miami Hurricanes had 11 drives and scored points on seven of them Friday night against the Miami (OH) RedHawks en route to a 38-3 victory before 49,024 fans at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. The Canes came out with a chip on their shoulders and blasted the RedHawks from the beginning in the season opener for both teams.

It all went downhill fast for the RedHawks, and it started when quarterback Brett Gabbert came out publicly and stated that he was looking forward to traveling to Miami to face the Hurricanes and show the world that the real Miami was in Oxford, Ohio.

Then, to start the game, the RedHawks deferred to the second half and kicked off to the Hurricanes.

All the Hurricanes did was go on a scoring drive that took less than a minute as quarterback Tyler Van Dyke threw a mid-range pass to Colbie Young who raced 44 yards for the game's opening touchdown. Before some fans found their seats, it was a 7-0 Canes lead.

Ballgame.

The Hurricane defense would yield only a field goal and hold the RedHawks to 215 total yards, much of which came in the fourth quarter when the game was well out of reach.

Van Dyke would exit the game with nine minutes left to play in the game. He finished the game with a very respectable 17-for-22 passing for 201 yards and one score. He did throw one interception.

“You know, I thought he performed really well. He’d love to have the interception back. He’s really hard on himself," Miami coach Mario Cristobal said after the game.

"He was really efficient. He put us in the right plays, made the right decisions in the run game, as well. He carries a lot when he runs this offense. There’s a lot of autonomy that goes with it and I thought he did a great, great job.”

Miami debuted their much-heralded offensive line and pounded the rock for 250 yards on the ground, led by Henry Parrish, Jr.. who had nine carries for 90 yards and a score. True freshman Mark Fletcher, Jr. had nine carries for 76 yards and a touchdown.

“We showed it last year but it’s just different body types executing them, so it didn’t look as clean [last season]. We are a little bit bigger up front. It’s a little bit of everybody," Cristobal said following the win.

"(Offensive Coordinator) Shannon Dawson has done a lot of offense in his life. Certainly, we have some things that we’ve done before, as well, so it’s really a good blend. All in all, it looks a little bit different, but there’s some similarities.”

It was important for Miami to show that they can run the ball, with Texas A&M coming in on Saturday. The Canes mixed the pass with the run. Of their 61 total plays, they rushed the ball 36 times and averaged 6.9 yards per carry. Three of the top four backs scored touchdowns.

“It’s kind of what (running backs coach) Tim Harris, Jr. has been talking about all week. They’ve all been competing and competing hard. It was hard to tell who was separating, but you probably saw some of that tonight," Cristobal stated. "Everybody looks good. Look at Don [Chaney, Jr.]’s run at the end and then Ajay [Allen] comes out and breaks that run out to the side and, wait a second, Mark Fletcher, Jr.’s run went over some people for a touchdown. It’s the way it should be."

Cristobal then went down memory lane and remembered the great backfields that Miami had in its glory years when they were winning national titles.

"When Miami’s been really good, you remember those running back rooms, right? What they were like with Edgerrin James, Najeh Davenport, James Jackson, and then you have Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee and Frank Gore," Cristobal said. "I’m not saying we are there yet, but I’m saying that that type of competition, we benefit a lot from it and we intend to keep that competition going.”

Fletcher, a true freshman from American Heritage High School, is making an immediate impact in the backfield. He averaged 8.4 yards per carry in his collegiate debut and hit paydirt from 26 yards out. He was the third option, but it won't be long before he overtakes the starting job.

Sprinkle in three Andy Borregales field goals and you had a balanced effort against a lesser-quality opponent, which Miami has had problems with in the past.

“We felt that it would be a physical battle and we’d have to just keep wearing them down and the defense was going to have to make some stops. The penalty to prevent from scoring down in the red zone was a monster penalty. It certainly gave them some life and put a few points on the board for them and gave them hope," Cristobal said. "After that, we started taking control of the game, finally. We had some opportunities early and we didn’t capitalize. It was good to see our team respond and start making enough plays, moving the sticks enough, making enough stops to start to take control of the game.”

Miami did not open its playbook very much and kept it strictly vanilla. They did not want to tip their hand to Texas A&M as Miami will look to avenge last year's loss at Kyle Field.