Recap and More: A Golden Win

MIAMI (AP)—Ohio State interim coach Luke Fickell was hoping his team would start quickly, avoid giving up big plays and take advantage of any opportunities Miami provided.

The Buckeyes failed on all counts, and now are in danger of slipping out of the AP Top 25 for the first time in nearly seven years.

Lamar Miller ran for 188 yards—54 on Miami’s first play from scrimmage— and Jacory Harris threw two first-quarter touchdown passes to Allen Hurns, helping the Hurricanes top No. 17 Ohio State 24-6 on Saturday night in a matchup of teams dealing with NCAA scandals.

Video: 1st Ever Hurricane Walk

Miami outgained Ohio State 363-209 and held the Buckeyes to an abysmal 4 of 18, 35-yard passing performance by quarterbacks Joe Bauserman and Braxton Miller.

“We’ve got to do a better job all around,” Fickell said. “They made a lot more plays than we did and ultimately that’s what the game came down to.”

Ohio State got into the red zone twice and settled for field goals. The Buckeyes allowed Miami to go 9 for 15 on third-down conversion chances, and the Hurricanes held the ball for 11:16 in the final quarter—nine of those minutes coming after Marcus Robinson punched the ball away from Braxton Miller in Miami territory. Mike Williams recovered for the Hurricanes and the celebration started revving up right there.

“That’s what Miami Hurricane football should be,” Miami coach Al Golden said. “Play good defense, make some explosive plays on defense and then run the ball in the fashion that we did.”

The Buckeyes have appeared in every The Associated Press poll since Nov. 28, 2004. And for the first time in exactly 23 years, the Buckeyes lost a road game to an unranked nonconference opponent—the last time that happened was Sept. 17, 1988, a 42-10 defeat at Pittsburgh in John Cooper’s first season.

Now Fickell knows how that feels. His team went three-plays-and-out on the first two possessions, got into a 14-0 hole before the game was 10 minutes old, and never got rolling. A team dealing with suspensions and injuries, at least at this point, looks nothing like Ohio State teams of recent years, the ones who owned the Big 10 and typically found their way into the national-title picture.

“We pride ourselves on not giving up big plays,” Fickell said. “But the big plays hurt us.”

Braxton Miller completed his last two passes on the game’s final, meaningless drive—which at least salvaged something, albeit merely in the statistical sense, for Ohio State. The four completions matched the program’s worst total for any game in the last 15 years, something that happened on three other occasions.

“You just have to move on,” Bauserman said. “It’s a next-play mentality, whether it’s a great play or a bad play.”

Or in this case, a bad game.

The win snapped a four-game slide dating to last season for the Hurricanes (1-1), who got their first win over a ranked opponent since beating Oklahoma on Oct. 3, 2009.

Miami gave up 348 yards passing in a season-opening loss at Maryland. Of the six Terrapins who caught passes that night, five finished with more yards than Ohio State had through the air as a team on Saturday, and the one who fell short had 34 yards.

“We have a lot of talent,” said Miami linebacker Sean Spence, one of five Hurricanes returning from one-game suspensions for accepting extra benefits from a former booster. “As long as we continue playing with pride and passion, the sky’s the limit for us.”

How bad was it for the Buckeyes? Ohio State seemed to give up on the game in the final minutes, not even bothering to stop the clock with one of their three timeouts as Miami moved down the field in the final minutes with a 17-6 lead.

Mike James plunged in from the 1 with 33 seconds left, capping the scoring, as many of the 10,000 or so scarlet-clad fans began leaving in earnest.

“We lost, so apparently we didn’t do a good enough job,” Ohio State safety C.J. Barnett said. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

Harris finished 16 of 23 for 123 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for Miami, which opened a three-game homestand.

Jordan Hall had 87 yards on 14 carries for Ohio State, which got 54 more rushing yards from Carlos Hyde. Until the final seconds, the Buckeyes did not have a single pass for more than 10 yards.

Even Harris’ mistakes—two more interceptions, pushing his career total to 41—couldn’t get cashed in by Ohio State, which struggled with Toledo at home last weekend and were kept out of the end zone entirely by the Hurricanes.

“This win feels wonderful,” Harris said. “It feels great to get out there and beat a great team like Ohio State. We have much respect for them, but we made sure we came out with the ‘W.”’

Video

Game Notes

• The victory marks the first time an unranked Miami team defeated a nationally ranked opponent since the Canes beat No. 18 Florida State, 38-34, on Sept. 7, 2009.
• The last time UM defeated a ranked team was on Oct. 3, 2009 when No. 17 Miami beat No. 8 Oklahoma, 21-20.
• UM is 64-21 in home openers and 16-7 at Sun Life Stadium.
• Attendance at the 2011 UM home opener was 66,279, the second-highest attendance since the Hurricanes moved to Sun Life Stadium. The highest was 75,115 against Florida State last season.
• The win gives Coach Al Golden his first victory at Miami, a 3-4 record in home openers as a head coach and an overall record of 28-35.
• Weather at kickoff was 84 degrees under partly cloudy skies with winds out of the ENE at 10 mph. Relative humidity was 68 percent.
• With the win, the Hurricanes avoided starting the season 0-2 for the first time since 1978 when UM was wrapping up an eight-game slide over parts of two seasons.
• Captains for the home opener were OL Tyler Horn, S JoJo Nicolas, LB Sean Spence and RB Eduardo Clements.
• UM’s offensive starters were WR Allen Hurns, LT Brandon Washington, LG Harland Gunn, C Tyler Horn, RG Brandon Linder, RT Jon Feliciano, TE Chase Ford, TE Clive Walford, QB Jacory Harris, HB Lamar Miller, WR Travis Benjamin.
• Defensive starters for the Hurricanes were DE Anthony Chickillo, DT Marcus Forston, DT Micanor Regis, DE Adewale Ojomo, LB Ramon Buchanan, LB Jimmy Gaines, LB Sean Spence, LB Denzel Perryman, SS JoJo Nicolas, FS Vaughn Telemaque, CB Brandon McGee.
• The University of Miami honored Russell Maryland in an on-field ceremony between the first and second quarters of Saturday’s contest against Ohio State to commemorate the defensive tackle’s upcoming induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in December.

Team Notes

• The Hurricanes didn’t allow Ohio State to score a touchdown in the game, a feat last accomplished by Penn State in 2008.
• Prior to the game against Miami, Ohio State had not allowed a sack in any of its last 90 pass attempts, the third-longest active FBS streak. The Hurricanes ended that streak at 95, as Canes DL Darius Smith sacked OSU QB Braxton Miller to end the first quarter.
• The UM defense held the OSU quarterbacks to 4-for-18 passing, the least since the Canes held Wake Forest to just three completions in 2008. Ohio State had only four passing yards in the first half and ended the night with 35 yards.
• UM was 4-of-4 in the red zone, upping their season numbers to 7-of-7.  Miami entered the game tied for first in the ACC in red-zone offense, converting 100 percent of
• UM scored on its first offensive drive of the game, charging 63 yards in just four plays. The last time UM scored on its opening drive was on Nov. 20, 2010 against Virginia Tech.  

Player Notes

• DL Marcus Forston, LB Sean Spence, DL Adewale Ojomo, WR Travis Benjamin and QB Jacory Harris made their season debuts against Ohio State after serving their one-game suspensions during the Maryland contest.
• RB Lamar Miller rushed nine times for 115 yards in the first quarter, the first time a Cane rushed for more than 100 yards in a quarter since Damien Berry gained 108 yards in the Oct. 10, 2009 matchup with FAMU.
• Miller’s 54-yard scamper that led to UM’s first touchdown in the first quarter was the longest rush of his career. His previous long was 47 yards on Nov. 20, 2010 against Virginia Tech.
• Miller ended the night with 184 yards from 26 carries, passing his previous career-high of 163 yards against Virginia Tech in 2010 and 22 attempts vs. Maryland in 2010.
• Senior QB Jacory Harris recorded his first touchdown of the season in the first quarter, a three-yard pass to Allen Hurns – his first-career TD reception. In UM’s second drive, Harris connected with Hurns for a second three-yard TD with 5:12 remaining in the first quarter. The last time UM scored a pair of TDs through the air in the first quarter was on Sept. 2, 2010 against FAMU, when Harris connected with Leonard Hankerson for a pair of first quarter TDs.
• Hurns collected a team- and career-high six receptions in the game, gaining 54 yards for the Canes. His previous career-high was four receptions in Week 1 at Maryland.
• Harris ended the night 16-for-23 passing for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
• Redshirt freshman tight end Clive Walford reeled in his second-career catch in the first quarter, a four-yard reception.
• DB JoJo Nicolas made his second-career interception in the first quarter. His other INT was in 2007 against Marshall.
• DL Darius Smith recorded his first sack as a Cane, a three-yard loss for Ohio State to end the first quarter. Smith ended OSU’s record of 95-straight pass attempts without being sacked, the third-longest active FBS streak.
• In the third quarter, Anthony Chickillo notched his first-career sack, pushing the Buckeyes back seven yards on the play.
• LB James Gaines recorded six or more tackles in back-to-back games with six against Ohio State and seven at Maryland last week.
• DL Micanor Regis forced a fumble in the fourth quarter, the second of his career. He also had a pass break-up in the game.