Finishing is Canes’ Mantra as They Look to Regroup
By Christy Cabrera Chirinos
HurricaneSports.com
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – In the immediate aftermath of the Hurricanes’ second close loss in as many games, head coach Manny Diaz had a simple message for his players and staff as they left the field at Kenan Memorial Stadium.
“You’ve got to learn to finish. Whether we’re talking about finishing drives or certainly finishing games, that’s two weeks in a row we’ve had second-half leads and not been able to finish. And we’ve got to learn a little bit of a killer instinct,” Diaz told WQAM-560. “Right now, that’s our next step. Right now, we’re not finding the ability to put teams away.”
Despite a slow start in which they fell behind by two touchdowns early, the Hurricanes managed to rally in their ACC opener at North Carolina late Saturday night. Miami fought back through three quarters and appeared poised to win the first game of the Diaz era when tight end Will Mallory and quarterback Jarren Williams connected on an 11-yard scoring play with 4:38 left that gave the Hurricanes a 25-20 lead.
And early on North Carolina’s ensuing possession, Miami’s defense came up with a pair of back-to-back big plays, with linebacker Shaquille Quarterman and defensive end Greg Rousseau each sacking Tar Heels quarterback Sam Howell to set up a 4th-and-17 inside North Carolina territory.
But the Hurricanes weren’t able to get the final stop they needed, the Tar Heels converting on fourth down and five plays later, Howell found Dazz Newsome just inside the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown play that put the Tar Heels back on top.
Miami had one last chance to either tie the game or win it outright when it got the ball back with 1:01 left. But kicker Bubba Baxa missed a 49-yard field goal and the Hurricanes came up short, 28-25.
“We’ve just didn’t finish. We had them backed up. We had them in a critical situation and they made a hell of a play. That’s bad on our part,” linebacker Michael Pinckney said. “We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to practice that. The sense of urgency wasn’t there, I feel like, and we’ve got to do better. As a leader, that’s on me and our other leaders.”
The heartbreaking loss came two weeks after a last-gasp drive against rival Florida in the season opener couldn’t produce points either. On that night, the Gators escaped with a 24-20 win.
Neither game has gone the way the Hurricanes hoped, with a combined seven points standing between Miami potentially having two wins. But what the Hurricanes have learned early in the season is that even with multiple young players at key positions, they can keep pace with some of the biggest names on the schedule.
The key now, is taking the next step forward and there, the Hurricanes understand there is significant work to be done.
“We didn’t win and the goal is to win,” receiver K.J. Osborn said. “The two-minute situation, we practice that every day. Every single day. We were moving the ball well. We had a couple bad plays and then we weren’t able to finish. … We’ve got to learn how to win, like Coach was saying. We’re going to go home and we’ve got five straight games. We’ve got to learn how to win, point blank, period.
“We’re the Miami Hurricanes. We’ve got to win. That’s the bottom line.”
For the Hurricanes, one consolation after Saturday night in Chapel Hill is that the next time they take the field it will be at Hard Rock Stadium when they play their home opener against Bethune-Cookman next Saturday. After that, Miami won’t leave South Florida for a while, hosting Central Michigan on Sept. 21, Virginia Tech on Oct. 5, Virginia on Oct. 11 and Georgia Tech on Oct. 19.
Being at home, in front of their fans, is something Miami’s players believe will help them as they continue working to improve. And they understand, as tough as 0-2 feels, the season is far from over, particularly given how topsy-turvy the Coastal Division has been in recent years.
“It definitely stings, but I didn’t see anybody too worried in the sense of ‘Oh, the season’s going to be….’ We didn’t have any of that,” Quarterman said. “We didn’t have any of that. Everybody’s ready to play next week and the week after that. It feels good going home to our crowd and our stadium and it gives us time to reflect.
“We have a long season ahead of us. Nobody’s feeling like the season is lost. Social media will say one thing, but in our locker room, where it really counts, we’re not worried about that. We’re going to show up every Saturday.”
