Learning How to Finish
By Christy Cabrera Chirinos
HurricaneSports.com
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The mantra after the first two games was “finish.”
Against both Florida and North Carolina, the young Hurricanes had fourth-quarter leads they couldn’t keep and ultimately, that led to two losses by a combined seven points.
Saturday against Central Michigan, Miami may have shown it has grown up a bit.
Despite a late-push from a Chippewas team that came to Hard Rock Stadium in search of an upset, the Hurricanes hung on for a 17-12 win that wasn’t pretty, but still evened Miami’s record at 2-2.
And while Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz made it clear post-game that his team certainly has things it needs to improve on before it kicks off a stretch of six critical ACC games, Diaz wanted to make sure his players understood their win was something worth appreciating.
“Tonight was our second game, but probably our fourth-best performance of the four that we’ve had so far. But all that being said, the only thing we could accomplish here today was beat Central Michigan, which after the course of 60 minutes when everything was added up, that’s what we got done,” Diaz said. “A lot of the credit to our performance you have to give to Central Michigan. I thought the way they played up front, they got after us. … And sometimes, you have to give credit where credit’s due. … It became a game where you have to try and manage the situation and try to find a way to win the football game. We were able to do that.”
As the Hurricanes head into their off week ahead of an Oct. 5 matchup against Coastal Division foe Virginia Tech, Diaz stressed there will be significant issues he wants his team to address.
He deemed Miami’s 13 penalties for 93 yards “disconcerting” and “unacceptable,” noting it wasn’t just the number of penalties that proved troublesome, but their timing.
He acknowledged the Hurricanes are going to struggle if they finish games with just 51 rushing yards, especially given how well Miami had run the ball in its first three games. And the coach pointed out that a lackluster practice earlier in the week took its toll Saturday – and maybe served as yet another learning experience from which the Hurricanes can grow.
“I think what you’re seeing is a team that is learning how to win football games, that is understanding the structure from the first quarter to the fourth quarter, offense, defense and special teams, in terms of how we win a game,” Diaz said. “I think we found out today there are things that you can do that help you lose, that can get you beat.
“You can’t talk about it without going right to the penalties. Those things can deny an otherwise great effort defensively. You look at what their total yards were, even at halftime, but we were never off the field because of our penalties. Those were things that were getting in the way. Hitting a guy after a play and things that are very out of character for us will be addressed in practice. … What the team is learning as we try to rebrand and as we are trying to find out how to win football games is that all those things matter and all those little selfish type plays ultimately hurt the whole football team.”
His players, it seemed Saturday, heard their coach’s message.
They know they need to keep growing, but they aren’t taking their win for granted, especially considering how their season started.
They also know there were difference-making plays Saturday that deserved to be celebrated, including Al Blades Jr.’s game-clinching interception, K.J. Osborn’s touchdown grab and DeeJay Dallas’ scoring run.
“I feel like we knew what we had to do toward the end of the game. Even though it was ugly, we knew what it took to win,” said defensive end Greg Rousseau, who had two tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery as Miami held the Chippewas to just 248 yards of offense. “We just have to take it one game at a time, keep working, win every single day of practice, keep on pushing and just press on.”
Added quarterback Jarren Williams, who was 17-of-24 for 250 yards, “We were able to finish today and close out this game. That fourth quarter, that’s really when you need everybody the most and everybody came together. The defense played really hard. Offensively, we had some ups and we had some downs, but the thing that I liked, that I kept seeing, was that everybody kept fighting.
“No one gave up, no one tapped out, no one laid down. Just having that mentality and learning how to win at the end, learning how to take that step and close out games, that was big. We’re trying to build a culture here. Winning is the expectation. It’s the standard. We’re really learning how to win and how to finish at the end. That’s important now, and for years to come.”
