Fast and Furious

By Christy Cabrera Chirinos
HurricaneSports.com
 
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – There  was a moment during pre-game warmups where Hurricanes defensive coordinator Blake Baker and head coach Manny Diaz exchanged a look.
 
They knew, watching their players, something special was brewing.
 
Their instincts were right, with the Hurricanes putting together another dominant defensive effort in Miami’s 27-10 win over rival Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday.
 
“The last three, four, five weeks, I’ve felt like we’ve become a better practice team and you still wonder what you’re going to see in a game. But today, I said, “No, we seem focused,” Baker said. “And we talked to Coach Diaz about it and he said, ‘Yeah, this reminded me of Notre Dame a couple years ago.’ There wasn’t a lot of chatter, but there was a very focused look in our guys’ eyes before the game and they carried it through.”
 
That focus, it turns out, would help the Hurricanes make history in their win.
 
Miami finished with nine sacks, 16 tackles for loss and two turnovers. According to the Associated Press, no team has ever managed nine sacks against Florida State’s offense.
 
The Hurricanes also held Florida State to just 31 rushing yards, stopped the Seminoles on both of their fourth-down conversion attempts and kept FSU out of the end zone for three quarters.
 
It was an effort that came a week after another impressive showing on the road.
 
In last week’s 16-12 win over Pittsburgh at Heinz Field, the Hurricanes kept the Panthers out of the end zone and made life difficult for Panthers’ quarterback Kenny Pickett, who was pursued much the same way Florida State’s Alex Hornibrook was on Saturday.
 
 
And after they celebrated with the Miami fans who traveled north to Tallahassee, the Hurricanes said they were confident their defense was finally starting to hit its stride.
 
“It means everything. This year has not been what we thought it would be. It didn’t start out the way that we wanted to start out, but through it all, we told our fans, we’re going to continue to fight,” said linebacker Shaquille Quarterman, who finished with a game-high nine tackles and had 3.5 tackles for loss. “That’s the only thing we can do. We’ve never given up. … We just continued to do what we could do, which was to show up to work, show up every week and try to put it together. And these last couple games, I feel like we finally put it together.”
 
Helping the Hurricanes find their stride of late has been defensive end Greg Rousseau, who has emerged as one of Miami’s breakout stars this season.
 
Against the Seminoles, the redshirt freshman notched a game-high four sacks. He also finished with eight tackles, including a game-high five tackles for loss.
 
He now has 12 sacks on the season – after earning a starting spot just four games ago. Miami’s season record is 17, set by Daniel Stubbs in 1986.
 
“[It’s] really, just relentless effort and running to the ball like Coach Diaz and Coach Baker and [defensive line] Coach [Todd] Stroud always preach,” Rousseau responded on Saturday when asked about the difference in his game of late. “Just giving it your all out there and just playing with 10 other dogs really helps you out. I just feel blessed out there sometimes because somebody else might cause the quarterback to flush my way and it’s just great. Having those guys out there with me is really a blessing.”
 
Added Diaz of Rousseau’s performance, “Greg is just so relentless. He’s got great length, which is very difficult to put your hands on as an offensive lineman because his arms are just longer than your arms. But the biggest thing I’m proud of with Greg is just the motor that he plays with. He just plays so hard. He’s so relentless. I think that’s why he’s had the success he’s had.”
 
But as much as the Hurricanes celebrated on Saturday, they know there is still a lot of work to be done and a lot of football still to be played.
 
Miami has three games left on the schedule and is one win from securing bowl eligibility. That’s why Baker drove home the point Miami’s defense can’t rest on its accomplishments of late.
 
The goal, he said, is for the Hurricanes to keep building on what they’ve done, but there’s no doubt a performance like this against Florida State will be a boost.
 
“I think this game has always been close. I think since Coach Diaz has been here, it’s been a one-possession game every year,” Baker said. “For us to really played the game we played on defense and excel the way that we excelled, any time you can do that, especially against a rival, is huge moving forward.”