Canes Rewind: A Look Back at the Win over Florida

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Each week this season, we’ll take a look at the game that was for the Hurricanes.

Here are some key storylines, numbers of note and quotes from Miami’s 26-7 win over rival Florida on Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium.

After Saturday’s game, Miami improved to 4-0 and moved up two spots to No. 2 in the AP Top 25. The Gators, who fell to 1-3 after the loss, remain unranked.

The Recap

It’s a bitter rivalry that has seen its share of ups and downs and endured for decades, even in starts and stops.

But given that Miami and Florida don’t currently have any future matchups scheduled, the Hurricanes knew Saturday night’s meeting might be their last opportunity to line up against the Gators for a while and they were determined to make sure it was a game to remember.

Rueben Bain Jr., Mohamed Toure, Akheem Mesidor, Wesley Bissainthe and the rest of the Miami defense made sure that’s exactly what it was.

The Hurricanes held the Gators to just one score, a third-quarter touchdown run by Jadan Baugh that briefly gave Florida a bit of momentum but ultimately wasn’t enough.

Miami outgained Florida 344-141. The Hurricanes held the Gators to just 61 passing yards. And on the other side of the ball, Miami relied on its powerful offensive line and physical run game to help move the ball on a rainy, sloppy night that still ended with the Hurricanes celebrating.

“This game means a lot to us. It means a lot to our alumni, the fan base and certainly, we always thought they were a very talented team,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said after the win. “They have a lot of really good players, and they were always a play or two away from being really, really good. Our guys kept their composure when we started getting in a rut a little bit there with the offense. The defense played off the chart football, again.”

While Miami’s offense did struggle at times Saturday, early on, the Hurricanes looked every bit the efficient, effective group they’ve been through the early part of the season.

Marty Brown capped a 7-play, 56-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard touchdown run on Miami’s opening possession to give the Hurricanes a quick 7-0 lead after Carter Davis’ extra point.

The kicker added a pair of field goals in the second quarter – one from 53 yards out and another from 28 yards out – to give the Hurricanes a 13-0 halftime lead.

The Hurricanes appeared to have added to that lead early in the third quarter when Brown seemingly converted a 4^th-and-1 play with a long touchdown run, but officials blew the play dead and Miami’s drive eventually sputtered.

Then came Baugh’s touchdown run for the Gators, and a Carson Beck interception that suddenly created a tense moment for the Hurricanes fans that filled Hard Rock Stadium.

Miami’s defense, though, responded to the sudden change.

The Hurricanes held on the possession immediately after the turnover, forced Florida into a turnover on downs, forced another Gators 3-and-out and set the stage for two late Miami touchdown drives.

Brown scored one of those fourth-quarter touchdowns to cap a 13-play, 80-yard drive that chewed up more than seven minutes. Fellow running back Mark Fletcher Jr. scored as well, and the Hurricanes closed out their four-game, season-opening homestand with a fourth win.

“We don’t get to play these guys again. This game should be on the schedule every year. It should be. It’s a shame that it’s not. We wanted to make sure that we took advantage of the opportunity,” Cristobal said. “The part that really sticks out for me on the defense, which I didn’t even realize until after, was [Florida was] 0-for-13 on third-down [conversions]. I’ve never been part of an organization that held a team to that particular statistic. … I love the fact that we’re doing a much better job of blocking out all that noise and the rat poison people are always talking about. We’re focused on doing our job and doing right and playing for each other and for the University of Miami.

“We’ve come miles, but we have miles and miles to go.”

Numbers to Know

0 – Third-down conversions for Florida in Saturday’s game. The Gators had 13 opportunities to extend drives on third down. Miami’s defense stopped them on every attempt.

133 – All-purpose yards for Brown against Florida. He finished with a game-high 18 carries for 80 yards and had four catches for 53 yards.

2 – Consecutive 100-yard rushing performances for Fletcher. The running back, who didn’t top the 100-yard mark last season, has now done it in back-to-back games against Bethune-Cookman and now Florida. Fletcher also scored three touchdowns in those games.

4 – Sacks totaled by the Miami defense. Toure, Jakobe Thomas, Marquise Lightfoot, and the combination of Bissainthe and Mesidor all got to Florida quarterback DJ Lagway. Miami’s defense also totaled seven tackles for loss.

10 – Straight home wins for the Hurricanes, dating back to last season. Last year, Miami beat FAMU, Ball State, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Duke and Wake Forest at Hard Rock Stadium. So far this season, the Hurricanes have notched home wins over Notre Dame, Bethune-Cookman, USF and now Florida.

Quotable

“Very resilient. It was just a little hiccup. Football’s football. They’re on scholarship too, so they’re going to make some plays. But after that drive, we came back to the drawing board, came on the sideline, fixed everything, got the communication right and came out playing football like we’re supposed to play. Really, that wasn’t supposed to happen, but it’s football. You go on to the next play and we perfected it from [there] on out.”

– Defensive lineman Rueben Bain, on how Miami’s defense responded after giving up a touchdown

“It felt great. We came out slow [in the] second half, tried to get something going and to finally got something going on that last drive, that touchdown, it meant a lot, and it boosted us throughout the rest of the fourth quarter.”

– Running back Marty Brown, on his fourth-quarter touchdown

“I mean, that’s a great team win right there. Our defense played out of their minds, honestly. Our o-line physically imposed their will on their defense, and I mean, you look at Marty and Mark [Fletcher Jr.] tonight … personally, I think that’s the best running back duo in the country, and we haven’t seven seen [Jordan] Lyle that much with [his] injury. Those three together, man, it’s special. I think they showed that tonight and it was a great team win. That’s a really good team that we just played.”

– Quarterback Carson Beck, on the win over Florida

“That’s just something [defensive coordinator Corey] Hetherman preaches – swarm, swarm, swarm. In practices, we practice it every it every day so in games it translates, and guys are going out there, giving it their all every play.”

– Linebacker Mohamed Toure, on Miami’s defense gets to the ball against its opponents

“The rivalry itself took care of all the intensity that comes with the rivalry. They got word and they got wind that this was the last regular-season one scheduled, at least for now. So that adds a lot to it. Yeah, bragging rights forever. We’ve been able to maintain home victories against them, I believe, since 1977. That’s really significant. You don’t want to be the team that gave away that one. But I do believe this: I think what had most everything to do with the way that we dug in and played better toward the end was just playing for each other. I really believe that. … All in all, I think you saw two teams that were going at it, that have respect for each other but absolutely hate each other. It was good to come out on top.”

– Head coach Mario Cristobal, on winning another rivalry game against Florida

Up Next

With one rivalry game behind them, the Hurricanes now turn their focus to another.

Miami won’t play this week, but it will travel to Tallahassee to open ACC play against rival Florida State on Oct. 4. It’s a game that could, potentially, be a top-10 matchup.

The eighth-ranked Seminoles have won three straight to open the season, including a 66-10 victory over Kent State this past weekend.

Seminoles quarterback Tommy Castellanos completed 10 of 13 passes for 205 yards in limited action against the Golden Flashes and Gavin Sawchuk rushed for a team-high 97 yards and two touchdowns. Micahi Danzy had two catches for 46 yards and Florida State totaled a school-record 775 yards of offense in the win.

But before the Hurricanes and Seminoles meet, Florida State will play its conference opener at Virginia on Friday. The Cavaliers are 3-1.

Miami and Florida State have faced each other 69 times during their storied rivalry, and the Hurricanes hold a 36-33 lead in the all-time series. Miami won last year’s meeting 36-14.