Canes Rewind: A Look Back at the Game Against SMU
DALLAS – 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 26-20 overtime loss to SMU on Saturday afternoon at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
After the loss, the Hurricanes fell to 6-2 overall and 2-2 in ACC play. The Mustangs, meanwhile, improved to 6-3 overall and are 4-1 in ACC play.
The Recap
Entering their matchup against new ACC foe SMU, the Hurricanes made it clear.
For them, every game at this point of the season – the heart of conference play – is a playoff game.
But on Saturday in Dallas, the Hurricanes made too many of the kinds of mistakes that can keep a team out of the actual playoffs and SMU found ways to capitalize.
Miami turned the ball over twice, including once in overtime. It was penalized 12 times and saw more than a few drives derailed because of procedural problems.
In the end, the Hurricanes walked back into their locker room disappointed as Mustangs fan rushed the field after SMU notched its first victory over a top 10 team since 1974.
“Credit to SMU for finding a way to win. Obviously, a lot of self-inflicted issues for us. At the end, just didn’t have enough to overcome it,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said. “Played hard, that’s the positive. We always play hard, to the end, every game. But lots of penalties. It’s on all of us.”
The Hurricanes had opportunities throughout the afternoon to take control of the game.
At the half, they’d outgained SMU 227-121. And they’d held the ball for more than 20 minutes, compared to just 9:52 for the Mustangs.
But they only had a 10-7 lead after their final possession of the half – which started on SMU’s 9-yard line after a spectacular 49-yard punt return by Malachi Toney – ended with a 22-yard field goal from Carter Davis instead of a touchdown.
On the opening possession of the second half, SMU took its first lead of the game when Mustangs quarterback Kevin Jennings scored on a 3-yard scramble to cap a 9-play, 79-yard scoring drive that took all of 2:43 off the clock.
The Hurricanes answered with a touchdown drive of their own and regained the lead, 17-14, after quarterback Carson Beck connected with Alex Bauman on a 4-yard touchdown that capped a 7-play, 75-yard drive.
Miami’s defense forced a three-and-out on SMU’s ensuing possession, but the Hurricanes weren’t able to add to their lead on their next drive.
Photo by Elijah Heatley
Instead, the Hurricanes turned the ball over on downs after being unable to convert on a 4th-and-1 and that helped set up a game-tying 43-yard field goal by SMU’s Sam Keltner just before the start of the fourth quarter.
Both Davis and Keltner converted on field goals in the fourth quarter, the game went to overtime and there, with Miami facing a 3rd-and-6 on the SMU 7-yard line, Beck was picked off again, and SMU went on to win after six run plays – five from TJ Harden – put the ball in the end zone.
“You’ve got to be a grown man and face reality. We didn’t take care of business and that’s completely on us. If you’re raised the right way and you have the right stuff inside of you, you go right back to work,” Cristobal said. “You don’t know how things shake out. This is certainly a wild college football season, and the focus has to be on us taking care of our business. You always give credit to the opponent. That’s a good football team. … And when you make that many mistakes as an organization, you allow yourself to be put in a position where you can get beat and that’s what happened today in overtime.”
Numbers to Know
96 – Yards lost by the Hurricanes because of penalties in Saturday’s loss. Ten times the Hurricanes found themselves facing 3rd-and-long situations – including a 3rd-and-33 – in part because of penalties called on the offense. The Hurricanes finished the day 7-of-16 on third-down conversions.
13 – Points scored by SMU off Miami’s two turnovers.
3 – Number of Hurricanes who accounted for more than 100 all-purpose yards. Malachi Toney led that group with 116, including 70 receiving yards.
Quotable
“It just comes down to execution at the end of the day. I feel like we didn’t execute on both sides of the ball well enough to get the job done … Everybody’s got to look at themselves and execute. In those moments when it’s loud, when it’s rough, when it’s tough, you’ve got to execute … We win together, we lose together, so at the end of the day, it’s on everybody to get the job done.”
– Defensive back Keionte Scott, on Miami’s mistakes against SMU
“It was little details stuff. We have to go back to the drawing board and start executing all the little things and play [to the] standard of football here.”
– Wide receiver Malachi Toney on the Hurricanes’ penalties Saturday
“Just stay together. We can’t separate. We have to [be] what we’ve said what we are the entire year. That’s having connection. That’s playing as a team. That’s staying in unity regardless of what happens. That’s all we can do. We learn from the mistakes of what happened this game and just continue forward and finish each week as hard as we can.”
– Quarterback Carson Beck, on how Miami needs to respond after Saturday’s loss
Up Next
After playing their first game out of state, the Hurricanes will return home to Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday to continue ACC play against Syracuse.
The Orange enter Saturday’s game having lost five straight, including a 27-10 loss to UNC this past Friday night. In that game, North Carolina held Syracuse to a total of 147 yards.
During that five-game losing streak, the Orange have been outscored 167-60.
Miami and Syracuse, one-time conference rivals in the Big East, have met 24 times, with the Hurricanes holding a 16-8 lead in the all-time series and a 9-3 edge in games played in Miami.
However, the Orange won last year’s meeting, erasing a 21-point deficit en route to a 42-38 win.
