Canes Return Home to Host Syracuse
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – For the second time this season, the Hurricanes find themselves in the unenviable position of needing a bounce-back performance after a tough loss.
They know the stakes are high now that the calendar has flipped to November. They know conference games mean tighter margins and less room for error. And they know that after last week’s disappointing 26-20 overtime loss at SMU, if they want to have any chance of reaching their goals, they have to find ways to get back on track.
Quickly.
For Miami, that’s meant learning from – but not dwelling on – what happened last week in Dallas and keeping the focus on this week’s conference matchup against Syracuse.
“Pressure is a privilege. We’ve just got to control what we can control and we’ve got to put the standard on display, no ifs, ands, or buts about it,” freshman receiver Malachi Toney responded this week when asked about the pressure a team faces after suffering a second loss. “We’ve got to go hard for this game, this week. We’re going to focus on it week by week, so right now, the focus is on beating Syracuse.”
Added safety Jakobe Thomas, “We have to control what we can control. All we can control is how we play Saturday and the result of that game. That’s all we can control. … We just [have to] keep moving forward, can’t look back. You’ve got to come in on Sundays, see the mistakes, see the errors, fix it and keep moving.”
Finding ways to fix the mistakes they made against SMU has certainly been a priority for the 18th-ranked Hurricanes (6-2, 2-2 ACC) this week.
Miami turned the ball over twice against the SMU, including once in overtime. And the Hurricanes totaled 12 penalties in the loss, penalties that often proved costly and either put them in 3rd-and-long situations offensively, or worse, extended drives for the Mustangs.
There were dropped passes, stalled plays and after all of it, head coach Mario Cristobal said there was also a determination to find ways to make things right.
“At the end of the day, we have good people,” Cristobal said. “We have hardworking people, people that have a high care factor and also people that recognize the opportunity and know that the college football landscape and this thing down the stretch is as unpredictable as it gets and that we will be one of a dozen or so teams that will have an opportunity to take care of business to continue to push into the postseason.
“Now, all of that is great, but I think we understand that we have to take care of number one and that’s us. We were frustrated, but we’re not helpless. All of our answers are in the room. The self-inflicted stuff we can control and there’s a strong commitment to doing so. … I have zero doubts that this team wants to get to work and to play really, really good football because we’ve done it before.”
Miami’s next opportunity to play the kind of football is knows it can play will come Saturday against a reeling Syracuse team that has dealt with significant injuries, lost five straight and that, earlier this week, made changes to its coaching staff.
Entering Saturday’s game, the Orange (3-6, 1-5) are averaging 371.0 yards per game, which ranks 82nd in the nation. And during its five-game losing streak, Syracuse has been outscored 167-60.
That prompted Orange coach Fran Brown to make some changes on the offensive side of the ball, which Cristobal acknowledged could create some new wrinkles for Miami’s defense to contend with.
But the coach believes the Hurricanes will be prepared for that and his players echoed that sentiment.
“They’re a very talented offensive group. I think they have all the pieces to be explosive,” Thomas said. “I think they’ve struggled with putting it together sometimes, but they’ve got a flash of speed everywhere, flash of talent everywhere. So, you’ve just got to be careful and come in prepared.”
Despite Syracuse’s offensive struggles, the Hurricanes know they can’t afford to look past this particular matchup – especially given what happened last year when the Orange erased a 21-point deficit against Miami before stunning the Hurricanes, 42-38, and handing them their second loss of the season.
It’s a game many of the veterans who were on last year’s team haven’t forgotten, even as they’ve set their sights on what this year’s team wants to accomplish.
“This was the game that we had our second loss to last year,” said cornerback Damari Brown. “It’ll mean a lot to us, those returning players, coming into Hard Rock. We just want to get another win, go 1-0 and just take it week by week.”
Miami knows it will face challenges Saturday.
The Hurricanes will have to be more disciplined than they were against SMU. They have to find ways to be more productive, and they’ll have to do all of that without some of their biggest playmakers, including running back Mark Fletcher Jr. and cornerback OJ Frederique, who were listed as out on Miami’s initial injury report.
But they’ll have to find answers to keep moving forward.
Their coach insists that’s what they’ll do.
“I think it’s very evident this team’s always going to fight all the way to the very end no matter what,” Cristobal said. “But the margins we were winning in early in the season in a couple of games this year, we have slipped up on. Devil’s in the details, and we’re going to work hard and find a way to get those details back and play Hurricane football.”
