Canes Rewind: A Look Back At the Win over Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – 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 No. 12 Miami’s 38-7 win over No. 22 Pittsburgh in a key ACC matchup on Saturday at Acrisure Stadium.

With the win, the Hurricanes finished the regular season 10-2 and posted a 6-2 mark in conference play. The Panthers, meanwhile, finished the regular season 8-4 and 6-2 in ACC play.

The Recap 

Ahead of their matchup against Pittsburgh, the Hurricanes faced plenty of questions.

They were asked about the game’s high stakes given the fact both they and Pittsburgh had paths to the ACC Championship Game and were jockeying for postseason positioning.

They were asked about how they thought they’d fare in Pittsburgh’s chilly weather.

And they were asked how they’d keep their focus with all the talk surrounding the ever-shifting weekly College Football Playoff rankings.

On Saturday, Miami answered them all – in dominating fashion.

The Hurricanes scored 35 unanswered points to secure their 10^th win of the season. They totaled 416 yards of offense to Pittsburgh’s 229 and held the Panthers to just 30 rushing yards. And all afternoon, they made life difficult for Panthers quarterback Mason Heintschel, pressuring him consistently and sacking him four times.

It was the kind of performance Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said proved why the Hurricanes – who closed out the regular with four straight wins – belong in the playoffs.

“At the end of the day, not only do we pass the eye test, we pass the field test, especially as it relates to playing this brand of football down the stretch and in head-to-head competition against others that are being judged in the same little pool that we are,” Cristobal said. “Plus, we’re getting healthy. No one ever talked about the value of that in the middle of the season when we got banged up with six, seven starters going down. Now, we’re almost all the way back.

“Our quarterback … [it’s] hard to compare to anybody else in the country playing the caliber of football that he’s playing. Our defensive and offensive lines have been absolutely dominant, and they showed it from game one all the way to game now, forcing opponents to have their worst-graded performances against our fronts. I think all that stuff speaks loudly and again, it’s not only the eye test, it’s the field test.”

The Hurricanes struck first, with Carter Davis kicking a 29-yard field goal to cap a 9-play, 54-yard drive late in the first quarter.

The Panthers responded on their ensuing possession.

Justin Holmes caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Heintschel that capped a 13-play, 75-yard scoring drive and Pittsburgh took the lead.

It didn’t last long.

After that Panthers’ touchdown, the Hurricanes turned to one of their standout playmakers, Malachi Toney.

The freshman caught a 19-yard pass from Carson Beck that pushed Miami deep into Pittsburgh territory. Three plays later, Toney completed a pass of his own – this one a 9-yard touchdown to tight end Elija Lofton that gave Miami a 10-7 lead after the extra point.

They wouldn’t trail again.

After that, Mark Fletcher Jr. scored on a 4-yard run. Beck and Marty Brown connected on a 9-yard scoring play, and in the game’s final moments, Beck completed his third touchdown pass of the day – a 33-yard strike – to CJ Daniels.

Beck finished the day completing 23 of 29 passes for 267 yards with three touchdowns, while Toney had 13 catches for 126 yards.

“Just playing our best football right now and really physical. Won the line of scrimmage, put pressure on their quarterback, forced them into some really difficult third-down situations … and everybody wanted to see how Miami would do in the cold weather on the road against a top 25 team,” Cristobal said. “I think we answered those questions very clearly.”

Numbers to Know

970 – Total receiving yards for Toney this season. He set a new Miami freshman single-season record, breaking the mark of 934 yards set by Richards in 2016.

8.2 – Running back Girard Pringle Jr. ’s average yards-per-carry on Saturday. Pringle finished the day with a game-high 82 rushing yards.

4 – Third-down conversions for the Pittsburgh offense. The Panthers had 13 third-down conversion opportunities, but Miami’s defense held on nine of those chances.

74.7 – Season completion percentage for Beck. That remains No. 2 in the nation behind only Julian Sayin of Ohio State. On the season, Beck has completed 263 of 352 passes for 3,072 yards and 25 touchdowns.

4 – Interceptions totaled during the regular season by freshman Bryce Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, who had a pick in Saturday’s win over Pittsburgh, is tied for the team lead with fifth-year senior Jakobe Thomas.

Quotable

“It’s been amazing, man. To see where this program has come, man, it’ s been amazing. It goes to show all the work we put in those four years. It wasn’t easy, but Coach Cristobal has done an amazing job with us and his coaching staff. Like I said, [we’ve] just got to keep it going.”

– Linebacker Wesley Bissainthe, on the program’s growth during his four years at Miami and the Hurricanes putting together back-to-back 10-win seasons 

“I believe we can compete with anybody in my opinion. And honestly, not even in my opinion. I think we’ve shown that we can compete with anyone and that we have a really, really talented team. Not just a few talented players here and there, but a really talented team that is really efficient and that plays really, really well in all three phases of the game. And again, like I said, I think we compete with anybody, and we’ve done a good job of focusing on what we need to focus on to get to this point. It’s kind of up in the air and not in our hands at this moment, but I think we’ve done what we’ve had to do, and we can go compete with anybody.”

– Quarterback Carson Beck, on why he believes the Hurricanes belong in the College Football Playoff

“It really wasn’t much of a factor today. I mean, we’ve got guys who are tough and obviously, some of the guys on the team have probably never played in weather like that before, but as a lineman, we love weather like that. It’s fun to play in. You get a little energy boost, I’d say. It was a lot of fun today. I’m really proud of the way everyone responded to it.”

– Offensive lineman James Brockermeyer, on how Miami handled the colder temperatures in Pittsburgh

“Are you surprised? Nobody else is, right? All year long, his dedication, his natural talent and his game-day approach and performances have been absolutely awesome. So, Mali’s just getting started. There isn’t a better freshman in the country. There might not be a better and more exciting player in the country right now than Malachi Toney and he’s fun to be around. He does it all. Got another touchdown pass, right, so beat Carson on his QBR today.”

– Head coach Mario Cristobal, on Malachi Toney setting a new freshman receiving record

“That practice after SMU, it was the best practice of the year and to see our team respond like that and bring energy … guys were flying around, guys were making plays and guys were running around the field that weren’t even in the particular play in practice and from there on out, it kind of was kind of this new energy … this kind of newfound juice. And it just continuously carried over each and every Saturday and we kind of built on that each and every week and we finished out really well and we’re playing really good, efficient ball in all honesty in all three phases.”

– Beck, on how the Hurricanes closed out the last four games of the regular season

Up Next

The Hurricanes have closed out the regular season schedule and will learn their postseason destination next Sunday. Miami, at No. 12, was the highest-ranked ACC team in the most recent College Football Playoffs ahead of No. 18 Virginia, No. 21 SMU, No. 22 Pittsburgh and No. 23 Georgia Tech.