Miami well past its appetizer. Texas A&M’s ‘big-boy ball’ coming to Hard Rock Stadium

From the other Miami to the SEC, the Hurricanes are well past the hors d’oeuvres en route to the prime rib.

This week it’s “big-boy ball’’ against No. 23 Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m. Saturday (ABC) at Hard Rock Stadium. The Aggies crushed New Mexico 52-10 on Saturday night in College Station, Texas.

After the University of Miami easily handled Miami of Ohio in a 38-3 opening-night victory, Canes defensive coordinator Lance Guidry on Monday said he was pleased with the performance and that for the most part his defenders “played really hard’’ and “were sound.’’

“I thought we ran to the football and tackled well,’’ Guidry said. “We played with a lot of great effort... and even when a guy missed, another one was there. It was pretty clean on defense, we stopped the run well [but] this week presents a whole different challenge — Big-boy ball this week.’’

Texas A&M’s 52 points were the most the Aggies have scored against an FBS opponent since a seven-overtime 74-72 win over LSU in 2018. Quarterback Conner Weigman threw for 236 yards and a career-high five touchdowns. The Aggies allowed 222 yards — 131 through the air and 91 on the ground.

UM coach Mario Cristobal’s first word, when asked his immediate impression of the defense: “aggressive.’’

“I saw a team that played fast. I saw a team that played to their training since January — a commitment to increasing our level of physicality and speed, being able to close on the ball and ball carriers, being able to work in the pass-rush game, being able to play with a little bit more power.

“Coach Guidry, you know how highly we think of him, being able to put it together. But if you watch film with him, he’s not going to be completely happy. He’s going to find a lot of stuff to fix. But he is going to be happy with the effort.’’

Defensive line

Guidry spoke about his defensive line rotation. More than a dozen players rotated on the line, including 6-4, 296-pound starting tackle Leonard Taylor III, who didn’t register any statistics and according to Pro Football Focus, played only 15 snaps. The other starting tackle was Branson Deen (two tackles, one tackle for loss), with Akheem Mesidor (two tackles) and Nyjalik Kelly (a tackle, half a tackle for loss and a pass breakup) at end.

Among the other linemen: Jahfari Harvey, Jared Harrison-Hunt, Thomas Gore, Rueben Bain, Jayden Wayne, Chantz Williams, Ahmad Moten, Josh Horton, Jacob Lichtenstein.

“You get in a game and rotate guys and you don’t know how long a series will last,’’ Guidry said. “[Taylor] played about as much we needed him to play or wanted him to play. Still getting in shape to where he can last throughout games. Through the course of season his rep count will go up. We need Leonard to play well, because Leonard can really be a force inside.’’

Guidry said there “was not much of a drop-off’’ between the first- and second-team lines.

“We mixed and matched a lot of guys. ...You can’t go out there and play with one D-line. You need guys fresh at the end of the game because they’ve got to tackle running backs. Offensive linemen don’t sub a a lot, but they don’t have to make tackles. They can block and hold on to people and lean on people. Defensive linemen got to disengage and run and tackle people with the football.’’

Shannon Dawson

Asked to talk about some of Texas A&M’s defensive athletes that stand out to him and what challenges they pose, UM offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said, laughing, “Which ones you want to talk about?

“All of them are very athletic. The people that walk out onto the field are long, fast. The D-line is athletic. They’re big, physical. Linebackers are long and rangy. The back-end guys — the safeties— tackle well and get there with mean intentions. We know what we have facing us and we’re going to be ready for the task.’’

The Aggies gained 411 yards against New Mexico — 277 passing and 134 rushing.

“A&M is a talented team,” Dawson said. “The sense of urgency at every position needs to improve. That naturally happens through the course of preparation. Kids know. They watch film.”

Lesson learned

What impressed Dawson on Friday as much as anything else?

How his players reacted when Tyler Van Dyke threw an interception early in the second quarter. Dawson blamed himself for being “greedy” and calling a play he shouldn’t have called. But in the end, he said, he learned something about the Hurricanes.

“I was more curious to see how we were going to be on the sideline after a negative play, after adversity,’’ Dawson said. “Honestly, I thought that was the best part of the entire game.

“I’ve preached to these guys since I got here of picking up teammates. Heck, It isn’t really about the great plays you make. It’s about the bad plays other people make and what you do to pick those guys up.”

He said he watched players come off the field to see how they communicated after the mishap.

“It was awesome,’’ the coach said. “Everybody went over, from O-linemen to receivers and everybody was saying the right thing. Very positive interaction. And so that told me something about the group.

“Look, you’re going to mess up. I didn’t call the perfect game. That was obviously a play I would like to have back — and he would too. But it also revealed something to me about the group, which was really positive. Everybody on the sideline was just ‘Hey, move on. Next play.’