‘Wacky,’ wonderful month for Miami Hurricanes. Check out these latest numbers
A third of the college football season has already passed, and for the Miami Hurricanes, it’s been a completely uplifting start — so uplifting that visions of playing in the Dec. 2 Atlantic Coast Conference Football Championship Game no longer seem unrealistic.
The Hurricanes (4-0), who rose two spots to No. 18 on Sunday in the AP Top 25 poll, have pretty much passed every test this season, including their 41-7 victory Saturday in rainy and windy conditions that had the goal posts swaying intensely most of the game.
“We’re getting better,’’ said UM coach Mario Cristobal before his team returned to Miami for its only off week of the season before facing Georgia Tech at Hard Rock Stadium on Oct 7 for its first of eight consecutive ACC games.
After four games, the Hurricanes are playing so much better than last season that it’s mind boggling. The fact that this is the first time Miami has scored at least 38 points in each of its first four games since 2002 — the last time UM played in the national title game — reflects the play of quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, his receivers, running backs and a thriving offensive line that didn’t allow a sack or pressure Saturday.
Yet, as of Sunday, the NCAA national rankings showed that UM’s offense isn’t the only thing cooking for the Canes.
Defense
Defensively, the Canes are now the No. 2 rushing defense in the country of 130 ranked FBS teams, allowing only 48 rushing yards a game. They’re the No. 12 scoring defense (12.5 points allowed per game), No. 7 in first-down defense and No. 34 in turnovers gained (7).
Te’Cory Couch, who admittedly badly misplayed a would-be tackle that allowed Temple’s Amad Anderson to gain 46 yards after a catch in the first half, ended up making an interception in the end zone on the first play of the second quarter of the same drive. Couch, a fifth-year senior, had two interceptions Saturday and is tied with 15 other players in the nation for No. 1 in interceptions per game. He has three total.
“I just gotta watch film and clean up what I messed up on. It was kind of my fault that they got in the red zone in the first place. I was happy to be the one to get the turnover.”
UM defensive lineman Thomas Gore is ranked ninth nationally in forced fumbles, with two.
Where do the Canes rank offensively?
As a team, they’re No. 11 in rushing, averaging 225 1/2 yards on the ground a game after a season-best 323 rushing yards against Temple. They’re No. 7 in scoring offense (43.8 points a game), No. 6 in team passing efficiency (192.9), 13th in turnovers lost (3), 11th in tackles for loss allowed (3.5 a game) and 20th in sacks allowed (one a game, though none Saturday.)
Running back Henry Parrish Jr., who had a career-best 139 yards rushing and two touchdowns Saturday, is No. 2 in the nation with 7.88 yards a carry.
Tyler Van Dyke
Van Dyke, like his teammates, had another outstanding performance, especially given the weather conditions.
Van Dyke is now fourth nationally in passing efficiency (197.8), seventh in completion percentage (74.7), ninth in passing touchdowns (11), 34th in passing yards (1,042), 32nd in passing yards per game (260.5), 27th in passing yards per completion (14.08) and 12th in points responsible for (74). He has thrown only one interception this season, in the opener.
“We’re clicking,’’ Van Dyke said. “ I think we did leave a little meat on the bone [Saturday]. Definitely some drives we could have finished better and scored a few more points. But definitely clicking right now and we’ve just got to continue to do that in ACC play.”
His receivers? Jacolby George is 16th nationally with four receiving touchdowns; Xavier Restrepo is 27th with 355 receiving yards.
“Our offense has evolved in whatever is thrown at us,’’ said Restrepo, who had two touchdown catches Saturday for the first time in his career.
Bye week
Cristobal said the bye week will be used in many ways.
“Certainly you want to use the bye week to get healthy,’’ the coach said, “but you want to use it to get better. There’s a balance there. You want to self-scout to see what you’re doing, where your tendencies are, make sure you can evolve — find some things to work on, and some to throw out, some to add.
“It’s important we continue to get more connected as a team, as coaches and players, because that’s probably the most valuable thing we’ve done since January. This team has become tighter, become more self-motivated, driven and we’ve got to continue to enhance that. We’re going to spend some time in the community, too...and get a chance to show our faces.
“The bye week., man, there are so many ways that it’s important. You’ve got to make sure to take care of school work — we had a Thursday night game, we had a Friday night game, we were on the road, we were at home. We’ve had a wacky month. Great month of September. Came out of it 4-0. Took care of business.”
