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ATLANTA — The Miami Hurricanes‘ luck finally ran out. After falling behind by two touchdowns, Miami could not mount a comeback on the road against Georgia Tech.
The punishment: UM’s first loss of the season.
Here are 10 things we learned from the gut-punch in Atlanta:
Ward can’t bail you out every time
Star quarterback Cam Ward has been spectacular this season, but he cannot do everything himself. He had a decent game but was far from perfect, especially in the first half. The rest of the team did not make up the difference.
Ward ultimately finished the game with a 64 percent completion percentage, 348 passing yards and three touchdowns — setting the all-time UM single-season record in the process — but he also fumbled on the final play of Miami’s potential game-winning drive.
The truth of the matter is, as good as Ward is, Miami can’t rely on him to bail the team out every week.
Run defense faltered
The Hurricanes had a primary task this week: stop Georgia Tech’s running game. They failed.
The Yellow Jackets ran for 271 yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns, wearing down Miami and limiting UM’s chances to get the ball back and utilize their high-powered offense. The run-defense issues were amplified by the fact that Georgia Tech was hardly passing the ball. They threw the ball 16 times out of 64 plays.
Miami knew what was coming and could not stop it.
Struggles on third and fourth downs
The Hurricanes have been one of the nation’s top teams on third and fourth downs all season, but that aptitude did not show up this week. UM went 4 of 14 on those crucial plays.
On the other side, GT went 9 of 14 on third downs, keeping drives alive and wearing out Miami’s defense.
Live by the sword, die by the sword
Miami’s aggressiveness has typically worked out for them this season, but it did not against Georgia…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ten-things-learned-miami-hurricanes-172000391.html
Author : South Florida Sun Sentinel
Publish date : 2024-11-10 17:20:00
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