17 of the last 18 years, Miami has lost their opening weekend matchup. Saturday was among the more difficult games to watch in recent memory. The RedHawks lost 59-14 to Pittsburgh in the Steel City to open the year.
The Game
The talent gap showed up early and often Saturday after Miami got into a 21-0 deficit in the first quarter behind a 17 yards TD pass with 10:06 remaining, a 50 yard rush with 4:55 remaining, and then a 5 yard pass with 00:09 remaining in the 1st quarter. The 2nd quarter seemed to flip back towards Miami with the RedHawks outscoring Pitt 14-10, however, with the game at 28-14, Miami looked to be getting off the field before a personal foul on RS-Senior defensive back Dillon Tatum. This penalty kept the drive alive and led to a 58 yard Pitt Field Goal as the clock expired.
That massive momentum shift effectively squashed the game for the RedHawks who allowed Pittsburgh to put up a 21-0 3rd quarter and they took at 52-14 lead into the 4th quarter. The backups played for the Panthers in the 4th, and the game ended 59-14.
The Good
David McComb looks like a bonafied QB1. He put up 240 yards on 16-33 passing and no INTs. He hit 7 different receivers throughout the game.
- Lynel Billups-Williams caught 4 balls on 6 targets for 31 yards
- Scoop Smith caught 3 balls on 4 targets for 50 yards – He handled the returning duties and was very electric. Scoop’s going to be significant in this year’s team. He had 157 all purpose yards (107 from kick returns)
- Maleek Huggins caught 3 passes on 7 attempts for 21 yards
- Damarion Witten caught 2 passes for 90 yards (including a 75 yard TD), on 3 targets
- Braylon Isom caught 2 passes for 40 yards on 6 targets
- Christian Ross caught 1 pass for 1 yard
- Brady Simmons caught 1 ball for 5 yards
On defense, there isn’t much to be happy with, Roosevelt Andrews had the lone RedHawk sack, and CJ Young led all defenders with 8 tackles, including 3 solo.
The Bad
Everything else.
Without being overly critical, this defensive performance is concerning. However, before. drawing conclusions, let’s take a step back. This Pitt team is an offense with significant continuity who was extraordinarily explosive at times last year. This Miami defense has significant questions and had a good deal of turnover last season. That said, this roster is new and needs time to mesh together. Miami’s secondary needs to be better though, there were TD passes of 53, 45, 35, 27, 17, 15, and 5 yards. Allowing explosive lays like that is obviously a concern for the score, but it also means that your offense isn’t getting rest. Just 2 of Pitts 9 scoring drives lasted more than 8 plays. This limits the amount of time that the offense can adjust and gameplan for things they’ve seen on other drives.
On offense, Miami mustered just 47 rushing yards. That’s something that the coaching staff will look to immediately correct this next week against easier competition. Lazardo Rogers led the rushing attack with 6 attempts for 21 yards. Caleb Heavner (backup QB) had a rush for 11, D’Shawntae Jones rushed 5 times for 10 yards. Rodney Nelson had 5 carries for just 7 yards. Concerningly, Cade Yacamelli (Wisconsin transfer) rushed for 0 yards on 1 attempt.
This was a buy game, and Pittsburgh was favored by double digits, however, many people expected Miami to put up a better fight overall. The defense needs to tighten up quickly and put some pressure on their opponents and make a stop. However, Miami won’t play any other opponents of Pitt’s caliber this season.
The focus has to be regrouping and moving on from this week.
Up next: 1:00 Kickoff next Saturday (9/12) at 1:00 at Yeager Stadium vs. Holy Cross. Sansom Sports Media will be there for all of the action!
Leave a Reply