Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hurricanes’ ‘next season’ to start against Wisconsin
CORAL GABLES — The season hasn’t been even remotely close to what they expected.
After winning the ACC’s Coastal Division in 2017 and rising as high as No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings last year, the Hurricanes were a preseason top-10 team this year for the first time since 2004. Several talented players were among those on watch lists for some of college football’s most prestigious awards. And Miami was widely expected to defend its division title and face off against ACC power Clemson for a chance at the program’s first conference championship.
Four months later, Miami finds itself not in the College Football Playoff or even a New Year’s Six Bowl. The Hurricanes, who instead will take on Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl on Thursday, endured a midseason four-game losing streak that ended their conference title hopes. One of their top players — receiver Ahmmon Richards — played in just one game after he suffered a career-ending neck injury in the opener against LSU.
The Hurricanes, plagued by lackluster line play and quarterback questions all
year, sputtered offensively for most of the season, averaging just 374.6 yards per game, which ranks 92nd in the nation. As quarterbacks Malik Rosier and N’Kosi Perry dealt with accuracy issues and alternated starts, Miami’s passing attack was limited to an average of just 177.3 yards per game, which ranked 109th among 130 FBS programs.
Angry fans and former players turned up the heat on third-year coach Mark Richt and as Miami’s struggles continued during the Early Signing Period — which this year, did not yield the same number of top-notch prospects past recruiting classes have featured — a sense of doom-and-gloom seemed to have settled around the program.
But Miami’s coaches and players believe the tide can turn with a win over a Wisconsin team that, like the Hurricanes, has underachieved this season.
“The sky isn’t falling. Next year is going to be a way better year than this year was,” running back DeeJay Dallas said. “We came into the season with high expectations and it didn’t go how we wanted it to go. But, bounce-back year. The revenge tour starts [this] week. I’m excited. We start next season off with Wisconsin. That’s how I’m feeling about this.”
Even as Miami navigated its way through that four-game losing streak, Richt was adamant he was going to continue calling plays, but before Miami traveled to New York for Thursday’s game, offensive coordinator Thomas Brown reiterated his belief that the Hurricanes will find solutions to some of the significant problems they dealt with this season.
“Even when we were on a 15-game win streak [last year] and things were going well, nobody was saying a word about what we were doing offensively. Every single week, we look at what we’re doing, evaluate what we’re doing and try to find ways to become better. We don’t just look at it when everybody says, ‘Hey, y’all suck’ or whatever else the issue is,” Brown said. “I think we’re in a really good spot. I think we’re going to bounce back again. Just some youth and inexperience at times. That kind of hurt, some of those struggles. We’re going to continue to get better at quarterback, either with the guys we have or someone else that we’ll bring in. We’ll be better in the future, for sure.”
Added Dallas, “I know my coaches and I know my teammates. And I trust my teammates and I trust my coaches. So, we are just going to go on a run. I’m ready.”