Well, the Miami Hurricanes finally woke up from their multi-game slumber, thrashing the Stanford Cardinal in the second half to pull away and win comfortably 42-7 on Saturday night inside Hard Rock Stadium.
Carson Beck threw it to the right team often, going 21/28 for 189 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. Mark Fletcher, Jr. was a blunt instrument of eventual production, going for 23 carries, 106 yards, and 3 scores. Tony Johnson led all pass catchers with 69 receiving yards on 3 catches.
Man, that was a tale of two halves, and the first was very, very rough for the Miami Hurricanes. UM pushed the ball down the field on their first drive, but a false start penalty stalled the drive, which ended with a missed field goal from 44 yards. Stanford, like what happened last week, took their opening drive and crammed it down Miami’s throat, going 74 yards in 12 plays for a 7-0 lead.
That score stood for most of the first half, as Miami’s offense stumbled its way through yet another bad half going back to the fourth quarter against FSU. A punt and a dropped ball on fourth down by CJ Daniels kept Miami off the scoreboard. Fortunately, Daniels made up for it by Mossing a defender in the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown with a little bit over a minute left in the first half. The teams hit the locker room tied at 7.
The second half was all Hurricanes. Miami’s pass rush finally started to get home routinely, and first down runs by Cole Tabb were finally shut down near the line of scrimmage. But it was Malachi Toney that slapped his teammates awake with a pair of big plays early in the third quarter. He posted a pair of 30+ yard punt returns on Stanford’s first two possessions of the half. Miami turned one of those into a touchdown for a 14-7 lead.
But Wesley Bissainthe put Miami in position to go up comfortably with an interception that he ran back to the Stanford 3. Fletcher, Jr. punched it in, and the Canes were up 21-7 late in the third. Xavier Lucas picked up his first interception as a Cane on the next drive. Four plays later – four Fletcher, Jr. runs later, to be more precise – and Miami covered 45 yards for a 28-7 lead, and the issue was firmly beyond doubt at that point.
Jordan Lyle had a beautiful touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter, breaking through the line, kicking out wide, and beating the defender to the corner for a 17-yard score. Fletcher, Jr. is a bruiser, but Lyle’s speed and quickness really can be something to behold (*cough, as in outside run plays, cough*). That would do it for the starters, and an Emory Williams-led final drive ended with a Girard Pringle, Jr. short touchdown run to close out the scoring.
Miami improves to 6-1 (2-1) with the win. Up next is SMU next Saturday in Dallas, the Canes’ first trip out of the state of Florida this season.