UM Falls Flat At K-State
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – If you're looking for quality football, it may be time to change the channel when the University of Miami Hurricanes are coming on television. The Canes are giving new definition to defensive ineptitude this season.
Among teams from the power conferences, no team has given up more points or yards than the once-vaunted "U." Miami allowed 84 points and 1,035 yards in the first two games of the 2012 season, or 42 points and 517.5 yards per game.
UM's defense was horrendous against the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday. K-State had 498 yards of total offense in the game, including 288 yards rushing. The Wildcats are not a pass first team and still had more than 200 yards passing against a woeful Hurricanes defense.
Kansas State ran for six touchdowns and scored 52 points, which was the most a Hurricanes team had allowed in 167 games dating back to 1998 in a game against Syracuse. For comparison purposes, the last national championship team at Miami, the 2001 squad, gave up just 8 rushing touchdowns that season.
The Wildcats were 8-11 on third-downs against the Hurricanes and completed just 11 passes in the game. Pretty much every defensive stat for the Hurricanes showed a complete domination on the part of Kansas State.
"We got beat by a better team who played better," Golden said. "And as painful as that is to say, you know, they executed better than we did. Their playmakers played better than ours. They coached better. And as I said, I thought they were flawless in their execution on offense and beat us in all three phases."
Miami's demolition at the hands of K-State came just a week after the team allowed 537 yards of offense to Boston College. The Eagles followed that offensive output up this week with just 385 yards of total offense…against the Maine Black Bears.
Still, Golden said the team isn't going to make drastic changes after two horrendous defensive performances.
"We're not going to deviate from the plan," Miami coach Al Golden said. "We have a lot of kids that are trying to do things the right way and we've just got to make sure we settle them down and trust them and just teach them how to go about this and have some poise in those situations and then move forward. We're disappointed, but we're not discouraged."
Things may not get much better this week because the Hurricanes welcome in Bethune-Cookman to Sun Life Stadium. BC is coming off two straight victories, including a 27-14 victory over South Carolina State last weekend. BC ran up 442 yards of offense against Miami last season and led the game in the second quarter.
Canes fans aren't used to getting mauled by the likes of K-State, but with a squad loaded with freshman and sophomores, a long season could be in store for "The U."
(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
