UM Tangles With Hokies Saturday
BLACKSBURG, Va. (CBSMiami.com) – The University of Miami Hurricanes come into Saturday's game against Virginia Tech with a desperate need for a conference win to right the ship of the young season.
But UM's task will not be easy as Blacksburg has been a house of horrors for the Canes.
Plus, UM will be without key cogs in its young defense. The Canes lost defensive tackle Marcus Forston for the regular season due to a knee injury.
Losing Forston came just days after the Canes lost starting linebacker Ramon Buchanan to his own knee injury.
The Canes are averaging just fewer than 170 yards per game on the season with the majority of those yards coming from star running back Lamar Miller.
Miller is ranked seventh in the country in rushing yards per game, averaging better than 127 yards a game.
But, the bigger issue for the Canes is that even though Miller is piling up the yards, he's only managed to get into the end zone four times on the season.
Canes quarterback Jacory Harris will make another start for the team and try to keep from turning the ball over against a feisty Hokies defense.
Virginia Tech's defense is number eight in the country in scoring, surrendering just 13 points per game. The Hokies' run defense is second to only Alabama in yards given up per game, surrendering just 58 yards per game.
Plus, the Hokies pass defense is giving up just 191 yards per game through the air and allowing opponents to complete just 46 percent of their passes.
Virginia Tech's offense has become an Achilles heel for the team, scoring just 28 points per game. The primary problem, like UM's, has been through the air. Va. Tech is only putting up 199.8 yards per game. That's tied with UM for 87th in the country.
The game on Saturday can be seen at 3:30 p.m. on ABC.
