No. 8 Hurricanes crush USF, moving to 4-0 before conference play begins

TAMPA — The Hurricanes took the Bulls‘ best punch on Saturday night, and they left Raymond James Stadium with their record unscathed.

After a tug-of-war in the first half, No. 8 Miami (4-0) pulled away in the second half and notched a 50-15 win over upstart USF (2-2), which has proven its mettle in closely fought games against both UM and Alabama. The Hurricanes are 6-1 all-time against the Bulls.

South Florida was arguably Miami’s toughest test through the first third of the season, taking the lead from Miami twice in the first half. But the Hurricanes battled back both times before outscoring the Bulls 28-0 in the second half en route to a dominant victory.

The Bulls showed how much fight they had in them early in the game. They nearly got Miami off the field with a three-and-out to start the game, but Ward connected with Xavier Restrepo to keep the drive alive. Aided by four USF penalties, the Hurricanes drove 75 yards down the field and punched in a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Damien Martinez to begin the game.

USF responded with a field goal: a 58-yarder by freshman Nico Gramatica, the son of former NFL kicker Martin Gramatica.

UM had been good at avoiding turnovers through the first three games of the season, but wide receiver Jacolby George cost Miami. Ward tossed George a third-down completion, but George could not hang onto it. The ball popped out of his hands and directly to a waiting Brent Austin. The Bulls then scored their first touchdown on a trick play where wide receiver Sean Atkins tossed a touchdown pass to quarterback Byrum Brown.

The Bulls nearly caught the Hurricanes flat-footed, kicking and seemingly recovering a surprise onside kick after their touchdown. After a lengthy review, however, the Bulls were ruled offside, and they had kicked off to UM. Ward led an eight-play, 90-yard drive drive down the field, punctuating it with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Horton.

The back-and-forth struggle went back into the Bulls’ favor after an 8:30 drive ended with a 44-yard field goal by John Cannon, pushing USF ahead 15-14 before the end of the first half.

Ward was not going to let the Bulls keep the momentum, though. He hit Sam Brown Jr. for a 76-yard score — Brown’s first as a Hurricane — and put Miami back ahead 22-15 after Ward converted the two-point conversion with a pass to Martinez.

After getting a stop on the Bulls’ first drive of the second half, the Hurricanes took command of the game with an 80-yard touchdown drive. Martinez collected the final yard, scoring his second short touchdown of the night.

Martinez notched his third 1-yard touchdown of the night late in the third quarter, putting Miami ahead 36-15. Ward added his third touchdown of the night on a 5-yard pass to Xavier Restrepo, putting the game well out of reach. Freshman running back Jordan Lyle added a 91-yard touchdown run for good measure in the game’s final minutes.

Five takeaways

1. Cam Ward shows why he is a gunslinger

Ward has been a star for the Hurricanes this season, and he has described himself as a “gunslinger” at quarterback. That archetype has some good and bad, and Ward was not perfectly on his game Saturday.

Ward missed open receivers a couple of times, which stood out after three near-perfect games to begin the year. His first-half interception was not one of those — he hit George in the chest and the ball popped out.

But even when he was not at his absolute sharpest, Ward finished the game with 404 yards, completing 24 of 34 passes with three touchdowns. He also ran for 25 yards.

2. Miami plays a sloppy game, and USF joined in

Miami coach Mario Cristobal has cited penalties as something to work on in recent weeks, and he could not have been happy with his team’s performance in that regard on Saturday.

Miami had eight first-half penalties, racking up 80 yards on fouls. UM had all types of penalties: personal fouls, personnel issues and simple mistakes alike.

Fortunately for Miami, USF obliged them by playing equally as sloppy. The Bulls had eight penalties for 51 yards in the first half.

Miami cleaned up its penalties in the second half and finished the game with 11 penalties for 113 yards.

3. Horton and Brown get their shine

Restrepo and George had the bulk of Miami’s wide-receiver touchdowns entering Saturday’s game, but Brown and Horton got their time to shine in Tampa.

Horton’s eight catches for 108 yards were both career highs. He nearly had a second touchdown late in the third quarter, but the play was overturned on review and he had to settle for an 18-yard catch at the 1-yard line.

Brown finished the game with 7t yards and scored his first touchdown with the Hurricanes.

Restrepo did have a special accomplishment, though. He hauled in a 16-yard catch in the third quarter that put him across the 2,000-yard mark for his career. He is the 10th player in UM history to reach 2,000 receiving yards.

4. Bend but don’t break

Although the Hurricanes gave up their share of big plays and yardage on Saturday, they had several defensive stands that proved crucial.

Late in the second quarter, the Bulls drove from their own 7-yard line down to the Miami 8-yard line. The Hurricanes pushed them back, forcing a field goal that put USF up 15-14 instead of a go-ahead touchdown that would have put the Bulls up by five. At the end of the half, the Hurricanes forced another field goal, and the Bulls missed it. USF had just one touchdown in the red zone.

Miami’s defense adjusted in the second half and did not give up any points after halftime.

5. Versatile Damien Martinez

Martinez was a 1,000-yard rusher last year, but he has not been racking up the yards lately. After rushing for only 3 yards on three carries in UM’s win over Ball State, he notched just 31 rushing yards in Miami’s win on Saturday.

However, he was still quite productive, scoring three short touchdowns. He also made an impact in the passing game, providing a safety valve for Ward. Martinez had two catches for 50 yards.