Miami Football: Despite Freshman Mistake, Brad Kaaya Shows He Can Carry 'Canes

Brad Kaaya led the Miami Hurricanes offense into a difficult test against Randy Gregory and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, seeking the program's first road win over a ranked team since 2009.

On the biggest stage of his life thus far, Kaaya played like anything but a true freshman for three-and-a-half quarters. He made excellent pre-snap reads, properly identifying pressure and coverages.

Trailing by 10 points with 7:30 remaining, the 'Canes faced a 4th-and-4 at the Nebraska 35-yard line. And only then, Kaaya's inexperience in high-pressure situations became evident with a costly freshman mistake.

He stared down sophomore receiver Malcolm Lewis, the lone wideout in double coverage, and tossed a game-sealing interception. The freshman hadn't locked onto a target that badly all night long.

So, Miami came up short, dropping a hard-fought 41-31 battle to the 'Huskers. Yet even in a losing effort, you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who can put the blame solely on the young quarterback.

The defense allowed 229 rushing yards and two touchdowns to Ameer Abdullah, who seemingly fell forward on every carry. Tommy Armstrong picked up 7.4 yards per attempt. Nebraska converted 7-of-10 third-down situations.

What's more, Duke Johnson's costly fumble handed the Cornhuskers a 10-point lead, an advantage that the Hurricanes could not overcome.

"Pretty poised. I don't care what quarterback you are when your defense gets run on for 346 yards. ...By and large, he's had the tremendous resolve we'd heard about coming into this game," ESPN's Brock Huard said of Kaaya on the broadcast.

From the outset, Kaaya kept Miami competitive in a game it likely should've been blown out of.

The offense's first play was an intermediate route to Lewis right over the middle. Miami is notorious for under-utilizing receivers between the hashes, but offensive coordinator James Coley immediately attacked his own team's weakness.

Later in the quarter, Kaaya didn't get any help from Clive Walford on an interception down the left sideline. The ball was ever-so-slightly underthrown, but the senior tight end failed to fight for it.

Eric Francis/Getty Images

The next drive on 3rd-and-3, Kaaya hit Braxton Berrios in the hands, but his fellow freshman dropped the potential first down.

Kaaya fired an accurate pass to Walford that only confident quarterbacks would make since the safety was barreling down on his tight end. On the same possession, the freshman a took a high snap, faked a handoff, located his receiver, snapped a strike to Walford in the end zone and absorbed a hit from free-rushing David Santos.

That's not something a nervous, tentative true freshman does in a deafening environment.

Following a Nebraska score on the opening drive of the second half, Miami needed to respond, lest the 'Huskers get a chance to build a sizeable advantage and control the game.

Whether it was a field goal or touchdown didn't matter, but the Hurricanes could not afford to give Nebraska a chance to take a three-possession lead. Kaaya engineered a 10-play, 76-yard drive that took four minutes and 57 seconds and cut the Cornhuskers' lead to three.

Four times, Miami faced possessions when it absolutely needed points—period, end of discussion-type drives. Kaaya finished those demanding drives with one touchdown, one field goal, one Johnson fumble and one personal mistake.

The freshman's final line read 28-of-42 for 359 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, and he connected with eight different receivers. Even in the loss, the true freshman lifted his squad to the brink of beating a ranked team on the road.

Kaaya proved he can carry Miami; he simply needs a little help from his teammates for the Hurricanes to knock off top competition.

Note: Stats courtesy of NCAA.com.

Follow Bleacher Report college football writer David Kenyon on Twitter: @Kenyon19_BR.