Miami Not Rattled By Florida A&M

The No. 11 Miami Hurricanes continued its winning ways Saturday night with a 48-16 victory over Florida A&M at Land Shark Stadium.

“A good win for us tonight, getting on track with what we have to get done,” head coach Randy Shannon said in his postgame press conference.  “I think we came out focused this time with what we had to do; get off to the start of the game fast, and the guys did a great job of doing that.” 

Following an upset over No. 8 Oklahoma, Miami beat Florida A&M (4-1) for the seventh consecutive time in front of an announced crowd of 47,859.

The Rattlers got on the scoreboard first with a 32-yard field goal but the Hurricanes did not flinch.  Miami held them to just 16-points, the lowest Florida A&M has scored all season.

Much of the talk preceding this game was if Miami could raise their intensity level.  This was Miami's first game of the season not playing a ranked opponent.

Two minutes after Florida A&M led 3-0 quarterback Jacory Harris found wide receiver Leonard Hankerson for a 5-yard touchdown.  Miami drove 55-yards for the score and a 7-3 lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.

The Hurricanes (4-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) scored 31 unanswered points entering the half with a 31-3 lead.

Harris was 16-for-24 with 217 yards two touchdowns and two interceptions.  His second score came with 1:19 left in the first quarter on a 7-yard pass to tight end Jimmy Graham to extend the Miami lead to 17-3.  

Freshman wide receiver Tommy Streeter led all receivers in both catches and yards with three receptions for 55 yards.

Fourth-string running back Damien Berry carried much of the load in the game with 162 yards on 14 carries. He had a 35-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.  Miami rushed for 215 yards on the night.  This was Berry’s first career 100-yard rushing game.

“Did a great job for us. He really responded,” Shannon said.  “He got an opportunity,and we like to say anytime you have an opportunity, you’ve got to capitalize on it.

“He did a great job of running the football, going downhill and getting us some positive yards for the offense to keep moving.”

Shannon pulled most the starters by halftime and said he got from them what he wanted resting his first stringers and giving the backups reps.

The special teams provided the offense with great field possession on several drives.  Two long returns in the first half resulted in Miami scoring a field goal and a touchdown.

Wide receiver Thearon Collier returned a 61-yard punt return for a touchdown to give Miami a 38-6 with 5:22 left in the third quarter.  Collier’s return was a career-long and the first punt return for a  touchdown since Graig Cooper returned a 66-yard touchdown against Charleston Southern last year to open up the 2008 season.

“Those guys did a great job. Thearon Collier did a great job returning punts and Travis [Benjamin] did,” Shannon said.  “When we get the opportunity like that, even on kickoff returns Brandon Harris and Mike James did a nice job.  We have guys that can do it, kickoff returns have always been there for us, and the core team really stepped up, but we have to do it the rest of the season.

“That’s going to be the challenge for us, because I think we’re going to have to win a game or two on special teams this season.”

The Hurricanes kept tabs on LeRoy Vann who had nine kickoff returns for 191 yards but did not allow his play-making abilities to score.

Defensive back Brandon Harris forced the only Florida A&M turnover when he intercepted quarterback Curtis Pulley’s pass at midfield with less than 15 seconds left in the first quarter.  The pick was Harris’ first of the season, he also made three tackles in the game.

Pulley led the Florida A&M rushing attack with 17 carries for 104 yards and a touchdown.

“He’s playing really well for us,” Shannon said.  He’s playing nickel position and the corner position for us, on third down he’s playing the nickel.  He’s starting to develop into what we’ve seen, of what he was in high school.

“He can be that dominating player when he wants to, and he’s doing a great job for us.”

Two Hurricanes led the defense in tackles.  Linebacker Colin McCarthy and defensive lineman Joe Joseph each recorded six tackles.

Miami travels to Orlando next Saturday where they take on the UCF Knights at Bright House Networks Stadium.

“We’ve still got to get better as a football team, and we’ve got a long
ways to go to get where we want to be as a football program,” Shannon said.