Canes & Hankerson Survive Death Valley As Miami Beats Clemson, 30-21

And the beat goes on. Miami continued to display why they're a better team than their current ranking might indicate. The Hurricanes went into Death Valley and came away with a road win at one of college football's most difficult venues. Two games into the prediction that Miami will run the table, the Canes seem to be proving me right.

On Saturday, Miami used a mix of run and pass to seemingly make big plays at will. Jacory Harris and Leonard Hankerson connected for three big touchdowns. Hankerson now has six touchdowns on the season.

Miami struck first on a Harris-to-Hankerson seam route. The score came after a drive in which Damien Berry and Lamar Miller ran all over Clemson's defense.

Andre Ellington took over for the Tigers at that point. He ran for two touchdowns and several big runs to help Clemson surge to a 14-7 lead.

Harris quickly countered with a 65-yard touchdown pass to his main target, Hankerson. Miami then reclaimed the lead after Harris hooked up with Mike James for his third touchdown pass of the game. They concluded the first half with Harris hooking up for a third time with Hankerson.

Despite his success on big plays and four first-half touchdown passes, Harris also struggled once more with turnovers. He threw a costly interception on a 3rd-and-goal in the second quarter which cost the Hurricanes a chance to extend their six-point lead. He was also picked off earlier in the game.

Meanwhile, the Hurricane's defense continued to show why they may be one of the nation's best by bouncing back from a couple of bad series to shut down Clemson's offense. Miami forced the Tigers into six turnovers, including a big interception in the second quarter that allowed the Hurricanes to establish a comfortable 13-point lead going into halftime and a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter by DeMarcus Van Dyke. 

After Ellington scored for his third time to pull Clemson within 27-21, Miami got a much needed first down on 3rd-and-10 thanks to a hard-nosed run up the middle by Miller. Still, the Canes had to settle for a punt to end the third quarter.

After Van Dyke's strip and recovery, Miami could do nothing with the great field position and had to punt once more.

This is where Miami kept shooting themselves in the foot with costly penalties. Miami racked up 12 penalties for 105 yards. This is something that must be addressed and corrected before next week's home game versus rival Florida State.

In the end, Miami's talent trumped their many mistakes, as the Hurricanes came away with a win. Much of the credit should go to the defense, which came up with several key stops in the game, including a stop late in the game on 4th-and-1. Had Clemson converted, they were well poised to score and possibly take the lead.

Following a Matt Bosher field goal that made the score 30-21, Miami got a sack and fumble recovery that sealed the deal.

The Hurricanes now get to finally come back home for the first time since their September 2 win over Florida A&M. Miami will get to face another team from Tallahassee next week, only this one will be much more formidable than the Rattlers. Despite that, expect Miami to beat the Seminoles and continue their trek toward the ACC title game.