It was the first time this season that Hard Rock Stadium had been sold out for a Miami Hurricanes football game. However, all the fans who attended were certainly disappointed to witness a rivalry game that ended in a whopping 45-3 Florida State victory on Saturday night.
It is the worst defeat that the Hurricanes (4-5) have experienced against the Seminoles (6-3) since 1997, when they were beaten 47-0. It is also the first time since 2016 that Florida State has won at Hard Rock Stadium, when they beat the Hurricanes 20-19.
“We are in a building process and laying a foundation … days like this are painful,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said.
Building was certainly the right word to describe the game, as the ‘Canes showed no signs of life on both sides of the ball. Miami’s offense had 188 yards on the night and the defense gave up 554 yards.
On offense, struggles came no matter who was under center. All three Miami quarterbacks played. The starter, Tyler Van Dyke, coming off an injury that kept him out of the game against Virginia, did not look fully like himself. Early in the second quarter, Van Dyke re-injured his shoulder, putting him in street clothes for the second half.
Backup quarterback Jake Garcia entered for Van Dyke, looking to put on a heroic performance like he did last week when he scored the winning two-point conversion against Virginia. However, that was not the case.
Garcia threw an interception and had a fumble in the limited time he was on the field, prompting Miami offensive coordinator Josh Gattis to play freshman quarterback Jacurri Brown for much of the second half. Brown showed his versatility by throwing for a team-high 37 yards and rushing for 54.
However, like the rest of the team, he had his low points. On third-and-goal from the six-yard line, Brown was unable to gather the snap, allowing for a Seminole defensive linemen to pick the ball up. The turnover led to another Florida State touchdown drive, this time a throw from Quarterback Jordan Travis to tight end Cameron McDonald.
Miami hasn’t scored a touchdown in 30 successive drives, last finding the end zone in the third quarter against Duke on Oct. 22.
On defense, Miami was torched any time Florida State ran the ball. The Seminoles had 229 rushing yards, with running back Trey Benson having a game-high 128 yards, along with two touchdowns. He had three on the season coming into the game. Miami allowed nine rushes of 10+ yards on the evening, with four of them coming from Benson.
Travis threw for 202 yards and completed 10-of-12 passes. The longest play of the night from Travis was the first touchdown of the game, a 56-yard bomb to Ontaria Wilson.
The Hurricanes look to put this game behind them and bounce back next week against Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 12. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.