After a 42-38 loss that effectively ended its season last year, No. 18 Miami looked to get revenge against Syracuse and come away with a victory on Saturday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium.
After a slow first quarter, the Hurricanes offense took off, defeating the Orange 38-10 on Homecoming.
With less than two minutes left in the first half, redshirt sophomore quarterback Rickie Collins dropped back in the pocket and fired a ball right into the chest of Miami defensive back Keionte Scott. Scott ran down the left side of the field, evading tackles for a 27-yard pick-six that took the score to 14-0.
Scott’s touchdown return set the tone for the rest of the game.
After a slow first 20 minutes that saw zero points and eight punts, the Hurricanes opened the scoring with a nifty trick play. With just over two minutes left before halftime, sixth-year redshirt senior Carson Beck threw a pass to freshman wideout Malachi Toney, who threw it back to Beck and ran it in for a 14-yard score.
Beck’s touchdown run came after a short screen pass to freshman wide receiver Daylyn Upshaw, who ran for 41 yards — a play which sparked the momentum for Miami’s 38 point outburst.
Syracuse tried to drive down the field as the half winded down, but the Hurricane defense stood strong. On first and goal at the Miami 10, defensive end Ahkeem Mesidor forced a fumble on Syracuse’s Yasir Willis to end the half.
At the start of the third quarter, the Orange came back with an eight play drive, resulting in a 38-yard field goal from redshirt freshman Trip Woody to make the score 14-3. After that score, the Hurricanes outscored the Orange 24-7.
Miami’s explosive offense showed up early in the third quarter. At its 39-yard line, Beck fired a ball right up the middle of the field to redshirt senior receiver Keelan Marion who broke away for a 61-yard score.
“I think we played more freely,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said. “We just cut it loose and stopped worrying about the outcome and just started focusing more on the process.”
Beck’s touchdown pass put the quarterback over 10,000 career passing yards, joining Fresno State’s E.J.Warner as the only two active FBS quarterbacks to do so.
“It’s been a long career, and there’s been a lot of diversity that I’ve had to fight through, and a lot of great teammates, a lot of great coaches along the way,” Beck said. “To be able to have an achievement like that obviously means a lot to me.”
With junior running back Mark Fletcher Jr. out because of an injury, freshman Girard Pringle Jr. played a big role in the rushing game. On the Syracuse 30, Pringle ran 11 yards for a first down. The next play later, Beck handed the ball off again to Pringle who ran 19 yards for the touchdown to take a 28-3 lead.
Corey Hetherman’s defense continued to play well against the struggling Syracuse offense behind a quarterback carousel.
Collins threw a ball intended for freshman wideout Darius Johnson but it tipped off the fingers of Johnson and into the hands of redshirt senior safety Jakobe Thomas. The unit finished with seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
Up by 28 points with less than five minutes left in the game, Cristobal decided to run up the score and keep the starters on the field.
On Syracuse’s three yard line, Beck tossed a ball back on the right side to right tackle Francis Mauigoa who ran it in for a touchdown, his first of his collegiate career. Beck finished the game for 247 yards on 18-of-24 passing.
“I was a bit mad, but it was a good touchdown,” Mauioga said. “But you know, I wanted to run someone over.”
Syracuse head coach Fran Brown took the struggling Collins out, in for freshman quarterback Joseph Filardi. Filardi, a four star lacrosse recruit, dotted up redshirt freshman tight end Elijah Washington-Baker for a 17-yard score.
The Hurricanes got the job done with a 38-10 win, cleaning up pre snap penalties as they finished the game with five compared to last week’s nine.
“We’re a really, really good football team, and we shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times, Cristobal said. “But we’ve all seen enough games this year to know that when Miami’s on, Miami really distinguished itself as one of the better teams.”
Miami will face off against NC State for its last game at Hard Rock Stadium on the season. Kick off is scheduled for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and will air on ESPN.
