Miami Hurricanes Get First Road Win of the Season
Heading into last night’s prime time contest with conference rival Virginia Tech, the Miami Hurricanes season had been one resembling a rollercoaster ride.
While the Hurricanes were a perfect 4-0 at home, the wins came largely against inferior opponents and even in the wins the team looked shaky at times, especially on the defensive side of the ball. In addition, Miami had yet to record a road win despite coming up just barely short on a number of occasions.
As a result, there was a lot of unrest among the Hurricanes faithful with the way the program was being coached, especially by head coach Al Golden and defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio. All this resulted in a must win game Thursday night in Blacksburg if Miami wanted to save their season and still be alive in the race to get their first ACC Coastal Division title.
Behind 249 yards from star running back Duke Johnson and a defensive performance that resembled that of the days of the Hurricanes of the late 90’s and early 2000’s the Hurricanes did just that, they kept their season alive.
Not only did the Hurricanes dominate on both sides of the ball, they did it in a place (Blacksburg, Virginia) where the program had only won once since 2003. In fact, in that time period, the Hokies were 8-3 against Miami overall.
All those statistics didn’t seem to phase the Hurricanes who improved to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the ACC. Weather the Hurricanes have officially “turned their season around” has remained to be seen. While they now have back-to-back blowout wins over Cincinnati and Virginia Tech, the true test will now come over the next three weeks.
In that time period the Hurricanes will play two home games against two of the tougher teams in the league. The first will come November 1st against a North Carolina team that, while down this year, has given the Hurricanes problems the last few years. The second comes just 2 weeks later when Miami welcomes the #1 ranked Florida State Seminoles into town. In addition to it being a big in-state rival game and by far the biggest game of the year for the Hurricanes, Miami will look to ruin Florida State’s run at a second consecutive National Championship.
Last night’s win was a step in the right direction to saving what at one point seemed to be a lost season for Miami, the question will become can they sustain it over the next few weeks and ultimately down the final stretch run of the season.
About Dan Hauser
Golf and Sports enthusiast, Hurricanes supporter, Reds fan, UCF alum & writer for Country Clubs in Florida specializing on golf in South East Florida for Waterfront Properties.
