Hope nearly turned to despair Saturday for the Miami Hurricanes.
Nearly.
Seven days after getting dominated by No. 1 Alabama in their season opener, the No. 22 Hurricanes returned home to more stress against the Sun Belt Conference’s Appalachian State, but survived with a 25-23 victory.
UM’s 43-yard field goal by 18-year-old freshman Andy Borregales, his third of the night, put the Canes up for good with 2:04 left. Then, on fourth-and-6 from App State’s 47-yard line, Mountaineers quarterback Chase Brice’s pass was broken up by UM cornerback Tyrique Stevenson — his third pass breakup of the game.
Miami took over with 55 seconds left and ran out the clock.
UM (1-1) earned its first victory since December 5, 2020 at Duke, after which the Canes lost to North Carolina in the regular-season finale, Oklahoma State in the Dec. 29 Cheez-It Bowl and to Bama in the 2021 opener.
But the boos by the home crowd of 45,877 rose to a crescendo at halftime as the Canes ran into the locker room with a 14-12 deficit. The social media bombardment of UM coach Manny Diaz — the word “fire’’ mentioned frequently — began well before the game ended.
“I mean, it is what it is,’’ said Canes quarterback D’Eriq King, who went 20 of 33 for 200 yards, ran for another 79 and was sacked twice. “We didn’t play well. The fans, they’re going to do what they feel. So we gotta play better first of all.
“You know, I’m not going to say it’s surprising,’’ King added of the fight App State gave Miami. “Obviously, we wanted to play a lot better… we gotta make a lot more plays. But we got a win. We’re going to enjoy tonight and tomorrow we’re going to be really hard on ourselves and see what we gotta do to get better.”
‘You can boo’
Added defensive tackle Nesta Silvera: “Listen, like I said earlier, a win is a win. If you’re a fan and you’re booing, that’s on you. We ain’t worried about that. We’re worried about the hundred guys [and] 30 staff members we have on this sideline.
“You all want to boo, you can boo.’’
The frustration of everyone except Mountaineers fans surely had boiled over by the time App State’s Jalen Virgil sprinted up the right sideline to return a kickoff 100 yards to give App State that first lead with 6:07 left in the opening half. The touchdown came 12 seconds after Borregales kicked a 27-yard field goal — immediately after UM tailback Cam’Ron Harris’ 5-yard touchdown rush was nullifed by the Canes’ illegal formation penalty.
The 100-yard kickoff return, by the way, came seconds after an announcement in the press box that UM starting weak-side linebacker Keontra Smith and running back Don Chaney Jr, who scored UM’s first touchdown, were out of the game with lower extremity injuries. Chaney was seen on crutches in the fourth quarter with a bulky brace on his right knee.
UM injuries
Diaz said “neither prognosis was good’’ for Chaney or Smith.
“That’s in house,’’ Canes defensive tackle Nesta Jade Silvera said of the injuries. “When it’s time for coach Diaz to talk about it, he’ll talk about it.’’
On UM’s next drive, Borregales had his 35-yard field-goal attempt blocked by Caleb Spurlin to go into halftime trailing.
Diaz, who obviously appreciated UM’s grinding out a win despite not playing its best, said “the biggest thing’’ the Canes need to do from here on out is “when we get the ball in the red zone we’ve got to get touchdowns.
“Today it came down to a play. It happened to go our way.’’
The historically little powerhouse of App State, which had defeated its last two Power 5 opponents, fell to 1-1.
“Our players went down to the very wire. This is a gut-wrenching loss,’’ App State coach Shawn Clark said.
Cat-astrophe averted
Diaz was asked about the cat that fell from the upper deck in the first quarter and landed safely after a group of fans held up an American flag to break its fall.
“I was just briefed because they figured that I might be asked,’’ Diaz said. “I don’t know anything about that or what was going on, but I’ll tell you if the cat can help our red-zone offense, I’ll see if we can get it a scholarship.”
The Canes, led on the ground by Harris’ 91 yards rushing and a touchdown, gained 375 yards and allowed 326. The cat covered about 20 yards.
UM retook the lead, 19-14, on a 12-yard rush by Harris to culminate a six-play, 75-yard drive at 13:32 of the third quarter. But the Mountaineers charged right back, kicking a 22-yard field goal at 9:21 to narrow UM’s lead to 19-17.
Borregales kicked a clutch 38-yard field goal at 9:15 of the final quarter to put Miami ahead by five points.
‘Believe in you’
“Most everybody was giving me the quiet treatment,’’ Borregales said of his game-winner that came about seven minutes later, “just letting me stand on my own except for Avery Huff. He came up to me and was like, ‘I’ve got trust in you, I believe in you,’ and I just went out there and banged it through.’’
After the Hurricanes won the toss and chose to defer, the Canes forced App State to punt, helped in part by Jahfari Harvey’s back-to-back sacks, one of which ultimately didn’t count after UM was called for a false start. Lou Hedley’s 41-yard punt gave the Mountaineers the ball on the App State 2-yard line. Then, on third down, UM’s Chantz Williams tipped Brice’s pass, which fell into the arms of a diving Canes striker Amari Carter.
Three plays later, Chaney had his first touchdown of the season with a 1-yard plunge to make it 7-0 UM at 9:09 of the opening quarter. The drive took all of 49 seconds and had the crowd fired up.
But the Mountaineers responded with their own touchdown, the key play being Camerun Peoples’ 28-yard sprint untouched down the middle on fourth-and-2.
UM added two points on a safety to go ahead 9-7 with 53 seconds left in the first quarter when Christian Johnstone snapped the ball way over the head of punter Xavier Subotsch.
The Canes have two more nonconference home opponents (Michigan State next Saturday and Central Connecticut State on Sept. 25) before beginning its ACC conference slate with Virginia on Thursday night, Sept. 30, at Hard Rock. After Virginia, it’s seven consecutive league matchups for Miami, including its next road game Oct. 16 at UNC in Chapel Hill.
The Michigan State game kicks off at noon and will be televised by ABC.