Miami kicks way past USF

Posted Nov 20, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Nov 20, 2011 at 01:23 AM

University of South Florida senior cornerback Quenton Washington never saw the kick sail through the uprights, but then again, he didn’t have to.

“I heard their fans cheering and I saw all the Miami players run on the field,” said Washington, relegated to his back after a helmet-to-helmet collision with teammate Kayvon Webster after both players left their feet coming around the edges while trying to block Jake Wieclaw’s 36-yard field goal attempt on the final play of regulation. “So I kind of figured they’d made it.”

That, the Hurricanes did. Wieclaw’s kick allowed Miami to walk out of Raymond James Stadium on Saturday with a 6-3 victory. It was yet another heartbreaking defeat for the Bulls (5-5), and one that followed a similar theme to this season.

“It’s just a reminder of what happened before,” said senior defensive end Patrick Hampton, referring to previous losses against Cincinnati, which produced the winning score in the final moments of regulation, and Rutgers, which defeated USF in overtime.

“It sucks, but it just keeps happening. We keep coming up short a couple of seconds. It’s like, what do we have to do to win?”

The answer could be a bit more complicated going forward depending on the status of junior quarterback B.J. Daniels, who was knocked from the game with a right (throwing) shoulder injury in the third quarter. The severity of the injury wasn’t immediately known.

While the USF offense had its share of troubles against the Miami defense even with Daniels under center (181 total yards, one field goal in nine possessions), things were even tougher for the unit once he went to the sidelines. In USF’s final four drives, all with sophomore backup Bobby Eveld under center, the Bulls were able to muster only 68 yards.

“It just seemed like we couldn’t get any consistency rolling at that point,” USF coach Skip Holtz said.

USF’s offense wasn’t able to find a way to keep drives alive, converting just 2 of 12 third-down opportunities, and what hurt the most was getting stone-walled twice in the second half on third-and-1 plays.

On USF’s opening drive of the second half, junior running back Darrell Scott (15 carries, 57 yards) couldn’t pick up the necessary yard on second or third down, forcing the Bulls to punt. Then, late in the third quarter, Scott was again stopped for no gain on a third-and-1 play with USF at midfield, ending another drive.

Holtz, who kept his offense on the field in a fourth-and-short situation last week at Syracuse, said he thought about going for it Saturday but the lack of previous success prevented him from doing so.

“We had three 1-yard situations we couldn’t make, and I thought our defense was playing too hard to look them in the eye and say ‘Sorry, I gave you a short field,’” Holtz said. “Punt them into a hole and play the field position game. That was what we planned coming in.”

That philosophy worked for most of the game, with USF’s defense harassing Miami quarterback Jacory Harris (he was sacked six times) and playing stout against the run (the Hurricanes managed just 57 yards on 40 attempts).

But after the Bulls opted to punt when facing 4th-and-3 at the Miami 48 with less than six minutes remaining, the Hurricanes (6-5) were able to break through.

Harris, who finished 27 of 35 passing for 259 yards, engineered a 61-yard drive, going 7-for-7 for 48 yards while getting a boost on the ground from running back Eduardo Clements, who had two big third-down conversion runs. The Hurricanes chewed up the remaining 5:43 on the clock, and Wieclaw sent the winning kick through on the final play of regulation, giving the Miami faithful among the announced crowd of 57,572 reason to celebrate.

“We didn’t finish, and they did,” junior linebacker Mike Lanaris said. “We’ve just got to learn how to finish as a team. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”

The Bulls must win one of their two remaining games, both at home, against Louisville on Friday and West Virginia on Dec. 1 to become bowl eligible.