BLACKSBURG, Va. — The Hurricanes needed to beat Virginia Tech on the road and try to do it in convincing fashion so they could stay alive in the College Football Playoff.
No. 13 Miami (9-2, 5-2 ACC) accomplished that — despite a messy fourth quarter — beating the Hokies (3-8, 2-5 ACC) 34-17 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia. Miami had the lead for nearly the entire game after scoring on its opening drive.
“A lot of really, really good stuff,” UM coach Mario Cristobal said, “and some stuff to clean up as well.”
Miami opened the game where it left off against N.C. State, driving down the field methodically on an eight-play, 75-yard drive that Carson Beck capped with a 20-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Elija Lofton.
The Hokies’ first drive started well, too. After an unsportsmanlike conduct by UM’s Jaboree Antoine on the kickoff, Virginia Tech running back Marcellous Hawkins broke off a 33-yard run. But Miami’s defense rebounded to hold the Hokies to a field goal.
Beck continued his hot streak on the subsequent drive. Beck and the Hurricanes drove down the field again on a 14-play, 75-yard drive that Beck ended with a 3-yard scoring pass to running back Mark Fletcher Jr., who returned from an undisclosed injury Saturday after missing two games.
Beck completed his first 11 passes of the game, setting a Miami record and personal-best completion streak of 24 straight passes, dating back to UM’s win over N.C. State. The streak ended when tight end Alex Bauman could not hang onto a likely touchdown pass while being hit.
Miami had two drives stall in the second quarter, resulting in Carter Davis field goals that put the Hurricanes ahead 20-3 at halftime.
The Hokies excelled when running the ball against the Hurricanes, rushing for more yards than any opponent has against UM this season. They opened the second half with a 38-yard touchdown run by Jeffrey Overton Jr., which cut Miami’s lead to 10 points.
The Hurricanes responded with another 75-yard drive, turning it into seven points when Beck found a wide-open Girard Pringle Jr. for a 16-yard touchdown on a wheel route.
The game got sloppy late, as a series of miscues by both teams and confusing referee calls kept the score stationary through most of the fourth quarter. Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones left the game with an injury, and backup William Watson III converted on fourth-and-long and scored a rushing touchdown to make it 27-17 late in the game.
The quarterback change gave the Hokies a shot of energy, and Virginia Tech recovered an onside kick. But Akheem Mesidor forced Watson to fumble, and Miami scored a late touchdown on a pass from Beck to Malachi Toney to seal the 34-17 win.
“It was fourth-and-2, and we wanted to close out the game,” Beck said. “When it’s fourth-and-1 and fourth-and-2, it’s a huge difference, especially when there’s eight people in the box. They’re going to have an extra hat wherever we go in the run game. So we just decided that we were going to throw it and just close it out. So I, personally, loved the call for it. Obviously, I want to throw it. Some people would say you’re trying to run it up. But again, we’re trying to close out the game and that’s what we’re able to do.”
Five takeaways
1. Carson Beck has another strong game
The Hurricanes veteran has been playing some of his best football the last two weeks. Beck’s completion stretch would have gone longer, but tight end Alex Bauman dropped a touchdown pass while getting blasted.
Beck finished the game with an 84 percent completion percentage and 320 yards with four touchdowns.
“Just felt super comfortable out there,” Beck said. “I thought the game plan was really, really good going into the week. Just in preparation from Sunday all the way through Friday, the energy was super high. The offense was clicking throughout the week, and we had a lot of confidence going into the game. So again, we went out there and even with all that, you’ve got to go out and execute, and we were able to do that.”
2. Defense bends but doesn’t break
The Hokies broke off several good plays on the ground, but the Hurricanes kept them in check. Virginia Tech had a chance to match Miami’s opening drive with a touchdown of its own, but the Hurricanes held the Hokies to a field goal. It would be the last points Virginia Tech would score until the opening drive of the third quarter.
Miami did a good job on third and fourth downs, holding VT to 6 of 17 on third- and fourth-down attempts.
“I think that’s a testament to our culture,” said Zechariah Poyser, who recovered the game-sealing fumble. “We bend, but we don’t break. So we just stayed calm, kept our composure.”
3. But UM gets gashed on the ground
Miami has had one of the nation’s best run defenses this year, entering Saturday with the No. 3 run defense in the nation. But Virginia Tech is a solid running team, entering the game with the No. 35 run offense in the nation.
The Hokies broke off big runs against the Hurricanes and finished with 194 net yards on the ground, which was a season high for opponents facing Miami.
“The runs that were getting outside, they did a good job out-leveraging us with motions to blocks, getting angles and getting hats, getting numbers,” Cristobal said. “Now a couple of times, we were in position to make a play, just didn’t make it. A couple times we were on different pages — one a spill, one a box — and then the alley player, where to fit it. And those are things that we have been really good at. And we weren’t optimal today in the way we did it.”
The Hurricanes did limit the Hokies in the passing game for most of the game, making Virginia Tech one-dimensional.
4. Malachi Toney again
There is not much else to say about the Hurricanes’ star freshman. Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson has started using him in more exotic packages, lining him up as a Wildcat quarterback, lining him up as a running back and having him throw the ball.
“I love the way coach Dawson schemed things up,” Toney said. “(He) gave me different opportunities to catch the ball, (run with) the ball, sometimes maybe even pass the ball.”
Toney had a dart of a completion that he threw from a three-quarters arm angle, and he had 146 receiving yards in the win. Toney has 844 yards this season, approaching Ahmmon Richards’ Miami freshman record of 934 receiving yards.
5. Penalties crop up again
After struggling with penalties throughout the year, Miami had done well to limit that in recent weeks.
But penalty issues showed up again on Saturday. UM was charged with nine penalties for 88 yards, and they were called for personal fouls four times.
