Hurricanes’ pass rush takes a needed step forward in win over Wake Forest
In Miami Hurricanes defensive coordinator Corey Heteherman’s system, everything starts with creating havoc up front.
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Generating pressure. Disrupting rhythm. Clogging lanes. And, ultimately, creating negative plays.
Miami’s defense did perhaps its best job in that regard on Friday in the Hurricanes’ 33-20 win over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Pro Football Focus credited the Hurricanes with generating pressure on 31 of Wake Forest dual-threat quarterback Gio Lopez’s 51 dropbacks — 60.8% of the time the Demon Deacons had designed passing plays. Those numbers were just 16.7% against Stanford (7 of 42) and 50% against Florida A&M (10 of 20).
“Just trying to work the edge,” said defensive lineman Marquise Lightfoot, who was credited with seven quarterback pressures in the win. “We’re sending our best pass rushers we know and our strongest guys who we trust just go get them.”
And the results were noteworthy.
Lopez completed just 48.1% of his passes (13 of 27) for 168 yards, one touchdown and a game-sealing interception when facing pressure. On his 20 dropbacks when he had time to throw, he was 16-of-20 for 144 yards and two touchdowns.
Miami sacked Lopez three times, with Lightfoot and Damon Wilson II each logging a solo sack and Ahmad Moten Sr. and Armondo Blount combining for the third.
The pressure also resulted in Wake Forest being called for holding three times — one of which occurred in the Demon Deacon’s end zone for a fourth-quarter safety — and forced Lopez’s final throw to go awry as Miami’s Ethan O’Connor came down with an interception with just over two minutes left to play.
“A lot of quarterback hits and some wrap-ups that could have resulted in more,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “And we matched that hand pretty well. I believe we deflected one or two [passes]. … There’s a lot of things that are really positive in terms of that.”
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Added O’Connor: “You get to see those guys go at it every single day. You know when you get to the game, they’re going to hunt. I have full confidence. I love every single one of those guys.”
It was complemented by another strong effort on run defense. Miami held Wake Forest to 22 rushing yards on 16 attempts (41 yards on 13 attempts if excluding the 19 yards lost on three sacks).
Miami is giving up an average of just 45.67 rushing yards per game so far this season, tied with Georgia for the third-fewest nationally. Only LSU (33 rushing yards per game) and Navy (40.5 rushing yards per game) are allowing fewer.
But while the pass rush stepped up noticeably from the start of the season, there were some glaring holes from the defense that need to be cleaned up moving forward.
Most notably, Miami missed 15 tackles against Wake Forest and has whiffed on 34 total tackle attempts through three games this season.
The Hurricanes also did allow Lopez to throw for 312 yards and three touchdowns overall, with 145 of those yards coming after the catch as Miami deals with multiple injuries at cornerback (to starters Xavier Lucas and OJ Frederique Jr. plus key reserve Ja’Boree Antoine). Bryce Fitzgerald started his second consecutive game at outside cornerback after moving down from safety, with O’Connor the other starter at the spot. Freshman JJ Dunnigan made his second consecutive start at safety opposite Zechariah Poyser.
“You’ve got to get guys on the ground,” Cristobal said postgame. “Elusive quarterbacks, they rule college football. Those guys can extend plays with a lot of people running open down the field. They did that tonight, and credit to their receivers as well. They made some plays, but you’ve got to get guys on the ground. … We’ve got a lot of growing up to do, a lot of learning to do as well. But that being said, proud of the effort because no one ever stopped fighting, no one ever stopped working, and you get yourself a 13-point win on the road.”
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