Ten things we learned in Miami Hurricanes’ blowout win over Temple

PHILADELPHIA — The Miami Hurricanes kept on rolling through their slate of non-conference games, picking up a decisive victory over Temple at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday afternoon.

Despite rainy and windy conditions, Miami took the lead on its first drive and never looked back.

Here are 10 things we learned from the Hurricanes’ victory in the City of Brotherly Love:

1. Run defense was stellar

UM defensive coordinator Lance Guidry cited Miami’s run defense as a potentially worrisome factor before the season began. The opposite has materialized.

The Hurricanes gave up only 11 total rushing yards on 16 attempts on Saturday. The Owls gained only 27 yards on the ground and lost 16 in sacks. They largely abandoned the run game as they fell further behind in the second half.

Miami is currently No. 3 in the nation in run defense, surrendering an average of 48 yards per game. They have allowed only 1.92 yards per rushing attempt.

“We go into every week not wanting to let anybody run the ball,” cornerback Te’Cory Couch said. “That’s one of our keys on defense, to stop the run, first of all.”

2. Van Dyke continues strong start despite difficult conditions

Tropical Storm Ophelia was sending rain and blustery conditions toward Philadelphia this weekend. It appeared to be a recipe for a ground-and-pound offense. Miami did run the ball plenty, but not because they struggled to pass.

Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke continued his strong start to the season even though the wind was swirling around him.

“It was tough,” Van Dyke said. “I had to kind of play the wind a little bit on some of them.”

Van Dyke finished the game with 17 completions on 24 pass attempts for 220 yards, proving accurate despite the wind. He had no turnover-worthy throws, according to Pro Football Focus, and earned an 87.6 offensive grade from the site.

Van Dyke even turned on the jets, breaking off a 37-yard run — the longest of his career.

“I felt slow, but I saw nobody out there and just pulled it,” Van Dyke said. “I wish I could’ve got a little more out of that, but 37 yards isn’t too bad.”

3. Running game keeps rolling

Miami split its carries among four running backs. Henry Parrish Jr. led the team with 16 carries for a career-high 139 yards before leaving the game with an injury. Freshman Mark Fletcher Jr., who returned from an injury that kept him out for UM’s last game, had 11 carries for 51 yards, and freshman Chris Johnson Jr. got four carries for 33 yards late in the game.

Additionally, Don Chaney Jr., who made his first career start, had nine carries for 61 yards.

“He just did a really good job in practice and he was good in the game time that he had,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said.

Cristobal attributed some of the running backs’ success this season to the tight competition between them.

“I think the competition at running back really helps us,” Cristobal said. “You saw today: Don Chaney got the nod, but then Henry Parrish got the hot hand. That competition is alive and well, and it’s important for us to praise effort but reward performance. And then it’s right back to competing again in practice.”

Surprisingly, Ajay Allen did not play in the game.

“He’s really good football player,” Cristobal said. “The carries went to who they went to today. Heck, at the end of the first quarter, I think we had one possession. They were taking the air out of the ball. They were holding onto it for a long time, so the reps got divvied out as they went.”

4. Couch’s time to shine

Te’Cory Couch, a veteran cornerback, has not forced many takeaways in his college career. The Chaminade-Madonna alum entered the season with one to his college tally, and he had one pick against Texas A&M earlier this season.

He doubled his career total on Saturday, picking off a pair of passes in the win.

“That makes me feel good,” Couch said. “We got the win. Temple’s got a really good team. I just give credit to all the guys around me: D-line, linebackers, other DBs in the secondary. I couldn’t do it without those guys.”

One of Couch’s picks led to a UM score, but one of the fifth-year senior’s interceptions was a small error. He intercepted a fourth-down pass from Temple when Miami would have had better field position if he just batted the ball down. But the turnover still got the Hurricanes the ball back, and now Couch has four career interceptions.

Couch earned a 64.9 defensive grade and a 65.0 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus for his performance.

5. O-line protects Van Dyke

Van Dyke left Saturday’s blowout win without a mark on him.

Miami’s offensive line did not allow a single quarterback pressure or hurry in the win, keeping the Owls’ defenders out of the backfield.

Every Hurricanes starting offensive lineman earned a pass-blocking score of 80.0 or better in the win. Left tackle Jalen Rivers led the way with an 84.8 grade, followed by left guard Javion Cohen and right guard Anez Cooper with an 83.6. Right tackle Francis Mauigoa had an 82.4, and center Matt Lee, who left the game with an injury, had an 80.1.

“(Van Dyke) knowing that he’s safe back there, he can be able to make his reads,” Cooper said.

6. Taylor III’s best game of the year

Leonard Taylor III, Miami’s uber-talented defensive tackle, has gotten better with each game this season. Recovering from a shoulder injury that kept him out of spring practice, Taylor played just 15 snaps in UM’s season-opening win.

But the junior defensive lineman has gotten better each game. On Saturday, he played 29 snaps and earned an 82.0 defensive grade, his best mark against an FBS opponent so far this season. He had his first sack of the season and forced five quarterback hurries.

Taylor notched his best tackling grade of the season and his second-best run-defense score of the year in a complete performance.

7. Receivers keep sparking passing game

The Hurricanes’ starting wide receivers kept playing well.

Xavier Restrepo, who leads UM in receiving yards, scored his first two touchdowns of the season and racked up 41 yards in the win. He had a 69.9 offensive grade.

Jacolby George led the Hurricanes with 90 receiving yards on five catches, earning an 85.8 offensive grade.

Colbie Young scored a touchdown on an excellent leaping grab and notched 33 receiving yards on two catches. He nearly had a second touchdown, but it was called back on offensive pass interference.

“He’s 6-5 and can jump through the roof, run really well,” Van Dyke said. “Most corners are not 6-5, so the mismatches that Colbie has are definitely going to be taken advantage of in the future.”

8. Miami Central alumni play well in Philly

A pair of Miami Central alumni got the start on defense Saturday and both played well.

Linebacker Wesley Bissanthe, a sophomore, made his first start of the season, and freshman defensive lineman Rueben Bain got his second start of his career. Bissainthe had three tackles and a tackle for loss, and Bain added three tackles.

Bissianthe had his best-graded game of the season, earning a 75.0 defensive grade and a 78.3 tackling grade. Bain had a 79.2 defensive grade, which was third-best on the team, and had a quarterback hit.

9. Hurricanes show off balanced offense

Despite the wind and rain, Miami effectively moved the ball.

The Hurricanes racked up more than 500 yards of offense for the second game in a row, finishing with 543. They had 220 passing yards and 323 rushing yards.

Miami currently ranks seventh in the nation in scoring offense (43.8 points per game) and eighth in the nation in total offense (519 yards per game). That is a major turnaround from last year where they ranked 97th and 86th in those categories, respectively.

10. This team may be really good

We have now watched the Hurricanes play a third of their season, and the first third could not have gone much better. Miami is 4-0 for the first time since 2017 — the year it went 10-0 and reached No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings.

As of Sunday, Pro Football Focus gives the Hurricanes an overall grade of 95.9, tied with USC for second in the nation and trailing only Washington. ESPN’s Football Power Index ranks Miami 15th, second in the ACC behind only Florida State. ESPN’s Bill Connelly’s metric, SP+, puts the Hurricanes at No. 13 nationally and No. 1 in the ACC.

Through the first third of the season, Miami has shown that it could contend for an ACC title — a massive improvement from last year’s disappointing 5-7 record. Now UM has a bye week to prepare for ACC play so it can keep that momentum.

“I don’t think we’re anywhere, in our stages of development and growth as a program, we’re not in any way, shape or form ready to compare ourselves to any team from the past,” Cristobal said. “We try to honor past teams by the way that we play the game. That’s the best thing that we can do. And it’s got to show on a game-by-game basis that it means more to us than the guys on the other side of the field.

“We will one day be able to say, ‘Hey, we are as effective and productive as those teams,’ but the entire focus is on the 2023 Miami Hurricanes and strictly on just getting better.”