Miami Hurricanes Passing Game 'Annihilates' Texas A&M Aggies
Article photo of Jacolby George celebrating his third touchdown with Xavier Restrepo; credit to Brian Smith
The Miami Hurricanes did not care that the Texas A&M Aggies possessed a defensive line full of 5-stars. The Canes offensive line pass blocked quite well, giving up two sacks while helping quarterback Tyler Van Dyke and a great group of skills players to go off against the Aggies.
“How about them Hurricanes?” That’s how Mario Cristobal started the press conference with a big grin. He had plenty of reasons to be happy with his team’s passing game.
“And Tyler, what can I say? Tyler, the receiving corps. Xavier Restrepo is back there right now. I’m sure he’s exhausted.”
Restrepo probably was tired from running past Texas A&M defensive backs, as well as being physically drained from juking them out and breaking tackles.
For the game, Restrepo caught 6 passes for 126 yards, including the 48-yard clutch play down the left sideline. If they had not already, college football fans – not just Miami fans mind you – should give Restrepo props for how hard he plays and how often he’s been clutch when it mattered. The Texas A&M game was further proof. That dude balled out.
GAME COVERAGE: Miami Gets Revenge, Beats Aggies 48-33
Now let’s look back at the total numbers, starting with Van Dyke:
Tyler Van Dyke: 21 of 30, 70%, 374 yards, 12.5 avg., and five touchdown passes
Having hit 70% of one’s passes, doing it against a talented defensive front, that was awesome! It was still not the best stat from Van Dyke’s day.
12.5 yards per completion was the number he managed. Getting into the 8-to-9 yards per attempt area has been considered average to good. Having reached the 10-yards per completion mark is tremendous. 12.5?
Wow!
Now, Van Dyke threw accurately for the vast majority of the day but did not make the plays after the catch. That leads back to the talented Miami playmakers and how they eliminated doubt that they could be a big-play group. Here were the statistics for the Canes pass catchers, tight ends and running backs included:
Xavier Restrepo: 6 receptions, 126 yards, 21 avg., long of 48
Jacolby George: 5 receptions, 94 yards, 18.8 avg., 3 scores, long of 64
Colbie Young: 5 receptions, 75 yards, 15 avg., 1 score, long of 32
Isaiah Horton, 1 reception, 52 yards, 52 avg., 1 score, long of 52
Cam McCormick, 1 reception, 20 yards, 20 avg., long of 20
Henry Parrish, Jr., 2 receptions, 7 yards, 3.5 avg., long of 8
Let’s just take what happened in the fourth quarter alone. That was a clutch performance by several Canes.
The Hurricanes had a slim 31-26 lead and 13:23 to play. It was third down and six yards for Miami at Texas A&M’s 26. Van Dyke connected with Restrepo on a beautiful 7 route (corner route) that ended at the Aggies’ three yard line.
Two plays later, Van Dyke rolled to his right and found George for his second touchdown reception of the game. That was a drive that showed Miami’s resolve, and ability to be aggressive, at the same time.
The final dagger was when Miami received the football again and the score was 41-33. There was only 4:51 remaining when the drive began, and after a first down from a 13-yard Parrish scamper, another big play came about.
Third down and seven from Miami’s 36 was the situation. There was just under three minutes left at the snap of the football. Run the ball? Nope…
Up top!
Many teams would have been conservative and ran the football. Instead Van Dyke saw a streaking George down the right sideline and threw a dart! George bounced off the A&M safety and took it to the house!
From the offensive line, to Van Dyke, to all of the players catching the football, Miami absolutely annihilated the A&M defense; especially when it mattered most.
This Miami passing game has proven it can be lethal. Hats off to all the players and coaches that made it happen.
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