Hurricanes Stomp on Ramblin’ Wreck

LaRon Byrd slips past the secondary for Miami's first touchdown in a 33-17 victory over Georgia Tech.
Wide receiver LaRon Byrd slips past the Yellow Jackets' secondary for Miami's first touchdown in a 33-17 victory over Georgia Tech.
What a difference a year makes.

A year after giving up 472 yards on the groud, No. 20 Miami held  No. 14 Georgia Tech’s potent rushing attack to just 95 yards in route to a 33-17 win under the lights at Land Shark Stadium Thursday night.

Jacory Harris continued to show poise and composure in the pocket as he was 20-for-25 with 270 yards passing while throwing three touchdowns.

“We were 0-4 the last four years against Georgia Tech,” head coach Randy Shannon said. “Our guys came out and played hard and did what we asked them. They stayed within the game and after we scored a couple of early touchdowns, we kept pounding the football and it was just a team effort.”

The Miami Hurricanes (2-0, 2-0 ACC) held GT (2-1, 1-1 ACC) to just a field goal on its opening drive. On the ensuing drive Miami responded in less than two minutes by engineering a four-play 75-yard drive that culminated with a 40-yard touchdown pass to LaRon Byrd.

Dedrick Epps added a 12-yard touchdown reception, and Jimmy Graham hauled in his first career touchdown when he caught a 14-yard strike from Harris to open up the flood gates.

The Canes’ special teams struggled as kicker Matt Bosher missed two field goals inside the 30-yard line. Coming into this game he had missed two kicks his entire career. Walk-on place kicker Alex Uribe demonstrated rookie nerves by kicking two balls out of bounds to set the Yellow Jackets up at the 40-yard line.

John Lovett’s defense controlled the option and stacked the box. The unit held Georgia Tech to just 2.4 yards per carry. Last year the Yellow Jackers averaged 8.4 yards per carry.

Miami was happy to see four faces that did not play last year in Atlanta: Colin McCarthy, Randy Phillips, Eric Moncur and Vaughn Telemaque. All four made a difference and propelled the Canes to their first 2-0 start since 2004.

The Hurricanes play Virginia Tech at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 26 in Blacksburg, Va.

Justin Antweil may be contacted at jantweil@themiamihurricane.com.