No. 6 Miami Hurricanes smother Florida State, roll to 36-14 victory
MIAMI GARDENS — It might not have been as embarrassing as some might have feared for most of the night, but it eventually got there.
The No. 6 Miami Hurricanes snapped Florida State’s three-game win streak in the teams’ annual rivalry Saturday night, and they did it with a methodical offensive approach and a dominant defense. The Hurricanes scored on seven of their first eight drives to pull away late for a 36-14 victory.
With the loss, Florida State falls to 1-7 on the season and 1-6 in the ACC. Miami is now 8-0 and 4-0.
The Hurricanes, who were favored by three touchdowns and boast one of the nation’s most explosive offenses, had to grind out the win. They scored touchdowns on two of their first three drives, but they had to settle for field goals on each of their next three before finally adding two more touchdowns late in the fourth quarter. And one of those scores came on a trick play.
Florida State, meanwhile, mustered just 14 points against a Miami team that had given up at least 34 points in each of its first three games. The Seminoles finished with just 248 yards of total offense, and 60 came on the final drive.
FSU only got three possessions in the first half and scored its one touchdown when freshman Luke Kromenhoek came on in relief. The Seminoles gained 27 total yards on two drives led by quarterback Brock Glenn, then Kromenhoek got his opportunity, and he led the Seminoles to their only score in the first half.
Kromenhoek’s biggest three plays on the drive were runs of 42, 14 and 12 yards — the 42-yarder came on a fourth-and-1 and the 14-yarder came on a third-and-10. Senior running back Caziah Holmes capped off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal.
Kromenhoek, a true freshman, played most of the game but finished 6-of-14 passing for 61 yards. He ran the ball 11 times for 71 more.
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Glenn came back in late and led a touchdown drive that was capped off by a 5-yard touchdown pass to Malik Benson. He finished 5-of-18 passing for 54 yards.
Florida State’s defense did a fairly decent job in the first half, but the Hurricanes still racked up 240 yards and scored on three of four possessions.
Star Miami quarterback Cam Ward only completed 11 of 19 passes for 131 yards in the first half, but the Hurricanes moved the ball well on the ground and converted seven of nine third downs.
They drove 67 yards on seven plays, capped off by a 1-yard plunge by running back Mark Fletcher Jr., to take a 7-0 lead on the first drive of the game. Then the Hurricanes extended their lead to 14-0 with a 13-play, 95-yard drive that featured a conversion on third-and-20.
Ward finished the game with 208 passing yards on 22-of-35 passing. The previous low output for Miami’s Heisman Trophy candidate was 304 yards passing in a rout of Florida A&M. The 36 points also was a season low for the Hurricanes; their previous low was 38 points against Virginia Tech.
Florida State returns to action this Saturday against visiting North Carolina.
Talk about this story with other die-hard Florida State football fans on the Tribal Council.
