UM's defense and special teams have overshadowed their counterpart in scoring.
By Associated Press
Published October 2, 2003
MIAMI - Roscoe Parrish returns a punt for a touchdown. Devin Hester takes a kickoff the distance. Sean Taylor intercepts a pass and sprints to the end zone. D.J. Williams picks up a fumble and outruns everybody.
No.2 Miami is scoring many different ways this season - and often with the offense watching from the sideline.
The Hurricanes (4-0, 1-0 Big East) have 20 touchdowns, including a league-leading seven on defense and special teams. The non-offensive scores have sparked victories, deflated opponents and compensated for a somewhat struggling offense.
Miami faces West Virginia (1-3) tonight and wants the offense to get on track, especially with a visit to rival Florida State coming up next week.
"When the defense is scoring more than you, you're not doing your part," offensive tackle Eric Winston said. "We've got to put more points on the board. That's what it comes down to."
Playing West Virginia could help. The Mountaineers are next-to-last in the Big East in total defense, giving up 393 yards a game. But they have surrendered one non-offensive touchdown - a blocked punt on the first possession of the season against Wisconsin.
Miami has used non-offensive touchdowns to stake itself to three early leads and as catalysts for two blowouts.
"They've got playmakers at every position," West Virginia linebacker Grant Wiley said. "We're going to have to eliminate their big plays in order to win."
No one has yet.
In the opener against Louisiana Tech, Antrel Rolle returned a punt 66 yards to give Miami a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Williams added a 78-yard fumble return for a TD in the second, and Rolle scored off an interception that sealed the 48-9 win.
Against Florida, Hester returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. Then Taylor returned the second kickoff 68 yards to set up a field goal.
The next week, Miami led East Carolina 17-3 in the fourth before getting a barrage of touchdowns fueled by turnovers. It started with Baraka Atkins' sack that caused a fumble, which Santonio Thomas recovered for a touchdown in the 38-3 victory.
And in Miami's last game, Boston College punted on the opening possession and Parrish returned it 92 yards for a touchdown. Taylor made it 21-0 in the second with a 67-yard interception return.
Taylor's score was Miami's 40th return for a touchdown since 1999 - the most in the nation. Kansas State is second with 31.
Miami has two more returns for touchdowns than it did last season. The Hurricanes hardly needed them a year ago because the offensive trio of Ken Dorsey, Willis McGahee and Andre Johnson provided a lot of scoring.
But the offense has not looked as smooth behind Brock Berlin. The junior transfer from Florida has thrown five interceptions and fumbled twice, giving him two more turnovers than TD passes.
Penalties also have been a problem, with Miami getting flagged 44 times for 368 yards.
And though Frank Gore gained more than 100 yards in each of the first three games, he has not broken a run longer than 30 yards behind an injury-riddled offensive line that will not return to full strength until at least Oct.11 against No.5 FSU.
The result has been humbling for an offense that ranked sixth, eighth and fifth nationally the past three seasons, respectively. The Hurricanes rank 32nd in total offense.
INJURY UPDATE: Defensive end Atkins will not play tonight because of a sprained right ankle. Hester, who injured his right arm against Florida, might play. Coach Larry Coker said the most Hester would do is return kicks.
