College football

Wright's thumb injury not serious

By wire services
Published October 17, 2005

CORAL GABLES - Quarterback Kyle Wright 's sprained right thumb should not impair him significantly during practice this week, coach Larry Coker said Sunday.

Wright injured his throwing hand with about 3:35 left in the second quarter of the Hurricanes' 34-3 win over winless Temple Saturday. Reserve offensive lineman Chris Rutledge couldn't block defensive end Christian Dunbar , who sacked Wright and forced a fumble.

It was the second time in a five-minute span that Dunbar took a hard shot at Wright after blowing past the redshirt freshman, who was in the game because Miami opted to rest most of its starters after scoring 34 points in the first 18:09.

Coker on Sunday defended his decision to allow his starting quarterback to play behind an offensive line of primarily little-used reserves: "These guys get practice time. They're expected to go in and play well when they have an opportunity. Some did, and obviously, some didn't."

POINT: "Our team gets too relaxed when we get up," junior safety Brandon Meriweather said. "Our coaches are trying to instill a kill mentality. When we've got somebody down we need to keep them down."

COUNTERPOINT: "Winning is winning any way you slice it," running backs coach Don Soldinger said. "Why do you have to defend wins at the University of Miami? We're 62-8 in the last 70. Go find somebody that's better than that in the country."

[Last modified October 17, 2005, 01:19:13]