Colleges

UM defense far ahead of offense

The Hurricane offense is limited to a field goal in the spring game.

By MICHAEL SNYDER
Published April 16, 2006

MIAMI - Those who came to the Orange Bowl early on a sunny Saturday morning hoping to catch a few rays of optimism about Miami's new-look offense likely left disappointed.

Miami's Nos. 1 and 2 defensive units dominated their offensive counterparts en route to a 31-14 victory in the annual Spring CanesFest game in front of about 9,000 fans. It was a game played close to the vest because coach Larry Coker and new offensive coordinator Rich Olson didn't want to showcase too many new wrinkles with Florida State awaiting in the season opener on Labor Day.

The result was an uneven, sloppy performance offensively. Quarterbacks Kyle Wright and Kirby Freeman combined to complete 14 of 31 passes for only 77 yards, with no touchdowns and two interceptions, both by Freeman. The running game, playing behind a line that had starting guard Andrew Bain sidelined and will have four new starters, had 119 yards on 39 carries. Derron Thomas led with 47 yards on 14 carries.

"This the best defense we'll play all year - by far," said tight end Greg Olsen, who led all receivers with four catches for 19 yards. "You always want to do better than you do."

"We're pretty dominant on defense," Coker said. "We played a lot of defensive players and did an awfully nice job defensively. Offensively we ran the ball, did some nice things there. ... Certainly we've got a lot of work to do offensively."

The defense held the offense without a first down until 9 minutes, 54 seconds remained in the second quarter. Neither Wright nor Freeman, who has been the subject of transfer talk all spring, led the 'Canes to the end zone. The only points the offense got traditionally - the others were awarded for first downs - came on a 28-yard field goal by former Countryside standout Jon Peattie.

The longest pass went only 9 yards.

"It was a little herky-jerky at times, but that happens when you're running pretty vanilla stuff," Wright said. "We came out, there were some good things, some bad things. I'm glad we're making mistakes now instead of later on down the road. That's what spring practice is for."

Indeed some of the biggest attention went to punter Brian Monroe who, with Darnell Jenkins sitting out, lined up as the third receiver. He caught only one pass for 6 yards but just missed on a few others, including an almost spectacular grab of a long pass down the sideline from Freeman. He showed good speed and separation ability and could see action on offense. "He gets up the field and looks good," Wright said. "He shows a lot of athletic ability."

"They couldn't show it all today. They did a lot of things in spring that they didn't show today," safety Kenny Phillips said. "We did okay. We dominated the offense, but we have to do better. We have to tackle better."

[Last modified April 16, 2006, 00:43:12]