Sports: Coker praises offense, then focuses on TE

In his first game as Miami's coach, Coker watched from the sideline Saturday as his No. 2 Hurricanes methodically dominated Penn State 33-7 before a record crowd of 109,313 at Beaver Stadium. In addition to giving Coker, a Miami assistant under Butch Davis for six seasons, his first win, the victory prevented Paterno from tying Bear Bryant for No. 1 in all-time wins with 323.

Coker said the most important thing was "we did get a win ."

A day later, Coker enjoyed the afterglow. "We thought it would be a hard-fought game," Coker said. "We had no inkling or feeling we'd be ahead 30-0 at the half. I don't think anybody predicted that. The people we expected to play well, played well."

Miami piled up 602 yards of offense. Hurricanes quarterback Ken Dorsey, a Heisman Trophy candidate, completed 20 of 27 passes for a career-high 344 yards with three touchdowns -- one each to Ethenic Sands, Najeh Davenport and Jeremy Shockey -- and one interception. Clinton Portis rushed for a career-high 164 yards.

Coker was especially pleased by the play of Shockey, the big tight end who led the 'Canes with seven catches for 84 yards. With a young, inexperienced group of wide receivers, and a knee injury to senior Daryl Jones that could keep him out of the lineup for a few weeks, Shockey's value has grown.

Kevin Beard, Andre Johnson and Jason Geathers lack game experience. Sands is a converted quarterback. "(Going into the game) I think our biggest question was our wideouts," Coker said. "You saw some glimpses of where we can be with the wide receivers. It's kind of receiver by committee ... Shockey is Santana Moss at tight end. If the ball's out there, he thinks it's his. If you put 5,000 people out there, he's going to get it."

Todd Sievers kicked four field goals, which isn't entirely a good thing according to Coker: "We're not going to beat teams with field goals. We have to score touchdowns. I'm not so sure they stopped us as much as we stopped ourselves."

ODDS AND ENDS: Coker said Jones, scheduled for an MRI, was the only injury of note. ... Coker was concerned with UM's 120 penalty yards and coverage of kickoffs. ... Coker praised Tampa Hillsborough product Andrew Williams, who made his first start at defensive end for Jamaal Green, who's been slow in coming back from a knee injury. Williams had two tackles for a loss, including a stop on third and 1 in the first, and a sack for a 10-yard loss.

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