One of the many talking points surrounding the No. 19 Miami Hurricanes entering the game was how its defense would play against an SEC offensive line and if the secondary would hold up against Eugene “Tre” Wilson III and an accurate Graham Mertz. Little to say, the defense did more than anyone could imagine.
During the Hurricane’s weekly press conference, defensive coordinator Lance Guidry highlighted how predictable the Florida offense would be.
“Last week going against Florida, we took the five to top seven plays that showed up in every game [last season]. A reverse, a crossing route, a tailback screen just certain things. I’ll be dang that in the first four to five of the ten plays that many of them showed up,” Guidry said.
The defense dominated the trenches and this was without Rueben Bain Jr. for practically the entire game. He went down with a soft-tissue injury during the opening drive of the game, however, that did not stop the defense from showing that this is a different Miami defense from years previous.
Tyler Baron, Simeon Barrow Jr, Elijah Alston, and Ahkeem Messidor terrorized the offensive line. There was no stopping the endless pressure from the hurricanes, which continued in the middle of the field. Fransico Mauigoa and Wesley Bissainthe left no answers in the middle of the field for Mertz. Mertz went into the game without knowing the name of Muaigoa but after getting sacked by him, he will be sleeping with that fear of No. 1 chasing after him for a while.
That also helped the defensive performance from the secondary which proved that they will not be the weakness of this team like many projected them to be. It was not because of the talent in the secondary, it was due to the lack of depth that the room has. Moreover, freshmen stepped up like OJ Frederique Jr. stepped up and shined on the day.
The Hurricanes will have another chance to show how dominant the defense will be against the reign HBCU National Champions in Florida A&M on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
