NEW YORK CITY — The Hurricanes’ 2023 campaign ended on a bitter note as Miami dropped its fifth-straight bowl game in a 31-24 loss to Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl.
The defeat ends a rollercoaster of a season for UM, which came with highs like wins against Clemson and Texas A&M and lows like an inconceivable loss to Georgia Tech and massive offensive struggles.
Here are 10 takeaways from UM’s final game of the 2023 season:
Jacurri Brown shows flashes …
Jacurri Brown did not play at all during the regular season but was asked to take over at quarterback for the bowl game. On his first play of the game, he uncorked a deep ball and nearly connected with Jacolby George, but George could not hang onto it.
On some drives, Brown looked more than capable. He threw a few excellent passes. One was a 30-yard pass to wide receiver Xavier Restrepo, who hauled it in for a score. On the other, Restrepo turned and made a fantastic catch as he fell, but he was ruled out of bounds near the end zone. Brown also used his speed, scoring two rushing touchdowns and leading the team in rushing yards.
But Brown had some bad plays, as well. He threw a poor interception that later resulted in a Rutgers touchdown. He skipped another throw to Restrepo and mistimed others.
“Made some really good throws,” UM coach Mario Cristobal said. “Some others he would like to have back against a team that’s a top-10 defense, particularly in the passing game.”
Ultimately, Thursday provided ammunition to those who think Brown can excel and to those who think Brown will continue to struggle. The jury is still out on his future.
… but quarterback remains unresolved
Brown had positive moments, but Miami’s 2024 quarterback situation is still up in the air. Brown, who spent the season on the bench as the third-string quarterback, did not amaze in his audition on Thursday.
Freshman Emory Williams is expected to be healthy for the spring after serving as the backup this season. UM is also adding incoming freshman Judd Anderson.
What Miami likely needs is a veteran quarterback from the transfer portal. Former Washington State quarterback Cam Ward is the top option, but he is still weighing his choices: Miami, Florida State or the NFL. If the former Cougar opts for FSU or the NFL, the Hurricanes will have to find another quarterback.
Restrepo cements fantastic season
Restrepo ended the regular season just short of 1,000 receiving yards, but he hit and surpassed the mark with a strong game Thursday.
Restrepo had 11 catches for 99 yards and a score, setting the UM single-season record for receptions (85) and finishing tied with Andre Johnson for fifth-most receiving yards in a season at Miami (1,092). Any time your name is mentioned in the same sentence as Andre Johnson’s, you know you’re doing something special.
Restrepo added some good news on Friday, announcing he will return for a fifth season at Miami.
Injury woes
The last thing you want to see in a bowl game — or any game — are injuries. But Miami had bad injury luck on Thursday.
Standout freshman running back Mark Fletcher Jr. suffered a foot injury in the first quarter. Cristobal said after the game that X-rays on Fletcher’s foot were negative but added that “there’s certainly something else going on there.”
Later in the game, sophomore linebacker Wesley Bissainthe suffered what Cristobal described as an “upper-body injury.”
The two young players have plenty of time to recover before UM takes the field again, so hopefully, their recovery will go smoothly.
Rueben Bain Jr. ends strong first season
Defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr. was one of the breakout stars of the 2023 season. The Miami Central alum ended his freshman season with 44 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and tied for the team lead with 7.5 sacks.
Bain, who was named the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year, ended the year with a strong performance, notching seven tackles and a career-best three tackles for loss.
“He is really talented and plays really, really hard, and it means the world to him,” Cristobal said. “Need a bunch more guys like Rueben Bain.”
Line-of-scrimmage troubles
Miami was missing key players on both sides of the line of scrimmage. UM was down two starting defensive linemen and a starting defensive tackle, all of whom are headed to the NFL draft. As a result, they struggled to run the ball and stop the run.
The Hurricanes surrendered 208 rushing yards to the Scarlet Knights, more than in 11 of their 13 games this year.
“Give credit to them,” linebacker Francisco Mauigoa said. “That was a really good running back. … We just couldn’t fit our gaps. We couldn’t do our assignment. That’s something we have to work on.
“They game-planned us, and we just have to adjust and fix the things that we didn’t fix.”
On the offensive side of the ball, UM was missing Don Chaney Jr., who transferred to Louisville, and Fletcher left the game early. Miami ended the game with 130 rushing yards, which was their fifth-lowest total of the season. UM running backs accounted for just 59 of those yards.
Tackling trend keeps going down
Miami missed 16 tackles in the loss on Thursday, according to Pro Football Focus. That is the most missed tackles in a game for UM this season.
Looked at in a vacuum, the increase in missed tackles could be attributed to more inexperienced players getting opportunities Thursday. Freshman Jayden Wayne was charged with four missed tackles, and freshman cornerback Damari Brown had two. But veterans struggled as well: Defensive back Te’Cory Couch had three (while playing out of position at safety), and linebackers Keontra Smith and Mauigoa had two each.
It continued a rough trend for Miami. The Hurricanes had 10 or more missed tackles in three of their last four games after giving up 10 in just one other game all year (Texas A&M).
“There were times we didn’t tackle well, particularly early in the football game,” Cristobal said.
Francis Mauigoa’s best game yet?
Offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa had a solid freshman year, starting every game at right tackle. The hyped freshman had growing pains but largely lived up to his early potential.
Mauigoa improved throughout the season and may have ended the year with his best game yet. Pro Football Focus did not charge him with any quarterback hurries and he was not called for any penalties after getting hit with nine during the season.
Pro Football Focus gave him a 73.7 offensive grade, which was his third-best mark of the season. He received an 82.7 pass-blocking grade, which was his best grade of the year.
Hurricanes battled to the end
It may be only a small consolation to fans who feel bad after the loss, but the Hurricanes continued to stay in games until the very end. Down two scores with 2:35 left in the game, Miami kept fighting, scored, recovered an onside kick and made a last-ditch attempt to tie the game.
The Hurricanes did not suffer any blowout losses this year, dropping only two of their six games by more than a touchdown. Even in those two larger losses, UNC and N.C. State, Miami was still competitive late in the game.
The season brings to mind the famed quote attributed to former FSU coach Bobby Bowden: “First you lose big, then you lose close. Then you win close, and finally, you win big.”
“The one thing this team has put on tape all year long every single game, up by a bunch, down by a bunch, every single game ended up being a tight game, and this team battled,” Cristobal said. “Our DNA, in that sense, has improved a bunch. We know how to compete. Now we’ve got to compete and combine better execution and discipline and coaching to go with that.”
Don’t freak out
Did the Hurricanes play their best game Thursday? No. Is it a bad look to lose to Rutgers for the first time in program history? Sure. Is it rough that UM has lost 11 of its last 12 bowl games? Yes.
But at the end of the day, it was the Pinstripe Bowl on a gloomy, wintry New York day. Miami was playing its third-string quarterback in a baseball stadium with multiple key players either transferring or opting out to prepare for the draft. It is not evidence that the Cristobal Era is failing.
Strange things happen in bowl games. Good teams lose. Mediocre teams win. Sometimes even anthropomorphic breakfast pastries pop out of pyrotechnic toasters and are consumed by the winning team. Basing too much on any bowl game is a fool’s errand, and the Hurricanes will look different when they head to Gainesville to open the 2024 season on Aug. 31.
“You give credit to the guys like coach Cristobal, the whole staff,” offensive lineman Jalen Rivers said. “Having that staff instilling the type of culture that we want to set, we have a standard, and you go into each year looking back at the last year wanting to get better.
“So we learned from last year. We still have a lot to improve on, but we made a major step. Going into next year I feel like we can make that step to where we can come out with wins, at least outlast our opponents.”
