Your Miami Hurricanes laid an egg on Senior Night. And no this wasn’t a weird iteration of the “Egg Bowl.” The Hurricanes were embarrassed 42-16 at Hard Rock Stadium and the Mario Cristobal debut came to an unceremonious conclusion Saturday night. The Boys and Boos Pitt edition will still manage to pass out some prestigious and not so prestigious awards, so here we go…

The Boys

Will Mallory. The Senior tight end had a phenomenal night. He amassed 9 receptions for 103 yards and 1 touchdown. Mallory also left as a Miami Hurricane record holder. When the tight end scored with 11:52 in the fourth quarter capping a 7 play 63 yard drive, Mallory tied the record for most touchdowns at his position. Will the thrill also ranks second all time in receiving yards for a tight end. Not bad considering Miami has always been considered Tight End-U.

Jake Garcia. It is not easy coming off the bench third on the depth chart and playing well. At the end of the night Garcia amassed 192 yards on 17-27 passing with 2 TD’s. There was a couple of unnecessary shots into double coverage, but at the end of the night, Garcia was secure with the ball and threw zero interceptions. Garcia also showed a plethora of toughness as the quarterback was hit most of the night.

Kam Kinchens. He was not the leading tackler on the team. That would be James Williams who finished the night with 10. But there is no doubt who the cornerstone and future captain of this program is. Kinchens reportedly rallied the troops at the end of a disappointing season and mandated your ten toes be in. Kinchens erased so many mistakes on the field this season. Let’s hope he can erase much of what internally plagues the locker room as well.

  The Boos

The Defense. This one wasn’t pretty. The Pitt Panthers had 504 total yards and averaged 9.1 yards a pass and 7.1 yards a rush. Pitt’s leading rusher was Israel Abanikanda who had 111 yards on just 15 carries and scored twice. And no it wasn’t Reggie Wayne but rather Jared Wayne who absolutely torched the Miami secondary to the tune of 199 yards on 11 receptions. If steel is supposed to be the foundation for sturdy buildings, this was tissue. 

3rd Down Offense. The low hanging fruit would state the offense in general but the Gattis led group was particularly bad staying on the field Saturday. The Hurricanes were 3-12 on third down and for a bonus, 0-2 on fourth. The Hurricanes finished the season with a meager 19.4 points per game vs. FBS competition and staying on the field was never its strong suit.

The Training Staff. Listen, I know a doctor needs to give the final approval for a player’s return to action. However after Tyler Van Dyke’s injury vs. Duke, this marked twice that he would have to leave the contest in the first quarter. On both occasions, it was a routine play and nothing outside the realm of natural football. He threw a ball and was tackled on a play with no unnecessary roughness. Hindsight is always 20-20 but it wasn’t a good look having Van Dyke re-injured both times.

The boos could have continued but we promised ourselves we would stare at the recruiting section….