Miami looking to halt home-loss skid vs. FSU
Miami snapped a seven-game losing streak in the series with Florida State with last year’s 24-20 victory in Tallahassee, and the Hurricanes will be looking to end another period of frustration when the two teams face off Saturday afternoon.
Not since a 16-10 overtime win over the Seminoles in 2004 in their former Orange Bowl home have the No. 17 Hurricanes (4-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) beaten the Seminoles (3-2, 1-2 ACC) at home.
The skid started with a 13-10 loss in 2006 in their final meeting in the Orange Bowl and continued when the Hurricanes move to their current Hard Rock Stadium home. Their 20-19 win two years ago, secured when DeMarcus Walker blocked Miami’s extra point attempt with under two minutes left in the game, ran the Seminoles’ winning streak on Miami’s turf to six in a row.
“It’s been ’04 since Miami won at home in this series,” Miami coach Mark Richt said. “That’s not very good. About as bad as seven losses in a row that we were dealing with going into last year’s game.
“So it’s a meaningful history we need to change the course of.”
This could be one of the better chances to halt the slide that the Hurricanes will have had in recent years. For the first time since 2008, the Seminoles will be coming to Miami unranked, though rankings don’t always tell the story in this series. The Hurricanes were ranked No. 10 and the ‘Noles No. 21 the last time they played at Hard Rock.
The Hurricanes were No. 12 and the ‘Noles were unranked at the time of last year’s meeting in Tallahassee, and it look a late touchdown catch by receiver Darrell Langham for the Hurricanes to pull out the one-point win.
“He didn’t play that many plays in the game,” Richt said, “and he got in there and made the biggest play of the game.”
Miami will be getting a key player back on defense with the return of safety Jaquan Johnson. Johnson has missed the last two games with a knee injury. He had four interceptions last year and was leading the Hurricanes in tackles with 22 this fall when he was injured in the win over Toledo.
“He’s a great player,” Richt said. “He was a preseason All-American for a good reason — mostly because of his production. Tremendous production as tackler. He has got great ball skills. He’s just a super competitor who lives his team and loves football.
“He’s just a fun guy to be around. He’s kind of a heart-and-soul type of guy. We have more than him that has that type of attribute, but there aren’t many that are better than him in all those categories.”
