Miami, FL
Beneath All Else, Cal’s Run-Game Woes at the Root of Miami Loss
There are all sorts of reasons the wheels came off in the fourth quarter for Cal against Miami on Saturday night.
And just as many ways the Bears could have averted letting a 25-point lead turn into a 39-38 nightmare defeat.
One more first down at some point in the fourth quarter might have taken another couple minutes off the clock and dented the Miami rally. Avoiding a catastrophic blown coverage on the Hurricanes’ 77-yard pass play on the final drive would almost certainly have changed the outcome.
And that doesn’t address what everyone seems to agree was an egregious non-call on the targeting play against Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza late in the game.
None of it excuses squandering leads of 35-10 in the third quarter and 38-18 in the fourth, even against a talented and explosive Hurricanes’ offense.
Hidden amongst the wreckage of the night is one undeniable shortcoming: The Bears cannot run the ball.
Think about it, the coaching staff has worked for a couple years at developing a big-play offense. Mendoza had four pass completions in excess of 50 yards against Miami — something Cal hasn’t accomplished in at least a dozen seasons.
Even the prolific Bears of Jared Goff under coach Sonny Dykes never had four plays of at least 50 yards in a game, although they did have three of them against Arizona State in 2015 plus two more that went 49 yards.
Mendoza, who has passed for 588 yards in defeats the past two games, is among six ACC quarterbacks named on Monday to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Top-25 watch list.
His four big plays against Miami added up to 230 yards. On their other 45 offensive snaps, the Bears totaled just 140 yards.
The key number there was the Bears’ total plays — 49, including the four big ones. Miami ran 86 plays — 37 more snaps than Cal managed. Coach Justin Wilcox talks about that discrepancy in the video above.
The most glaring numbers are in the run game. Cal had 73 net rushing yards on 25 attempts, but those include eight rushes (or sacks) credited to Mendoza and backup QB Chandler Rogers (who played well) and a creative 20-yard end-around by wide receiver Jonathan Brady.
So what did the Cal running backs get done? Not much. Certainly not enough.
They ran the ball just 15 times and netted 23 yards. That’s 1.5 yards per attempt by the running backs. Nine of those 15 tries went for 1 yard or less. Ouch.
Preseason All-America candidate Jaydn Ott, who has been hobbled by an ankle injury, was healthy enough to score on a 66-yard screen pass play down the right sideline. And he had a 5-yard touchdown run. His other six running plays netted minus-3 yards, leaving him with a career-low 2 rushing yards.
Backup Jaivian Thomas had a 19-yard run, but totaled 1 yard on his other six rushes.
It’s important to remember Cal was ahead on the scoreboard most of the game — way ahead for a long time. That’s when teams will run the ball to milk the clock. The Bears didn’t run it, probably because they know they can’t.
The offensive line is not the whole problem but it is part of it. Cal allowed 13 sacks the two previous games and couldn’t get its ground game going in this one against a Miami defense that gave up 206 rushing yards to Virginia Tech in its previous outing.
This actually has been an issue since the Bears’ opening game against UC Davis, when Cal’s backs carried 28 times for 88 yards — just 3.1 yards per attempt — against an FCS opponent.
Things were worse still at Auburn, where Cal backs rushed 26 times for 75 yards, an average of 2.9 per try. But Cal won the game, so it went largely unnoticed.
The Bears appeared to remedy the issue a week later in an easy win over San Diego State, even with Ott shelved by his ankle injury Thomas had a career-best 169 rushing yards and Cal’s backs carried the ball 29 times for 267 yards — a whopping 9.2 yards per attempt.
Then, in a 14-9 loss at Florida State, Ott returned and contributed to the Cal backs gaining 99 yards on 23 rushes, a suitable 4.3 yards per try.
It didn’t help Saturday that Cal again played without starting guard Sioape Vatikani, their most experienced O-lineman. He missed the first three games with a foot injury, then sat out the Miami game while recovering from a neck or head injury at FSU. His status for Saturday’s game at No. 22 Pitt is unknown.
One thing that’s clear is that for the Bears to end their two-game losing skid and regain their early-season momentum, they’re going to have to find a running game.
An investigation is underway at a northwest Miami-Dade apartment complex after the sheriff’s office said a man was shot by his girlfriend after a “heated dispute” early Wednesday morning.
Few details have been released, but the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said the incident took place at an apartment complex located off Northwest 7th Avenue.
The sheriff’s office said that a man became involved in a “heated dispute” with his girlfriend, and she shot him in the right arm.
He was rushed to a hospital by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue in critical condition.
The woman is in custody.
The identities of those who were involved have not yet been released.
No other information was available.
Game date, time and location: Tuesday, Mar. 3, 7:30 p.m. EST, Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Sun, YES Network (Brooklyn)
Radio: 104.3 FM (Miami/Ft. Lauderdale), ESPN 106.3 FM, (West Palm Beach), FOX Sports Radio 105.9 FM (Ft. Myers/Naples), 1450 AM (Suart), 97.7 FM (Florida Keys), WAQI 710 AM (Spanish-language broadcast, South Florida), WFAN 101.9 FM/660 AM (Brooklyn)
VITALS: The Miami Heat (32-29) and Brooklyn Nets (15-45) meet for the second of three regular season matchups. Earlier this season, Miami recorded a, 106-95, win in Brooklyn on December 18 and has now won four of the last five overall against the Nets.
It also marks the first of consecutive games against Brooklyn with the teams facing each other again on Thursday. The Heat are 83-61 all-time versus the Nets during the regular season, including 44-26 in home games and 39-35 in road games.
PROJECTED STARTERS
HEAT
G Davion Mitchell
G Tyler Herro
C Bam Adebayo
F Pelle Larsson
F Andrew Wiggins
NETS
G Nolan Traore
G Terance Mann
C Nic Claxton
F Michael Porter Jr.
F Noah Clowney
INJURY REPORT
HEAT
Davion Mitchell: Questionable – Shoulder
Norman Powell: Out – Groin
Nikola Jovic: Out – Back
Trevor Keels: Available – G League
Jahmir Young: Available – G League
Vlad Goldin: Available – G League
Terry Rozier: Out – Not with team
NETS
Nic Claxton: Probable – Thumb
Egor Demin: Out – Foot
QUOTABLE
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra: “Regardless of the scheme is, I always go back to that, it’s just about committing to doing hard things. We were really moving in the zone, taking away airspace and scrambling to challenge shots at the rim. In a lot of these losses in the last month we’ve just been giving up shots at the rim and threes.”
For more Miami Heat information and conversation, check out Off The Floor.
Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at Twitter: @tropicalblanket
ORLANDO, Fla. — Lionel Messi scored twice in a four-goal second half, defender Telasco Segovia added a goal and two assists and defending champion Inter Miami CF rallied to beat Orlando City SC 4-2 on Sunday night, winning for the first time at Inter&Co Stadium.
Messi took a pass from Segovia and scored in the 57th minute to tie it 2-2, and Segovia scored unassisted in the 85th for the lead. Messi put the finishing touch on the victory when he scored off a free kick in the 90th.
“The victory belongs exclusively to the players,” Miami coach Javier Mascherano said after the game. “In the second half, they were a championship team. There were no tactics, nothing like that. There was heart, courage, possession, resilience, commitment. I think the team came out because they were champions last year.
“In the end, the players showed it. This victory is theirs.”
Messi’s first two goals of the season give him 52 in his first 55 regular-season MLS matches — 51 of them in his past 49 appearances. It also brought the reigning MLS MVP to 898 career goals scored, including 672 for Barcelona and 115 for Argentina.
“He’s the best player to ever play this sport. He’s a leader, and as a leader, he inspires others, but he also often needs to be inspired himself,” Mascherano said of Messi. “When he was driving forward, he had more attacking options, and with so many opportunities, he clearly has the ability to create chances like no one else, and that’s what allowed us to turn the game around.”
Marco Pašalić took a pass from Iván Angulo and scored in the 18th minute to give Orlando City a 1-0 lead. Pašalić has scored in four straight matches against Inter Miami.
Defender Griffin Dorsey set up Martín Ojeda for a goal six minutes later for a 2-0 advantage that stood through halftime.
Inter Miami cut it to 2-1 four minutes into the second half on Mateo Silvetti’s first career goal. Defenders Segovia and Facundo Mura had assists as the 20-year-old forward found the net in his fifth career appearance.
Segovia had eight goals and six assists as a rookie last season, while Mura collected his first assist in his first season.
Dayne St. Clair, the reigning goalkeeper of the year, turned away three shots — all in the second half of his second start with Inter Miami, but let in a soft goal for Orlando’s first.
Maxime Crépeau had four saves in his second start for Orlando City.
Teenager Colin Guske, 19, will miss Orlando City’s next match after the rookie picked up two yellow cards in his first start — the second one led to his exit in the 88th minute.
Inter Miami, which had never won in its previous nine trips to Orlando, was coming off a 3-0 road loss to LAFC.
Orlando City swept Inter Miami during the regular season last year and leads the all-time series 8-7-4.
Inter Miami plays D.C. United on Saturday at Audi Field. Orlando City is also on the road with a match against New York City FC.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this recap.
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