Washington State defeats Miami

Miami is 19-19 all-time in bowl games, and Washington State is 6-5….

Tweet of the game: Snowstorm or not, Washington State fans were going to take their shirts off at the Sun Bowl no matter what – and of course there was some Fireball involved.

The Hurricanes – led by interim coach Larry Scott, who proved a passionate advocate and motivator after being elevated from his position coaching tight ends – silenced outside critics by winning four of their last five regular-season games.

“The ball slipped out of his hands”, Scott said. The Washington State pass defense has played at another level the past five games. “We have a great secondary and we’re ready for it”, said junior cornerback Corn Elder, who has started five of Miami’s last six games. We’ve developed in a team that plays well together. Thereafter, the Cougars’ offense came back on the field and ran out the clock.

Hoping to take advantage of the depleted Hurricane’s defense, quarterback Falk will take back the reigns of the WSU offense and try to continue his record-setting 2015 campaign.

I also remember seeing Erickson having cocktails on Waikiki Beach that night, and the next time I saw him, it was on TV in a news conference announcing that he was leaving to become the Hurricanes’ head coach. “We’re playing in a situation where we need all of our defensive backs, and we’re down a DB so everyone is going to have to step their games up again”. Miami ranked No. 12 in the ACC in scoring defense (28.8 points) while the Cougars averaged 32.4 points per game. “(Gabe) Marks has the amount of catches he has (99) but they play so many guys, it’s really hard to sit there and say you’re going to key on one guy and lock on”. A Southern Miss official said Richard, one of two Golden Eagles with 1,000 yards rushing this season, was held because of an unspecified injury. He needed an extra year to hit that mark with the Cougars, but they finally got there.

“Plays were there to be made”, Kaaya said. “They fought to the bitter end…when you fight and you keep calling and believing that things don’t work out, it hurts, but at the same time I told them they had nothing to be ashamed of”. The streak includes a loss to Notre Dame in the 2010 Sun Bowl.

About Miami: As quarterback Brad Kaaya and Miami’s offensive line go, so go the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes reportedly had expected to be a part of the Pinstripe Bowl and with all of the uncertainty around this current state of this program it wouldn’t be a surprise to see this team be a no-show, in terms of performance level.

The only final game of a season Miami has won since its 2006 victory against Nevada in the MPC Computers Bowl was against Duke in 2012, the year the Canes self imposed a postseason ban because of NCAA infractions.

The Sun Bowl has been played in a snowstorm a few times through its long history.

Two of those drives ended in turnovers – one on a fumble at the 5 that might have been affected by the slick conditions and the other on what has to be considered one of the worst play calls of the year: a halfback pass for an interception.