Miami to be without Carter, Jenkins for Sun Bowl

Because five years ago when Miami was at the Sun Bowl with an interim head coach (Al Golden was waiting in the wings) and it began to sleet/snow, the Canes shriveled up and laid down vs. Notre Dame, trailing 27-0 in the first half. The Hurricanes finished the season at 8-5 and the Cougars were 9-4.

Miami had a chance to take the lead on Washington State’s 28-yard line with 3:13 remaining after a three-and-out by the Cougars, but in typical fashion, a mistake crushed the Canes.

Player of the game: Washington State quarterback Luke Falk threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns, completing 29 of 53 passes in the snowstorm.

First the Hurricanes had a potential game-tying touchdown – on a 5-yard pass from Brad Kaaya to Stacy Coley – negated by a block-in-the-back penalty on Herb Waters.

Braxton Berriors’ 65-yard run to the Washington State five-yard line, set up Walton’s score that cut the deficit to 20-14 with 13 minutes to play. At halftime, the Hurricanes trail 20-7. – Washington State WR Gabe Marks caught five passes for 67 yards and a score, River Cracraft caught five passes for 63 yards.

Despite Kaaya’s disappointing numbers, he’s still just a sophomore who threw for over 3,000 yards this season and has shown enough potential to get better with the right coach and system. The defeat appeared to represent a historically low point for a program not unfamiliar with low points, but the Cougars ended up 9-4.

Bryant Shirreffs completed 10 of 17 passes for 86 yards and gained 75 yards on 19 carries for UConn (6-7), which came up short in a bid to have a winning record for the first time since 2010.

Hurricanes quarterback Brad Kaaya took a step back, throwing for 219 yards with one touchdown and one interception on 17-of-31 passing after racking up 561 passing yards in wins over Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh. But the Hurricanes also have had a couple of shaky win in Scott’s tenure (remember the Duke play?) and were blown out by North Carolina. Had Miami not called a needless timeout with 34 seconds remaining in the Sun Bowl, the intrastate rivals might have concluded their seasons in a photo finish. This is only their second bowl game, both under current bench boss, Mike Leach, since that 2003 bowl win.

First, Miami saw a promising drive end when Kaaya was intercepted in the end zone – on a pass that Rashawn Scott seemed to have caught before the ball was punched out of his arms by Washington State’s Charleston White. Miami punted three times on offense and forced Washington State to turn the ball over on downs twice to go with a punt on defense.

Remarkably, Washington State is only 1-3 SU in games where it comes out ahead in the turnover battle, yet undefeated (6-0 SU) when losing the turnover battle. The Hurricanes finished with three turnovers and nine total penalties for 105 yards.

“We’ve got to play smarter”, he said.

A place where moral victories, like the 2015 Sun Bowl, are no longer tolerated. WSU QB Luke Falk’s 38 touchdown passes are a school record…. 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.