The Miami Defense Deserves Its Flowers Following Wake Forest Win

When the halftime buzzer sounded during Miami's Friday night bout with Wake Forest, the Hurricanes held a commanding 24-7 lead. Then, the U struck first in the second half and thought it had put the game to bed, up 31-7.

But the Demon Deacons weren't done yet. Quarterback Gio Lopez fired up his offense and rattled off two scores to close the gap to 31-20 with over 14 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Suddenly, a football game was underway in Winston-Salem, and Miami's offense had already settled into its clock-chewing mode.

Once an offense hits the proverbial shutoff valve, it's hard to pick up the pace again. Couple that with the fact that Miami QB Darian Mensah's favorite target, Malachi Toney, got banged up in the first half and obviously lost a step, and the Hurricanes' offense wasn't moving anything, much less the chains.

But the Miami defense never hit that same valve.

Corey Hetherman's Miami defense kept Wake's point total right where it stood, despite losing several key contributors throughout the night, including a missed drive for projected first-round draft pick Ahmad Moten Sr. Despite the setbacks, though, the Miami defense never broke a sweat after Wake Forest scored that touchdown early in the 4th quarter.

The Miami Defense Can Finally Start Making Headlines

With the Hurricane offense exploding for production in its first two games, that side of the ball dominated the headlines leading into the week 3 matchup, which the Hurricanes won 33-20 after the dust settled. Every national headline surrounding the U focused on the offense when, just under a year ago, it was the Miami defense that earned its spot in the College Football Playoff national championship game.

On Friday night, it was again the Miami defense that stiffened its neck, stopped the opposition's forward momentum, and kept some distance between the Hurricanes and Demon Deacons. The Hurricanes' offense still produced, but, as expected, not as effectively as it did in the weeks prior. That left the door open for the part of this Hurricanes team that should still scare opposing teams most: the defense.

As ACC play picks up and the Notre Dame matchup approaches, the Miami offense will be tested even more than it was on Friday night. In fact, the offense could simply have an off night or run into a team that keeps it low-scoring. In those critical situations, the Miami defense will still have to be the unit the team leans on when it needs it most, because if there's one constant in football, it's that defense travels.

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