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Miami Offense Struggles In Rout

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By MATT BAKER, Tribune correspondent

Published: September 9, 2007

Updated: 09/09/2007 01:12 am

NORMAN, Okla. - It didn't matter who was under center for the Miami Hurricanes.

Kirby Freeman, Kyle Wright and the entire Miami offense struggled Saturday, racking up just 139 total yards in its 51-13 loss to No. 5 Oklahoma. It was the largest margin of defeat for the Hurricanes in almost 10 years.

'Today wasn't a very good day for the University of Miami,' Coach Randy Shannon said. 'When you have penalties like we had today and we don't communicate and don't do the things that coaches teach us to do, we won't be successful.'

The Hurricanes' day started off poorly when Freeman's 40-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage was nearly intercepted by Oklahoma's Marcus Walker. Miami (1-1) didn't gain a first down until the end of the first quarter. It was the only first down Freeman had in his 10 possessions under center.

After starting 2-for-7 with 10 yards, Freeman was benched with 7:42 left in the first half. He re-entered in the fourth quarter and finished the game 3-for-9 for 17 yards.

'From the start, I've said that we've got two quarterbacks,' Shannon said. 'We feel like both of them can help us win games. Whenever we feel like we need to rotate them, we'll rotate them. And if we don't, we won't.'

As Miami's offense struggled, the Sooners shined with the ball. Freshman quarterback Sam Bradford threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Malcolm Kelly to give Oklahoma a 7-0 lead five minutes into the game.

Kelly scored again on a 24-yard pass from Bradford at the end of the first quarter, and Oklahoma defensive back Reggie Smith recovered a fumble by running back Javarris James and returned it 61 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-3.

Wright sparked the Miami offense for one possession. He led the Canes on an 18-play drive that ended with a 2-yard pass to Ryan Hill that cut the deficit to 21-10.

Wright, who started most of the past two seasons, converted three of four third downs on the drive, and his 45 passing yards were more than the entire offense had through the game's first 20 minutes. He finished 7-for-14 for 65 yards.

'This is just another situation that was new to me in terms of coming off of the bench, but I'm going to keep working hard,' Wright said. 'When they give me my opportunity, I'm going to be ready to go on and move the offense as best as possible.'

Shannon said Wright 'did good' in his two quarters. The coach declined to name a starter for next week's game against Florida International.

'It's up to the coaches,' Wright said. 'I went in and did what they asked me to do. That's it. That's all I can do.'

After Wright's initial drive, the Hurricanes faltered again. Miami safety Kenny Phillips forced a fumble with a hit on Oklahoma running back Chris Brown at the Sooner 40, but Miami had to settle for a 45-yard field goal by Francesco Zampogna.

It was Miami's final score of the game.

Oklahoma (2-0) rattled off 30 unanswered points in the second half - including a 30-yard touchdown pass from Bradford to Kelly and a 61-yard score by Adron Tennell - to hand Miami its most lopsided loss since falling to Syracuse 66-13 in 1998.

'I think everybody's disappointed in themselves,' Shannon said. 'That can't happen. You talk about giving up too many big plays, that's what hurts your defense. And we had too many big plays given up.'

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