Miami's fierce protection dominates Texas A&M to advance to Cotton Bowl

[ad_1] COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Miami introduced a nasty protection into Texas A&M on Saturday to down the seventh-seeded Aggies within the School Soccer Playoff.

The No. 10 seed Hurricanes compelled Marcel Reed into three turnovers and sacked him seven occasions within the 10-3 victory.

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“The protection was off the charts all the day,” coach Mario Cristobal mentioned.

They transfer on to face No. 2 Ohio State within the Cotton Bowl on New 12 months’s Eve.

Texas A&M had an opportunity to tie it after freshman Malachi Toney’s 11-yard landing reception with lower than two minutes left.

The Aggies drove down the sphere and had a primary down on the 5. However Miami (11-2) compelled consecutive incompletions earlier than fellow freshman Bryce Fitzgerald leapt ultimately zone to seize his second interception of the day to safe the win.

“When the lights come on, sure guys simply sort of have it. He’s that man,” Cristobal mentioned. “When the lights come on, he is aware of what to do, easy methods to do it, and there’s no flinch in that man in any respect. You don’t sense any kind of freshman reservation from him.”

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The Hurricanes stifled Texas A&M’s highly effective offense, which entered the sport averaging 36.3 factors a sport. Together with the seven sacks of Reed, they flushed him out of the pocket and compelled him to attempt to make robust throws repeatedly. He was 25 of 39 for 257 yards however was unable to get the Aggies ultimately zone for the primary time this season.

“Simply attempting to ensure he was uncomfortable and attempting to not give the identical protection each time... and I assumed our guys did a extremely good job of dealing with that each one day,” defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman mentioned.

Additionally they restricted Texas A&M to 89 yards speeding on 35 carries with the workforce’s longest run approaching an 11-yard scramble by Reed.

Defensive finish Rueben Bain Jr., the ACC Defensive Participant of the 12 months, had 4 tackles for loss and three sacks to guide Miami’s formidable cross rush. The junior additionally blocked a subject objective within the second quarter to assist the ’Canes shut out Texas A&M earlier than halftime.

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Bain credited Hetherman, who's in his first yr on the college, for the workforce’s defensive success Saturday.

“It’s loopy for us to win this sport in this type of means,” Bain mentioned. “From the primary snap to the final, the protection got here to play, and that’s the best way it’s going to be, particularly while you’ve received someone like coach Hetherman, someone like that, teaching us each play simply to return out and provides our greatest.”

Toney’s huge play was made doable by a defensive stand after he fumbled the ball on the earlier possession. He made a reception, however Dalton Brooks knocked the ball out and Daymion Sanford recovered it on the Texas A&M 47 with about seven minutes to go.

The Hurricanes received the ball again when Bain sacked Reed on two of three performs on the following drive to power a punt.

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Hetherman talked in regards to the progress of the protection that has allowed the group to enhance all through the season.

“Now that protection is linked, and now they wish to play for each other, they wish to exit and compete each single collection,” Hetherman mentioned. “They don’t wish to let themselves down.”