Miami offensive lineman Francis Maugioa saw a familiar sight Sunday night: Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor making life difficult for offensive linemen.
“They gave me a hard time, too, in fall camp,” Mauigoa said. “And we battled back and forth each and every day, and we improve (from) that. They’re my boys, so I knew they were going to do that on Sunday.”
Bain, who was picked as the ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week for his performance, and Mesidor sealed the win over Notre Dame for Miami, forcing an intentional grounding and ending the game with a sack. They bullied the offensive line, and when UM’s offense was on the field, the Hurricanes’ offensive line got the best of the Fighting Irish’s defense.
The victories in the trenches played a big role in Miami’s win.
“That thing was a slugfest the whole way through,” UM coach Mario Cristobal said. “And I think this team … what I learned from them is that they enjoy the true, the physical and violent nature of the game.”
Bain and Mesidor led the way on defense. Bain had six tackles with half a sack, and he added an interception on a tipped pass. Mesidor had five tackles with 1.5 sacks. Pro Football Focus gave Bain a 92.6 defensive grade, which was the fifth-best grade in the nation among edge rushers (and the best in the ACC). Mesidor was not far behind with an 82.5 grade, which was 37th in the nation and ninth in the ACC.
“If we stop the run and we get guys off track, those are guys we want to cut loose in the pass rush a little bit,” Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman said. “And at the end of the game, we saw that.”
The interior defensive lineman also performed well. David Blay Jr., playing in his first game with the Hurricanes, had an early tackle for loss, and Justin Scott forced a fumble.
“Our guys did a really good job of knocking the line of scrimmage back,” Hetherman said.
On offense, UM debuted what could prove to be one of the best offensive lines in the nation. Returning key starters like Mauigoa and Anez Cooper on the right side and Markel Bell and Matthew McCoy on the left, Miami allowed only one sack in the victory.
“I can sit back there and make my reads, go through what I need to go through again because they’re so talented,” quarterback Carson Beck said.
Mauigoa said there were still things the line needs to work on, but he thought they put in a solid performance.
“There’s always room for improvement throughout the course (of a season),” Mauigoa said. “I thought our run game was pretty good. And it all starts from us. We said that in the locker room before and after. It starts from us. We’ve got to set the standard. We’re the tone-setters; we set the standard for the whole team. But all in all, there’s still some things we need to fix up on the run game, even on the pass game, some missed assignments and stuff.”
Beck was pressured only six times in the win. The veteran quarterback, who completed 20 of 31 passes for 205 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his Hurricanes’ debut, attributed the offensive line’s success to their hard work.
“I’ve never seen a group work the way that they do,” Beck said, “whether that’s in the film room, whether that’s extra work out on the field. We have off days, and they’re out in the sand pit there, here in the indoor getting their footwork, their running, their conditioning. I cannot speak highly enough of that group and the work that they put in, and they make my job a lot easier.”
