The Miami Hurricanes blew a large lead in their 20-19 loss to the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday.
Despite giving away the lead, Miami still had a chance to win the game late. Down by a touchdown with under two minutes to play, Miami found the end zone. It looked as if the game was set for overtime until Miami's extra point try was blocked. DeMarcus Walker got in the way of Michael Badgley's attempt and capped off a heartbreaking loss for the Hurricanes.
Leading 13-0 after one quarter and by ten at the half, things looked really positive for Miami. Everything changed in the second half however. Florida State would outscore Miami 14-0 in the third quarter alone. The fourth quarter continued the problems for the Hurricanes and finished off the win for FSU.
The Hurricanes entered the game ranked tenth in the nation and should find themselves moving down in the rankings after this one. Florida State which entered as #23 is sure to see a better ranking in the coming days. This was the first loss for head coach Mark Richt in his UM career.
A costly interception for Brad Kaaya came during the third quarter and led to one of Florida State's touchdowns. It was all downhill from there for the Hurricanes as the momentum completely switched sides. Kaaya ended up going 19-32 on the day with two touchdowns and the aforementioned pick. Stacy Coley came down with both TD passes for Miami.
The running game was not much help for UM either as Mark Walton had a rare off night. Walton who has lit up the box scores this season only rushed for 39 yards in the loss.
Next up for UM is another home game against the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
