By Michelle Smith
Miami was making a mad dash out of the visitors' locker room at AT&T Park following the 24-17 loss to Cal in the Emerald Bowl, trying to get to the airport in time for the red-eye flight back to Florida. That left little time for introspection and disappointment, at least not until the long plane ride. The Hurricanes probably spent the cross-country trek digesting how they managed to allow Cal to beat them in scouting-report fashion. Their most obvious mandates - wrap up Cal tailback Jahvid Best and keep Bears linebacker Zack Follett away from freshman quarterback Jacory Harris - were unaccomplished objectives despite two weeks of work on the practice field. Best finished with an Emerald Bowl record for rushing yards (186) and Follett made the play of the game, stripping Harris from behind with 3:28 to go to set up the Bears' game-winning score. And thus Miami (7-6) finished the season with three straight losses after its comeback fell short.
"It's a tough, tough loss," Miami coach Randy Shannon said after his first bowl game. "We did a great job to keep fighting in the fourth quarter. We said that if we could get it into the fourth quarter, we'd have a great shot to win it, but unfortunately, they made a play that we couldn't make." Miami got itself in a 14-0 hole in the first quarter by giving up big yards to Best. Best scored both first-quarter touchdowns for the Bears, the second on a 42-yard run over right tackle. Shannon said his players spent the past two weeks brushing up their tackling technique to deal with Best. Miami had given up a total of 691 rushing yards in its two losses leading into the Emerald Bowl. Senior linebacker Glenn Cook said the defense gave up too many big plays to Best. Best had six carries of at least 15 yards and averaged 9.3 yards per carry.
"He came out and we made a few mistakes," Cook said. "The last couple of weeks in the season, we've been making the same mistakes and he took advantage of it. We talked all week that he was a great player and it was going to be key for us to stop the run and we didn't do enough." The Cal defense ruled the early part of the game as Miami struggled mightily. The Hurricanes gained yardage on only one of their first four drives. In their first seven drives, the Hurricanes had five punts, an interception and one touchdown - a 9-yard pass from Harris to Laron Byrd.
Harris, the true freshman starting in place of redshirt freshman Robert Marve, finished the game 25-for-41 for 194 yards and two touchdowns. He brought his team back from a two-touchdown deficit with some fine throws, hitting Thearon Collier for a 6-yard score in the third quarter to tie the game. "We settled down. We've gotten behind before, earlier in the season and were able to come back," Shannon said. "We knew we'd get back in the game. Our guys were patient and it happened. We got to the fourth quarter where we wanted to be, and we just couldn't finish it."
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