Associated PressMIAMI ó Robert Marve was on the sideline in the final minutes of Miami’s previous two games, watching fellow freshman quarterback Jacory Harris run the Hurricanes’ offense in crucial situations.
It was Marve’s turn again Saturday, and he kept the Hurricanes in the Atlantic Coast Conference race.
Marve had a 1-yard touchdown run to put Miami ahead to stay, then delivered two clutch third-down conversions on the final drive as the Hurricanes beat Wake Forest 16-10 on Saturday
Marve had a 43-yard run in the third quarter, setting up his 1-yard TD plunge, and his 25-yard, third-and-10 throw to Thearon Collier with 3 minutes left was huge as the Hurricanes (5-3, 2-2) ran out the clock and won consecutive league games for the first time since October 2006.
Marve completed 11 of 20 passes for 153 yards. Wake Forest had 184 yards on 37 plays in the first half, then only 68 yards on 23 plays after halftime.
Josh Adams had 21 carries for 111 yards for Wake Forest (4-3, 2-2), which marched 66 yards for a touchdown on the game’s first drive, but didn’t find the end zone the rest of the day. The Deacons rushed a season-high 52 times for 195 yards, but quarterback Riley Skinner was only 3-for-8 for 57 yards.
Since the start of the 2007 season, Wake Forest has had three games where it rushed at least 50 times, and lost them all.
“We probably didn’t get as much as we hoped to get out of our throwing game,” Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said. “We just felt like we needed to run the football a little bit today.”
In the beginning, it looked like Wake Forest would run at, past and through Miami with ease.
Wake Forest came into the game with the 111th-ranked rushing offense ó out of 119 major college teams ó in the nation, averaging 95 yards and 2.6 yards per carry. Miami’s run defense? It entered the day ranked 20th nationally.
Shows what stats are worth.
The Demon Deacons rushed the ball on all 10 plays in a 66-yard, up-the-gut drive to open the game, capped by Mike Rinfrette’s 1-yard touchdown.
Nothing about Miami’s defensive front dissuaded Wake Forest from pounding away: The Demon Deacons ran the ball on each of their first 24 plays, almost exclusively lining up in a Power-I formation for the first time this year. Before Saturday, Wake hadn’t had more than six consecutive run calls at any point this season. And by halftime, Wake Forest was up to 32 carries, only five shy of its per-game average.