Dominant second half helps No. 8 Miami Hurricanes rout USF Bulls to start season 4-0

TAMPA BAY, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes and USF Bulls played a hectic, lengthy, back-and-forth first half on Saturday.

But once the teams returned from their locker rooms, the Hurricanes took over and played like the team that has dominated through the first three weeks of the season.

Fueled by three total rushing touchdowns by Damien Martinez, including two in the second half, and another stellar performance from quarterback Cam Ward, No. 8 Miami pulled away from USF and left Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium with a 50-15 road win.

Miami is 4-0, after winning its first three games of the season 41-17 against the Florida Gators, 56-9 against the Florida A&M Rattlers and 62-0 against the Ball State Cardinals. USF is 2-2.

Put another way: Miami has scored at least 40 points in every game this season and put up 50-plus in each of the past three.

The Hurricanes played a nearly perfect second half to outscore the Bulls 28-0 over the final 30 minutes.

Miami marched 80 yards down the field on both of its third-quarter possessions, with Martinez scoring from 1 yard out to cap each drive. Martinez also had a 2-yard rushing touchdown on the opening drive of the game.

He entered the game Saturday without a touchdown through three games with the Hurricanes.

And Martinez got those three rushing touchdowns despite having just 31 total rushing yards on 11 carries.

(He did have 50 receiving yards on two catches, for what it’s worth.)

Quarterback Cam Ward then sealed the game with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Restrepo with 7:44 left in regulation. It capped a night in which Ward completed 24-of-34 passes for a season-high 404 yards and three touchdowns with one interception that wasn’t really his fault (more on that in a minute). Restrepo caught six passes for 99 yards and the touchdown, his fifth of the season. Restrepo’s second catch of the game put him over 2,000 career receiving yards, making him the 10th player in UM history to accomplish the feat.

And for good measure, freshman running back Jordan Lyle rattled off a 91-yard touchdown run with 3:09 left in regulation after Miami put the second-string offense into the game.

The defense, meanwhile, kept the Bulls off the board in the second half. Miami held USF to just 62 rushing yards on Saturday. The Bulls entered the game averaging 268.67 rushing yards per game, the eighth-most in the nation. Miami entered the game allowing an average of just 65.67 rushing yards per game, the 12th-best mark in the country.

Miami’s defense recorded four sacks and seven tackles for loss. Safety Mishael “Meesh” Powell recorded his second interception of the season early in the fourth quarter and Myles Mooyoung intercepted a pass with less than two minutes away to end it.