Manny Diaz has simple assessment of Alabama following Miami’s blowout loss to open season
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Alabama was rolling on all cylinders on Saturday as the defending national champions cruised past Miami 44-13 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
A big question was how the Tide would look in the post-Mac Jones and DeVonta Smith era. At least early on, it appears to be another reloading year for Nick Saban’s team: Bryce Young threw for 344 yards and 4 touchdowns in his 1st career start, while Jameson Williams hauled in 4 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown. John Metchie was good for 6 catches, 76 yards, and a touchdown of his own, while Cameron Latu accounted for the 2 other touchdown catches.
It was all Tide as they opened up a 27-3 halftime lead. The defense held up its end of the bargain, too, holding the Hurricanes to just 266 yards of total offense.
“We played the most complete football team that we played in my time here,” Miami coach Manny Diaz said on Monday, according to The Athletic’s Manny Navarro.
For some context, the Canes lost 3 times last year, with 2 being rather handy defeats. They were rocked by Clemson 42-17 at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 10 before suffering a 62-26 home rout to North Carolina on Dec. 12.
As for Alabama fans, they’ll hope that this is just the beginning of a successful title defense.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
