A Look Back
The Hurricanes closed the 2005 season with a record of 9-3 and a second place finish in the Coastal Division with a 6-2 league mark … the Hurricanes made their 32nd bowl appearance and their eighth straight to end the season, playing LSU in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl … Miami led the nation in passing defense (152.2), while leading the ACC in pass defense efficiency (89.5) and was second in total defense (270.1) and scoring defense (14.2) … TB Tyrone Moss led the league with 12 touchdowns despite playing in only eight games.
Who’s Gone
Gone from last year’s 9-3 squad are a total of 11 starters (six offense, five defense) including four offensive linemen that combined for 95 career starts and three of which who started all 12 games last year … WR Sinorice Moss departs after leading the team in receptions (37), receiving yards (614) and touchdowns (six) in 2005 … on the defensive side, the Hurricanes will be without the services of their second-leading tackler in LB Rocky McIntosh (89 tackles), while losing both cornerbacks in Kelly Jennings and Marcus Maxey.
A Look Ahead
Junior quarterback
Kyle Wright
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The Hurricanes return 57 lettermen, including 11 starters, from last year … QB Kyle Wright is back for his junior season after starting all 12 games a season ago … Wright garnered the second-highest passer rating (137.2) in the ACC last year, while throwing for 2,403 yards and an ACC-leading 18 touchdowns … TB Tyrone Moss returns after leading the team with 701 yards rushing and a league-high 12 touchdowns in only eight games … Baraka Atkins has started 35 games over the last three seasons and his 13 sacks leads all returning players … Brandon Meriweather is the top returning tackler from last year registering 88 stops in 2005.
Numbers
2 - Miami is one of only two teams in NCAA Division I to have at least nine wins in each season since 2000 ... Texas and Miami are the only schools with at least nine wins in each of the last six seasons.
53 – Head coach Larry Coker is 53-9 (85.5) heading into his sixth season with the Hurricanes ... Coker’s 53 victories are tied with Dennis Erickson for the most wins by a coach in his first five years at Miami.
57 – Miami has scored 57 non-offensive touchdowns over the last seven years, the most of any team in the nation since 1999.
86.5 – Miami is 64-10 since 2000, good for a winning percentage of .865 - the nation’s winningest team over the past six years.
104 – Miami currently holds the record for the most consecutive weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 poll at 104 … the Hurricanes current streak began on November 28, 1999 when it re-entered the polls at No. 23 after a 45-13 win against Syracuse.
152.2 – The Hurricanes led the nation in pass defense, allowing 152.2 yards per game in 2005 … Miami held the opposition to under 100 yards passing in six of 12 games last year, including a streak of five straight in wins over South Florida, Duke, Temple, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
187 – Over the last 20 seasons Miami is 187-3 (98.4) in regular season contests when entering the fourth quarter with a lead.
272 – PK Jon Peattie enters the 2006 season as the nation’s leading returning scorer with 272 points … for his career, Peattie has connected on 116-of-121 extra point attempts, while hitting 72.2 percent (52-of-72) of his field goal tries.
Presiding over a tremendously successful five-year stretch in Miami football history, Larry Coker has quickly earned a reputation as one of college football’s top coaches as he enters his sixth season at the University of Miami. Coker has led the Hurricanes to a national championship and two Bowl Championship Series title game appearances and a remarkable 53-9 record in five seasons as the head man in Coral Gables, one of the most successful starts of any coach in the history of college football. Miami notched its fifth football national title in 2001 and made it back to the championship game in 2002. In 2001, Coker not only took the Hurricanes all the way to an undefeated season and a national championship, he led the team to the most dominant season in Miami’s rich football history. His 2002 team went unbeaten until a dramatic loss in the Fiesta Bowl. Coker’s 2003 Hurricanes racked up a fourth straight Big East title and became college football’s first team to make appearances in all four BCS bowl games in successive years. Coker led the Hurricanes to six straight wins in their inaugural season in the ACC and concluded the season with a 27-10 win over Florida in the Peach Bowl. In 2004, Coker led Miami to nine wins in its final 11 games and a repeat appearance in the Peach Bowl. In 2001, Coker and Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen were named the Paul “Bear” Bryant National Co-Coaches of the Year, while in 2002 Coker was named National Coach of the Year by American Football Monthly. Prior to becoming Miami’s head football coach, Coker served under Butch Davis as the Hurricanes’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach since Davis’ first season in 1995. Prior to his arrival in 1995, Coker spent two seasons at Ohio State (1993-94) coaching the defensive backfield. From 1990-92, Coker was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, assisting the Sooners to two bowl victories. Before heading to Norman, Coker spent seven seasons as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Coker first made the jump to Division I-A with Tulsa from 1979-82 as the offensive backfield coach.
