MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. _ On a day in which they wanted to honor their seniors and deal Pittsburgh some payback for how the Panthers snapped their 15-game win streak a year ago, the Miami Hurricanes found themselves dealing with some of the same offensive issues that have plagued them during what has turned out to be a disappointing season.
Fortunately for Miami, though, its defense _ again _ came through.
While the Hurricanes struggled to move the ball for the better part of Saturday's regular-season finale against Pittsburgh, Miami's defense was an absolutely dominant force, making life unbearably difficult for Panthers quarterback Kenny Pickett and the rest of Pitt's offensive playmakers.
Ultimately, that defensive effort _ combined with some big runs from Travis Homer _ proved enough to give Miami a 24-3 win over the Panthers, who last week, clinched the Coastal Division title and next week, will face Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.
A year ago to the day, the Hurricanes and Panthers roles were reversed.
Miami arrived at Heinz Stadium last November riding the momentum of a 15-game win streak. The Hurricanes were, at the time, ranked No. 2 in the College Football Playoff Rankings and were celebrating having clinched the first Coastal Division title in program history.
And Pittsburgh, which at the time had just four wins, stunned the Hurricanes, upsetting them, 24-14. That afternoon, the Panthers dealt Miami's championship hopes a blow and started what would ultimately be a four-game losing streak that included a loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship, a loss to Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl and a loss to LSU in this year's season opener in Arlington, Texas.
The Hurricanes (7-5, 4-4) haven't been quite the same since, Miami notching wins against some lower-level opponents while struggling against Power-5 teams, especially on the road.
Throughout October and November, Miami endured another miserable four-game losing streak that ended the Hurricanes hopes of repeating as division champions and has resulted in massive criticism of third-year coach Mark Richt, his play-calling and his management of the Hurricanes' quarterback position, which has been unsettled all year.
Some of those offensive woes were on full display against the Panthers, with redshirt sophomore N'Kosi Perry _ who was making his third straight start and sixth start of the year _ completing just 6 of 24 passes for 52 yards.
Perry's receivers _ who were without the dismissed Jeff Thomas _ didn't help him very much, dropping at least six passes Saturday.
But while the passing game struggled, Homer put together one of his best performances as a Hurricane.
The running back finished with a game-high 168 yards, just two yards under his career-high total of 170 yards. And Homer, who passed Hurricanes great Frank Gore to move up to 12th on Miami's all-time rushing list, provided one of the rare offensive highlights.
With the Hurricanes up a touchdown after DeeJay Dallas scored on a 65-yard punt return, Homer broke through the Pittsburgh defense to score on a 64-yard run that pushed Miami's lead to, 17-3, with 2:49 left in the third quarter.
Dallas would add a 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth to round out the scoring for Miami, whose defense did most of the heavy lifting.
The Hurricanes held the Panthers (7-5, 6-2) to 200 yards of total offense. They sacked Pickett six times, held Pittsburgh to just 1 of 15 on third-down conversions and totaled 14 tackles for loss.
