Charleston Southern no match for the Hurricanes

MIAMI — The play will go down in Dolphin Stadium history, if not college football lore: Charleston Southern's Okeba Rollinson and Darius Gaither combined to make the first tackle in Miami's first game since officially leaving the Orange Bowl for a new home.

Otherwise, the young Hurricanes created opportunities and took advantage of CSU mistakes during a 52-7 victory Thursday night before a crowd of 48,119 in the season opener for both teams.

The Buccaneers were nearly Miami's equal through a 30-minute stretch from late in the first quarter to late in the third, giving up two touchdowns tied to special-teams blunders and

scoring on Tribble Reese's 2-yard pass to tight end Tyrese Harris.

But Miami's 21-0 first quarter was too much for an upstart Football Championship Subdivision team to overcome.

"I was real proud of our effort level," CSU head coach Jay Mills said. "I was happy we came out healthy. All three phases of the game we showed flashes against excellent competition. I'm very encouraged about the future."

Charleston Southern, 5-6 in 2007, plays host to Wofford next week.

Miami plays a tougher non-conference foe, Florida at Gainesville. Players left the field to fan chants of "Beat UF! Beat UF!"

Reese, a graduate student transfer from Clemson, attempted only 11 passes in four seasons with the Tigers. He was 10-of-21 for 81 yards, took a beating and kept getting up.

"Everything started clicking on our touchdown drive," Reese said. "We never got it together every drive, but that one really showed that when everyone is doing their job assignment-wise, we can move the ball against a Division I opponent, which is pretty exciting."

The game turned quickly on fourth-down plays at the end of each team's first possession.

Miami freshman quarterback Jacory Harris, starting for the suspended Robert Marve, improvised against a blitz on fourth-and-6 and dashed 30 yards up the middle for a touchdown.

Mills faced fourth-and-1 at his own 42. Not only did the Bucs go for it, Reese faked a handoff and threw deep into coverage for wide receiver Gerald Stevenson. Incomplete.

Philip Ashley muffed a punt in the second quarter that was recovered by Miami's Ryan Hill at the Bucs' 14. Two plays later, tailback Graig Cooper scored on a 14-yard run to make it 28-0. Cooper scored in the third quarter on a 66-yard punt return.

It was CSU's second game against a Football Bowl Subdivision foe; Hawaii and star quarterback Colt Brennan won, 66-10, last season.

Miami is looking to make a big step in Shannon's second season as head coach after going 5-7. Embarrassingly to fans who enjoyed five national titles from 1983-2001, Miami is considered the fifth-best team in Florida by USA Today poll voters: Florida, South Florida, Florida State and Central Florida received votes in the preseason poll but not Miami.

First Quarter

Mia-J.Harris 30 run (Bosher kick), 12:23.

Mia-James 7 run (Bosher kick), 4:29.

Mia-Hankerson 7 pass from J.Harris (Bosher kick), 1:06.

Second Quarter

Mia-Cooper 14 run (Bosher kick), 12:29.

Third Quarter

Mia-Cooper 66 punt return (Bosher kick), 13:24.

ChSo-T.Harris 2 pass from Reese (Paglia kick), 3:39.

Mia-Thomas 5 run (Bosher kick), :44.

Fourth Quarter

Mia-FG Bosher 22, 8:43.

Mia-McNeal 1 run (Bosher kick), 2:33.

A-48,119.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Charleston Southern, Latimore 6-29, Moon 6-16, Stevenson 3-10, K.Ivey 6-7, Gilmour 1-1, Coffman 1-(minus 1), Reese 7-(minus 13). Miami, James 12-73, McNeal 5-45, Thomas 8-35, Chambers 5-25, J.Harris 3-22, Cooper 4-22, C.Smith 1-2.

PASSING-Charleston Southern, Reese 10-21-0-81, Gilmour 1-1-0-(minus 4). Miami, J.Harris 16-26-0-190, C.Smith 1-1-0-2.

RECEIVING-Charleston Southern, D.Brown 4-24, A.Ivey 2-44, Murry 1-5, Jones 1-4, T.Harris 1-2, Latimore 1-2, Neal 1-(minus 4). Miami, Hankerson 3-20, L.Byrd 3-16, Collier 2-29, Shields 2-21, Epps 1-35, Thomas 1-19, A.Johnson 1-14, James 1-11, K.Jones 1-11, Zellner 1-10, Thompkins 1-6.

Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com.