Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke’s words help fuel NC State. Better first-half play could fuel Canes

University of Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke said this week without hesitation that he must get off to a faster start for the Hurricanes to win, his first opportunity coming at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at home against 18th-ranked NC State.

“It’s on me,’’ Van Dyke said. “I just have to get more comfortable in the beginning of the game. I’m capable of doing everything out there. I just gotta get the ball and let it rip.

“Don’t think. Don’t aim. Just let it rip. ...It’s totally on me.’’

But when the second-year freshman expounded on what has changed in the second halves the past two weeks in a 30-28 loss to Virginia Sept. 30 and last week’s 45-42 loss at North Carolina — the Canes overcame double-digit deficits to nearly mount comebacks in their final drives — he made some comments that were immediately fed to the upcoming opponents to fuel their fire.

NC State (5-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) leads the nation in third-down conversion percentage defense, stopping opponents 75 percent of the time. It is sixth nationally in scoring defense (14.3 points allowed per game), 11th in total defense (294.7 yards allowed per game), 11th in rushing defense (92.8), 14th in passes intercepted (8) and 34th in passing yards allowed (201.8).

Last year at NC State, Miami was led by then-healthy starting quarterback D’Eriq King, who had a spectacular performance in completing 75 percent of his passes for 430 yards and five touchdowns and adding 105 rushing yards to lead UM to a 44-41 comeback victory.

Van Dyke on NC State

“NC State has a great defense,’’ Van Dyke, who did not play in the 2020 game, said Tuesday. “What are they, like top something in the country, top whatever? I mean that doesn’t matter. They’re still the same guys we played last year. We put up 44 points last year on them. They have different type of wrinkles on the defense, but yeah, we feel really confident. If we just come out in the second half of both those [previous] games...

“I don’t think they can really stop us.’’

Van Dyke also said if the Canes (2-4, 0-2) can “just get going in the first quarter, second quarter, I don’t know if these teams can hang with us, you know? We know we’re a better team than North Carolina,’’ he said of the Tar Heels, last week’s victor. “We know that. We feel like we can put 60 on them or 70. We had 42 and we feel like we had a terrible day. Once we get everything rolling in the first and second quarter I don’t think anybody can really stop us.’’

After the video surfaced, the Raleigh News&Observer then asked Wolfpack defensive end Daniel Joseph if he had heard “the comments made by the Miami quarterback saying ‘Hey, we’re confident. We feel like we can move the ball on these guys based off what happened last year.’”

NC State responds

“That’s interesting,’’ said a low-key Joseph, saying later that he was “just messin’’’ with reporters when he initially acted as if he hadn’t heard Van Dyke’s comments. “Well, last year is last year. Every year is a new year. It may be the same guys, but I know this team is pissed off for greatness. It’s as simple as that... For us it’s a matter of just handling what we gotta handle... It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks or says or does. At the end of the day, if we control what we can control and what God has put on our plates, we got it.’’

Added Joseph to another video-based question: “It didn’t add no flare to me because at the end of the day our mindset here at NC State is it’s not about them, it’s about us. It’s been like that since Day One. You let the opposition say what they want to say. At the end of the day when the ball is put down the ball is put down. The work and proof is in the pudding.”

Fellow end Savion Jackson then said the video “definitely spread quick.’’

“Probably everybody on the team has watched the video but it just gives us that task that we need to handle, like we need to complete this mission type of thing. As a defense it gives us exactly what we want. We want to be tested by every team.

“...The game is won between the lines and the whistles. To me it’s funny when you see stuff like that on social media... It definitely adds some spice to the game and making us have to play hard.’’

Tale of halves

Van Dyke was 4 of 11 for 63 yards the first half of Virginia and 5 of 15 for 59 yards and two interceptions the first half of UNC. In the second halves, he was 11 of 18 for 140 yards and a touchdown against Virginia and 15 of 30 for 205 yards and a touchdown at UNC, with the last-gasp interception. He led a 12-play, 97-yard touchdown drive and threw a perfect strike for a two-point conversion last week to bring UM within three points of UNC late in the fourth quarter.

Van Dyke is now 45 of 86 for 737 yards and five touchdowns, with three interceptions, in his three career starts. He has been sacked nine times.

The Canes are 46th nationally in total offense (435.5 yards a game), 39th in scoring offense (32.3-point average), 73rd in rushing (160.3) and 27th in passing (275.2).

“All the guys still have confidence,’’ Van Dyke said. “We know we could be 4-2. It’s unfortunate the way those last two games ended — or started. I just gotta get the ball in their hands and let them make plays.

“We’re in a good place right now. Everyone is still with us. We just come out in the first half on offense and do what we do in the second half, these games wouldn’t even be close. Once we do that, it’s over.’’