The Miami Hurricanes opened their season in disappointing fashion on Saturday, falling 24-20 to the rival Florida Gators. After a long day of travel and a rewatch of the game, here were the most honest takeaways I could find.
**It’s never fun losing a close game, especially when that close game is against a hated rival and you left so many plays on the field. Unfortunately for Manny Diaz, that’s exactly the position he found himself in after Saturday night - surrounded by some positive takeaways in a game where the negatives far outweighed the bright spots. The problem is, Diaz and his staff have billed themselves as the “anti-moral victories” crowd and have stressed the results on the field speaking for themselves. Well, the results on the field weren’t good enough on Saturday, and although there’s little doubt that this young team will be a much better version of itself by the end of the year, it’s hard not to think the Canes let another big game slip through their grasp.
**It's one game, and both teams are likely to get better as the season goes along, but I don't see either of these teams making much noise when it comes to conference titles or the playoffs. By the end, the teams were essentially trading huge miscues and it seemed like the team that made the final mistake would lose the game. Feleipe Franks tried his best to give the game away with two 4th quarter interceptions, but UM's worst drives of the game came at those exact moments when they were set up nicely in UF territory, with countless sacks and penalties moving them backwards. Not to be outdone, UF wouldn't let the Hurricanes die and continually bailed them out of 3rd and 4th and a mile with pass interference penalties. UM repaid those favors by giving the Gators' defense a free run at the QB whenever they wanted and having a wayward snap on the last play of the game. Really just a lot of bad football was played on both sides this weekend, and has to have each fanbase nervous in different ways going forward.
**There were still plenty of positive moments that deserved some analysis. I loved how Miami scripted their opening drive and, by extension, how Dan Enos got his freshman QB Jarren Williams in rhythm with short, easy throws to begin the game; Williams was 5-5 on the opening drive. UM was statistically one of the worst teams in the country last season on the first drives of games, so it's nice to see a coordinator start with an effective game plan for once. Brevin Jordan had three of those catches on the first drive, along with two first downs, and each of the 5 total completions throws were within 2-3 yards of the line of scrimmage. Enos was using tons of motion and shifts to test the communication of the Gators’ defense and you could tell they were thrown off on more than a few plays. Later on in the game, Enos got creative and sprung 2 big plays out of the wildcat from DeeJay Dallas on fake jet sweeps to Tate Martell. They were exciting plays that showed Miami can make the most out of the weapons they have at times.
**That was the good Enos, but there was some bad for Miami’s new offensive coordinator. Yes, the offensive line was historically bad, but the Gators seemed to figure Miami’s offense out in the second half and there were no real effective adjustments made to counter that. Miami had 8 yards of total offense in the 3rd quarter; there didn’t seem to be any trust in the traditional run game and Miami essentially abandoned it in the 4th quarter in what was only a 4-point game. That allowed the Gators to pin their ears back and come after the QB relentlessly; 4 of UF's 10 sacks came on UM's final two drives of the game.
I thought there was way too much focus on continuing to try to get Martell involved at QB when his plays were ineffective from the get-go, which took Williams off the field needlessly. UM’s defense also set the offense up in UF territory twice in the fourth quarter to give Miami a chance to win, but UM was unable to get any points out of it. In fact, Miami’s offense only scored 3 points off of 4 turnovers gifted by the defense. Most would have figured before the game that if Miami got 4 turnovers, it’d be an easy win. Enos and the offense were unable to take advantage, though.
**After the offense scored on their opening drive, Miami’s defense forced UF into a three-and-out situation and all the momentum was with the Canes. Then came arguably the most important sequence of the game. Dan Mullen caught the UM special teams sleeping and aggressively faked the punt on 4th and 3; punter Johnny Townsend was just able to get around the edge and pick up the first down. Next play? A quick screen to Kadarius Toney, who should have been stopped for a short gain, but broke about 4 tackles and housed it for 66 yards.
Without this sequence for UF, UM could have really taken control of the game early on; halftime would have been 13-0 Miami, and Manny Diaz’s defense could have pinned their ears back bringing pressure in the second half, as well as forced the Gators into more urgent, risky, downfield throws with the mistake-prone Feleipe Franks. It was a real game-changer. Ditto for a muffed Jeff Thomas punt inside his own 10-yard line that UF turned into another TD. Miami was just giving away points in a low scoring game.
**Williams was under siege at QB all night, but managed to put together a solid stat line and most importantly did not turn the ball over. He went 6 of his first 6 passing before a drop from Will Mallory. His final line was 19-29 (66%) for 214 yards and 1 touchdown. I thought he showed some real toughness and grit to hang in there knowing he was going to see pressure on pretty much every drop back. It was an encouraging first start for Williams, you just hope that this O-Line doesn’t destroy his confidence over time.
**The Canes may have found some breakout stars on offense. In his first game as the man at RB, Dallas (95 yards rushing, 37 yards receiving, and 1 TD on 16 touches) shined and single-handedly kept Miami in the game with his three big plays. Dallas’ touchdown was all him and should have been stopped for a short gain; instead he bounced right off of multiple tacklers, kept his feet with great balance, and showed his speed down the sidelines to finish off the 50-yard run to give Miami the lead in the fourth quarter.
They say a tight end is always a young QB’s best friend and Jordan showed he was more than up to the task of making life easier on Williams against the Gators. The sophomore was a beast in the middle of the field and in the short game on Saturday, recording a career-high 88 yards on 5 catches, as well as giving Williams his first career TD pass with a nice 25-yard TD in which Jordan bounced off a tackle in the secondary and rumbled into the endzone. Both Dallas and Jordan proved the moment wasn’t too big for them, and should really feast this season as the schedule eases up.
**The penalties were absolute killers, especially on offense. You expect some hiccups in the first game with a brand-new system, but 14 total penalties for 125 yards is a coaching issue, point-blank. Miami shot themselves in the foot with 2 delay of games and an illegal substitution in the first half alone on offense, all of which is on the staff. One of the bigger ones in the second half: A holding call on Jordan negated a 57-yard run by Cam Harris that would have set Miami up 1st and goal on the UF 2-yard line; instead, Miami was eventually forced to punt. Another huge penalty sequence occurred when Romeo Finley picked off Franks late in the 4th quarter and returned the ball to the UF 25 with 4 minutes to go. Al Blades was called for taunting on the return and then Corey Gaynor was assessed a chop-block penalty on UM’s very first offensive play. So, back-to-back 15-yard penalties in a key moment and on what could have been the game-winning drive. Unacceptable, and it needs to get ironed out over the bye week.
**You know we couldn’t get through this breakdown without talking about the Gators’ 10 sacks and 16 TFL. That is historic-level ineptitude for an O-Line. The Gators added 5 QB hurries to their total as well. UF was dialing up creative and well-timed blitzes to confuse the young Miami O-Line at times, but the truth is Miami’s freshman tackles were getting straight-up beat like a drum 1-on-1. Zion Nelson was demolished off the snap on more than a few occasions, and John Campbell had an atrocious night out at right tackle with 2 false starts, a holding penalty, and multiple sacks given up. In other words, they played like freshman tackles against a very good SEC defense. The signs were there about the reality of this O-Line, but the pre-season orange and green glasses were on for many. Despite how bad the line was, only Zalon’tae Hillery saw time as a sub, so there’s clearly not much confidence in the backups either. There may be some minor tweaks they can make over the bye week, and UF probably has the best defense Miami will see all season, but the fact of the matter is, Miami can be beat in any game this season with this type of play up front.
Grades
Offense: C-
The O-Line is a clear ‘F’, but I want to give the rest of the offense some extra credit for playing with one hand tied behind their back. Despite having 16 negative plays and pressure on the QB nearly every dropback, the offense was still able to go over 300 yards and outgain UF’s offense, 308-306. Williams showed poise and promise in his first career start, the offense didn't turn the ball over, and UM found some potential stars in Dallas and Jordan. Still, giving up 10 sacks and 16 TFL is unbelievably bad, and it’s clear the O-Line is going to hamper this team significantly for the rest of the season if they don’t grow up fast.
Defense: B
Disregarding the 7 points gifted by the Thomas fumble, I thought the defense played really well. There was some bad tackling and big plays given up that prevents this from an ‘A’, but overall, the defense did their job in forcing 4 turnovers and completely smothering the Gators run game to the tune of 50 yards rushing on 1.8 yards per carry. The bottom line: the defense put the team in a position to win this game.
Special Teams: F
A minor improvement in the punting game does not excuse a muffed punt inside the 10-yard line and a missed chip-shot field goal. UM was also caught sleeping on a fake punt that directly led to 7 points for UF. The mistakes are still adding up here, and it’s hard to feel like special teams didn’t just cost UM another game.
Coaching: D
14 penalties, many of them self-inflicted, is never going to be acceptable, and there was just too many opportunities at the end of the game that Miami failed to convert on, showing no killer instinct whatsoever. There has to be a better way to scheme around an underwhelming O-Line with so much talent on the rest of the offense. There were also some serious tackling issues that need to be addressed as well. It was their first game together against a tough opponent, so they get a handicap, but I expected a little more from this staff to be honest.
**It’s never fun losing a close game, especially when that close game is against a hated rival and you left so many plays on the field. Unfortunately for Manny Diaz, that’s exactly the position he found himself in after Saturday night - surrounded by some positive takeaways in a game where the negatives far outweighed the bright spots. The problem is, Diaz and his staff have billed themselves as the “anti-moral victories” crowd and have stressed the results on the field speaking for themselves. Well, the results on the field weren’t good enough on Saturday, and although there’s little doubt that this young team will be a much better version of itself by the end of the year, it’s hard not to think the Canes let another big game slip through their grasp.
**It's one game, and both teams are likely to get better as the season goes along, but I don't see either of these teams making much noise when it comes to conference titles or the playoffs. By the end, the teams were essentially trading huge miscues and it seemed like the team that made the final mistake would lose the game. Feleipe Franks tried his best to give the game away with two 4th quarter interceptions, but UM's worst drives of the game came at those exact moments when they were set up nicely in UF territory, with countless sacks and penalties moving them backwards. Not to be outdone, UF wouldn't let the Hurricanes die and continually bailed them out of 3rd and 4th and a mile with pass interference penalties. UM repaid those favors by giving the Gators' defense a free run at the QB whenever they wanted and having a wayward snap on the last play of the game. Really just a lot of bad football was played on both sides this weekend, and has to have each fanbase nervous in different ways going forward.
**There were still plenty of positive moments that deserved some analysis. I loved how Miami scripted their opening drive and, by extension, how Dan Enos got his freshman QB Jarren Williams in rhythm with short, easy throws to begin the game; Williams was 5-5 on the opening drive. UM was statistically one of the worst teams in the country last season on the first drives of games, so it's nice to see a coordinator start with an effective game plan for once. Brevin Jordan had three of those catches on the first drive, along with two first downs, and each of the 5 total completions throws were within 2-3 yards of the line of scrimmage. Enos was using tons of motion and shifts to test the communication of the Gators’ defense and you could tell they were thrown off on more than a few plays. Later on in the game, Enos got creative and sprung 2 big plays out of the wildcat from DeeJay Dallas on fake jet sweeps to Tate Martell. They were exciting plays that showed Miami can make the most out of the weapons they have at times.
**That was the good Enos, but there was some bad for Miami’s new offensive coordinator. Yes, the offensive line was historically bad, but the Gators seemed to figure Miami’s offense out in the second half and there were no real effective adjustments made to counter that. Miami had 8 yards of total offense in the 3rd quarter; there didn’t seem to be any trust in the traditional run game and Miami essentially abandoned it in the 4th quarter in what was only a 4-point game. That allowed the Gators to pin their ears back and come after the QB relentlessly; 4 of UF's 10 sacks came on UM's final two drives of the game.
I thought there was way too much focus on continuing to try to get Martell involved at QB when his plays were ineffective from the get-go, which took Williams off the field needlessly. UM’s defense also set the offense up in UF territory twice in the fourth quarter to give Miami a chance to win, but UM was unable to get any points out of it. In fact, Miami’s offense only scored 3 points off of 4 turnovers gifted by the defense. Most would have figured before the game that if Miami got 4 turnovers, it’d be an easy win. Enos and the offense were unable to take advantage, though.
**After the offense scored on their opening drive, Miami’s defense forced UF into a three-and-out situation and all the momentum was with the Canes. Then came arguably the most important sequence of the game. Dan Mullen caught the UM special teams sleeping and aggressively faked the punt on 4th and 3; punter Johnny Townsend was just able to get around the edge and pick up the first down. Next play? A quick screen to Kadarius Toney, who should have been stopped for a short gain, but broke about 4 tackles and housed it for 66 yards.
Without this sequence for UF, UM could have really taken control of the game early on; halftime would have been 13-0 Miami, and Manny Diaz’s defense could have pinned their ears back bringing pressure in the second half, as well as forced the Gators into more urgent, risky, downfield throws with the mistake-prone Feleipe Franks. It was a real game-changer. Ditto for a muffed Jeff Thomas punt inside his own 10-yard line that UF turned into another TD. Miami was just giving away points in a low scoring game.
**Williams was under siege at QB all night, but managed to put together a solid stat line and most importantly did not turn the ball over. He went 6 of his first 6 passing before a drop from Will Mallory. His final line was 19-29 (66%) for 214 yards and 1 touchdown. I thought he showed some real toughness and grit to hang in there knowing he was going to see pressure on pretty much every drop back. It was an encouraging first start for Williams, you just hope that this O-Line doesn’t destroy his confidence over time.
**The Canes may have found some breakout stars on offense. In his first game as the man at RB, Dallas (95 yards rushing, 37 yards receiving, and 1 TD on 16 touches) shined and single-handedly kept Miami in the game with his three big plays. Dallas’ touchdown was all him and should have been stopped for a short gain; instead he bounced right off of multiple tacklers, kept his feet with great balance, and showed his speed down the sidelines to finish off the 50-yard run to give Miami the lead in the fourth quarter.
They say a tight end is always a young QB’s best friend and Jordan showed he was more than up to the task of making life easier on Williams against the Gators. The sophomore was a beast in the middle of the field and in the short game on Saturday, recording a career-high 88 yards on 5 catches, as well as giving Williams his first career TD pass with a nice 25-yard TD in which Jordan bounced off a tackle in the secondary and rumbled into the endzone. Both Dallas and Jordan proved the moment wasn’t too big for them, and should really feast this season as the schedule eases up.
**The penalties were absolute killers, especially on offense. You expect some hiccups in the first game with a brand-new system, but 14 total penalties for 125 yards is a coaching issue, point-blank. Miami shot themselves in the foot with 2 delay of games and an illegal substitution in the first half alone on offense, all of which is on the staff. One of the bigger ones in the second half: A holding call on Jordan negated a 57-yard run by Cam Harris that would have set Miami up 1st and goal on the UF 2-yard line; instead, Miami was eventually forced to punt. Another huge penalty sequence occurred when Romeo Finley picked off Franks late in the 4th quarter and returned the ball to the UF 25 with 4 minutes to go. Al Blades was called for taunting on the return and then Corey Gaynor was assessed a chop-block penalty on UM’s very first offensive play. So, back-to-back 15-yard penalties in a key moment and on what could have been the game-winning drive. Unacceptable, and it needs to get ironed out over the bye week.
**You know we couldn’t get through this breakdown without talking about the Gators’ 10 sacks and 16 TFL. That is historic-level ineptitude for an O-Line. The Gators added 5 QB hurries to their total as well. UF was dialing up creative and well-timed blitzes to confuse the young Miami O-Line at times, but the truth is Miami’s freshman tackles were getting straight-up beat like a drum 1-on-1. Zion Nelson was demolished off the snap on more than a few occasions, and John Campbell had an atrocious night out at right tackle with 2 false starts, a holding penalty, and multiple sacks given up. In other words, they played like freshman tackles against a very good SEC defense. The signs were there about the reality of this O-Line, but the pre-season orange and green glasses were on for many. Despite how bad the line was, only Zalon’tae Hillery saw time as a sub, so there’s clearly not much confidence in the backups either. There may be some minor tweaks they can make over the bye week, and UF probably has the best defense Miami will see all season, but the fact of the matter is, Miami can be beat in any game this season with this type of play up front.
Grades
Offense: C-
The O-Line is a clear ‘F’, but I want to give the rest of the offense some extra credit for playing with one hand tied behind their back. Despite having 16 negative plays and pressure on the QB nearly every dropback, the offense was still able to go over 300 yards and outgain UF’s offense, 308-306. Williams showed poise and promise in his first career start, the offense didn't turn the ball over, and UM found some potential stars in Dallas and Jordan. Still, giving up 10 sacks and 16 TFL is unbelievably bad, and it’s clear the O-Line is going to hamper this team significantly for the rest of the season if they don’t grow up fast.
Defense: B
Disregarding the 7 points gifted by the Thomas fumble, I thought the defense played really well. There was some bad tackling and big plays given up that prevents this from an ‘A’, but overall, the defense did their job in forcing 4 turnovers and completely smothering the Gators run game to the tune of 50 yards rushing on 1.8 yards per carry. The bottom line: the defense put the team in a position to win this game.
Special Teams: F
A minor improvement in the punting game does not excuse a muffed punt inside the 10-yard line and a missed chip-shot field goal. UM was also caught sleeping on a fake punt that directly led to 7 points for UF. The mistakes are still adding up here, and it’s hard to feel like special teams didn’t just cost UM another game.
Coaching: D
14 penalties, many of them self-inflicted, is never going to be acceptable, and there was just too many opportunities at the end of the game that Miami failed to convert on, showing no killer instinct whatsoever. There has to be a better way to scheme around an underwhelming O-Line with so much talent on the rest of the offense. There were also some serious tackling issues that need to be addressed as well. It was their first game together against a tough opponent, so they get a handicap, but I expected a little more from this staff to be honest.
