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The Miami Hurricanes escaped with a close win over the Central Michigan Chippewas over the weekend, 17-12, to move to 2-2 on the season. Here were my takes.
**This one was tough to swallow and there is no explaining it away. You can rationalize close losses to a top 10 rival and a conference opponent on the road, but the Canes played to the final possession with a bad MAC team at home. Yes, Miami won the game, but if you aren’t hearing the alarm bells at this point, you just aren’t listening. Even Mark Richt didn’t have much trouble handling his Group of 5 opponents over the years, so is this program backsliding? You kept expecting that one moment where Miami would finally turn it on, really take over, and blow the Chippewas out of the water, but it never came.
Manny Diaz is learning on the job here at Miami, sure, but at some point he and his staff are going to have to get it together. UM doesn’t even have a tough schedule this year, but things aren’t going to get much easier than CMU at home with ACC play upcoming. I had the Canes pegged at 9-3 in the preseason preview, but this has the look of a 7-5 team at best right now. If Diaz does the impossible and misses a bowl with this schedule, it will be DEFCON 1 in terms of his image with the fanbase, and possibly his job security going into Year 2.
**Like Diaz said in the postgame presser, there are 100 problems with this team right now, but I see the biggest problem as Dan Enos being too rigid in his offensive scheme. I saw it as the main issue plaguing Miami last season as well, with Mark Richt’s “My way, or the highway” approach cutting the offense off at the knees and providing the proverbial “banging your head against the wall” imagery, playing each game by running the same plays over and over again that haven’t been working. So far with Enos, it’s been the same series, just a different volume. By hiring the former Arkansas coordinator, the fanbase was sold on the idea that the days of “square peg, round hole” were over. All offseason, we were told how adaptable Enos was and how he was willing to adjust his scheme on the fly to fit his personnel. Through 4 games, I haven’t seen much evidence of that, and it really came to a head against CMU this week, as UM barely hit 300 yards and was held under 20 points against a team that was 1-11 last season. Miami hasn’t scored over 30 points in any of their FBS games this season.
The Canes were essentially given a “get out of jail free” card when Mark Richt left and took his 1990’s offense with him, but instead of really making a radical change and bringing UM into the new spread-based college football world, Diaz just brought in a guy to run a different version of the same offense, this time with motions. It’s been a third of the season at this point, plenty enough sample size to say what Miami is doing on offense is not working. With a bye ahead of ACC play, now is the perfect time to make some changes. Enos’ ability to adjust in the coming weeks will tell us if he is the guy or just Richt 2.0.
**The greatest errors have spawned from running a variation of offense that runs counter to the talent Miami has on the offensive line. Similar to Richt before him, Enos is running a variation of the pro-style offense with spread elements, predicated on the offensive line getting push up front in the run game and holding their pass blocks for more than 2 seconds. It’s been said before, but it’s almost as if this offense is being run like Enos is still at Alabama, with that level of blocker at his disposal.
The reality is the Canes are working with an O-Line that is 2nd to last in the nation right now in sacks per game with 4.5 and just got held to 51 yards rushing by CMU. At this point, there is ample data to suggest that Zion Nelson is not even an average FBS left tackle right now, yet Miami continues to leave him on an island all game with little to no chipping to help him out. Running long-developing play-action from under center is just not going to be compatible with this OL no matter how many times UM runs it, yet Enos continues to keep it as a staple of the offense. UM runs the bubble screen once or twice, it works, then Miami goes away from it. The Canes should be spacing out and bubble screening teams to death, which utilizes their speed advantage and gets the ball to their playmakers on the perimeter, until opposing defenses prove they can stop it. In addition to changing up the above, I’d like to see more zone blocking out in space to capitalize on the athleticism UM’s O-Line has, instead of running power concepts that highlight their weaknesses.
**Despite all this chaos around him, Jarren Williams has performed better than expected this season and had another good game against CMU. Against the Chippewas, he threw for 250 yards on 71% passing, adding a TD and 0 INT’s. No, he hasn’t been perfect and has missed some throws, but ultimately, he is doing his job. If I had just woken up from a month-long coma and you would have shown me his numbers after 4 games (73% passing for 1,027 yards, 7 TD’s, and 0 INT’s), I would have said Miami would be 4-0 right now. All last year, we heard the narrative that if Miami just had a competent quarterback, they’d easily win the Coastal and be one of the top teams in the country. Well, the Canes have one. It’s time for the people around him to hold up their end of the bargain.
**This is not the same Manny Diaz defense Miami fans have been accustomed to over the years. It seems like Miami is playing a variation of “bend but don’t break defense”, which, with the talent on this roster, is borderline criminal behavior from Blake Baker. It’s soft and playing not to lose, instead of unleashing the bottled up aggression that the past 3 UM defenses have done successfully. The utilization of Miami’s best pass rusher in Jonathan Garvin has been asinine, constantly dropping him into zone coverage and only rushing three. At first, I thought it was a wrinkle that UM was using specifically for week 1 vs. the Gators, but it’s something that has persisted through 4 games now. Opposing coaches don't have to worry about neutralizing Garvin as much anymore, because Miami will do it for them. The secondary has really taken a step back, with opposing receivers running free all game. Not to mention delayed blitzes from 15-20 yards out. At some point, the staff has to run things around the strengths of their players, even at the expense of the long-haul install of their preferred schemes.
**Miami has a really good run defense. The Canes held CMU to 31 yards rushing with 9 TFL and haven’t let an opponent go over 100 yards in 4 games now. UM is now 6th in the nation in opponent rushing yards per game at 59.8. For all the talk about less havoc plays, UM is still 13th in the country in TFL with 8.3 per game. The Canes are simply doing a fantastic job of anchoring the point of attack and filling gaps quickly. People talking about schedule can miss me when 90% of the FBS has played roughly the same distribution of opponents at this point: an FCS team, a Group of 5 team, an average Power 5 team, and a top 25 team. Until proven otherwise, this stat will continue to be shouted from the rooftops to preserve my sanity.
**The penalties deserve their own section here. 13 for 93 yards, with many of them coming in the worst possible moments after stops on defense that led to first downs for CMU. The Chippewas’ TD drive late in the 4th quarter was a comedy of errors for Miami and shows just how undisciplined this team is right now, as the Canes had 4 penalties inside their own 10-yard line alone, including on a 4th down stop. Some of them even came from 5th year seniors throughout the game: An unnecessary, way late hit from Scott Patchan, Robert Knowles lining up wrong on special teams to negate a great punt downed inside the 5, etc. Miami is now 127th of 130 FBS teams in penalties per game at 9.75, which is in no way acceptable and worse than I've ever seen it here. This is indicative of the level of coaching going on in the program, and there needs to be some type of accountability, whether through playing time reduction or after-hours workouts, to root out this culture and instill proper discipline.
**The season is not over yet. UM has 4 weeks worth of tape to evaluate what works and what doesn’t with this roster, and scrap the bad plays and feature more of the good. The Canes’ coordinators have two weeks to decide if they’re going to die on the hill of their ideologies and stick with the status quo, or if they are going to get creative, earn their paychecks, and scheme to the players actually on the roster. At the end of the day, Miami is 2-2 and more than alive in the Coastal division race. How Miami looks against Virginia Tech in two weeks will tell you a lot about if these coordinators are the guys to get UM to the next level or if they are just more of the same of what Miami has seen the past 15 years.
Grades
Offense: F
Williams missed a few throws but played relatively well, and the tight ends made multiple explosive plays. Those were really the only bright spots on a unit that barely eclipsed 300 total yards (301) and scored under 20 points (17) against a bad MAC team at home. The run game had their first poor game of the year, rushing for only 51 yards on 34 carries (1.5 ypc). The offensive line was a sieve in pass protection yet again, giving up 4 sacks and multiple pressures. UM was 1 for 10 on third downs and continues to be one of the worst third down teams in the country (128th of 130 at 23.3%). Adjusting for opponent, this was UM’s weakest performance on offense this season.
Defense: C
UM’s run defense deserves to be commended after suffocating CMU on the ground, holding the Chippewas to just 31 yards on 27 carries (1.1 ypc); they haven’t let up 100 yards rushing in any game this season. UM held CMU under 250 total yards (248) and to 10 points. Miami also forced 3 turnovers, while racking up 4 sacks and 9 TFL. The secondary and the linebackers in coverage, on the other hand, were absolutely terrible, with receivers running wide open most of the game. If not for some key drops and bad throws by CMU, these numbers would look much worse and UM might lose this game. Solid game, but still looking for more from this defense.
Special Teams: C
A formation penalty took away an awesome Louis Hedley punt that was downed inside the 5; then, the re-kick was blocked. Hedley ultimately had another great day with a 48 ypp average on 4 punts and 2 downed inside the 20. The kickoff coverage unit gave up another long return for the second straight week. Jeff Thomas got free for a decent 16-yard punt return. Bubba Baxa got lucky after his chipshot miss was negated by a running into the kicker penalty; he made the re-kick along with both of his XP’s. There’s a key miscue in this phase of the game every week, and I can’t give above a “C” until that changes.
Coaching: F
Miami was outcoached yet again, the third time out of each of their three FBS games. Offensive and defensive playcalling continues to be questionable at best, with little to no adjustments in-game. Aside from the opening drive, the team looked unprepared and flat. After previously improving their penalty situation each week, UM regressed big-time and racked up an atrocious 13 for 93 yards vs. CMU, showing toddler-level discipline. To be real, this is not a well-coached team in most, if not all, areas of the game. More than any one player, the coaches are the ones that need to be doing the most soul-searching over the bye week.
**This one was tough to swallow and there is no explaining it away. You can rationalize close losses to a top 10 rival and a conference opponent on the road, but the Canes played to the final possession with a bad MAC team at home. Yes, Miami won the game, but if you aren’t hearing the alarm bells at this point, you just aren’t listening. Even Mark Richt didn’t have much trouble handling his Group of 5 opponents over the years, so is this program backsliding? You kept expecting that one moment where Miami would finally turn it on, really take over, and blow the Chippewas out of the water, but it never came.
Manny Diaz is learning on the job here at Miami, sure, but at some point he and his staff are going to have to get it together. UM doesn’t even have a tough schedule this year, but things aren’t going to get much easier than CMU at home with ACC play upcoming. I had the Canes pegged at 9-3 in the preseason preview, but this has the look of a 7-5 team at best right now. If Diaz does the impossible and misses a bowl with this schedule, it will be DEFCON 1 in terms of his image with the fanbase, and possibly his job security going into Year 2.
**Like Diaz said in the postgame presser, there are 100 problems with this team right now, but I see the biggest problem as Dan Enos being too rigid in his offensive scheme. I saw it as the main issue plaguing Miami last season as well, with Mark Richt’s “My way, or the highway” approach cutting the offense off at the knees and providing the proverbial “banging your head against the wall” imagery, playing each game by running the same plays over and over again that haven’t been working. So far with Enos, it’s been the same series, just a different volume. By hiring the former Arkansas coordinator, the fanbase was sold on the idea that the days of “square peg, round hole” were over. All offseason, we were told how adaptable Enos was and how he was willing to adjust his scheme on the fly to fit his personnel. Through 4 games, I haven’t seen much evidence of that, and it really came to a head against CMU this week, as UM barely hit 300 yards and was held under 20 points against a team that was 1-11 last season. Miami hasn’t scored over 30 points in any of their FBS games this season.
The Canes were essentially given a “get out of jail free” card when Mark Richt left and took his 1990’s offense with him, but instead of really making a radical change and bringing UM into the new spread-based college football world, Diaz just brought in a guy to run a different version of the same offense, this time with motions. It’s been a third of the season at this point, plenty enough sample size to say what Miami is doing on offense is not working. With a bye ahead of ACC play, now is the perfect time to make some changes. Enos’ ability to adjust in the coming weeks will tell us if he is the guy or just Richt 2.0.
**The greatest errors have spawned from running a variation of offense that runs counter to the talent Miami has on the offensive line. Similar to Richt before him, Enos is running a variation of the pro-style offense with spread elements, predicated on the offensive line getting push up front in the run game and holding their pass blocks for more than 2 seconds. It’s been said before, but it’s almost as if this offense is being run like Enos is still at Alabama, with that level of blocker at his disposal.
The reality is the Canes are working with an O-Line that is 2nd to last in the nation right now in sacks per game with 4.5 and just got held to 51 yards rushing by CMU. At this point, there is ample data to suggest that Zion Nelson is not even an average FBS left tackle right now, yet Miami continues to leave him on an island all game with little to no chipping to help him out. Running long-developing play-action from under center is just not going to be compatible with this OL no matter how many times UM runs it, yet Enos continues to keep it as a staple of the offense. UM runs the bubble screen once or twice, it works, then Miami goes away from it. The Canes should be spacing out and bubble screening teams to death, which utilizes their speed advantage and gets the ball to their playmakers on the perimeter, until opposing defenses prove they can stop it. In addition to changing up the above, I’d like to see more zone blocking out in space to capitalize on the athleticism UM’s O-Line has, instead of running power concepts that highlight their weaknesses.
**Despite all this chaos around him, Jarren Williams has performed better than expected this season and had another good game against CMU. Against the Chippewas, he threw for 250 yards on 71% passing, adding a TD and 0 INT’s. No, he hasn’t been perfect and has missed some throws, but ultimately, he is doing his job. If I had just woken up from a month-long coma and you would have shown me his numbers after 4 games (73% passing for 1,027 yards, 7 TD’s, and 0 INT’s), I would have said Miami would be 4-0 right now. All last year, we heard the narrative that if Miami just had a competent quarterback, they’d easily win the Coastal and be one of the top teams in the country. Well, the Canes have one. It’s time for the people around him to hold up their end of the bargain.
**This is not the same Manny Diaz defense Miami fans have been accustomed to over the years. It seems like Miami is playing a variation of “bend but don’t break defense”, which, with the talent on this roster, is borderline criminal behavior from Blake Baker. It’s soft and playing not to lose, instead of unleashing the bottled up aggression that the past 3 UM defenses have done successfully. The utilization of Miami’s best pass rusher in Jonathan Garvin has been asinine, constantly dropping him into zone coverage and only rushing three. At first, I thought it was a wrinkle that UM was using specifically for week 1 vs. the Gators, but it’s something that has persisted through 4 games now. Opposing coaches don't have to worry about neutralizing Garvin as much anymore, because Miami will do it for them. The secondary has really taken a step back, with opposing receivers running free all game. Not to mention delayed blitzes from 15-20 yards out. At some point, the staff has to run things around the strengths of their players, even at the expense of the long-haul install of their preferred schemes.
**Miami has a really good run defense. The Canes held CMU to 31 yards rushing with 9 TFL and haven’t let an opponent go over 100 yards in 4 games now. UM is now 6th in the nation in opponent rushing yards per game at 59.8. For all the talk about less havoc plays, UM is still 13th in the country in TFL with 8.3 per game. The Canes are simply doing a fantastic job of anchoring the point of attack and filling gaps quickly. People talking about schedule can miss me when 90% of the FBS has played roughly the same distribution of opponents at this point: an FCS team, a Group of 5 team, an average Power 5 team, and a top 25 team. Until proven otherwise, this stat will continue to be shouted from the rooftops to preserve my sanity.
**The penalties deserve their own section here. 13 for 93 yards, with many of them coming in the worst possible moments after stops on defense that led to first downs for CMU. The Chippewas’ TD drive late in the 4th quarter was a comedy of errors for Miami and shows just how undisciplined this team is right now, as the Canes had 4 penalties inside their own 10-yard line alone, including on a 4th down stop. Some of them even came from 5th year seniors throughout the game: An unnecessary, way late hit from Scott Patchan, Robert Knowles lining up wrong on special teams to negate a great punt downed inside the 5, etc. Miami is now 127th of 130 FBS teams in penalties per game at 9.75, which is in no way acceptable and worse than I've ever seen it here. This is indicative of the level of coaching going on in the program, and there needs to be some type of accountability, whether through playing time reduction or after-hours workouts, to root out this culture and instill proper discipline.
**The season is not over yet. UM has 4 weeks worth of tape to evaluate what works and what doesn’t with this roster, and scrap the bad plays and feature more of the good. The Canes’ coordinators have two weeks to decide if they’re going to die on the hill of their ideologies and stick with the status quo, or if they are going to get creative, earn their paychecks, and scheme to the players actually on the roster. At the end of the day, Miami is 2-2 and more than alive in the Coastal division race. How Miami looks against Virginia Tech in two weeks will tell you a lot about if these coordinators are the guys to get UM to the next level or if they are just more of the same of what Miami has seen the past 15 years.
Grades
Offense: F
Williams missed a few throws but played relatively well, and the tight ends made multiple explosive plays. Those were really the only bright spots on a unit that barely eclipsed 300 total yards (301) and scored under 20 points (17) against a bad MAC team at home. The run game had their first poor game of the year, rushing for only 51 yards on 34 carries (1.5 ypc). The offensive line was a sieve in pass protection yet again, giving up 4 sacks and multiple pressures. UM was 1 for 10 on third downs and continues to be one of the worst third down teams in the country (128th of 130 at 23.3%). Adjusting for opponent, this was UM’s weakest performance on offense this season.
Defense: C
UM’s run defense deserves to be commended after suffocating CMU on the ground, holding the Chippewas to just 31 yards on 27 carries (1.1 ypc); they haven’t let up 100 yards rushing in any game this season. UM held CMU under 250 total yards (248) and to 10 points. Miami also forced 3 turnovers, while racking up 4 sacks and 9 TFL. The secondary and the linebackers in coverage, on the other hand, were absolutely terrible, with receivers running wide open most of the game. If not for some key drops and bad throws by CMU, these numbers would look much worse and UM might lose this game. Solid game, but still looking for more from this defense.
Special Teams: C
A formation penalty took away an awesome Louis Hedley punt that was downed inside the 5; then, the re-kick was blocked. Hedley ultimately had another great day with a 48 ypp average on 4 punts and 2 downed inside the 20. The kickoff coverage unit gave up another long return for the second straight week. Jeff Thomas got free for a decent 16-yard punt return. Bubba Baxa got lucky after his chipshot miss was negated by a running into the kicker penalty; he made the re-kick along with both of his XP’s. There’s a key miscue in this phase of the game every week, and I can’t give above a “C” until that changes.
Coaching: F
Miami was outcoached yet again, the third time out of each of their three FBS games. Offensive and defensive playcalling continues to be questionable at best, with little to no adjustments in-game. Aside from the opening drive, the team looked unprepared and flat. After previously improving their penalty situation each week, UM regressed big-time and racked up an atrocious 13 for 93 yards vs. CMU, showing toddler-level discipline. To be real, this is not a well-coached team in most, if not all, areas of the game. More than any one player, the coaches are the ones that need to be doing the most soul-searching over the bye week.
