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The Miami Hurricanes bounced back this week to defeat a tough Pitt Panthers team at home, 31-19. After a rewatch of the game, here were my takeaways and grades.
**It was good to see the Canes bounce back strong following the Clemson disappointment. We’ve seen more than a few promising seasons go off the rails after a disheartening loss in recent years, and there’s no doubt that was a concern in the building heading into this weekend. However, the team properly responded to a disappointing loss last week with a fast start and never trailed vs. Pitt, scoring the first 14 points on the way to the win this weekend. While Miami was physically beaten on the OL, they showed they were prepared, could stay focused throughout the week, and were able to execute a strong gameplan from both coordinators all the way through. Ultimately, Miami has now won every game they were supposed to win, all by double-digits and without much drama in the 4th quarter. It definitely breathes life into the belief that this edition of Miami can be a better version of the teams we’ve seen in the past during Manny Diaz’s second year at the helm.
**I liked the gameplan on offense even if the results weren’t always there. Pitt came into the game with the #2 rush defense in the country (52 ypg allowed) and the Panthers were also the #1 team nationally at sacking the QB (5 sacks per game). Given the performance of the Miami OL against Clemson last week, it was pretty likely Rhett Lashlee was going to be put in a tough spot yet again vs. Pitt, something that was apparent very quickly on Saturday as Miami’s OL was dominated by Pitt’s front seven (15 TFL, 4 sacks, 77 rushing yards allowed to backs on 28 carries). Instead of beating his head against the wall with a stubborn approach that wasn’t working, Lashlee combated Pitt’s aggressiveness with an array of touch pass jet sweeps designed to get UM’s receivers and backs to the edge of the Panthers’ defense in an effort to try and capitalize on UM’s speed advantage.
We also saw Lashlee’s play design and instincts coming into play yet again, as he accounted for 14 points purely through scheme and timing. That came on the long TD passes from D’Eriq King to both Cam’Ron Harris and Will Mallory, with Lashlee using Pitt’s aggressiveness and fear of King’s running ability against them; all it took was a false step from King for Pitt to completely vacate the middle of the field, giving King an easy window and Harris/Mallory nothing but green grass. As the offense struggled with their efficiency on a play-by-play basis mainly due to the problems up front, those 14 points were essentially the difference in the game, and it was quite simply a well-called game to put up 31 points/331 total yards while getting pushed around in the trenches all afternoon.
**This was the first game where the Canes’ defense really shutdown the run. Coming into the contest, Miami was giving up 174.5 ypg on the ground and you were seeing too many missed assignments along the front 7 to properly contain the run in past games. Well, the front 7 looked a lot better in this one, consistently both getting upfield and swarm-tackling to hold Pitt to a miniscule 22 yards rushing on 26 carries (0.9 ypc). Blake Baker was able to make the Panthers’ one dimensional, and while Pitt did get Miami on some big pass plays (278 passing yards), they were far from efficient through the air (5.9 ypa, 48.9% completions). UM’s success limiting the Panthers’ run game ultimately was another key to the game and allowed the Canes to hold Pitt to 9 points when disregarding the offenses’ turnovers. Good gameplan and execution from Baker’s unit, although the absence of Pitt starting QB Kenny Pickett and his scrambling ability certainly aided their efforts.
**King was a mixed bag, but didn’t get much help yet again. Miami’s QB started the game an ugly 2-7 passing and later was 6-15 at half; that also came with little protection from a Pitt pass rush that sacked him 4 times and was close to a few others, balls tipped at the line, dropped passes, and receivers falling down. King also threw two more picks, the second of which was all on him after he misread the coverage and stared down his receiver. There’s no way to sugarcoat it, it’s disappointing to see the passing game this out of whack 5 games in with an offense that has a history of being receiver-friendly.
Still, despite King’s flaws, it’s difficult to imagine Miami winning this game without him, as his rushing ability (32 yards vs. Pitt) allows UM to extend drives, opens up the aforementioned easy plays in the passing game, and generally gets Miami’s offense out of a lot of jams. I thought his best throw of the day was the TD to Mike Harley, where he stepped up to avoid pressure from the backside, and hung in pocket with pressure right his face from the front to deliver a good ball to the wide-open Harley. His final passing line of 16-31 (51.6%) for 222 yards, 4 TD’s, and 2 INT is still pretty solid, and Canes fans just might have to get used to attaining those numbers without the traditional passing game of a QB dropping back and dicing up a secondary.
**Miami’s second team defensive line has seen impressive development. We always talk a lot about how valuable it is to have depth on the D-Line in that not only does it allow you to keep the starters fresh more often, but you also don’t have to worry about a massive dropoff in play to get that rest for the first unit. As UM works deeper into games, that provides so many more opportunities for both units to make plays as the opposing OL starts to tire out. After 5 games, it’s clear Miami has that DL depth luxury, as Jared Harrison-Hunte, Jahfari Harvey, and Jordan Miller were all active in making their presence felt in limited snaps vs. Pitt. Each of the three had at least half a sack in combining for 8 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks, and a FF, with Harrison-Hunte in particular now leading the team in sacks (3) on the season. Plus, in the case of Harrison-Hunte and Harvey, you are talking about redshirt freshman seeing the first real action of their careers, so you can only expect this duo to get better as the year progresses.
Grades
Offense: B-
31 points scored and 331 total yards. Would have liked to see more consistency play-to-play instead of relying so much on the big play. 5 three and outs. 4-13 (30.8%) on third downs. OL allowed a terrible 15 TFL and 4 sacks. 2 turnovers set Pitt up in the red zone both times and directly led to 10 Pitt points. Did enough to get the win against a tough defense, but also left a lot on the table mostly due to the play up front.
Defense: B+
This game could’ve been a blowout without 2 turnovers from UM’s offense that gave Pitt starting field position on the Miami 12 and 1-yard line, respectively, and led to 10 easy Panther points. Aside from that, UM’s defense only gave up 9 points and 300 total yards. Completely shut down an opposing run game for the first time, holding Pitt to just 22 rushing yards on 26 carries (0.9 ypc). Did give up too much in the pass game (278 yards) against a backup QB, though. Allowed just 3 for 17 (17.6%) on third downs. 9 TFL and 3 sacks were another highlight. 1 turnover.
Special Teams: A
Although Miami returners continue to have no impact, special teams overall was again a major plus for the Canes. P Lou Headley probably had the best game of his career, hitting 6 punts for 51.7 ypp and 1 inside the 20. K Jose Borregales extended his perfect season, hitting on his only FG attempt (37 yards) and all 4 XP’s. CB Isaiah Dunson stayed home and made a great tackle to thwart a Pitt fake punt, which gave UM’s offense great field position and led to a TD. No major returns allowed by the coverage units.
Coaching: B+
The team properly responded to a disappointing loss last week with a fast start and never trailed vs. Pitt. Reversed the discipline problems from last week, committing only 5 penalties against the Panthers. Liked both gameplans from the coordinators, and Lashlee’s scheme in particular was directly responsible for 14 points. Overall, a well-rounded effort.
**It was good to see the Canes bounce back strong following the Clemson disappointment. We’ve seen more than a few promising seasons go off the rails after a disheartening loss in recent years, and there’s no doubt that was a concern in the building heading into this weekend. However, the team properly responded to a disappointing loss last week with a fast start and never trailed vs. Pitt, scoring the first 14 points on the way to the win this weekend. While Miami was physically beaten on the OL, they showed they were prepared, could stay focused throughout the week, and were able to execute a strong gameplan from both coordinators all the way through. Ultimately, Miami has now won every game they were supposed to win, all by double-digits and without much drama in the 4th quarter. It definitely breathes life into the belief that this edition of Miami can be a better version of the teams we’ve seen in the past during Manny Diaz’s second year at the helm.
**I liked the gameplan on offense even if the results weren’t always there. Pitt came into the game with the #2 rush defense in the country (52 ypg allowed) and the Panthers were also the #1 team nationally at sacking the QB (5 sacks per game). Given the performance of the Miami OL against Clemson last week, it was pretty likely Rhett Lashlee was going to be put in a tough spot yet again vs. Pitt, something that was apparent very quickly on Saturday as Miami’s OL was dominated by Pitt’s front seven (15 TFL, 4 sacks, 77 rushing yards allowed to backs on 28 carries). Instead of beating his head against the wall with a stubborn approach that wasn’t working, Lashlee combated Pitt’s aggressiveness with an array of touch pass jet sweeps designed to get UM’s receivers and backs to the edge of the Panthers’ defense in an effort to try and capitalize on UM’s speed advantage.
We also saw Lashlee’s play design and instincts coming into play yet again, as he accounted for 14 points purely through scheme and timing. That came on the long TD passes from D’Eriq King to both Cam’Ron Harris and Will Mallory, with Lashlee using Pitt’s aggressiveness and fear of King’s running ability against them; all it took was a false step from King for Pitt to completely vacate the middle of the field, giving King an easy window and Harris/Mallory nothing but green grass. As the offense struggled with their efficiency on a play-by-play basis mainly due to the problems up front, those 14 points were essentially the difference in the game, and it was quite simply a well-called game to put up 31 points/331 total yards while getting pushed around in the trenches all afternoon.
**This was the first game where the Canes’ defense really shutdown the run. Coming into the contest, Miami was giving up 174.5 ypg on the ground and you were seeing too many missed assignments along the front 7 to properly contain the run in past games. Well, the front 7 looked a lot better in this one, consistently both getting upfield and swarm-tackling to hold Pitt to a miniscule 22 yards rushing on 26 carries (0.9 ypc). Blake Baker was able to make the Panthers’ one dimensional, and while Pitt did get Miami on some big pass plays (278 passing yards), they were far from efficient through the air (5.9 ypa, 48.9% completions). UM’s success limiting the Panthers’ run game ultimately was another key to the game and allowed the Canes to hold Pitt to 9 points when disregarding the offenses’ turnovers. Good gameplan and execution from Baker’s unit, although the absence of Pitt starting QB Kenny Pickett and his scrambling ability certainly aided their efforts.
**King was a mixed bag, but didn’t get much help yet again. Miami’s QB started the game an ugly 2-7 passing and later was 6-15 at half; that also came with little protection from a Pitt pass rush that sacked him 4 times and was close to a few others, balls tipped at the line, dropped passes, and receivers falling down. King also threw two more picks, the second of which was all on him after he misread the coverage and stared down his receiver. There’s no way to sugarcoat it, it’s disappointing to see the passing game this out of whack 5 games in with an offense that has a history of being receiver-friendly.
Still, despite King’s flaws, it’s difficult to imagine Miami winning this game without him, as his rushing ability (32 yards vs. Pitt) allows UM to extend drives, opens up the aforementioned easy plays in the passing game, and generally gets Miami’s offense out of a lot of jams. I thought his best throw of the day was the TD to Mike Harley, where he stepped up to avoid pressure from the backside, and hung in pocket with pressure right his face from the front to deliver a good ball to the wide-open Harley. His final passing line of 16-31 (51.6%) for 222 yards, 4 TD’s, and 2 INT is still pretty solid, and Canes fans just might have to get used to attaining those numbers without the traditional passing game of a QB dropping back and dicing up a secondary.
**Miami’s second team defensive line has seen impressive development. We always talk a lot about how valuable it is to have depth on the D-Line in that not only does it allow you to keep the starters fresh more often, but you also don’t have to worry about a massive dropoff in play to get that rest for the first unit. As UM works deeper into games, that provides so many more opportunities for both units to make plays as the opposing OL starts to tire out. After 5 games, it’s clear Miami has that DL depth luxury, as Jared Harrison-Hunte, Jahfari Harvey, and Jordan Miller were all active in making their presence felt in limited snaps vs. Pitt. Each of the three had at least half a sack in combining for 8 tackles, 3 TFL, 2 sacks, and a FF, with Harrison-Hunte in particular now leading the team in sacks (3) on the season. Plus, in the case of Harrison-Hunte and Harvey, you are talking about redshirt freshman seeing the first real action of their careers, so you can only expect this duo to get better as the year progresses.
Grades
Offense: B-
31 points scored and 331 total yards. Would have liked to see more consistency play-to-play instead of relying so much on the big play. 5 three and outs. 4-13 (30.8%) on third downs. OL allowed a terrible 15 TFL and 4 sacks. 2 turnovers set Pitt up in the red zone both times and directly led to 10 Pitt points. Did enough to get the win against a tough defense, but also left a lot on the table mostly due to the play up front.
Defense: B+
This game could’ve been a blowout without 2 turnovers from UM’s offense that gave Pitt starting field position on the Miami 12 and 1-yard line, respectively, and led to 10 easy Panther points. Aside from that, UM’s defense only gave up 9 points and 300 total yards. Completely shut down an opposing run game for the first time, holding Pitt to just 22 rushing yards on 26 carries (0.9 ypc). Did give up too much in the pass game (278 yards) against a backup QB, though. Allowed just 3 for 17 (17.6%) on third downs. 9 TFL and 3 sacks were another highlight. 1 turnover.
Special Teams: A
Although Miami returners continue to have no impact, special teams overall was again a major plus for the Canes. P Lou Headley probably had the best game of his career, hitting 6 punts for 51.7 ypp and 1 inside the 20. K Jose Borregales extended his perfect season, hitting on his only FG attempt (37 yards) and all 4 XP’s. CB Isaiah Dunson stayed home and made a great tackle to thwart a Pitt fake punt, which gave UM’s offense great field position and led to a TD. No major returns allowed by the coverage units.
Coaching: B+
The team properly responded to a disappointing loss last week with a fast start and never trailed vs. Pitt. Reversed the discipline problems from last week, committing only 5 penalties against the Panthers. Liked both gameplans from the coordinators, and Lashlee’s scheme in particular was directly responsible for 14 points. Overall, a well-rounded effort.
