Great effort from Harris here, who initially is pushed wide, but he retraces and gets a sack on the QB.
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There will be a game where these bounces, close calls, etc. don’t go Miami’s way and that’ll be the game Miami has to grind one out, because variance doesn't always smile on you. That said, it has been years since Miami has had a QB who make the plays this guy makes for us.
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3rd & 10 and Ward with an absolute dot to Horton. Brown has been touted by everyone who will listen, but Horton was the better player in this one.
RayRay Joseph drops a rocket that would’ve gone for a first down. (Not pictured)
This was bad from Rodriguez, who struggled more than I thought on first watch. Miami has a line shift right, with 76 & 64 responsible for two down on left, 21 for the LB. For reasons I don’t know, Rodriguez guesses he’s going inside and the DT goes outside. You can see Rodriguez’ base was way too narrow and the weight is on his right leg. Look at 73 for a better base example. Ward makes a play, but LG wasn’t our brightest spot today.
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Just an iconic picture. Florida dude doing the Homer Simpson gif into the bushes, the recruits faces full of disgust for Florida, laughing at the filthy play by Ward, and then Miami players looking like a throwback to the Cotton Bowl against Texas. What a moment.
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On back-to-back plays Florida tries to block Tyler Baron with a TE who can’t block. It went as you’d expect. Domination for Baron and if I were a Florida fan (gross), I’d be upset. I’d also wonder why my team has NEVER gone undefeated, but that’s a story for another time. (Not pictured)
Florida has started to run the “look for 25” offense and throw it to whomever 25 is covering. There were mixed results, but for the most part, 25 struggled to have sticky coverage in this game. (Not pictured)
Malik Bryant with bad eyes here. Stops looking at QB before he sees ball exchange.
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This play was supposed to go outside, but Harris does a great job of staying wide in his rush and Bryant sets an actual edge. RB has to cut back and right into Mauigoa. Beautiful.
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My buddy Cribby was telling me that live he thought Mertz was late on this throw that was picked by Powell, but he’s separating pretty early here. I think he just didn’t have the arm to get it there and Mish saw it the whole way. Now, the return should’ve been a TD if he would’ve slowed up and let his blocker take the last defender, but there’s a reason he doesn’t play offense I suppose. Anthony Campbell in and giving nice snaps this game. Chase Smith and his length didn’t make this throw any easier for Mertz. Never want to see a kid get hurt, so I’m not happy about that. Looked like he got inadvertently hit in the head by Campbell.
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Brown has to catch this, but Brown was also telling Restrepo to loft that ball more. If Restrepo has any touch, it’s an easy TD. Miami didn’t score on this drive, despite a chance to score for Powell and Brown, then a missed FG. This game score could’ve been much worse. Brown flubbed this play, nearly fumbled that was overturned, had a poor effort on a 1-on-1 deep ball against a S, and was soft on a reception at the goal line. Just a poor game from #11. Film doesn’t lie, it’s not personal.
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See, Richard wasn’t bad in this game. He was just being targeted relentlessly. I don’t mind this coverage, but a better ball and catch.
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It really is “where’s 25?”
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Awesome run by the Florida player, making Mauigoa overrun the play. But the real point of this one is that Justin Scott absolutely forces a hold not called here. This isn’t a swim move, where the OL can grab, this is Scott changing directions and the OL not being athletic enough to keep up and just grabbing him. It’s early, but the returns on that kid look good.
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This is what it normally looks like when a C tries to block a NT 1-on-1. Moten just eats his soul and gets a TFL. Moten tackles #8 and the RB behind him. Woah, that’s a play.
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From there it was backups and running out the string.
By the Numbers:
Overall, this was a good ole fashion rear-end kicking. The final numbers are dominant, but not as dominant when it got to 38-10 and Miami took their foot off-the-gas.
- 0.13 Expected Points per Attempt (70th percentile)
- Florida at -0.19 (17th percentile)
- Miami had five explosive plays, to Florida’s three
- Miami accumulated 81% of the available yards on their offensive drives, which is an astronomical number. Florida accumulated 52% (not horrific).
- Defensively, Miami had a 44% Stop Rate, where Florida only had 9%!
- Total, in this game, Miami was +10.47 expected points, while Florida was -5.32 expected points
- Miami: 9.28 Offensive, -1.64 Special Teams, 2.84 Penalty
- Florida: -10.47 Offensive, 2.56 Special Teams, 2.58 Penalty
Overall:
This was a game all of us in Hurricane nation have been hoping for. It wasn’t a game where the stars aligned and everything went right for Miami at home. It was a game on the road against an SEC rival that was going to give everything they had and Miami was just clearly the more talented team. From start to finish, this was a whooping.
The theme of the day was Miami’s evaluations in the transfer portal.
- Cam Ward was a long saga that gave many of us fatigue. In the end, Ward was everything they said and then some.
- Tyler Baron was a menace. He simply wrecked the Florida OL and that poor RT will assuredly be going pro in something other than sports after scouts watch this tape.
- Mish Powell was what we needed to stabilize the backend of the defense at S.
- Simeon Barrow made his presence felt.
- Damien Martinez looks like NCAA Le’Veon Bell with his patience and power.
- Carpenter at C giving Miami another year of great play at the pivot.
This game was about development:
- Elijah Arroyo looks every bit the part of the next great Miami TE.
- The OL has depth and power.
- Fletcher looks great. The game thread had a lot of criticism for him, but I didn’t see that on film at all.
- Ahmad Moten and a cadre of DT’s behind him.
There were warts, no doubt about it, but I don’t have any complaints about this game, as Miami looks to compete for the college playoffs this season.
Welcome back to true Miami football, oh have I missed you.
