The Miami Hurricanes lost a game they very much should have won on Saturday afternoon, falling to SMU and a number of former Canes in Dallas 26-20.
It was a game where Miami was, as they so often are under
Mario Cristobal, their own worst enemy far too often. From penalties to poor execution to poor coaching, there was a ton of blame to go around, and while much of that goes on Cristobal, Shannon Dawson, and the rest of the coaches, the players have to point the finger at themselves for much of the issues as well.
So, who does Pro Football Focus see as the Canes’ five best and worst standouts from the loss? And does it match up with what my eyeballs told me from watching the game live? Let’s see…
(As a reminder, I’m going with players who had at least 20 snaps in the game)
Top 5 Canes
1) QB Carson Beck – 78.1
2) WR Keelan Marion – 75.3
3) CB Keionte Scott – 74.4
4) DE Akheem Mesidor – 72.3
5) CB Damari Brown – 71.9
So, yeah. That’s the thing about PFF’s grading system. They don’t really appear to give a grade to the impact of mistakes made in a game. They basically just quantify them in their system. Because Beck’s interception in overtime was the most crucial error and moment in the game.
Which, by the way, should NOT have counted. If you go back and watch, you’ll see Jojo Trader tackled – like, actually tackled to the ground – in the end zone before the pass was thrown. But alas, another notch in the belt for the absolutely shitty ACC officiating yesterday. I digress. Long story short, Beck wasn’t awful outside of that, and his only other interception was on a terrible bobble by Trader that completely turned the game around. Otherwise, he did a pretty decent job in the passing game – 26/38 for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns – even though it didn’t really feel like it in retrospect. He also had a couple of big passes called back on boneheaded penalties – the first half Malachi Toney OPI and ineligible man downfield flag late in the fourth quarter.
Scott had 3 pressures and a sack to go with 7 tackles, so it feels like he earned his spot. Mesidor might be remembered for looking gassed and losing contain on Kevin Jennings’ touchdown run, but PFF gave him an otherwise good 75.8 run defense grade to go with 3 pressures.
Bottom 5 Canes
1) TE Alex Bauman – 54.3
2) OL Samson Okunlola – 54.7
3) TE Elija Lofton – 55.5
4) S Zechariah Poyser – 55.9
5) LT Markel Bell – 56.7
Honestly, it feels right to have two offensive linemen on this list, and particularly on the left side, where Miami struggled in particular in short yardage run blocking. The two were split by a defender that led to a stop on one short yardage play, if I remember correctly. They also combined for 3 penalties. Not a good day on the left side.
Bauman had one of the touchdown grabs, so I thought perhaps he might have earned some grace there, but apparently not. It wasn’t a difficult catch, but I don’t feel like he was the worst player of the day by any means.
And if I was not counting snaps, that honor would have gone to S Bryce Fitzgerald, who earned a 44.3 mark over 15 snaps.
Poyser was tagged by PFF for 3 missed tackles – the most on the defense – and earned a tackling mark of 23.7.
