And that’s how you send the seniors (and NFL departures) out with a bang!
Miami closed the home schedule with a dominant 41-7 win over the visiting NC State Wolfpack on Senior Day.
Mike Schiffman pulled
double duty tonight, and has your game recap AND 3 stars from the game. He’s my hero! Links are below:
Let’s get into this edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:
The Good
- A win! Winning is hard, and I’m never taking it for granted. IDC IDC IDC.
- A blowout win! Man, that feels good, right!? No 4th quarter battle against an inferior team.
- Getting a lead early and stepping on the opponent’s face strongly and repeatedly for the rest of the game.
- QB Carson Beck. 21/27 passing (77.8% completions) for 291 yards, with 3 TDs and 0 INTs. A cool, calm, collected performance by Miami’s veteran signal caller.
- RB Girard Pringle Jr. Making the first start of his collegiate career, the true freshman back had 17 carries for 116 yards and 2 catches for 32 yards.
- WR Malachi Toney. He continues to do it all for the Canes. 1 rush for 3 yards, 5 catches for 54 yards and 2 TDs, and 1/2 passing for 44 yards. This stat line would have been even better had Toney not missed an open Pringle Jr. for a touchdown on a wildcat trick play in the red zone.
- S Jakobe Thomas. 3 tackles, 1 pbu, 2 interceptions, 1 interception returned for a touchdown. Yeah, he’s great.
- EDGE Akheem Mesidor. 5 tackles, 2 TFLs, a sack, and a forced fumble. Monster performance.
- DT Justin Scott. flashed ELITE skills again. 1 tackle, 1 TFL, but his impact was much more than this. If he keeps working, the sky is truly the limit for him moving forward.
- CB Xavier Lucas. 2 tackles, 2 PBUs. Had a near-interception but had it batted away by the receiver, too.
- WR Keelan Marion. 7 catches for 96 yards. I did a double take when I saw those numbers. Much more production than I thought from him. WHICH I GUESS IS GOOD!!!
- WR Joshua Moore 2 catches for 56 yards. Big bodied jump ball receiver in the house!
- WR Jojo Trader 1 catch for 44 yards (from Toney)
- TE Elija Lofton 1 catch for 29 yards and touchdown
- Getting a stop on defense and a score on offense to start the game. Would have preferred a touchdown, but an early lead was nice to see for once.
- S Jakobe Thomas with a 6o yard pick-6 2 plays after Miami lost the ball on a fumble. THAT’LL WORK!!!
- Oh look! Jakobe Thomas with another interception on NC State’s next offensive possession! HE’S GOOD!!!
- Malachi Toney is incredible and can do anything you want on the field. Example 23048257: this DOT of a pass to Jojo Trader for 43 yards to set up a Marty Brown touchdown.
- Just Scott. THIS IS HOW YOU PLAY FROM NOW ON!!!!
- Carson Beck hits Malachi Toney for a 14yd touchdown just before halftime. It’s pretty. It’s SO pretty.
- TE Elija Lofton with his first touchdown of the year straight out of halftime! LET’S GO!!
- With the above touchdown, Miami went 14-0 over NC State in the “middle 8” of the game (last 4 minutes of 1H/first 4 minutes of 2H). That’ll work!
- RB Girard Pringle Jr. has the juice. FEED HIM!!!
- Beck to Toney for a touchdown happens again. You love to see it.
- 581 yards of offense
- 367 yards passing
- 214 yards rushing
- 8.3 yards per play
- 5.8 yards per rush
- 15.3 yards per completion
- 36:43 time of possession to NC State’s 23:17
- 18(!!!!!) chunk plays — 10 passes (15+), 8 runs (10+)
- 5/5 red zone scoring
- 28 first downs
- 5/10 on 3rd down
- Played nearly every player on the sideline, down to the 4th and 5th stringers
- Had a 70 to 50 offensive snap advantage
- Held NC State to 149 yards total offense
- Held NC State to 120 yards passing
- Held NC State to 29 yards rushing
- Held NC State to 3 yards per play
- Held NC State to 1.5 yards per rush
- Held NC State to 9 first downs
- Held NC State to 3/12 on 3rd down
- Held NC State to 3.7 yards per rush
- NC State QB C.J. Bailey 17/30 passing for 120 yards with 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions
- NC State RB Hollywood Smothers 7 carries for -2 yards
- That’s 4 yards per passing attempt
- That’s 7 yards a completion
- 5 TFLs
- 2 sacks
- 2 turnovers created — 2 interceptions (Thomas x 2)
- +1 turnover ratio
- Only allowed 3 TFLs
- Only allowed 1 sack
- Advanced Stats. Yeah, this was a beatdown no matter how you look at it.
The Bad
- Allowed NC State to score
- Allowed NC State to score on their only red zone possession
- Allowed NC State to score a touchdown on their red zone possession
- Good scheme, bad outcome. A wildcat play with Malachi Toney at QB, Carson Beck in jet motion (wut?!) and a WIDE OPEN Girard Pringle Jr leaking out of the backfield. Toney missed the throw, though.
- The next play is a DIME from Carson Beck to Malachi Toney in their normal roles for a touchdown. It’s negated by an illegal shift(?) penalty. (I believe it was illegal formation cuz only 1 guy was moving at the snap but that’s a distinction without a difference, really).
The Ugly
- Injuries and attrition. Miami was without the following starters: RB Mark Fletcher Jr., WR C.J. Daniels, DT David Blay Jr., CB O.J. Frederique, and Nickel Keionte Scott. Those aren’t just starters, those are foundational stars of this year’s team. Missing them is HUGE.
- Even more on the injury front, Mario Cristobal said Keionte Scott’s injury is “a serious injury.” Which brings into question the fact of whether Scott will return to the field this season. That’s a major, MAJOR blow for Miami if not.
- RB Marty Brown with a fumble on the 2nd offensive possession. This was Miami’s first lost fumble of the year. You CANNOT have turnovers, man. Ugh.
- A procedural penalty. An “illegal shift” (which I think was illegal formation but that is a distinction without a difference) negated a touchdown pass to Malachi Toney. Even one of these is too many. No bueno.
- Speaking of penalties, 8 for 75 yards on the game. Not good enough.
- And, to extend that out, 8 penalties for Miami and 4 for NC State. The 2-to-1 ratio of penalties against Miami vs penalties for their opponents continues for another week! WEEEEEEEE!!!!!
- TE Elija Lofton with 2 terrible drops. For someone people in the program continue to say is, and I quote, “the best and most talented player on offense”, he sure plays badly on Saturdays when his number is called.
Team Grades
Offense: A-
I’m grading very harshly here, but there were a few drops and drives that stalled and ended in FGs instead of TDs and those were enough to lower this grade slightly.
Outside of those minor issues, this was a masterclass from Shannon Dawson and the Miami offense. There was diversity of scheme, new players in starring roles — welcome to the show, Girard Pringle Jr. — and a level of precision in execution that had seldom been seen this year.
Carson Beck was smart and accurate with the ball. Miami ran the ball at will, dialed up exotic stuff, and gashed the NC State defense at every opportunity. This is what we’ve been wanting to see from the Miami offense.
There’s more I can nitpick, but you can see the narrative above for that. Long story short, this was incredible, and had Miami played like this from a schematic and production standpoint all year, we wouldn’t have lost those damn games we lost.
Defense: A+ x48
For those wondering about this grade, it’s A+ with 48 +‘s, one for every point that NC State scored against Georgia Tech two weeks ago. This team had just put on an offensive clinic against a previously-undefeated team, and Miami’s defense shut them completely down.
Even missing Keionte Scott, O.J. Frederique, and David Blay from the starting lineup, Miami’s defense was well and truly dominant today. NC State had less than nothing going until the final drive when the 2’s, 3’s, and even 4’s were getting playing time to wrap up the game.
Jakobe Thomas was the star of the day, but he was far from the only player who made winning plays, and kept NC State flummoxed and frustrated all game long. Bravo, defense. Bravo.
Special Teams: C+
Kickoffs were great. Punting was incredible. Davis went 2/3 on FG attempts. And the coverage units were great.
Miami had 2 penalties on returns for holding. Demerit demerit demerit.
Coaching: A+
THIS IS WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS PLAYING TO THE STANDARD!!!!!!!!!!
The staff had the team ready from the first snap, got an early lead, and didn’t look back. They didn’t let up off the gas, either.
Shannon Dawson being allowed to open up the playbook did so and it worked like a charm! And it would have been even more effective without a few errors and miscues. The Toney wildcat throw to Pringle comes to mind, for example.
Corey Hetherman’s defense played like one of the best units in America. Full stop. Pay this man whatever it takes to keep him here for another 2-3 years past this one. He might be the best coordinator hire anywhere in the sport for what he’s done to rebuild the Miami defense from what it was last year into what it has been this season.
And Mario Cristobal. Thank you. Thank you for FINALLY finding a way to get the dawg out of this team, coming out fast, kicking another team in the face, and not stopping until a frightened bystander pulled you away from the disfigured body laying before you. THIS is what the standard looks like. This is what this incredible collection of talent on this roster is capable of doing to inferior teams. AND NOW MY EXPECTATION IS THAT YOU GET THIS KIND OF PERFORMANCE OUT OF THEM EVERY SINGLE WEEK!!!!!!!!! That’s the expectation that comes with success and performance. Handle it, Mario.
That’s it for this installment of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Hop in the comments and let me know your thoughts.
