The Miami Hurricanes won 42-7 on Saturday night over the Stanford Cardinal at Hard Rock Stadium. The spread varied anywhere from 31ish down to 28.5. It was a win and a cover for the Hurricanes.
But, for me, the old motto of “good teams win, great teams cover” doesn’t quite hit home for me after watching 60 game minutes of football yesterday. What I saw for the entire first half from the Miami Hurricanes was well, WELL below the standard of play for any top 25 team, much less a playoff and national
championship contender.
Miami continued to sledgehammer its head against the wall in the running game, going back to the usual duo/inside run game scheme that they have for much of the season, and it was drawing boos in the first half from the fans in the stadium and likely at home, as well. That works (eventually) when you play a team that’s both limited as far as talent of starters and lacking depth, and you can wear down teams like that. It worked in the second half, as Miami leaned on the Cardinal and finally imposed their will.
But……a big part of that working is because Stanford did literally nothing on offense after the opening drive and kept the game script close enough to be able to stick with the run. And a big credit to Miami’s defense for that.
But what happens when Miami falls down 14-0 again this season, perhaps at SMU or at Pitt (the latter being a particular possibility the way they’re playing)? You can’t slam your head against a wall in those situations. Either team is as good as Louisville talent wise, I believe, who managed to grind Miami’s inside running game to a halt.
So, I’m going to need to see more out of the offense going forward beyond just being a metaphorical Easton baseball bat that you slam against the front door until it finally gives way. That won’t work every week. I want to see some outside running plays. I want to see Marty Brown with the ball in the passing game. I want to see Malachi Toney schemed up in the slot to get one on one, where he can beat anyone. I want some damned variety from this offense, that looks very one note right now.
I’m sure I will get crapped on by some in the comments, and that’s fine. But what I saw in the first half against Stanford will get this team beaten at least one more time this season. I have no doubt in my mind about that. If they were holding stuff back for later in the season, ok.
But what was rolled out in the first half, particularly on offense, ain’t gonna cut the mustard in Dallas, in Pittsburgh, hell, maybe not even in Blacksburg or at Hard Rock against NC State.
