Well, that wasn’t much fun.
The Hurricanes went to South Bend their difference maker in Malachi Toney, and they still almost managed to tie things up late in the game. And they did, if you ask some individuals about whether Elija Lofton caught that ball. Personally, thought the DPI on the previous throw to Daylyn Upshaw was as or more egregious, but it is what it is.
So, who does PFF say had the best and worst games among Miami’s players with at least 20 snaps? Let’s get into it.
Top 5 Canes
1) Cooper
Barkate – 80.9
2) Ahmad Moten, Sr. – 75.9
3) Mohamed Toure – 75.3
4) Damari Brown – 75.2
5) Omar Thornton – 75.0
It had to be Barkate at one or two, or I was going to scrap this entire exercise moving forward and thumb my nose at PFF entirely moving forward. Barkate was a menace against the Irish, particularly in the second half to charge Miami’s surge back into the game. He finished with 10 catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
I am honestly surprised to not see Elija Lofton on here. Seven catches, 113 yards and a score, with another arguably being robbed from him. He finished with a 59.3 grade thanks to a 50.4 mark in 19 run blocking snaps. I’m going to go ahead and say it. That really highlights how slanted and really head scratching some of these rankings are. Lofton impacted this game WAAAAAAAYYYYYYY more than a 59.3 grade would indicate and he should have been higher. Just a silly, silly mark.
I remember Moten having a solid game in the middle and getting past his man on a number of occasions. He finished with a team-best three quarterback pressures for UM. Toure was everywhere with a game-high 12 total tackles. Brown had a nice pass breakup in the second half. Thornton had four tackles with no misses and just one catch allowed for three yards.
Bottom 5 Canes
1) Samson Okunlola – 46.9
2) Marquise Lightfoot – 47.7
3) Armondo Blount – 48.2
4) Seuseu Alofaituli – 48.5
5) Ben Congdon – 52.1
Miami’s offensive line played poorly, and that was properly reflected in these grades. The Canes got whipped from left to right in short yardage in the run game, and the Irish were forcing Darian Mensah to sidestep pressure all night.
Conversely, Miami generated just 12 QB pressures and no sacks (two tackles for loss) to Notre Dame’s 34 and two sacks (with five tackles for loss). Congdon appeared to miss a block near the goal line when Darian Mensah was tackled on a designed run on third down. Those types of things cost points, and Miami’s line plan on both sides were nowhere near good enough to win today.
It should be noted that three of Miami’s starting OL is on this list. Another starter, Matthew McCoy, just missed out at 52.6. Ryan Rodriguez, who has had a solid year, fared the best at 68.2.
