The Miami Hurricanes defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies on Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg to improve to 9-2 (5-2) on the season.
There were a number of standouts, as the Hurricanes were strong on defense
(5 sacks, 9 tackles for loss, 3 first half points) and effective enough in moving the ball and putting up points, particularly through the air.
As usual, I’m taking a quick look at the top and bottom 5 graded players by Pro Football Focus and seeing how it jives with my memory with no additional watches.
Here are the top five and bottom five Canes from Saturday in Blacksburg (minimum 20 snaps).
Top 5 Canes
1) Carson Beck – 89.4
2) Malachi Toney – 85.7
3) Zechariah Poyser – 84.1
4) Akheem Mesidor – 81.7
5) Ahmad Moten, Sr. – 80.3
Beck was superb, so that grade tracks. 27/32, 320 yards, 4 scores, no picks. The offensive line was terrific in pass protection and gave him all day to throw, and he delivered with his best statistical day of the season. Malachi Toney was equally superb, and I love how Shannon Dawson is giving him run/pass looks with the ball in his hands. That needs to continue.
Poyser was all over the damned field it felt like it, adding a sack. Mesidor had EIGHT pressures according to PFF with a sack. Moten had two sacks and three pressures and had a 75.7 run defense grade.
Honorable mention to Justin Scott at 78.4, who was a monster in the middle as well and had a very disruptive game along with Moten, chipping in a sack as well. Miami’s defensive line was strong on Saturday despite the second half rushing yards allowed.
Bottom 5 Canes
1) Alex Bauman – 46.3
2) Elija Lofton – 48.9
3) Samson Okunlola – 50.0
4) Matthew McCoy – 50.7
5) Markel Bell – 50.8
The Canes’ tight ends continue to find themselves near the bottom of the grades/rankings from week to week. I remember seeing Bauman appear to miss a block on a wide receiver screen on Saturday. Lofton had the nice touchdown grab but had a run blocking mark of 33.7.
Okunlola and McCoy both got flagged during the game, and none of the OL trio on the list had a run blocking grade above 55.2 (Bell had a mark of 36.3). With a run game output of 30 carries for 83 yards, it tracks that Miami’s blockers largely scored poorly in run blocking, and that anchored down the grades many players who put their hands into the ground on offense.
