It was still just August when the Miami Hurricanes beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 27-24 at Hard Rock Stadium. The ‘Canes kicked off the season with a win in a game that I thought they would lose by three, not have a clutch FG from Carter Davis for the win!
Carson Beck had a solid game averaging 6.8 yards per pass attempt, and throwing two TD’s without a turnover. Beck’s favorite target was the truer than true freshman Malachi Toney. Toney caught six balls for 13.7 yards per catch and a score.
CJ Daniels had an amazing diving one handed TD catch, Marty Brown averaged 4.6 yards per carry with one score, and Mark Fletcher averaged 4.4 per rush himself.
The ‘Canes OL allowed only one sack and two TFL’s to a top 15-defense per SP+.
Above– Our first clip is a breakdown of the Duo run concept that has swept through all levels of football and gets brought up on social media quite a bit. That is a complete breakdown of the concept above.
Above– Beck was able to get to his THIRD read which against the ND DL is pretty damn amazing. Beck loves the in-breaking routes, as does Darian Mensah. They have some things in common, and Mensah has things in common with Cam Ward, too.
Above– What starts as a 2-high looks immediately rolls to the field safety being in the MOFC (Middle of Field Closed) position and cutting off the post route. Beck throws it anyway, and I’m not really sure why. A near INT and you can see seeds of strange reads and decisions in his FB IQ.
Above– This is an interesting concept that I think I only saw once vs. ND. They use Bell to kick the back side DE, Lyle is coming down line but cuts back too quickly. Lofton is clearly getting inside leverage on the DE, so a bounce outside means the DE is free to make the play, and does.
Weird stuff like someone got a call wrong or it was a trial and error type of thing… also the A-Gap was WIDE OPEN if Lyle puts his hand on the C’s back and pushes him forward.
Above– Here Cooper pulls and touches zero defenders while Lofton over compensates the 1st level help, and then misses twice on the 2nd level players. While that’s rare for Cooper it’s par for the course on Lofton.
Above– Fletcher has such great vision and patience, both things needed to run the outside zone and duo concepts that Miami loves. He’s the perfect back for this offense and if I was in the market for a RB to replace him next year, I would have Fletcher explaining what he looks for and thinks on plays and trying to hear that same response during recruiting from future backs. Use the intel you have on campus while it’s still here to get the right back for this offense.
Above– Mesh is a man beater but so is Mesh Return. Both WR’s pretend they’re going to cross and then pivot and break outside. As you can see this puts Toney WIDE OPEN against the Irish man defense.
Above– Beck started the year really moving well in the pocket and avoiding pressure while not being a runner in any way shape or form. Also a beautiful throw, perfect spiral, to Toney who breaks off the route to get open and score. Nice connection between the veteran QB and rookie WR.
Above– Throwing up the numbers vs. a 2-high look is bold. Daniels makes a diving catch that should be on posters around man caves (or cellars in my case) for years to come.
Above– The ND defense jumps this screen adn the spacing seems off as well as the timing and head count. Beck has to see 3 (def) over 2 (off). I know the OL is coming but with this spacing that’ll be tough as the WR doesn’t come inside enough giving the CB in man a clear shot at the TFL. Another play that might’ve worked vs scouts but not the Irish.
Above- Mesh Return, return. Mesh Return is back and this time Toney’s YAC sets up a TD run from Brown. Brown earns the carry by SPRINTING to help block at the 3rd level here. That’s teamwork and talent working together to win ball games.
Above– This won’t surprise anyone who watched games in ‘25 back a 2nd time. It’s more evident in All-22 where you can go back and forth from the EZ View… Lofton and Bauman had rough seasons. Here both guys come off the 1st level defender meaning neither 1- communicated or 2- understood the scheme.
Football comes down to 3 things: Align. Assign. Finish. They’re lined up right, but they don’t understand the assignment and neither finishes the 1st level defender.
The Wrap
The ‘Canes came out of this one proving me and most of the country wrong. Miami beat the Irish at home and did so with a balanced attack on offense. We’ll look at the defense later and how they matched up against the Irish and QB CJ Carr.
What you can learn from this is that with a more mobile QB in Mensah (not a runner, but more mobile) and the additions of new WR’s I think the Miami offense can be really dangerous once again, the OL just has to come together over the first four weeks of the season.
