The Syracuse Orange are getting a break from the chilly weather and heading down to Coral Gables, hoping to bring some kind of heat against the Miami Hurricanes this weekend.
To get fans up to speed on
what’s happening with the ‘Canes, we’re bringing in some reinforcements. We sent some questions over to Cam Underwood, managing editor and contributor for SB Nation’s State of The U, to learn more about Syracuse’s upcoming opponent and keys for the game.
TNIAAM: Let’s start with this: The “late-season” U is officially (and unfortunately for fans in Coral Gables) back after dropping two of their last three to Louisville and SMU. What’s the diagnosis behind the recent skid and how is the fanbase currently feeling?
SOTU: Cool, great thanks for reminding me. The diagnosis is clear: Miami is playing sloppy, undisciplined, unoriginal, boring football and opposing teams are taking advantage of it at every opportunity. 9 penalties and 4 interceptions against Louisville? Yeah, that’ll get you beat. 12 penalties, a horrific drop that turned into an interception, a dropped touchdown, and 2 missed run holes on plays that would have scored on the road against SMU? Yeah, that’ll get you beat.
Honestly, the mistakes that Miami continues to make — turnovers and penalties — are killing this team. Coupled with the fact that Miami is everybody’s Super Bowl where they bring out new schemes they’ve never shown before, it’s been hard to find success recently.
As far as how the fanbase is feeling currently….pretty (bleeping) bad, if you ask me. 3 weeks ago, this team was ranked #2 in the country with a clear path to the College Football Playoffs. Now we’re 6-2, ranked 18th in the CFP, and need more help than after school tutoring to even have a CHANCE at the playoffs from here. As your question says, it’s the same stuff from Miami in another season. It sucks, feels bad, and makes me and all Miami fans incredibly angry. This continual underperformance is infuriating. Full stop. So that. That’s how the fanbase is feeling currently.
TNIAAM: Is Mario Cristobal on an actual hot seat, or is that a genuine overreaction?
SOTU: LMAOOOOO. No. Not even a little bit.
Mario Cristobal’s seat is so cool it’s air-conditioned. Sure, the fans may be upset about the continual November fade and underperformance of this team, but Cristobal isn’t going anywhere. He’ll be here until his contract runs out, and likely longer because it’s much more likely (if not certain) that he gets an extension than he gets fired.
TNIAAM: Syracuse notably upset the ‘Canes last season in the Dome. Between last year’s U and this year’s, what are the biggest differences the Orange should know about?
SOTU: Last year, Miami had Cam Ward and the bomb squad. The #1 offense in the country by nearly every metric, the paradigm with that team was clear: hunt (and hit) big plays, score tons of points, and get one (1) stop in the 4th quarter to get the other team off-serve and win. Last year’s defense was absolutely ravaged by injuries by the time these teams played, and it wasn’t very good when at full strength anyway. So, a powerful offense and porous defense was the build of the 2024 Canes.
This year, the offense is nearly as efficient as last year, but they are much, MUCH less explosive. Miami is one of the least explosive offenses in America by both raw number of 20+ (or longer) plays (88th or lower for most plays of 20+, 30+, 40+, etc scrimmage plays), and advanced stats for explosiveness (where Miami ranks 129th in marginal explosiveness, and 131st in yards per successful play. Out of 136 FBS teams). This creates an offensive footprint of long, plodding drives that take 8, 10, or 12+ plays to score. But, when add in
Miami’s HORRIBLE propensity for penalties — 105th in the country AVERAGING 8 penalties for 63.4 yards per game…and most of those come on offense — there’s little wiggle room on offense. Time and time again this season, drives inside the opponent’s 35 yard line have died a horrible death due to a false start, or holding….or both.
The 2025 Miami Hurricanes run the ball more than the 2024 version, understandable since the #1 overall pick from the NFL Draft isn’t our Quarterback anymore. But, without the real threat of getting hurt in the passing game, opposing defenses routinely crash linebackers and safeties down into the box to change the number count, and stifle Miami’s run game. It’s just….been a real struggle when it doesn’t need to be for Miami’s offense.
Defensively, Miami hired a new DC/LB coach, DT coach, and 2 DB coaches to revamp the staff on that side of the ball. The only carry over is Hall of Fame defensive end turned DE coach Jason Taylor. Corey Hetherman, the new DC, brings a fierce, physical style of defense to Miami, and it’s been a big step forward from last year.
There are impact players at every level of the defense, from EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. to DT David Blay Jr. to LB Mo Toure to Nickel Keionte Scott to S Jakobe Thomas. Expect a variety of looks on defense, with blitzes coming from Thorpe Award semifinalist Scott, CB Damari Brown (a physical 6’2″ 208lb specimen) or S Thomas. I’m interested to see what Miami does in coverage against Syracuse, especially after losing every 1v1 contested catch rep possible last year.
TNIAAM: The Orange’s offense has practically been nonexistent at times; for context, it hasn’t topped 20 points since dropping 34 against Clemson on September 20th. For Syracuse to get even close to that number, how should it attack Miami’s defense?
SOTU: Do what every other team has done against Miami: break out schemes and plays you haven’t used in any other game. Week after week after frustrating week, coaches and players tell us “oh yeah, (insert team here) broke out some new stuff we hadn’t seen on film before.” It’s happened literally every game this year. And in most of those cases, the wrinkles/surprises have gashed Miami’s defense and put points on the scoreboard for the opponents.
Have a 4th down play in your pocket since install last fall? Use it. Been waiting for the perfect time to break out that trick play? The perfect time is now. Looking for a good spot to use a surprise onsides kick or fake punt or fake field goal? This is the spot. Now is the time.
Basically, zag where on film you’ve zigged. Add wrinkles on top of plays you’ve shown on film. Do something tricky. Those kinds of things have proven to give Miami’s defense issues, and if executed properly, could put Syracuse in position to score multiple times this week as well.
TNIAAM: On the flip side, let’s go to Miami’s offense. QB Carson Beck is the million-dollar man on campus. What would you grade his performance so far this year, and which of The U’s offensive players does Syracuse need to watch out for?
SOTU: I’d grade Beck with a C+ for his performance this year. He’s been very accurate (3rd NATIONALLY with a 72.5% completion percentage), but the misses and more importantly the TURNOVERS are major, major demerits from his grade. He’s been good as a game operator, getting Miami into the right plays, changing protections, etc., but his penchant to throw the ball to the other team has been a killer for Miami’s season. 4 interceptions vs Louisville cost Miami that game, full stop. And while the first interception at SMU was entirely the WR’s fault (bobbled the ball that hit him in the hands wide open and the defense ended up catching it), the interception on the final offensive play of the day almost had me breaking things in my apartment.
In terms of players to know on Miami’s offense, the list starts with 18y/o true freshman WR Malachi Toney. A player who should still be in HS, Toney reclassified up and enrolled early to Miami and has been at the top of the roster ever since. He’s 4th in the ACC in catches (52), 5th in receiving yards (632) and has 3 touchdowns on the year. He’s also a dynamic punt returner, who likely would have had 2 PR-TDs this year if not for his teammates spectating and looking at him instead of blocking the last defenders so Toney could go score. Though he does play all over the offense, Toney does most of his damage from the slot, so beware of that.
Other players to know are RBs Marty Brown (a North Dakota State transfer who won the Jerry Rice award as the best freshman in FCS last year) and Jordan Lyle. Brown is the thunder and Lyle the lightning in Miami’s backfield.
Starting RB Mark Fletcher Jr. will miss this game with injury, as will starting WR C.J. Daniels. Look for WRs Keelan Marion (an All-American KR at BYU last year), Jojo Trader, Joshua Moore, and Tony Johnson to round out Miami’s passing game outside of the aforementioned Toney. TEs Alex Bauman and Elija Lofton haven’t really be impactful this year, but IF Miami were to get anything from the TE position in this game, it would be from one of those players, maybe both.
TNIAAM: FanDuel has the Orange currently as 27.5-point underdogs heading to Miami. Is the line too low, too high or just right?
SOTU: Honestly, just right. I know every Miami fan — myself included — is pissed about another failure and loss that should have been a win, but this team is incredibly talented and Syracuse, well, isn’t. The line was similar for Miami-Stanford a couple of weeks ago, and Stanford might be a better team at present than Syracuse. So yeah, despite the vibes in Coral Gables this week, this line is fair in my estimation.
TNIAAM: If Syracuse (somehow) wins, what’s the formula for success to beat the ‘Canes?
SOTU: The blueprint to beat Miami is as follows:
- 1. Win the turnover battle by 2+. Carson Beck likes to throw the ball to the other team at times, so this is very possible.
- 2. Sell out to stop the run (particularly inside zone, power, and duo run schemes) on 3rd or 4th and short situations. That’s what Miami will run in those spots. Take it away.
- 3. Dial up the trickeration. I already talked about this, but do it, trust me.
- 4. Win the 1v1 reps on the outside on both sides of the ball.
- 5. (optional) play keep away and possess the ball more than Miami. Honestly, this isn’t even really necessary, since Miami’s time of possession advantage (5th nationally and best in the ACC at an AVERAGE of 33:30 TOP per game) hasn’t correlated to points on the scoreboard. It would be nice and comfortable for Syracuse if they did this, but this is a bonus, not a requirement.
TNIAAM: Prediction time: who wins and by how much?
SOTU: I know Miami is struggling to find their swag, but I just can’t see them losing to this version of Syracuse.
Final Score: Miami 38 Syracuse 7
TNIAAM: Another prediction: how many ACC teams earn a spot in the 12-team playoff, and is Miami one of the 12?
SOTU: After watching the bloodbath that was the first CFP rankings last night, unless there is a *LOT* that goes right for multiple ACC teams, and conversely a *LOT* that goes wrong for SEC/Big10 teams, the clear answer is the ACC is a 1-bid league.
Will Miami be one of those teams? Nope, not after the committee clearly signaled they hate the ACC in total, and Miami specifically (it’s a JOKE that Notre Dame, a team Miami beat H2H and has the same 6-2 record as Miami is ranked 10 SPOTS HIGHER THAN THE CANES). I wrote this about the abundance of help Miami would need to potentially make the CFP, in case you were wondering what it might take. TL;dr — A LOT.
TNIAAM: Last question for our fans traveling down south: any food/tourist recommendations in either Coral Gables or Miami?
SOTU: There’s so much to do and see in South Florida, it’s crazy.
South Beach is about 45 minutes from Hard Rock Stadium (located in Miami Gardens) so you can do that.
Wynwood is a former warehouse district that has a bunch of murals, culture, and food. It’s a half hour from the stadium. Further down the road is Brickell and downtown Miami. You can do that, too. Another 30 minutes down US-1 after you hit the bottom of I-95 (yes, freeways END) is the University of Miami’s campus in Coral Gables.
For food, you can find anything you want. Jamaican? Got it. Haitian? Got it. Soul food? Yup. Gourmet experiences in any number of flavors? Absolutely. It’s dealer’s choice, really. Honestly, ask a local when you get down here. While you could check out lists on Eater or the Michelin guide (Miami has TONS of Michelin starred or listed restaurants) or the Miami New Times, talking to people is the best path to cultural or culinary experiences down here that will blow your mind.
And, if everything else fails, just go East and don’t stop until you’re at the Ocean. But an FYI there: Beaches in the greater Ft. Lauderdale area are better than South Beach. I mean the actual beach, as in the sand itself. But it’s all better than the beaches in Syracuse, amirite?!
Thanks again to Cam Underwood for taking the time to dive deeper into Syracuse’s upcoming game versus Miami! For more ‘Canes content, be sure to check out the State of The U site.
