YESSIR!!!!!!!!!!!!! BIG DUBS IN THE CHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the season opener against the hated rival Notre Dame Fighting Irish, your Miami Hurricanes dug deep, played hard, and earned a 27-24 victory to start the season.
Craig T. Smith has your game recap:
Mike Schiffman is back with the 3 stars:
Let’s get into a HYPE edition
of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
The Good
- A win. Winning is hard, and I’m never, EVER going to take it for granted.
- Protecting homefield. We have 8 home games this year. Love starting with a win.
- Another big matchup in a season opener ends with a Miami Hurricanes win. YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!!!!!
- Seeing all the depth on display in game 1. No fewer than 8 receivers played, no fewer than 9 DBs played, and the list goes on and on. We’re not fully there, but this is what a championship roster looks like.
- QB Carson Beck. 20/31 passing for 202 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, and a team win. A couple of plays left on the field, but a solid start for Miami’s QB, and most importantly, a win.
- WR Malachi Toney. 6 catches for a team-high 82 yards and a touchdown. As a 17 year old freshman who should still be in HS. Incredible.
- WR C.J. Daniels. 5 catches for 46 yards and a highlight reel touchdown that will be one of the top plays of the season. (It’s further down, you’ll see it).
- The thunder and more thunder tandem of Mark Fletcher Jr. and CharMar “Marty” Brown. 15 carries for 66 yards, and 15 carries for 54 yards and a touchdown, respectively. Great performances, both.
- The return of DL Rueben Bain Jr. 6 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 0.5 sacks, and an interception. Bain was routinely in Notre Dame’s offensive backfield, and his return to form is a big, BIG win for Miami’s defense.
- DL Akheem Mesidor. 5 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, and even more plays that weren’t on the stat sheet. Like Bain, his return to health, and thereby top form, is a massive win for Miami’s defense.
- DT David Blay. A huge TFL on 3rd down, and great interior play all night long.
- Wesley Bissainthe and Justin Scott forced fumbles.
- Keionte Scott with 2 PBUs
- The secondary as a whole No fewer than 8 players logged snaps, and they all played well. Night and day from last year. I love this for me!
- Kicker Carter Davis. 2/2 including the game-winning 47 yarder. Davis has one of the strongest legs you’ll find anywhere, and he seems to be improving his skill and technique daily. That’s huge.
- Rueben Bain Jr. looking like himself again. This pass rush from the left side won IMMEDIATELY. Gotta finish it with a sack tho, 4. Marquise Lightfoot flashed his skills by providing additional pressure.
- Justin Scott with a huge hit, forcing a fumble, recovered by Jakobe Thomas on the first play of ND’s 2nd offensive drive. Massive play from the sophomore star!!
- DT David Blay with a huge TFL on 3rd and 1 to force a ND punt late in 1Q. The first of hopefully many impactful plays by the Louisiana Tech transfer.
- The first touchdown of the year: Carson Beck to Malachi Toney. The arrival of the freshman!!
- WR C.J. Daniels with an early contender for catch of the year. HOLY SHIT WHAT A PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Miami up 14-7 heading into the half after this one.
- RB CharMar “Marty” Brown scoring on a 5 yard TD run to start the scoring in the 3rd. That, bookended with Daniels’s incredible catch, gave Miami a 21-7 lead midway through the 3rd.
- Damari Brown with the instincts to jump the WR screen, Keionte Scott with the tip/interception attempt, AND RUEBEN BAIN JR. WITH THE INTERCEPTION!!!!
- Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor got home to the QB and had sacks when it mattered most. BALLGAME!!!
- Held Notre Dame to 3.3 yards per carry.
- Remove a 30 yarder by Jadarian Price, and that average falls to 2.3 yards per carry. Another ND game shutting down their supposed star RB.
- 34:04 time of possession.
- Held ND to 24:52 TOP
- 324 yards of offense — 205 passing, 119 rushing. Not massive numbers, but enough to win.
- Held ND to 314 yards of offense — 221 passing, 93 rushing. Again, good enough to win.
- 19 first downs
- 5 TFLs
- 3 sacks — including on the final play to win the game
- 1 interception — Bain
- 1 fumble recovery — Jakobe Thomas
- 0 turnovers
- Only allowed 2 TFLs
- Only allowed 1 sack
- P Dylan Joyce another solid night. 5 punts for 213 yards, a 44.6 average
- Advanced stats tell the story of a Miami victory
- Last thing: Notre Dame hasn’t won against Miami in Miami in my lifetime. 0-7 vs the Canes in Miami since 1981. I love it.
- Okay, LAST last thing: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman walked into the wrong interview room postgame. He was PISSED. LMAOOOOOO. oh well.
The Bad
- Miami taking a timeout after a 3rd down stop before the 1st Notre Dame punt of the game. Another operational issue to start the season. Don’t love it.
- Losing track of CJ Carr, a QB who can’t throw, to allow him to convert 3 times on ND’s scoring drive that spanned the 3rd into 4th quarter.
- 4.7 yards per play. That’ll need to improve. And yes, I know ND is likely the best defense we’ll see this year.
- Allowed 5.4 yards per play. A couple breakdowns and this number got too big for my comfort.
- Only 6 chunk plays — 4 passes (15+), 2 runs (10+)
- Allowed 7 chunk plays — 4 passes (15+), 3 runs (10+)
- 5/14 on 3rd down
- 1/2 on 4th down
- Allowed 4/9 on 3rd down
- RB Jordan Lyle left the game in the 2nd quarter and did not return. Hope he’s not injured badly.
- CB O.J. Frederique lost another 50/50 ball to a taller receiver. That continues to be his main issue from last season (where Syracuse took advantage of this multiple times).
The Ugly
- Notre Dame gained 183 of their 314 yards (58.2%) on 7 chunk plays.
- This included plays of 20, 26, 30, and 65. Can’t have that. Gotta tighten up, defense.
- Game operations issues returned. Timeout before an early punt because of too many men. Delay of game coming off the sideline TO START THE SECOND HALF. There was another one but I forget it now. Get. It. Fixed.
- Oh, and that’s nothing to speak of the ending of the final FG drive, which…….left much to be desired (before the kick).
- 2.6 yards per play in the 4th quarter. Gotta execute better to consistently win games (I know we won tonight, but this is FAR from the standard).
- 1 for our final 6 attempts on 3rd down. No bueno.
- The WHIFFS on block attempts by Elija Lofton early in the game. Killed the 2nd drive.
- Getting a turnover inside the ND 25 and not scoring.
- The entire FG operation of the first attempted kick, on the aforementioned short field drive. Woof. WOOOOOOFFFFF.
- Some REALLY BAD calls against Miami late in the 3rd quarter. Phantom flags extended ND’s drive. And a well earned flag by Dylan Day for playing without a helmet (came off during the play)….and jumping on the pile hella late to boot. Can’t have that.
- I know you hate it when I talk about the refs, but tough. This no call on the ND defender for 1. holding, and 2. pass interference on Malachi Toney DURING THE SAME PLAY is unacceptable. Oh, and for good measure they called a bullshit hold AGAINST MIAMI on this play.
- Mo Toure left his man open and ND took advantage. They would score 3 plays later to tie the game at 24.
Team Grades
Offense: B
There were some great things, but also plenty of areas for development in the opener. Even accounting for Notre Dame being among the best defenses we’ll see this year, there was the opportunity for a few more points. The Run game was good but inconsistent, especially when Lyle was in the game. And the passing game did enough, but there’s room for improvement, and explosion out wide.
Defense: B+
THIS is what a Miami Hurricanes defense is supposed to look like. Fast, physical, and mostly dominant. There were a few breakdowns, but the defense did enough to earn victory. Let me be clear: it wasn’t perfect, but I’m not letting perfect be the enemy of good. Strong start to Corey Hetherman’s Miami career. Cristobal and multiple players gave high praise for Hetherman, his style, and impact, and we saw that on the field tonight. Bravo, group. Keep it going.
Special Teams: B–
2/2 on FGs but a botched snapped killed the 3rd FG attempt. Great punting. A little flash from Keelan Marion on his one Kick Return, which was a step away from the crib. And a nice punt return by Malachi Toney, who appears to have won that job as a freshman. Pair that with solid coverage across the board, and we have a good grade. Major demerits for the botched FG attempt though, otherwise this grade is much higher.
Coaching: B+
Game operations in weren’t the best — bad timeouts, delay of game to start 2H, etc— but it got better…mostly. Would have liked to run the clock all the way out on offense at the end of the game but that’s nitpicking.
I thought Mario Cristobal had this team ready to play, and focused to work through the whole game. I thought Shannon Dawson called a good BUT NOT PERFECT game, and the conservatism at the end was dictated by cristobal. And holy moly donut shop what a game by Corey Hetherman’s defense. I know it’s only one game, and yes, there were a couple breakdowns, but this is what a Miami defense is supposed to look like. Fast. Physical. Tough. Sign me up for more of this.
Sure, I could give a bit of a higher grade, but I’m a tough grader and the standard is the standard. This is a GREAT STEP FORWARD, and I can’t wait to see more.
That’s it for this installment of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I welcome and look forward to your comments.
