It's hard to imagine a worse scenario for Miami football than what happened on Saturday. The Hurricanes entered their Week 4 matchup against lowly Middle Tennessee as 25.5 favorites, expecting a big bounce back from a disappointing loss to Texas A&M in Week 3. Instead, the Hurricanes stumbled out of the gate and never recovered in a 45-31 loss to the Blue Raiders, giving them their ranked win in program history.
This loss is nothing short of a disaster for Miami. The Hurricanes fell out of the rankings this week, and they can forget about any College Football Playoff hopes now. They begin ACC play soon, and something has to change before that.
If there's any silver lining, Miami football has a bye next week, giving Mario Cristobal and co. more time to address the team's issues. With that said, here are a few key takeaways from Miami's disastrous loss to Middle Tennessee.
3. The run game has to be better
Football teams often abandon the running game when losing big. It makes sense to some extent, because they need big chunk plays and time is not on their side, but it can also make offenses extremely one-dimensional. The Hurricanes stuck with the run to some extent on Saturday, but they probably shouldn't have with how they were running it.
Miami football's run game was simply atrocious, with 60 yards on 38 carries for an average of 1.6 yards per attempt. The Hurricanes' longest run was 14 yards and although they scored two rushing touchdowns, both came from one yard out.
To be fair, Miami's rushing stats come with an asterisk. The Canes dealt with key injuries at running back, which greatly limited their effectiveness. Jaylan Knighton left the game early with an ankle injury, while Henry Parrish Jr. also left with an undisclosed injury.
Per Mario Cristobal:
Jaylan Knighton has an ankle injury.
Tyrique Stevenson has a “lower extremity” injury.
Lou Hedley had a pregame strain.
Henry Parrish Jr. is being evaluated.
Daryl Porter Jr. has a shoulder injury but Cristobal said he didn’t think it was serious.
— Adam Lichtenstein (@ABLichtenstein) September 24, 2022
Even then, 1.6 yards per carry is unacceptable for any team that considers itself a contender. The Canes are averaging 178.5 rushing yards per game, even after that performance on Saturday. They can be a better running team, and they need to be with conference play approaching.
2. This secondary needs a lot of work
Miami's offense was bad on Saturday, but the defense was even worse, especially against the pass. Middle Tennessee quarterback Chase Cunningham had a field day against the Canes, with a career-high 408 yards and three touchdowns. Those three touchdowns were long ones too, coming from 71, 69 and 98 yards out, respectively.
The Hurricanes struggled against the pass early in the season, allowing 249 yards against Bethune-Cookman in Week 1 and 207 against Southern Miss in Week 2. They only allowed 140 against Texas A&M, but that team only had 97 yards against Appalachian State the year before. Miami's 251 pass yards allowed per game ranks 11th in the ACC through Week 4.
This secondary is very unproven, with both starting safeties being just sophomores. Saturday's game was a harsh lesson for this young unit, and they'll have to learn from it quickly for Miami to salvage this season.
1. Miami was massively overrated
With a new highly-touted coach and a talented roster, Miami football earned some decent hype in early rankings. Cristobal's Canes began the season at 16th in the AP poll, then rose to 13th after two straight wins. They fell to 25th after the loss to Texas A&M, and are now out of the rankings entirely, not even receiving any votes.
These last two games have shown that voters rated Miami far too highly early in the season. Yes, Cristobal is a good coach and a great recruiter. Yes, the Canes have strong talent on their roster, with 2 five-star recruits and 44 four-stars, according to 247Sports.
However, the Canes are coming off a 7-5 season and have a first-year head coach and athletic director. Those issues don't just solve themselves overnight, and expecting so much of them so soon was clearly premature.
If Cristobal can develop as a coach and continue to recruit as he did at Oregon, Miami should be in a good spot soon. However, this isn't the year for immediate results, and Saturday's game proved why.
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