Miami suffered a brutal home loss to Middle Tennessee State on Saturday, dropping their game with the Conference USA opponent 45-31.
Despite being the heavy favorite, the Hurricanes were outplayed in every aspect of the game.
A lot happened on Saturday. Here are 10 things we learned:
Reset your expectations
A month ago, Tyler Van Dyke was a Heisman candidate and the Hurricanes were the favorite to win the ACC Coastal. Now you can officially throw all your expectations out the window.
Miami is 2-2 and got there in a strange way. After picking up two expected wins to start the season, the Hurricanes lost back-to-back games. The first, against Texas A&M, wasn’t unexpected. Miami was the underdog, and the Aggies have years of top recruiting classes to bolster their talent level. The Hurricanes played A&M close, even if the offense couldn’t reach the end zone. It was a winnable game (which may have surprised some before the season) but the Hurricanes couldn’t pull it out.
A loss to Middle Tennessee State changes the calculus. If Miami can lose to the Blue Raiders, the Hurricanes can drop any game left on the schedule. Although the Hurricanes’ goals of winning the division and the conference remain completely in play, the likelihood appears to have plummeted.
This build will take a while
Coach Mario Cristobal said after the loss Saturday that he knew when arrived in Coral Gables that it could take a while to build a winner.
“I knew we had a long way to go on arrival,” he said. “But the progress we have made in some respects, it feels a little bit like we have regressed, and we’ve got to do a better job.”
A two-touchdown loss to Middle Tennessee State shows that the Hurricanes still have a long way to go. Cristobal still has work to do when it comes to building the culture he wants, and he needs to recruit more high-end talent that fits into his and his coaches’ systems. It won’t happen overnight, and it may not happen this year.
Van Dyke does not click
Van Dyke did not play well in Miami’s win over Southern Miss two weeks ago, but even a standout QB can be forgiven a bad game here and there. Against Texas A&M last week, he struggled again. But the Aggies have talent all over their defense, so there could be plenty of external reasons for the third-year sophomore’s struggles in College Station.
Van Dyke had his worst performance as Miami’s starting quarterback on Saturday. He went 16 of 32 for 132 yards, and he threw interceptions on his first two passes of the game (resulting in a quick 10-0 lead for the Blue Raiders). Advanced metrics are no kinder to Van Dyke. Pro Football Focus gave him 44.9 offensive score with a 44.8 passing score.
It was a brutal turn of events for Van Dyke, who is a tough competitor and who has owned up to his struggles this season. But ultimately, the poor play against an expected weaker opponent was too much to overlook.
“I’ve got a great competitor [in him],” Cristobal said. “He’s a great player and I’m not going to use this opportunity to throw anybody under the bus. These things are brutally difficult, but they’re non-excusable, so, as a coach, if you’re worth an ounce of integrity, you certainly don’t put it on your players.”
Jake Garcia may be the best option going forward
The Hurricanes offense looked much better once redshirt freshman Jake Garcia took the reins in the third quarter. Miami responded with a touchdown drive on his first series, and they moved the ball better.
Garcia finished the game completing 10-of -19 passes for 169 yards.
Beyond the on-field performance, how Van Dyke responds to being benched could decide how the UM staff moves forward. Being benched against MTSU surely could wound any player’s confidence, and it may be tough for Cristobal and the Hurricanes’ offensive coaches to put Van Dyke back in the starting role after sitting him down for most of the second half.
Pass defense still flawed
Miami excelled in pass defense against Texas A&M. The Aggies’ struggles in the air may have played the larger role in that. A&M had another poor passing performance on Saturday in a close win over Arkansas, and Miami’s pass defense regressed against Middle Tennessee’s Air Raid-style offense.
Blue Raiders quarterback Chase Cunningham racked up 408 passing yards in their win, and the UM defense was torched on four deep passes of 69 yards or more. Pro Football Focus gave Miami a 54.1 grade in coverage.
No one in Miami’s secondary was immune on Saturday. DJ Ivey, who excelled against Texas A&M, was burned for a 98-yard touchdown. Te’Cory Couch and Tyrique Stevenson blew a coverage that led to a 71-yard touchdown. Linebacker Corey Flagg missed a tackle opportunity, resulting in a long pass play that ultimately led to another MTSU score. Freshman Jaden Harris got burned on a 69-yard touchdown, as well.
There were some highlights, like safety Kamren Kinchens interception. But Miami knew Middle Tennessee State was going to try to pass frequently, and the Hurricanes still could not get stops.
“It was kind of a little bit of everything,” Kinchens said. “Kind of right play, right time, and we didn’t make the plays.
Still no clear answers at receiver
Miami’s wide-receiver room has been in question since Charleston Rambo and Mike Harley Jr. departed for the NFL, and four games into the season, the Hurricanes don’t have a clear top receiver.
Xavier Restrepo is the only Hurricanes receiver with a 100-yard game, and he’s out for several more weeks with a foot injury. Jacolby George’s injury makes Miami even more short-handed.
Key’Shawn Smith led Miami with 81 receiving yards on four catches on Saturday, and Frank Ladson Jr. had his best game of the season with six catches for 65 yards.
The Hurricanes also tried to get their tight ends more involved in the passing game. Will Mallory was targeted 10 times (four catches, 50 yards), Elijah Arroyo was thrown to three times (two catches, 21 yards) and Jaleel Skinner had two targets (one catch, 17 yards).
We may see going forward whether Van Dyke was the issue with the passing game or if it’s more on the receivers, but that will remain an open question for now.
More tackling issues
The Hurricanes’ tackling problems were well-known last year, but they appeared to be largely in the rearview mirror with Kevin Steele leading Miami’s defense now.
Those missed tackles reared their heads again on Saturday. Miami had 13 missed tackles, according to Pro Football Focus. The site gave the Hurricanes a 36.1 tackling grade, by far their worst of the season.
James Williams was charged with four missed tackles, while Leonard Taylor was hit with three. Six other players missed one.
Poor offensive line play
Miami’s offensive line struggled against the Middle Tennessee State defensive front.
The Hurricanes surrendered four sacks, which resulted in 27 lost yards. Pro Football Focus gave Miami a 64.4 grade in pass blocking, with DJ Scaife Jr. as a standout with a 77.9 pass-blocking grade.
Miami also struggled to run block, and Pro Football Focus gave the Hurricanes a 40.4 grade. UM finished the game with just 60 net rushing yards. If you remove the quarterback sacks, Miami had 87 rushing yards — their worst performance of the season.
“Our run game was nowhere near what it has been,” Cristobal said. “We’ve got an extra man in the box, but we still haven’t been blocking as well as we need to. We haven’t been hitting as hard as we need to. We haven’t been able to keep up as well as we need to.”
Hurricanes need to get mentality right
Middle Tennessee State may be the worst FBS team the Hurricanes face this year, and they lost. Miami knew MTSU was not a strong opponent, and they treated them like that.
Offensive lineman Jalen Rivers said after the game that UM overlooked the Blue Raiders.
“We came in, obviously, unmotivated or kind of slow, and we had to ramp things back up when we got punched in the mouth,” Rivers said. “That’s basically how it is.
“Obviously, we go into Texas A&M like, ‘Oh, we’re going to prepare for each team the same.’ But I just feel like we came into this game like ‘Oh, we’re going to win.’ And you saw, obviously, see what happened.”
Even if people outside the team expect victories over weak opponents, the Hurricanes themselves cannot treat teams that way. Otherwise, they will suffer more of what MTSU coach Rick Stockstill called a “butt-kicking.”
‘It’s always fun to do stuff that nobody thinks you can do,” Stockstill said. “And coming down here [as] 26-point dogs and kicking their butt like we did— because it was a butt-kicking — it was no fluke to this.”
Opportune bye week
The Hurricanes’ bye week comes at the best possible time. The team likely needs a chance to breathe and compose itself after Saturday’s loss.
Miami’s coaches will have their work cut out for them in the next two weeks. They will have to answer a question that no one thought they would be asking a month ago: Is Van Dyke still the starter, or will Jake Garcia take over full-time?
Aside from deciding a surprise quarterback battle, the staff will have to refocus the team after the loss and get them re-energized. As devastating and as embarrassing as the loss may be, the season is not over. The Hurricanes have eight games left and all of its conference schedule ahead of them.
Miami’s season is not just salvageable. The hope of a successful campaign, division title and perhaps even a conference championship is out there. It’s up to the team to see if they can still achieve it.
