Miami Hurricanes Can't Win In The ACC Without Chunk Plays On Offense
The Miami Hurricanes rushing attack has been especially quiet during the past two games. Even through the past four outings, they're not picking up any explosive gains.
Miami's longest play on the ground since September 17th has been 14 yards. The Canes' longest running play since the opener against Bethune-Cookman on September 3rd is 20 yards.
“The issue has been creating bigger chunk plays and scoring touchdowns,” Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator Josh Gattis said. “We’ve gotta win the 1 on 1’s, broken tackles out in space, and we’ve gotta beat defenders deep. We have to win our individual 1 on 1’s across the board. We’ve gotta get more out of what we’re getting.”
Getting more comes from breaking tackles in the running game and it comes from the timing between your quarterback and receivers to catch balls in space.
Per CFB Stats, Miami ranks 102nd in the country in producing plays of 20-plus yards. They've had just 21 of those plays all season.
Even more alarming, Miami only has two plays over 40 yards from scrimmage this season, ranking them 122nd in the nation in that category.
Three of Miami's conference rivals and 2022 opponents: Florida State (1), North Carolina (3) and Clemson (24) rank in the top 25 in producing plays of 20+ yards.
To win games in the ACC, Miami will need to keep up with their rivals, especially if the defense keeps giving up weekly long touchdowns
Tyler Van Dyke completed six passes for at least 20 yards in Miami's loss to North Carolina. Hopefully, the chunk plays continue to trend up. The Virginia Tech Hokies gave up 326 rushing yards to Pittsburgh last weekend. If there's ever a time to get the running game going again, this should be it!
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