For Tyler Van Dyke To Succeed, Miami Must Spread Out Its Offense

If Tyler Van Dyke continues to start at quarterback, Miami must make adjustments to its offense.

Over its last two games, Miami's offense has really struggled. 

Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who entered the year with All-American expectations, has been especially poor. The redshirt sophomore, in losses versus Texas A&M and Middle Tennessee State, has only completed 37 of 73 passes for 355 yards, along with one touchdown and two interceptions.

And while a part of Van Dyke's underwhelming performances can be attributed to inaccuracy and poor mechanics, the offense that play-caller Josh Gattis has been running has done the quarterback no favors.

Before accessing the statistics, it's worth noting first the offense that Van Dyke excelled in last season under former Miami offensive coordinator and current SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee. 

In 2021, Van Dyke was the driving force behind Lashlee's up-tempo spread offense that featured a lot of air-raid concepts and run-pass options that allowed the quarterback to shine. He was spectacular during the last six games of the season, throwing for 2,194 yards and 20 touchdowns, while only tossing three interceptions.

I’ve been very critical of Miami’s offense, but here’s something I did like:

11 personnel, spread look. Miami runs an RPO with a slant on the boundary and a hitch+slant combo on the field side.

Great concept to counter MTSU sending pressure. @AllHurricanes pic.twitter.com/8OUr3cj44O

— Luke Chaney (@lukechaney247) September 26, 2022

This year, under the offensive direction of Gattis, the Glastonbury, Conn. native has not been the same, and a lot of this is due to the formational makeup of much of the offense itself.

In the Hurricanes' two losses, with Van Dyke under center, the offense has run 83 plays in a non-condensed formation, and 77 plays in a condensed one. The contrasting results between the two are staggering.

Miami's yards per play in non-condensed formations (sacks not included) is 5.43 as opposed to 3.87 in condensed. UM's yards per passing attempt is also better – 5.56 compared to 4.00 – as well as yards per carry – 5.25 compared to 3.34.

The difference in play from Van Dyke is also profound. 

Against Middle Tennessee State, the quarterback was decent in non-condensed sets, completing 10 of 16 passes for 98 yards. In condensed sets, however, he was awful, completing only five of 14 passes for a mere 29 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

These statistics shed a light on the necessary direction that Gattis and the rest of Miami's coaches must take with the offense moving forward if they plan on playing Van Dyke. He is an up-tempo, spread-style quarterback that has been thrust into a more power-based, pro-style scheme that does not benefit him and the rest of Miami's offensive personnel.

But if UM does not make these schematic changes towards a more spread-based offense, then Jake Garcia looks to be a better fit at quarterback. The redshirt freshman was 5-for-8 for 84 yards in the second half of the Hurricanes' game against MTSU in condensed formations. He also played in a similar offense in high school to the one that Gattis runs at Miami.

Miami's coaches have a difficult decision to make at quarterback over the next couple of weeks before the Hurricanes kick off ACC play on Oct. 8 against North Carolina, but an evaluation of the current offensive play style must also be done to ensure that the scheme is cohesive with the team's and the signal-caller's strengths. 

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