Will Miami’s Offense Get Back On Track Versus North Carolina State?
The 6-2 Miami Hurricanes are lucky to be coming off a 29-26 win versus Virginia. That game was ugly for the offense but did come up with big plays down the stretch and in overtime. Hats off for that.
To completely turn the corner and finish the season strong, but there’s still ample work to be done. Here are three areas that Miami’s offense needs to get out of the funk it’s seemingly in.
1) Tyler Van Dyke must get back on track.
He’s gone from one of college football’s best signal callers to unreliable. Yes, the leg injury likely played a part in this situation after he sat and watched the Clemson game from the bench. If that’s the case, however, play Emory Williams versus Virginia. That leads to the biggest concern overall.
Interceptions are a prime concern. Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and Virginia are the prior three contests he’s been the starting quarterback. 114 passing attempts, and a whopping 7 interceptions. That’s 6.1% of Van Dyke’s attempts that end with a pick.
Conversely, the first four starts of the season include 99 passes for Van Dyke, and just 1 interception. There has been better competition in the past four, but it’s like Van Dyke is just not seeing the field all that well. That situation is especially the case with the deep middle interceptions he threw versus the Yellow Jackets (throwing late down the middle is almost always a bad idea).
Beyond the interceptions, something is just off with Van Dyke’s timing. Screen passes, even to Xavier Restrepo, Van Dyke’s safety valve, are not consistently in rhythm.
It's hard to place a finger on what’s going wrong, but it must change immediately. Miami’s next two contests are at North Carolina State and at Florida State. Those could go very badly unless Van Dyke – and the passing game overall – begin to hit their stride.
2) Jacolby George, and big plays, need to come back.
In the last two games, George has 7 receptions for 33 yards. He’s too talented to average under 10 yards per reception, let alone under five.
While his success is directly tied to Van Dyke, the Canes must unleash him again and it starts with the Wolfpack. Of note, it would be great if George could get loose down the field. He’s shown the ability to do it via the Texas A&M game. It's time for that to happen once again.
3) Third downs are heading in the wrong direction.
With a freshman signal caller in Williams, Miami goes 9 of 18 on third downs versus Clemson. That’s tremendous against a defense with Clemson’s talent level.
Van Dyke leads the team against North Carolina and Virginia, the Canes combined third down conversions are 8 of 24 for 33%. That simply does not make sense considering Van Dyke’s experience and talent.
Again, it’s about a lack of being congruent. Miami’s disjointed efforts simply must go away. Miami fans will soon find out as the North Carolina State defense is one of the nation’s best versus the run, ranking 25th nationally and giving up 109.6 yards per contest.
That’s going to give Van Dyke and the Canes the best chance to win via the passing game. Ironically, NC ST struggles to stop the pass, ranking 67th nationally and allowing 221.1 yards through the air per game.
Will this be the game that Van Dyke, George, Restrepo, and the rest of the Canes offense gets back on track?
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Fan Nation High school football recruiting analyst covering the state of Florida, as well as across the Southeastern United States and the state of Texas.