Miami vs Duke Postgame Review
Just as it seemed it couldn’t get any worse for Miami this season—it did against the Duke Blue Devils last Saturday afternoon. Miami had spurts of momentum, mostly at the beginning of both halves, but abysmal outings in the second and fourth quarter ultimately were the nail in the coffin for the Canes.
There weren’t a lot of positive outcomes from the game, but there were still many things to take note of. The Canes still have a lot to shore up, especially after the injury to Tyler Van Dyke.
There’s also a lot that they cannot let happen again. Here’s a review of the Canes’ 45-21 loss to the Duke Blue Devils.
Offense
Let's start with the turnovers. Miami committed eight turnovers against the Blue Devils, which was the most by an FBS team since 2009 when Nebraska committed eight turnovers against Iowa State. Here’s a list of how Miami committed all their turnovers with the time of the clock, quarter, down and spot after turnover.
2nd and 4, 00:14, First Quarter | Van Dyke pass short to the left, pass caught by Jaylan Knighton, at Duke 40, Knighton fumbled on Duke 45, Duke's Shaka Heyward returns to Miami 23.
Kickoff, 13:45, Second Quarter | Key’Shawn Smith returns 20 yards to Miami 22, Smith Fumbled on Miami 22, Cameron Bergeron recovers on Miami 22.
3rd and 4, 09:06, Second Quarter | Van Dyke sacked for 17 yards, Van Dyke fumbled, Brandon Johnson recovers on Miami 10 (This was the play Van Dyke was injured).
2nd and 13, 00:18, Second Quarter | Jake Garcia pass to the left, Jaylen Stinson intercepts the pass at the Duke 18.
Half
Note: No turnovers were committed in the third quarter, and the score going into the fourth quarter was 24-21 Duke.
3rd and 5, 12:30, Fourth Quarter | Garcia sacked for 9 yards, Garcia fumbled, Cam Dillon recovers on Miami 25.
1st and 10, 07:57, Fourth Quarter | Garcia pass to the left intercepted by Jaylen Stinson at Duke 20, Stinson returns 28 yards to the Duke 48.
1st and 10, 05:25, Fourth Quarter | Garcia pass to the right intercepted by Brandon Johnson at Miami 29, Johnson returns 29 yards for a touchdown.
3rd and 7, 02:59, Fourth Quarter | Garcia sacked for 8 yards, Garcia fumbled, DeWayne Carter recovers at Miami 42, Carter returns 12 yards to Miami 30.
Six of the eight turnovers came from the quarterbacks. Five of the six—came from Garcia, which is disconcerting for Miami considering Van Dyke is out for the foreseeable future. Garcia clearly had some miscommunications with his receivers, which could be the result of just simply not having that chemistry since Van Dyke has been the starter.
Garcia should look to lean on the hot hands such as Colbie Young, Frank Ladson and Will Mallory. With Jacolby George back and Xavier Restrepo’s return on the horizon, the strong group of receivers could make the transition easier for Garcia.
Another area that Miami struggled was the run game. Henry Parrish, Jr. was back for the contest and was Miami's leading rusher with 63 yards, but once again, Jaylan Knighton struggled. There was still no real explosiveness from the run game as the longest run was 15 yards by Parrish. The run game struggles and pass-protection struggles against Duke Saturday afternoon fall on the offensive line.
Defense
With Duke starting inside Miami’s 30-yard line four times, it’s easy to see why they were able to score so many points against the Miami defense. It’s hard to put blame on the defense for the bad field positioning the offense put them in.
Duke did well in the run game against Miami, but through the air, the Hurricane defensive backs held their own despite a touchdown pass from Duke quarterback Riley Leonard.
Tyrique Stevenson and DJ Ivey both had strong outings, allowing three catches for 21 yards on nine targets between the two of them. In addition, both had coverage grades just short of 80% according to Pro Football Focus as Stevenson had a 78.9 coverage grade while Ivey had 78.8 coverage grade.
Where Miami really struggled was containing Leonard on improvised runs and getting to him and bringing him down. The Canes got to Leonard three times, but in return, Leonard ran in three touchdowns.
Duke had a very ground-and-pound approach and that approach got the best of Miami as they allowed 200 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Excluding sacks, Miami only had two tackles for a loss against the Blue Devils.
The Duke offense capitalized on all opportunities given and when they were in scoring range they simply fought harder than the Miami defense.
Special Teams
It was certainly a quiet game for Miami from its special teams. Andres Borregales never had a field goal try and Lou Hedley had two punts, averaging 46 yards per punt with one downed inside the 20. In the return game, George had a 10-yard punt return. There were eight kickoff returns, six by Smith and one by George with another by Kahlil Brantley. As seen above, Smith had a fumble on a kickoff return.
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