Thoughts From The Morning After: Miami Hurricanes vs. Duke Blue Devils

The Miami Hurricanes defeated the Duke Blue Devils 22-10 in a good team win. Let’s look at some of the numbers for this game; Miami produced a total of 426 yards with a combined 223 passing yards, and 203 yards on the ground. Brad Kaaya was 20-34 with 2 TDs and most importantly, Kaaya had no interceptions. Joe Yearby racked up 120 total yards and 1 receiving TD (47 yards), and our favorite RB Duke Johnson carried the ball 25 times for 155 yards with 1 TD putting him 5th all time in Miami’s rushing records over Graig Cooper.  For more of the game recap take a look at this article by Juan Toribio.

The Positives

Defense

The Hurricanes Defense heard the criticism and bashing from the fans this week. They answered by holding Duke to 264 yards and 2-19 on money downs. Firstly, I saw defensive backs play man or bump and run and were successful as Ladarius Gunter was able to notch up an interception. Duke targeted Antonio Crawford all night getting him to commit a couple of pass interference calls, but I saw the DBs overcome Duke’s offensive game plan and contest passes. Contested passes by Miami’s CBs have been lacking for the most part this year, but they managed to break up 10 passes last night. One player we are not talking about enough  is DB Corn Elder.  Elder continues to show he is very effective in coverage and makes impressive open field tackles when he is in the game. Artie Burns played outstanding in coverage tonight, and Raphael Kirby played well by making some open field tackles on crucial downs. Denzel Perryman showed up big time this week with forcing a fumble and INT. With many missed tackles against Nebraska and criticism of defense, Denzel added in a post game interview after the Duke Game,

For the most part, the Defense allowed Miami to win this ballgame. Coach D’Onofrio kept the blitzes coming all throughout the game and put pressure on Duke quaterback Anthony Boone. Hopefully, Coach D’Onofrio will continue to show more aggression on defense for the rest of the year. Let these boys play. And yes, the Canes actually STACKED THE BOX ON THIRD AND SHORT. AND IT WORKED. SURPRISE!

Some thoughts on Brad Kaaya 

– Brad Kaaya continues to show improvement by not turning the ball over and making big time throws. `

– He may be the best quarterback Miami has had since Ken Dorsey (which is a lot of praise)

– He [Kaaya] is starting to distribute the ball to everyone in the receiving corps with superb precision of late (Waters, Walford, Dorsett, Coley, Lewis, Johnson, Yearby, and Berrios)

– He continues to show that he will have very promising future, and I can not wait to see him develop more and more.

Overall

– The Offensive Line is improving every game. The Canes need to get Taylor Gadbois and Kc McDermott back as soon as possible, because the depth is starting to get slim.

– Duke continues to be Duke Johnson.  He contines to prove to be one of UM”s greatest running backs in the history books. However, I am still waiting for him to break that first long run of the season.

– Joe Yearby is a proving to be a great compliment to Duke Johnson

– Herb Waters is Miami’s best Wide Receiver. He runs routes with precision and he shows impressive explosiveness.

I did see the Defense and Offense play with emotion and energy all night by giving high fives, congratulating each other, and most importantly gang tackling. Al Golden made it a point this week to play with some “Juice” (passion) this week.

The one underlining problem I have with this current team is that Miami has not played a complete game in all three phases of the game (Special Teams, Offense, and Defense). The special teams so far this year have been average at best besides the excellent punting by Justin Vogel. The offense was very inconsistent throughout this game. For one period of time, the Canes offense went three-and-out four times in a row. If Miami wants to continue to show improvement, they need to have all around good performance on a consistent basis. For example, the offense hindered the outcome of the Louisville game, but they played well against Nebraska. Defense played well tonight, but they did not get off the bus for the Nebraska game.  Where is the consistency? Penalties must come down in percentages as well, and it seems this team lacks discipline at times. Golden knows that this is the next step in improving this team.

The best thing we can take out of this victory is that the Canes are 1-0 in the Coastal Division. The “new” season started today, and it was a good start with adjusting defense. Miami has a tough test next week on the road against the triple option at Georgia Tech. The Canes have the ACC Coastal Division ahead of them and frankly I don’t see why they can not win enough to play in the ACC title game. A good victory, and now, let’s move forward, Canes fans.

Your move Al.

Highlights of the game