The Miami Hurricanes faced their toughest test of the season thus far last Saturday night as they traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska in front of 91,585 fans to take on the Cornhuskers. Unfortunately, the Canes left Memorial Stadium with a 41-31 loss. The loss proved that the Canes are still not where they need to be and that they are not ready to beat ranked teams, especially on the road. Even with the tough loss, there were some bright spots.
Here are my grades for each position, including special teams and coaching:
Quarterback:
It was an up and down night for true freshman Brad Kaaya. Kaaya finished 28 of 42 for 359 yards with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
Lets talk about the interceptions first. On the first pick Kaaya put some nice touch on a pass along the sideline to Clive Walford but didn’t put enough arm into the pass, it was underthrown and intercepted by linebacker David Santos.
A friend of mine who has a nice lower endzone view of the field at home games pointed out to me that one of the few flaws that Kaaya has is that he likes to stare down receivers at times. This was the case with the second interception as Kaaya stared down Malcolm Lewis and was picked off by defensive back Josh Kalu. This is a flaw that can easily be fixed with experience.
The positives from Kaaya triumph the negatives in my opinion. He broke his own freshman passing yards record in this game. He had quite a few passes that made you say, ‘Wow!’ I think the thing that impressed me the most was that he never once seemed rattled in front of the one largest venues in college football. Canes fans should be excited about his future.
Grade: B
Running Back
Duke Johnson had his most effective game of the season so far. He carried the ball 18 times for 93 yards and a touchdown. Offensive coordinator James Coley made sure to get Duke involved in the passing game as well, he had 5 catches for 84 yards. Joe Yearby didn’t get a carry on the night but did catch 1 pass for 22 yards. Gus Edwards wasn’t used much and had 3 carries for 8 yards. It was very refreshing to see Duke more involved in the passing game. He needs to get the ball in space and I felt we accomplished this. Let’s hope to see more of it throughout the season.
Grade: B+
Wide Receiver/Tight End
The wide receivers and tight ends had a very productive night as Kaaya distributed the ball extremely well. In fact, 8 players caught passes. Clive Walford was the standout of the group with 7 catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. Walford has shown great improvement with his catching ability as he snatched passes out of the air left and right. Malcolm Lewis had probably his best game so far in a Hurricanes uniform, he caught 5 passes for 40 yards and a touchdown. Braxton Berrios continued to show consistency and ended the night with 4 catches for 43 yards and a score. Stacy Coley was back in action from a shoulder injury and had 3 catches for 22 yards. Phillip Dorsett had a rather quiet night but had a highlight catch where he caught the ball off the defender’s helmet. Dorsett caught 2 passes for 48 yards. Lastly, Standish Dobard had 1 catch for 20 yards. I had no complaints about the receiving core, they even blocked pretty well for the most part.
Grade: A+
Offensive Line
I felt this was the best performance from the offensive line so far and it was against the best defensive line they have faced early into the season. Brad Kaaya was only sacked 2 times on the night and both were courtesy of All-American candidate Randy Gregory (both sacks were in the 4th qtr). The pass blocking was fantastic as Kaaya had plenty of time to throw. The run blocking was improved but still not quite where it needs to be. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at the offensive line’s production. Hopefully they continue to improve as the season wears on.
Grade: B+
Defensive Line
I have to admit, the defensive line really let me down. They were dominated all night long by a veteran Nebraska offensive line. There were no sacks, nor any tackles for a loss on the night. The defensive line has to take part of the blame for the 343 rushing yards allowed. Unfortunately, the stat sheet only showed a bunch of tackles and a fumble recovery. Tyriq McCord and Ufomba Kamalu both had 5 tackles, Olsen Pierre had 4 tackles, Anthony Chickillo had 4 tackles and a fumble recovery, while Courtel Jenkins, Calvin Heurtelou, and Trent Harris all had 1 tackle. Although I am disappointed in this group, I expect them to bounce back.
Grade: D+
Linebackers
Another unit that has to take part of the blame for the 343 rushing yards allowed are the linebackers. There were many missed tackles and players out of position throughout the night. Just like the defensive line, there were no sacks, nor any tackles for a loss by the linebackers. Again, there were plenty of tackles shown on the stat sheet as Ameer Abdullah ran wild. Darrion Owens, Raphael Kirby and Thurston Armbrister all had 7 tackles while Armbrister (who continued his solid play) had a pass breakup. Denzel Perryman had a quiet 6 tackles, and Jermaine Grace finished the night with 3 tackles. While the linebackers left me discouraged, I expect them to bounce back as well.
Grade: D+
Defensive Backs
The defensive backs didn’t get much work in the passing game as Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong only attempted 13 passes. Therefore, they had to resort to tackling most of the game.
Some positives that should be noted were that Tracy Howard came up with the first interception on the season for the secondary, which was encouraging. Also, safety Deon Bush laid the wood on quarterback Tommy Armstrong forcing a fumble.
The worst play from the secondary came early in the game when blown coverage/miscommunication resulted in a 40 yard pass from Armstrong to Kenny Bell.
Again, the secondary was forced to tackle most of the game. Artie Burns had 6 tackles and a pass breakup, Corn Elder had 5 tackles, Deon Bush had 4 tackles and the forced fumble mentioned earlier, Nantambu-Akil Fentress had 4 tackles, while Ladarius Gunter, Dallas Crawford, Jamal Carter, Antonio Crawford, and Tracy Howard combined for 10 tackles and Howard had the lone interception.
The defensive backs played well despite the miscommunication on the 40 yard touchdown pass. Hopefully the interception in this game starts an upward trend.
Grade: B
Special Teams
We finally had a favorable showing from the special teams and sadly it didn’t matter. The kickoff and punt coverage was improved. The longest return from Abdullah was on a kickoff and he returned it 31 yards to their 31 yard line. Punter Justin Vogel punted 2 times for 78 yards (39 yd/avg) and pinned one inside the 20 yard line. Kicker Michael Badgley attempted his first ever collegiate field goal and made it from 34 yards out. With any luck, this showing from the special teams will continue.
Grade: B+
Coaching
Lets start with the positive. I loved the way Coach Coley called this game on offense. It is vital to get Duke Johnson involved in the passing game which tends to get him into space where he can work his magic. Coach Coley opened the playbook for Kaaya which resulted in 8 different players catching passes from the true freshman. Kaaya is gaining confidence game by game thanks to our offensive coordinator. I am also ecstatic to see us calling Clive Walford’s number and taking advantage of the mismatch with the linebacker. My only knock on the offensive side was the overuse of bubble screens. I understand the defensive backs were playing off but it got to be a little bit much. Overall, great gameplan from Coach Coley.
Well, our defense came back down to earth. There is no excuse for allowing 343 rushing yards. I know many of you have seen some pictures on social media of our alignments on obvious rushing downs, and no, I can’t explain it. The thing that bothers me the most is that no adjustments are made by Coach D’Onofrio or Coach Golden. We just continue to take our beatings. I could go on and on but there is no point.
I still have hope that we can put complete games together that include an effective showing from the offense, defense, and special teams.
Grade: D+