Charting the Miami Hurricanes : Nebraska Cornhuskers

These charting articles usually won’t include much in terms of writing but I wanted to clarify some of the specifics that the Nebraska game brought out. The first being junk plays, or plays that are largely irrelevant in the game. A QB taking a snap and then taking a knee in the middle of the field is important for the kicker, but not so important in the average yards per play under center, so it’s not included. The same with quarterback sneaks right before the half.

I also don’t include plays with pre-snap penalties, or post snap penalty yardage in the yards for a play. Fouls committed during a play however do count, so if there is holding on a run play, the yards column will reflect the total yards from the play and not the yards the RB ran.

The last thing for now, is the formation column. This entirely reflects on how the offense or defense is lined up and is not impacted by the personnel on the field. Miami this season has used tight ends flexed out into the slot a large amount this season, so even though the personnel on the field is “11” (1 RB, 1 TE), the formation listed will be “10” (1 RB, 0 TE). The same goes for defense, as Miami has started to use a safety (Deon Bush mostly), in a role typically done by the strong side linebacker, so the formation listed may be “3-4 2” (3 DL, 4 LB, 2 deep safeties), when the personnel is “3-3 2” (3 DL, 3 LB, 2 deep safeties).

Offensive Snaps – 72 total

QB – Brad Kaaya (71), Malik Roser (1)

RB – Joseph Yearby (47), Mark Walton (27), Gage Batten (1)

WR – Herb Waters (60), Rashawn Scott (53), Tyre Brady (29), Lawrence Cager (19) ,Stacy Coley (17), Malcolm Lewis (8)

TE – Standish Dobard (49), Christopher Herndon (32), David Njoku (18)

OT – Sunny Odogwu (68), Trevor Darling (67), Kc McDermott (9)

OG – Danny Isidora (72), Alex Gall (69), Joe Brown (3)

C – Nick Linder (72)

Defensive Snaps – 82 total

DL – Ufomba Kamalu (56), Chad Thomas (45), Courtel Jenkins (38), Calvin Heurtelou (33), Anthony Moten (25), Kendrick Norton (25)

OLB – Tyriq McCord (53), Alquadin Muhammad (51), Trent Harris (44), Demetrius Jackson (3)

ILB – Raphael Kirby (79), Jermaine Grace (34), Marques Gayot (34), Juwon Young (16)

CB – Tracy Howard (66), Corn Elder (66), Artie Burns (56)

S – Deon Bush (49), Jamal Carter (49), Dallas Crawford (45), Rayshawn Jenkins (35)

Offensive Targets

Mark Walton – 1/1, 3 yards, -6 YBC, 9 YAC, TD called back for holding

Joseph Yearby – 1/2, 5 yards, 1 OT, 1 YBC, 4 YAC

Stacy Coley – 0/3, 0 yards, 1 PBU, 1 OT, 1 Tip

Stan Dobard – 1/5, 12 yards, 1 Drop, 1 PBU, 1 Tip 1 INT, 8 YBC, 4 YAC

Herb Waters – 4/7, 82 yards, 1 PBU, 2 OT, 36 YBC, 46 YAC

Rashawn Scott – 9/13, 151 yards, 1 Drop, 2 OT, 84 YBC, 67 YAC, 1 PI

Lawrence Cager – 2/2, 16 yards, 7 YBC, 10 YAC

Chris Herndon – 3/3, 32 yards, 1 TD, 27 YBC, 5 YAC

Tyre Brady – 2/3, 45 yards, 1 Drop, 1 TD, 39 YBC, 6 YAC

David Njoku – 2/3, 23 yards, 1 OT, 6 YBC, 17 YAC

Defensive Targets

Artie Burns – 4/7, 91 yards, 1 Drop, 1 OT, 1 INT

Deon Bush – 1/2, 31 yards, 1 PBU, 1 INT (Howard PBU), 1 Forced Drop

Tracy Howard – 7/13, 68 yards, 3 PBU, 2 OT, 1 Drop

Jermaine Grace – 0/1, 1 Forced Drop

Jamal Carter – 2/2, 9 yards, 2pt conversion allowed, 1 catch negated by flag

Marques Gayot – 2/3, 28 yards, 1 OT

Tyriq McCord – 0/2, 1 PBU, 1 Drop

Corn Elder – 1/8, 10 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 3 PBU, 2 OT, 1 Drop

Trent Harris – 0/2, 2 OT

Juwon Young – 1/2, 17 yards, 1 Forced Drop

Raphael Kirby – 1/3, 8 yards, 1 OT, 1 Drop

QB Chart

RB Stats

Joseph Yearby had 88 yards after contact with 13 forced missed tackles. Mark Walton forced 1 missed tackle and totaled 12 yards after contact.

Offensive Play Calling

The Hurricanes offense was in shotgun on 54 snaps, averaging 6.4 yards per play. Miami used the pistol 16 times, averaging 9.7 yards. Miami was under center just one snap, which resulted in 1 yard. In 2 TE sets, Miami averaged 6.7 ypp on 19 plays. When operating with 1 TE, the average was 6.2 on 14 plays. For the second week in a row, Miami averaged the most yards on plays with 4 players split out wide, averaging 7.6 on 38 snaps.

On normal zone running plays Miami averaged 5.3 yards per carry on 15 runs. Miami also ran 4 zone plays with the TE crossing the formation, adding 20 yards on 4 carries. Miami again rarely used power run plays with a pulling guard, averaging 6.2 on 5 carries.

Nebraska blitzed Brad Kaaya on 14 of 44 pass plays. On these plays he completed 8 of 13 attempts for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns. It also resulted in a pass interference on a long throw to Rashawn Scott. Overall, Kaaya was accurate on 28 of 42 throws. He has 8 off target throws, 2 passes tipped, 3 passes broken up and 1 interception.

Defensive Play Calling

Miami’s defense was much more even on the play calling for the defensive line playing 2 gap or 1 gap technique compared to the FAU game. Miami played 1 gap technique on 15 snaps, averaging 6.1 yards on these runs. Nebraska averaged 3.5 yards on the 10 snaps Miami 2 gapped.

For formations, Miami lined up in a 3-4 on 31 snaps, allowing 3.7 yards on these plays. Miami played 19 snaps in a 4-3, allowing 4.8 yards per. Miami played nickel on 32 snaps allowing 8.1 ypp. Miami blitzed on 20 pass plays, with Nebraska averaging 8.2 on these plays. When rushing 3 or 4, Miami averaged giving up 4.8 yards on 37 pass attempts.

A new wrinkle Miami used in the Nebraska game was playing Deon Bush (and later Rayshawn Jenkins) in a role usually played by the strong side linebacker. With the lack of depth at SLB and excess of players at safety this change made a lot of sense. Deon Bush’s talent allows Miami to play a base defense on 2nd down but more adequately defend against 3 WR sets. Below you can see Deon Bush playing SLB in a 3-4 alignment, with both Jamal Carter and Dallas Crawford behind him.

Success Rates

After a few more games I plan on having more in depth success rates for the season, but for now this will be on a game to game basis. Success rate helps show the efficiency of a team by showing success on every play rather than just 3rd down as is generally done. A successful play is defined by gaining 50% of the yards to go on first down, 70% on 2nd down, and 100% on third and fourth down. I am not sure if I calculate it exactly the same as Football Outsiders because I do not count success on 2nd and short unless 100% of yards to go is achieved.

State File

The complete stat file can be found here.