Miami Hurricanes Offensive Line Could Be Key Against Virginia Tech
With a banged-up offensive line last season in Blacksburg the Miami Hurricanes allowed eight sacks against Virginia Tech. The Hokies utilized their dominant defensive line to earn a 37-16 victory over Miami.
The Miami Hurricanes offensive line is healthy entering their game against Virginia Tech this season. For the first time in four weeks, the Hurricanes will have their entire offensive line healthy. Freshman right guard Navuahgn Donaldson returns after missing the last four games.
The Miami offensive line did a good job last week against the North Carolina pass rush. The Tar Heels were able to get to the Miami Hurricanes quarterbacks for only two sacks.
They struggled in their run blocking. UM was only able to run for 59 yards on 32 attempts. If they cannot run the ball effectively against the Hokies it could be a long and disappointing night at Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami had issues running the ball last season during a four-game losing streak. They have less depth this season at running back. The added dimension in the running game that quarterback Malik Rosier provides helps.
Speaking about the Hokies defensive line Miami Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz said.
"“They’re so aggressive…They’re going to put a bunch of people right by the line of scrimmage and make it very hard for you to run the football just by the sheer volume of numbers of humans that they’ve devoted to stop it.At the same time, they’re going to deny everything in the throwing game. Like any defense would want to do, what’s easy to do they do a good job of taking away and they force you to try to beat them in low percentage-type plays. They’ve been doing it a long time and recruiting to that system for a long time. Bud Foster is obviously as good as they come as defensive coordinators.”"
Miami needs to set the tone in the running game. They need to gain positive yards and avoid penalties to stay out of third and long. Miami offensive coordinator Thomas Brown spoke to that fact.
"“Winning on first and second down is a big step…If you get into a third and long against anybody, you can play against the worst third-down defense in the country, if you get to third and twelve it’s going to be tough.We obviously have to do a good job on first and second down when it comes to our calls and execution is the biggest thing because again North Carolina came out with a lot of fight, they’re a 1-7 football team we didn’t expect them to play that way, everybody else did that was kind of watching like they’re 1-7 what’s the problem?But they get coached too, they have pride and they played their butts off. But we just didn’t do a good job on first and second down of executing our calls, in the run game or pass game. You get in third and long, that makes it difficult to convert.”"
Third down has been a struggle for Miami this season. They are among the nation’s worst in third-down conversation rate offensively. The Hurricanes rank 119th in the nation in third-down conversation rate. They have converted just 30.7 percent of their third downs.
Conversely, Virginia Tech has the nation’s third-best defense on third down. Teams convert at just 24 percent against the Hokies.
Four of the five Miami starters up front have started every game this season. The lone one who hasn’t is Donaldson because of injury. The Hurricanes would likely like to get Chris Herndon involved in the passing game. They are going to likely have to rely on the Senior to stay in and block on certain plays as well.
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If the offensive line can create holes for Travis Homer and give Malik Rosier time to throw everything else should fall into place. It should come down to the trenches and the big uglies up
front.