Miami Hurricanes at Toledo: Five things to watch

Getting off to a good start.

Toledo’s average first-half drives against Miami last season were eight plays for 46 yards. They scored 16 first-half points on six drives. That amounted to three field goals and a touchdown. The Miami defense is going to have to do better than that on Saturday. They were far better in the second half against Toledo last season.

Despite running eight more plays in the second half of last season’s game with Miami, Toledo gained 76 fewer yards. The Rockets averaged 10.41 yards per play in the first half, but just 4.71 yards per play in the second half against Miami last season.

If the Hurricanes defense can have a similar performance throughout the game to what they had in the second half of last season’s victory over Toledo the Rockets home crowd should be relatively quiet.

The Miami offense did well early before struggling for the rest of the first half against Toledo last season. The Hurricanes had a five play 85-yard touchdown drive on their first possession of the game. That was followed by a six-play 83-yard drive for a field goal. That gave the Hurricanes a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Miami punted on their final three drives of the first half. They gained only 32 yards on 11 plays. The first two of those drives were three and out. They cannot afford another performance like that on Saturday.