Miami Hurricanes ground game dominant since loss to LSU
In the season-opening loss to LSU, the Miami Hurricanes struggled running the football with 83 yards on 34 carries for a 2.4-yard average. Since then Miami has run the ball 173 times for 984 yards and a 5.68 yards per carry average.
The old adage in football was to be a successful team you have to be able to run the ball and stop the run. The spread and air raid pass-happy offenses have put that to rest. The Miami Hurricanes might revert to old-school football to be successful in 2018.
Miami Hurricanes running backs DeeJay Dallas and Travis Homer are both on pace for over 800 yards rushing this season. This is not the first time that Mark Richt has had two star running backs.
His 2014 Georgia team had three-star running backs that are all now on the verge of becoming stellar ball carriers in the NFL. Todd Gurley is one of the best running backs in the NFL in his fourth season. Nick Chubb and Sony Michel are rookies after nearly carrying the Bulldogs to a National Championship last season.
The Miami Hurricanes are currently 35th in the country running the football. They average 213.40 yards per game after Thursday night’s 47-10 blowout win over North Carolina. Miami earned the victory on the strength of a dominant defensive performance and powerful running game.
Miami ran for 229 yards on 34 carries in the victory over the Tar Heels
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ran for 88 yards on 14 carries. His 54 yard run on the Hurricanes second drive of the game set up Dallas’ four-yard touchdown run to give Miami a 7-3 lead they would never relinquish.
Dallas finished with 114 yards on 11 carries and the touchdown. That was the second 100-yard game of his career and this season. Dallas also had 110 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown against Toledo.
Homer had 114 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown against FIU. He also ran for 170 yards and a touchdown against Georgia Tech and 146 against Notre Dame in 2017.
Freshman Lorenzo Lingard has also been outstanding in limited time. The only five-signee in the Miami 2018 recruiting class has 136 yards on 17 carries.
The Hurricanes depth at running back is much greater than it was in 2017. Dallas had to switch positions from wide receiver after Mark Walton was lost for the year with an ankle injury.
This season that won’t be an issue. In addition to Homer, Dallas and Lingard, Miami also has hybrid fullback-tailback Trayone Gray who scored a touchdown against North Carolina, plus Redshirt Freshman Robert Burns and True Freshman Cam’ron Davis.
Gray has 13 carries for 34 yards this season, Davis six for 27 and Burns two for ten. With the depth, the Hurricanes have Davis could be headed for a redshirt season. That’s not likely for Lingard although he did not tote the ball in the victory over North Carolina.
Next. Miami keyed by three defensive touchdowns in dominant win. dark
The Hurricanes have a tough stretch of games against good run defenses coming up. Florida State who Miami plays a week from Saturday is tenth nationally allowing 97.5 yards per game and 2.87 yards per carry. After the Seminoles Miami plays Virginia, Boston College and Duke. UVA is 27th against the run, BC 71st and Duke 48th.