Miami Hurricanes at Virginia Cavaliers: Week 7 Five things to watch

Can Miami get better production from the punting team?

Miami’s abysmal performance last week by their punting and coverage teams incensed Richt. He said he laid into the punting/coverage teams and thought that one of the reasons they were so poor against Florida State was their lack of effort.

Florida State’s D.J, Matthews almost had as many yards in punt returns as the entire Florida State offense produced. Matthews returned five punts for 145 yards. That included a 74-yard punt return touchdown in the third quarter that gave the Seminoles a 27-7 lead.

The Miami defense and a fourth quarter 41-yard touchdown pass from N’Kosi Perry to tight end Brevin Jordan bailed the Miami punt team out. Jack Spicer averaged 40.6 yards per punt but Richt mentioned on his show this week he was not happy with the hang time.

Hidden yards can often make a huge difference in the game. The Miami defense forced two turnovers in the third quarter to get them back into the game. The Hurricanes offense only have to move the ball 37 yards on six plays in TWO combined drives to cut the Seminoles lead from 27-7 to 27-21 in less than a minute.

Being able to pin an opponent deep in their own territory and flip the field is critical. Miami is 125th out of 129 teams in the FBS in opponent punt returns against.

The Hurricanes allow 22.22 yards per return. They allow 33.3 yards per game in punt return which is 123rd nationally and the 200 yards they have allowed total is 126th in the nation.