Mark Richt stands by Miami Hurricanes offensive play calling

During his weekly teleconference on Sunday Miami Hurricanes Head Coach Mark Richt continued to stand by his offensive system and play calling.

Richt was quoted in Miami Herald as saying  the play calling is “a joint effort.” He went on to explain that the Miami Hurricanes offensive staff has created a script that they use in various situations. The script has seemed to create too predictable of an offense.

Constantly going back to the same plays gives a Defensive Coordinator a huge advantage in noticing tendencies and creating a defensive game plan around that. The way the Miami offense has played especially against Power Five conference teams is not acceptable under a coach that’s supposed to be adept offensively.

Miami has not topped 400 yards in their last 10 games against Power Five teams. Their last game over 400 yards against a Power Five team was against Virginia Tech last season.

Over the last two games, the Miami offense has looked mediocre at best.  Virginia’s defense is good, but Boston College’s has been very average. Virginia is 21st in total defense and Boston College is 52nd.

The Eagles duo at defensive end Zack Allen and Wyatt Ray are among the nation’s best. Ray and Allen are among the leader’s nationally in sacks and tackles for loss.

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Generated 10/29/2018.

"“We all as a staff put our game plan together. It’s a joint effort…There are certain plays that we like on first and second down, in the green zone as we call it, between the 20s.And then there are certain plays we like in third-and-short, third-and-medium, third-and-long. We rep all those plays. We all have confidence in them. Same thing in the red zone."

Miami has been very mediocre in the red zone this season. The Hurricanes are 59th nationally with an 86.11 conversion rate for scoring points. Miami ranks much higher with their touchdown percentage in the red zone. The Hurricanes convert 69.44 percent of their trips into the red zone into touchdowns. That is 36th nationally.

"“And so, to a degree we’re just calling the plays that we’ve repped, that we have the faith and confidence in, that we worked against the looks we think we’ll see. So, it’s not really a situation of making stuff up in the middle of the game.“We’re sticking to the plan [and] making adjustments if need be. But for the most part we’re calling the things that we all believe in. We just gotta do a better job of it.”"

Whatever adjustments that the Miami Hurricanes have made in a game that Richt said “if need be” haven’t really worked. It’s the Hurricanes opponents that seem to be making the adjustments as the games go on.

Miami is averaging 5.12 rushing yards per carry in the first half and 4.19 YPC in the second half. The Hurricanes ground game has produced 67 more yards before halftime on 16 fewer carries.

The passing offense for Miami has had a similar falloff in the second half. Miami quarterbacks, primarily Malik Rosier and N’Kosi Perry have fallen off significantly after halftime.

The Miami passing game has produced a 55.7 percent completion, 858 yards, nine touchdowns, three interceptions and 134.24 quarterback rating in the first half.

Those numbers have fallen sharply in the second half. Miami has a 50.0 percent completion percentage 770 yards, eight touchdowns, seven interceptions and 121.37 QB rating in the second half.

Some of the Miami Hurricanes fans have asked for more accountability from Richt. A lot of what he has said is coach speak. What Richt has said has been mostly speaking in generalities. There have not been any specifics for what needs to be done to get the offense to be more productive.