Mark Richt has not had a top 25 offense since 2013
Mark Richt was hired to resurrect the Miami Hurricanes football program. One of the things he has been known for throughout his career is being an excellent offensive coach and for the way he handled quarterbacks.
The hiring of former Miami Hurricanes quarterback and Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt and the success of the football program in 2017 had South Florida buzzing. The Miami offense struggled often during a very successful 2017 season. That was clear in the losses to Pittsburgh and Clemson at the end of last season.
The Hurricanes offense played much better against Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl. Malik Rosier’s struggles at quarterback continued. Rosier was 11 of 26 for 203 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions in the 34-24 loss to the Badgers. Rosier did have 41 yards rushing on nine carries.
The lack of accuracy from Rosier and N’Kosi Perry has continued into this season. Heading into the Duke game, Miami is 83rd in quarterback rating, 115th in completion percentage, and 94th in passing yards per game. The poor play that Miami has received at quarterback this season has hindered the entire offense.
During an appearance on the Joe Rose Show on the Miami Hurricanes flagship station WQAM on Friday morning, UM Football analyst Don Bailey Jr. disputed the criticism against Richt’s offensive prowess. He pointed out that in Richt’s first season in 2016 that Miami had the third most total yards in school history (page 259).
Bailey added to that by saying that the 2017 season that Miami has its ninth-most yards in school history. On their own those numbers are impressive. Taken out of context those numbers can be incredibly misleading. Seven out of the top ten offenses in the history of the Miami football program have been since 2009.
Offenses have evolved throughout college football. Many if not most teams play at a much higher pace in this era. A better comparison would be how do Richt’s offenses compare to other schools in each year.
Although the 2016 Miami Hurricanes offense was one of the most productive in school history they were an average college football offense for that season. The Hurricanes finished 57th nationally in total offense. That continued a trend that Richt’s offenses had begun while he was still at Georgia.
The last time a Mark Richt offense finished in the top 50 nationally was 2014 at Georgia. Richt’s last top 20 offense was the season before.
In the last 11 seasons including 2018, Richt’s offenses’ have finished in the top 20 only once. There are many theories as to why the Hurricanes offense has been so erratic the last two seasons.
The two biggest reasons have been the inconsistent play at quarterback and the erratic play on the offensive line. Miami has the skill position players other than quarterback to succeed.
Even with Nick Chubb and Sony Michel in the backfield in 2015, Georgia still had the nation’s 85th best offense. That’s almost inexcusable. Georgia finished 9-3 but it wasn’t enough to save Richt’s job. The trends are there. It’s definitely worrisome for Miami Hurricanes fans and media.
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Richt’s offense struggling has become a trend. This isn’t just an issue over the last ten games for Miami against Power Five opponents. It has been a year since Miami has gone over 400 yards in total offense. Richt needs to realize what he is doing is not working and to become more creative on offense.