Cleaning up mistakes during bye week critical for Miami Hurricanes

Indicative of the entire game, Florida linebacker James Houston IV was called for hitting Baxa out of bounds. The combined penalties gave Miami first down at the Florida 11. After a three and out, Baxa missed a 27-yard field goal with 13:19 remaining. That miss will haunt Miami in the loss to the Gators. It changed the complexion of the game.

On a couple of drives late in the game, Miami could have played for a field goal to take the lead. Instead, they had to continue to pursue the end zone. That resulted in a more fierce Florida pass rush and the multiple sacks. Four of Florida’s ten sacks came in the final 4:30 of the game.

A lot has been suggested on what Miami needs to do to improve the offensive line play.

Kirk Herbstreit said during the game telecast that he thought Miami should have used the roll out more often with Williams, chipped more changed the launch point, slid protection and altered the snap count. Herbstreit also wondered why Nelson and Campbell were not given more help.

Consensus pregame analysis for Miami projected that Jordan and Mallory would help Cambell and Nelson on the defensive line. Williams needs to work on throwing the ball away more often once he gets away from the rush. About four of the sacks could have been avoided.