Miami Hurricanes hindered by situational, offense, defense and special teams

Poor situational play by the Miami Hurricanes offense and defense and too many mistakes on special teams hindered Miami in Saturday night’s loss to Florida. Manny Diaz has spoken out about the miscues in the aftermath.

Proficiency on third and fourth down, converting turnovers into points and special teams mistakes all played a role in Florida earned a 24-20 victory over the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday night. The win by the Gators was

The Miami Hurricanes offense converted two of their ten attempts on third down, allowed Florida to go four for four on fourth conversions and too many blunders on special teams meant a loss for Manny Diaz in his head coaching debut.

Miami seemed to seize the momentum in the game with a field goal on their first possession and by forcing Florida to a three and out on their subsequent first possession. On fourth and three from their own 28 Florida took a huge gamble early in the game. The Gators called for a fake punt. Punter Tommy Townsend ran six yards for a first down.

On the next play, Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks connected with wide receiver Kadarious Toney for a 66-yard touchdown on the right sideline to give Florida a 7-3 lead. Toney broke at least three tackles on his way to the end zone.

Diaz spoke about the breakdowns on special teams and in the red zone being the difference in the game.

"It was a game filled, like most opening games like this are, with a ton of mistakes from both teams. It ultimately came down to a couple of red-zone possessions and they were able to capitalize and we were not able to capitalize and ultimately that was the difference in the ball game.”There were a couple major blunders on special teams and the short fields right there really ended up being telling in a very low scoring game where everything mattered. I thought our guys played with a lot of courage. I think they played with a lot of effort. But it doesn’t matter because we lost the game."

The major blunders on special teams that Diaz was talking about were the converted fake punt, a muffed punt by Jeff Thomas of Miami, a holding call for the Hurricanes on their own successful fake field goal and a fourth-quarter missed field goal that was critical in dictated the approach the Hurricanes had to take in subsequent drives.

Florida took over after Thomas’ miscue and scored four plays later on a Franks to Lamical Perine touchdown pass and reception. That gave the Gators the lead 17-13. The missed field goal by Bubba Baxa kept Miami from extending their lead to 23-17. It was critical after the Gators answered by taking a 24-20 lead.

Down four instead of one Miami turned the ball over on downs on the next two drives. In both instances, the Hurricanes were in a position to kick a field goal. Diaz discussed how the missed field goal hindered them in the fourth quarter during his weekly appearance on the Joe Rose Show on Monday morning.

"“Our inability to get the touchdown on offense, to at least get three on special teams because you can only imagine if we had the ball there at the end only down by a point instead of down by four points, that changes that very last drive.And then our inability on defense when we have them backed up [and] they get the long pass and ultimately the game-winning touchdown."

The long pass Diaz referred to was a 65-yard completion from Franks to Josh Hammond on the first play after the missed field goal by Baxa. That set Florida up for the winning touchdown. Big plays, special teams and key downs were huge on Saturday night.

Miami finished 2-13 on third down and 0-2 on fourth. Although Florida was 2-10 on third down, their 4-4 on fourth down was a huge difference in the game. The Hurricanes were 54th nationally in third-down conversions in 2018 converting 40.68 percent. That number dropped to 65th and 37.04 against Power Five opponents.

The Miami Hurricanes have to be more successful in the key moments to have a successful season. Everyone will look at the plus-three turnover margin as a positive. Diaz mentioned to Rose that the minus four on points off turnovers was concerning and something he mentioned to players after the game.

Winning the key battles in the ACC and if the Hurricanes hope to go beyond that will be critical the rest of the season. Keeping on eye on those moments this season bear watching.