Miami football ready to crush Central Michigan and not ease up

The Miami football team will get an opportunity to get to even their record for the first time this season when they host Central Michigan on Saturday. The game is more about how well the Hurricanes play than anything the Chippewas do.

The Miami football program got off to a tough start in 2019. The Hurricanes began the season with losses to Florida and at North Carolina. Miami bounced back with a 63-0 annihilation of Bethune-Cookman last weekend. Speaking to the media earlier this weekend, Miami QB Jarren Williams said his team needs a dog mentality.

One of the biggest reasons for Miami’s two losses this season was not coming out with more of the dogged attitude early in the game. Both the Gators and Tar Heels scored touchdowns on their first possessions. North Carolina scored 17 points in the first quarter to lead 17-3 after the first 15 minutes.

Miami started slow last week against Bethune-Cookman. The Hurricanes had a three and out on their first drive against a team Miami should be dominating. Miami scored a touchdown on the second drive. A missed field and punt followed on the subsequent drives. As a 41 point favorite, Miami led 7-0 after the first quarter.

The Hurricanes recovered with touchdown drives on three of their four complete possessions in the second quarter. They turned the ball over on downs on the other full possession. The Hurricanes 21 point second quarter outburst provided a 28-0 lead at halftime. It was more of the pedal to the metal that Williams expects.

Williams was explicit earlier this week in what he expects he and his teammates to do to their opponents. New

Sun-Sentinel beat writer David Furones quoted

Williams and Miami head coach Manny Diaz.

"“You’ve just got to have that dog mentality, really…You’ve got to want to just crush your opponent and not ease up … putting your foot on their throat from the get-go."

Part of the attitude Williams is talking about it working improving each week, not committing bad penalties, communicating with each other and handling your own assignment. Diaz outlined what he expects from his players.

"“It’s momentum, but it’s really improvement…We talked about the improvement from Game 1 to Game 2, Game 2 to Game 3, and these are things that I know the opponent has some say in it but, more often than not, they really don’t.Our number one thing and our plan to win is play clean, and that’s no missed assignments, no miscommunications and no penalties. Those are all things that we control. The opponent does not force you to miss an assignment, does not force you to have a miscommunication.”"

If the entire Miami football team had Williams attitude from the opening kickoff and maintained it throughout the entire games against Florida and North Carolina, Miami would likely be 3-0. A lack of focus is needed for 60 minutes in every game. Good teams take advantage of an opponent’s lack of concentration.

Williams’ attitude is encouraging from the quarterback position. Quarterbacks have to be a team leader by the nature of the position. Williams stating this philosophy so early into his tenure as the Hurricanes starting QB shows great maturity and understanding of what it takes to win.