The Miami football team ranks 81st nationally converting just 60.87 of their red zone trips into touchdowns. The transition from former offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee to his successor Josh Gattis has been turbulent this season. Miami has improved running but regressed in their pass offense from 2021.
Head coach Mario Cristobal and Gattis had reputations for being more conservative offensively than Lashlee. That was shown up the most in red zone offense. Miami converted three of four red zone opportunities at Texas A&M earlier this month. All three scores in the red zone versus the Aggies were field goals in a 17-9 loss.
Miami had five trips to the red zone versus Middle Tennessee State with three touchdowns. The Hurricanes turned the ball over on downs the other two trips. Miami has failed to score four times this season in the red zone. Only 12 other teams nationally have four or more red zone trips this season without scoring.
In his final season as the head coach at Oregon, Cristobal oversaw a Ducks’ offense that finished 64th nationally in red zone efficiency. Oregon scored on 84.21 percent of their trips to the red zone. The Ducks were 24th scoring TDs on 68.42 percent of its red zone trips. In four 2021 losses, Oregon had eight scores in 12 red zone trips.
With Gattis as its offensive coordinator in 2021 Michigan was 24th nationally in 2021 converting 89.55 percent of its red zone trips into scores. The Wolverines were 60th in 2021 converting 61.19 percent of its red zone trips into TDs. Miami was 52nd nationally in 2021 converting 85.19 of its red zone opportunities into scores.
The Hurricanes were 75th in 2021 scoring TDs on 59.26 percent of its red zone opportunities. Miami was 22nd with field goals on 25.93 percent of its red zone opportunities in 2021. The Miami football team have taken a significant dive in red zone efficiency from where they were in 2021.
The Miami football team needs to be more efficient in the redzone to put itself in better position to win games this season. Clemson who Miami plays at on November 19 ranks first nationally with scores on all 24 red zone trips. The Tigers have 18 TDs and six field goals inside the opposing 20 this season.
North Carolina who Miami plays on October 8 is tied for 33rd in red zone scoring with 13 scores in 14 attempts. The other six teams on the remainder of the Miami schedule are worse than the Hurricanes scoring in the red zone. Based on the trends, Miami should be more proficient in the red zone than its remaining 2022 opponents.