Miami moves into the bye week sitting at 5-0 and there are three areas that the Hurricanes need to fix if they want to keep their undefeated record.
Using a sample limited to the Hurricanes' ACC games against Stanford, Wake Forest and Clemson, the film shows a passing game that can still improve, a defense that is winning the down and distance battle yet staying on the field, and a return unit that leaves something to be desired.
Fair warning: these issues are slightly trivial and should be taken with a grain of salt.
Reestablish the vertical passing game
Darian Mensah's average depth of target has fallen in each conference game, from 8.1 yards at Stanford to 4.5 at Wake Forest and 3.4 at Clemson. His yards per attempt have followed a similar path, dropping from 13.4 at Stanford to 6.5 at Wake Forest and 8.4 at Clemson.
Over the last two ACC games combined he has thrown for 447 yards on 61 attempts (7.3 yards per attempt) after throwing for 401 yards on 30 attempts in the opener at Stanford. His longest completion at Wake Forest was 28 yards, and the 61-yard catch at Clemson was a screen that Cooper Barkate took to the house from Miami's 39-yard line.
Against Clemson, 180 of Mensah's 227 passing yards came after the catch. While this isn't a glaring hole in the pass game, it's a trend to mention as the competition stiffens after the bye week.
Mensah is still 75 of 91 for 848 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions in ACC play, and it's tough to complain about an 82.4% completion rate, but the YAC from the WRs won't always be the answer and OC Shannon Dawson surely is aware of that.
Get the defense off the field on third down
ACC opponents have converted 17 of 45 third downs against Miami, or 37.8%, a rate that ranks only eighth in the conference in ACC games.
Stanford converted 5 of 15 and Wake Forest converted 4 of 12, both 33.3%, before Clemson converted 8 of 18, or 44.4%. Clemson ran 75 offensive plays to Miami's 62 despite losing by 28, and the Tigers also recorded 22 first downs, which continued a climb from Stanford's 17 and Wake Forest's 20.
Miami has allowed 59 first downs in three ACC games, or 19.7 per game, and opponents have run 202 plays against the Hurricanes, an average of 67.3 defensive snaps.
The defense has otherwise been dominant. ACC opponents are averaging 51.7 rushing yards per game and 2.2 yards per carry, both best in the conference, so teams are not sustaining drives by running on Miami. But the Hurricanes should be getting off the field more than they did against Clemson.
Whether that is by forcing turnovers, limiting first downs by way of first and second down, or getting healthy in the secondary, the Canes have played too well to be on the field for so long.
Create hidden yardage in the return game
Miami has returned eight kickoffs for 157 yards in ACC play, an average of 19.6 yards per return with no touchdowns, a figure that sits in the bottom half of the conference in ACC games.
The Hurricanes averaged 22.5 yards per kickoff return at Stanford, dropped to 16.8 at Wake Forest on four returns for 67 yards, and came back to 22.5 at Clemson. Girard Pringle Jr. has handled five of those returns for 89 yards (an average of 17.8 with a long of 22).
Miami has returned two punts for nine yards in ACC play, an average of 4.5, with the only return at Stanford going for minus-2 yards, no punt return at Wake Forest and an 11-yard return at Clemson.
Many of those punts were fair catches or unreturnable, so it is not entirely on the returners, but the field-position gain has still been minimal.
No need to panic during the bye week
None of the three areas of improvement call for the panic button to be pushed. But it would be nice to see some growth in those departments when Florida State visits on Oct. 17.
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