Carson Beck details the 'main issue' for Miami's offense that needs to be cleaned up

The spotlight will be on Carson Beck this Saturday.

Miami desperately needs a win and even though the Hurricanes are dealing with some significant injuries, they are big favorites against a Syracuse team that's just playing out the string. For Beck, this is an opportunity to right the ship offensively before the final three games against upset-minded opponents N.C. State, Virginia Tech and Pitt. 

Beck needs to figure it out quickly

There's been much made about Beck pointing the finger at others, and truthfully, most of that has been completely taken out of context, but what is true is that when things go wrong on the offense, the attention goes directly to the transfer from Georgia. There's a good reason for that too. He's in his third year as a starter. He brought the experience of playing in big games and competing for the playoffs with him to Miami. The expectations are exactly where they should be. 

​Beck believes the solution is simple -- finish drives. Miami's offense hasn't been bad, but it hasn't cashed in on all opportunities. And in an offense that lacks an abundance of playmakers, the Hurricanes have to have a higher success rate on drives than they've had over the past month.

"The main problem was just finishing drives, and, you know, we'd get down there, and we just weren't able to execute and finish once we did get down there, and we've got to be better at that."

Carson Beck

Benchmarks for Miami's offense vs. Syracuse

For the Hurricanes to have a successful day on offense, scoring at least 35 points would be a nice start. It's going to be tough sledding on the ground without Mark Fletcher Jr., and Miami might have to get creative in the run game, but they still need to get between 120-150 yards on the ground and over 400 yards of total offense. Miami also needs to hit on over 50 percent of their third downs and avoid putting themselves behind the sticks or in too many tricky 4th down situations.

This offense won't all of a sudden become a big-play unit. Outside of Malachi Toney, the explosives aren't there in excess, but the Hurricanes are capable of more chunk plays than they've shown. That means taking advantage of favorable downs and getting more plays that can gain between 15-25 yards. If these things can happen on offense, Miami will be tough to beat in the final weeks.