After the defense “had the upper hand” in the first scrimmage, head coach Mario Cristobal said the offense controlled more of Sunday morning’s work, opening fast on the ground and then hitting explosive plays through the air. The defense answered, he added, but the offense “responded again,” a back-and-forth he framed as exactly what you want with two weeks to go before Notre Dame.
"The offense got in gear early, did it both on the ground and hit some big plays in the passing game. And then the defense did respond, which is what you want to see. And then the offense responded again. Last week (in the first fall scrimmage) felt the defense had the upper hand. Today felt the offense had the upper hand."Mario Cristobal
Cristobal emphasized that coaches rotated heavily to stress-test depth. What they saw from the second and third-stringers was positive and negative.
"On offense at times guys stepped up and blocked the way they are supposed to block with physicality, other times like a fourth and one stop by the defense – unbelievable play by the defense and unacceptable on offense. So we got what we want in terms of the back and forth, a team that is now in practice 15 and you feel the fatigue and fought through it. Because we had to push today."Mario Cristobal
Special teams were a point of emphasis, too. Miami ran return-game reps with the ones, twos and threes, and Cristobal said he feels “really strongly” about those units.
Scrimmage No. 2 belonged (slightly) to the offense, but the bigger win was the back-and-forth that forced both sides to respond under fatigue. Miami now enters the final two weeks of camp and will try to carry the momentum they have built into their matchup against Notre Dame.