Miami remained undefeated on Saturday after a strong second-half performance in a 53-31 win over Duke. Overall, it was a good day for the Canes, but the defense continued its Jekyll and Hyde season with another mixed-bag performance.
While Duke is a formidable opponent who dropped to 6-3 with the loss to Miami, Saturday was just the second time in 2024 that the Blue Devils broke the 30-point mark. The other time was a 45-17 win at Middle Tennessee.
Earlier this season, we discussed the inconsistent performance of the Miami defense this year. After a dominant showing against FSU last week, their defense struggled again against Duke. Duke amassed 405 total yards, 31 points, 23 first downs, 38 percent on third downs, and 100 percent on red zone scoring.
Miami's struggles against the pass and allowing up big plays this season occurred again versus Duke. Miami allowed 325 of the 405 yards surrendered. Miami surrendered eight pass plays of 15 yards or more and two runs of 10 plus for 245 yards. The Hurricanes also failed to generate a pass rush, only tallying one sack and one quarterback hurry.
Miami held Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy to a 61 percent completion percentage but allowed 15.3 yards per completion and a 137.1 passer rating. Duke was especially dangerous on first down versus Miami, averaging 5.9 yards, with Murphy nine of 15 for 97 yards.
My guess is the heavy man, static defense was the gameplan to avoid coverage busts. Miami has busted most often on post-snap rotations and plays which involve communication. Playing straight man, Cover 1 or 2-man limits that.
— Jeremy Marks-Peltz (@JMP1063) November 2, 2024
All that said, it’s not working. Time to change.
On the bright side, the Canes' defense did give us some positives to look at. For starters, they remained opportunistic with three interceptions and one fumble recovery. Miami stiffened up defensively in the second half, holding Duke to 29 percent on third down and cutting their yards per play from 7.1 to five.
In the fourth quarter, Miami gave up just 51 yards, held Miami to 20 percent on third downs, and allowed 2.4 yards per play. As they put their ACC foe to bed, they turned the ball over twice and only allowed for one field goal.
Mishael Powell continued his strong season by notching his fourth interception in 2024. Powell remains the only Hurricane with more than one interception in 2024.
Miami is perfect for the season and that's the main takeaway from this weekend. The defensive flaws reared their heads again, but we continue to see some positives too. With the game in the balance in the second half, they rose to the occasion and helped shut the door on the game.
Miami continues to play the run well and turn the ball over (currently seventh in the nation in interceptions), which gives them an identity. At some point, Miami has to clean up their pass defense, but there's still time to do so. Miami will continue that effort this weekend against Georgia Tech.