The Miami Hurricanes are back on track after suffering an abysmal (and embarrassing) loss to the Louisville Cardinals. Now, with another under their belt, the Canes turn to the SMU Mustangs, another one of the top teams in the ACC.
A lot of SMU's success has been credited to its defense, and more specifically, its defense against the run.
In EPA (expected points added), the Mustangs' defense ranks sixth in the nation against the rush attempt. Simply put, very few teams are better at stopping the run than SMU is.
What does Miami need to do to secure a win over SMU?
In order to topple the Mustangs, the Hurricanes clearly can't rely on their run offense, which has been led by junior running back Mark Fletcher Jr. with 552 rushing yards on the season.
Instead, Miami will have to rely on its quarterback, Carson Beck, to play an elite-level offensive game, avoiding the kind of mistakes that everyone saw in the team's loss to Louisville.
Against the Cardinals, Beck reverted to some of his bad habits, throwing four interceptions and zero touchdowns. When the Canes take on the Mustangs, Beck has to avoid those kinds of mistakes. While the team can't rely entirely on Beck's passing game, it will be the make-or-break difference in the matchup.
Also read: Miami's biggest worry going into Week 10 against SMU
So far this season, the Mustangs have given up just 764 yards on the ground and held their opponents to an extremely minimal four rushing touchdowns. Meanwhile, the team has also given up 2,428 passing yards and 16 TDs through the air. While the SMU rush defense ranks sixth in EPA, it ranks 50th against the pass.
Simply put, Beck and head coach Mario Cristobal have to prioritize the passing game over the rushing game, even though the Canes have already seen chinks in the veteran quarterback's armor.
No. 10 Miami (6-1 overall, 2-1 ACC) and SMU (5-3 overall, 3-1 ACC) are scheduled to kick off at noon ET on Saturday, Nov. 1, and the game will be aired on ESPN.