Coral Gables, FL.- I’m going to be blatantly honest, I’m still in absolute disbelief of what I witnessed last night.
Miami’s 38-34 nail biting, heart clenching victory over Virginia Tech exposed a lot about this team, some negative, and some positive. This was first time throughout the start of the season that the ‘Canes looked like they were going to lose.
Like I said, last night’s game taught me a lot about this squad, so let’s talk about it.
Here’s three major takeaways I had from Virginia Tech vs Miami.
- This is a Resilient Group
This is a story all Miami Hurricanes fans have heard before…
The ‘Canes start the season red hot, beat up on their non-conference opponents, then when ACC play comes, things collapse and the wheels fall off to end the season. Since 2020, Miami has began their seasons on a strong foot, then proceeded to lose their ACC opener. Most of those games came down to the wire, which then led to loses in dramatic and heart breaking fashion.
At multiple points during last night’s contest, all hope appeared lost for the 4-0 Hurricanes. Miami found themselves down 10+ for extended points of the game. Earlier teams would’ve rolled over and died, but not this squad. The ‘Canes fought tooth and nail on all sides of the ball, willing a comeback. When the pressure was at its max, the stars shinned bright.
It was clear that during the halftime break senior leadership took over the locker room, and Miami began to play their brand of football. Mistakes limited during the second half, offense became more efficient, and when the defense was needed the most, they caused a three and out to give the trailing Hurricanes the ball for the eventual game winning score.
Cam Ward hits Zay Horton to regain the lead with less then 2 mins left!! pic.twitter.com/zEw6iX5U2y
— New Era Prep (@EraPrep) September 28, 2024
2. The offense needs to STOP starting slow
It took quite a bit of time for Miami’s offense to gel last night. Throughout the first half, the Hurricanes’ offense wasn’t hitting their usual strides. Passes weren’t connecting, run lanes weren’t opening, silly mistakes were made. It was a hard watch for the nation’s top offense.
QB Cam Ward had another strong performance on the night, recording 400 total yards and 5 total touchdowns. However, Ward was not happy with his performance. QB1 tallied 3 turnovers, including two interceptions and one fumble. It’s clear Cam Ward strives for greatness in everything he does, so after seeing the points that were left on the field, one could infer he wasn’t too thrilled with his game.
When asked, Cam stated:
“It was all correctables by myself.” Ward shared. “The first interception, if I would’ve back shouldered it, it’s a touchdown. The second one, if I throw a better ball it doesn’t get tipped. I just got to be better next week.”
Miami’s ground game didn’t fare better in the first half. Outside of Ward using his legs to make a play, there wasn’t much production from the running backs. However, as the game progressed, Damien Martinez finished the game with 60 yards on the ground, alongside two 20 yard performances from Mark Fletcher and Chris Johnson Jr.
Long story short, the offense needs to apply pressure earlier, sealing games before the break rather than playing catch up. I expect this to be remedied next week at Berkley
3. Tackling
Switching over to the defense, it was evident tackling was a big problem against VT. Play after play it seemed that nobody could bring the ball carrier down. Almost every snap, the first defender to the ball’s tackle would be shrugged or broken, and it would take two to three others to finally secure the stop.
Hokies’ running back Bhayshul Tuten was exploding for numerous big runs, including a 55 yard touchdown rush. Tuten ended the night with 141 yards alongside that one score.
Wrapping up was a simple problem that I do believe will be resolved next week as well.
All and all, despite the state of cardiac arrest the final three minutes of that game put me in, Miami still secured the win. These “mistakes” are simple fixes that I do believe will be remedied quickly leading into next Saturday’s game vs Cal. Berkley.