Coral Gables, FL.- Miami has quickly become the talk of the town during the 2024-25 season.
The Hurricanes exit their non-conference schedule 4-0, standing at the #7 ranking on the AP Top 25 Poll. Miami now enters their highly anticipated conference schedule, with tomorrow night’s matchup vs Virginia Tech.
The VT Hokies haven’t experienced the same joys as the Hurricanes to begin the season, starting 2-2 on the year. Miami, coming into this matchup as -19.5 favorites over Virginia Tech and is hoping to not fall victim to a trap game, has way bigger fish to fry later down the line.
But, let’s keep our eyes focused on this week and analyze what’s to come tomorrow night.
Virginia Tech
As previously stated, Virginia Tech has been off to a rocky start this season. The 2-2 Hokies are struggling to gain momentum offensively. Quarterback Kyron Drones hasn’t looked too sharp, only passing for 765 yards and 4 touchdowns, alongside 209 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. While Drones possesses elite duel threat abilities, which have shown in occasional flashes, VT’s offensive production has clearly been carried by runningback Bhayshul Tuten. Tuten has recorded just under 400 yards on the ground (5.8 YPC) and 7 rushing touchdowns. Tuten’s clearly been the only breath of life for the Hokies’ offense, because there’s nothing crazy in the receiving game.
Defensively, the brightest spot for the Hokies has been the play of Antwaun Powell-Ryland. Ryland, a 6 foot 3 DT has been dominating the trenches, recording 18 TOT, 6 Sacks and 2 Forced Fumbles. VT’s secondary has only forced two interceptions, both caused by DB Mansoor Delane, who’s also recorded 4 pass breakups and a forced fumble on the year. All in all, this defensive corps is quite lackluster, which will be exposed by Miami’s elite passing offense.
Miami
This should chalk up to be another dominant win for the Hurricanes. Miami enters this game with four consecutive 400+ passing performances from QB Cam Ward. Ward has already surpassed 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season, elevating WRs Xavier Restrepo, Zay Horton and Jacolby George into elite status. Both Restrepo and Horton had 100 yard performances last week vs USF, and should only improve into this week.
Miami’s talented backfield could square up against some of College football’s best and pose problems. Running backs Damien Martinez, Jordan Lyle, Mark Fletcher and Ajay Allen have all had elite performances throughout the first few games. It’s clear there is NO talent drop off between this group, as any back lined up has homerun abilities.
Defensively, Miami’s been lights out. Every game, there’s multiple guys in the backfield applying pressure on the QB. The Hurricanes’ defense has shown the ability to disrupt plays early, hitting the QB or ending runs before they can begin. Even without star EDGE rusher Rueben Bain, Miami’s been one of the top defensive units in the country. Star LB Francisco Mauigoa, alongside EDGE’s Tyler Baron and Simeon Barrow have all dominated opposing offenses, and are expected to do the same against the Hokies.
Prediction
This game is hard to predict analytically, and it’s not because of the content on the field. With Hurricane Helene storming throughout Florida, there’s been serious inclement weather across the greater South Florida area. Despite the rain, the ‘Canes will show up and handle business in a very hard nosed, dirty (mud not conduct) game. Like the four previous games on their schedule, I expect Miami to run away with this game.