Why the Miami Hurricanes’ offense — and Tyler Van Dyke — have regressed so much in 2022
Much was said about UM quarterback Tyler Van Dyke’s “supporting cast” of receivers after the Hurricane’s loss to Texas A&M last weekend. But Saturday’s abysmal performance showcased deeper flaws in Miami’s offense than a depleted and inexperienced wide receiver room.
The Hurricanes (2-2) fell 45-31 to Middle Tennessee (3-1) of Conference USA despite being favored to win by 25 1/2 points.
UM trailed by as many as 21 points. This, in part, could be attributed to Van Dyke’s struggle to complete passes to players in orange jerseys. His first two throws were intercepted and turned into quick points for the Blue Raiders. One resulted in a field goal and the second a pick six. The quarterback struggled all day, completing just 50 percent of his passes before he was pulled in the third quarter.
But coach Mario Cristobal also accepted blame for his quarterback’s struggles, with first-year offensive coordinator Josh Gattis implementing a new offensive scheme.
“These things are brutally difficult, but they’re not excusable, so as a coach if you’re worth an ounce of integrity you certainly don’t put it on your players,” Cristobol said after the game. “We’ve got a long ways to go. I knew we had a long ways to go upon arrival, but the progress that we had made in some respects feel like, certainly, we’ve regressed and we’ve got to do a better job.”
Heading into Saturday’s game, UM passed the ball 42.6 percent of the time and ran it the other 57.4 percent. This was logical given running back Henry Parrish Jr.’s productivity through the first three contests (52 touches for 302 yards and four touchdowns) and the loss of key wide receivers Xavier Restrepo and Jacolby George to injury. Despite Van Dyke’s accuracy struggles against the Blue Raiders, that ratio neared 50-50 at the half (25 pass attempts to 23 runs).
Van Dyke completed just 13 of 25 throws in the first two quarters, one of which was a shovel pass to Parrish for UM’s first touchdown with 1:20 left in the half. By the time Jake Garcia relieved Van Dyke with 7:55 left in the third quarter, he’d made only 16 of his 32 throws, 138 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. UM rushed 27 times at that point.
Fans erupted when Garcia entered the game. They came alive again as he led the Hurricanes to their second touchdown two minutes of game time later. He ended the game having led two touchdown drives and hitting 10 of 19 targets for 161 yards.
Van Dyke and the Hurricanes thrived under former offensive Rhett Lashlee’s up-tempo offense in 2021 but have struggled with Gattis’ scheme in crucial matchups like those against the Texas A&M Aggies and the Blue Raiders this year.
“Scheme change. It’s different,” Cristobal said, when asked why Van Dyke has struggled so far this season. “We’ve got to do a better job setting him up for success and moving things offensively that allow us to have a more successful, more productive passing game.”
Miami dominated time of possession in the first half with 19:52 to Middle Tennessee’s 10:08. But the Blue Raiders outscored the Hurricanes 24-10 in that period. UM ended the game with nearly eight more minutes on offense than Middle Tennessee. The Hurricanes also had the ball for nearly 10 minutes longer than Texas A&M, but couldn’t manage a touchdown that entire time.
UM entered Saturday’s game ranked No. 16 in the nation when it came to time of possession with 100 minutes through three games. In 100 minutes of offense the Hurricanes churned out 109 points — but that total included an outlier 70-point performance over FCS Bethune-Cookman in their opener.
Miami let a lot of time wind down between plays last weekend, which contributed to a lack of opportunities to score and overcome Texas A&M. The same could be said for the Middle Tennessee game, where the Hurricanes’ first touchdown drive (which started down 21 with 7:55 left in the first half) took six minutes and 37 seconds.
Middle Tennessee’s scoring drives, by comparison, went as follows:
59 seconds for a field goal
42 seconds for a touchdown
31 seconds for a touchdown
1 minute, 54 seconds for a touchdown
42 seconds for a touchdown
11 seconds for a touchdown
5 minutes, 52 seconds for a touchdown
Explosive plays, in addition to turnovers, allowed the Blue Raiders to score so quickly. Three of Middle Tennessee’s touchdowns came off passes greater than 60 yards (71, 69 and 98).
“Man coverage. You can check the film,” Cristobal said. “There’s no sugar-coating it. We’ve got to obviously scheme it better or analyze matchups better. Right now, our players will be as successful as they can be. They got behind us, good throw, good catch, but they got behind us.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2022 at 8:00 AM.