With emergence of run game, Hurricanes are showing their offense isn’t one dimensional
The Miami Hurricanes saw what Florida State was trying to do to limit the offense on Saturday. The Seminoles’ safeties were hanging back, trying to neutralize the Hurricanes’ passing game — understandably so, considering quarterback Cam Ward’s dominance to start the season.
“I don’t think they thought we would be patient and run the ball,” offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said.
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The Hurricanes ran the ball 40 times for 230 yards and three touchdowns in their 36-14 win against FSU. Nine of those 40 runs went for at least 10 yards.
This came one week after Miami rattled off 219 yards and two touchdowns in its road win against Louisville.
“I think the biggest thing that shows is that we’re not one-dimensional,” Ward said. “If we really want to run the ball every down, we really can.”
That wasn’t the case early this season, when the Hurricanes were almost forced to rely on Ward’s right arm to carry the offense.
Now, the one-two punch of Damien Martinez and Mark Fletcher Jr. has emerged to bring out the potent ground game the No. 5 Hurricanes (8-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) thought they would have to balance out their potent offense attack that leads the country in yards per game (560.8), yards per play (7.76) and points per game (46.8) as the team enters its home game against Duke (6-2, 2-2 ACC) at noon Saturday.
The Hurricanes have only had two other occasions since 2014 in which they ran for at least 200 yards in consecutive games against Power 5 opponents during the past decade. They did it in wins against Virginia Tech and Notre Dame in 2017 as well as wins against Virginia Tech and North Carolina in 2014.
The last time Miami had at least 200 rushing yards in three consecutive games against Power 5 opponents: 2013 in wins against Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Wake Forest.
It’s forcing opponents to pick their poison: Stack the box and stop the run, which gives Ward more opportunities for 1-on-1 matchups in the passing game; or prioritize pass defense and give a run game that is heating up a chance to build on what it has accomplished the past few weeks.
“It just depends on the game,” center Zach Carpenter said. “If teams are going to take away the pass, we can run the ball. We know we can now. If they want to take away the run, we have an elite wide receiver and QB combo. We play good complementary football.”
For Martinez, who transferred to Miami from Oregon State this summer, he knew the production was a long time coming.
He struggled early in his Hurricanes tenure, averaging just 4.4 yards per carry through Miami’s first six games, although he did have five touchdown runs.
During the past two weeks, since Miami returned to the field from its bye week, Martinez has run for 237 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries — an 8.8 yards per carry mark. He had eight runs that have gone for at least 10 yards, averaged 6.67 yards after contact and forced nine missed tackles in those two games.
“Going into the bye week, I took a look at myself and the season, what I need to work on and getting into the flow,” Martinez said. “I doubled down on that. It’s getting better every day.”
As for Fletcher, he has 225 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on 39 carries the past three games after getting just 26 carries for 142 yards in Miami’s first five games.
Four of those 39 carries have come on fourth down. He converted all of them.
“We want everybody to be able to get in the game and just make an impact, do their job and execute,” Martinez said. “Whenever someone’s in, we just feed off each other’s energy and make sure everyone in the room is ready”
And the run game’s emergence could be critical against Duke on Saturday.
The Blue Devils enter the week giving up an average of 160.38 rushing yards per game; that’s 88th out of 134 FBS teams and 15th out of 17 ACC teams. They gave up 211 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in their overtime loss to SMU last week and 245 yards and a touchdown in their other loss this season to Georgia Tech.
While Duke is second in the country with 71 tackles for loss, they have also allowed 49 runs of at least 10 yards (15th most in the country).
“We’ll see how the game plays out,” Dawson said, “but ultimately, you look at them defensively, statistically, they’re top in the nation in a lot of categories. They’re really good on third down; they’re really good in tackles for loss; they’re really good in sacks. The blitz packages they have and the way they move people around is kind of unique, but I do think we’re good at protecting and we’re good at getting the ball out quick. Obviously we want to do both very well.”
Team to attend memorial service for Fletcher’s father
Fletcher played with a heavy heart against Florida State on Saturday night, two days after his dad, Mark Fletcher Sr., died at age 53.
Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal on Monday said there are plans for the team to attend Fletcher Sr.’s memorial service later this week.
“We’re just such a big family. It’s such a brotherhood,” Fletcher said in quotes released by the team Sunday. “When one of us hurt, we all hurt. Losing my dad, it’s so hard. I don’t really know how to cope. I’m still processing. But just being around this team, being around this staff, yeah, I can be down but they just pick me right up all the time. It’s coming from everybody, not just teammates and coaches, but the staff, the nutritionists, everybody. They’re just all giving me all the support. I love it, man. I’m so thankful.”
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