Trying to stop Hurricanes’ multifaceted offense? ‘I don’t think you can,’ they say
Running back Mark Fletcher Jr. looks at the Miami Hurricanes’ offense, and he sees too much talent for a defense to contain.
Try to stop the run, led by Fletcher and CharMar “Marty” Brown with Jordan Lyle working his way back into the mix after missing time with injury?
“We can kill them in the passing game,” Fletcher said.
Try to stop the passing game, led by quarterback Carson Beck and a dynamic receiver duo in true freshman Malachi Toney and sixth-year senior CJ Daniels?
“We’ll run it down your throat,” Fletcher said.
But can a team stop both?
“I don’t think you can,” Fletcher said. “We all see that.”
It has been on display so far this season. The Hurricanes might not be the flashy team on offense it was a year ago when Cam Ward and Co. led the nation’s best attack, but it is consistent and has shown the ability to win by simply taking what the defense gives them.
Consider the following:
Entering No. 2 Miami’s home game against the Louisville Cardinals on Friday (7 p.m., ESPN), the Hurricanes (5-0, 1-0 ACC) have had 51 offensive drives this season, excluding the five where they got the ball at the end of a half and ran the clock out.
Of those 51, Miami has scored points 28 times, including 23 touchdowns and five field goals.
Of the 28 scoring drives, 18 have been at least eight plays long and 14 have consumed more than four minutes of game clock. Only four scoring drives have come on four plays or fewer, and three of those came on short fields via turnovers or a turnover on downs.
Meanwhile, Miami has gone three-and-out just 12 times and turned the ball over three times.
They might not hit a ton of home run plays every game — Miami only has nine plays from scrimmage that have gone for at least 30 yards — but they have excelled at taking what the defense gives them and extending drives.
They’re a combined 34 of 69 (49.3%) on third and fourth down.
Fletcher, who enters the week ranked sixth in the ACC in rushing yards (428) and tied for sixth in rushing touchdowns (five), has moved the chains seven of 10 times he has been given the ball on third or fourth down. Brown has done so on eight of 12 carries. Beck is 21 of 34 for 309 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions on third and fourth down this season, moving the chains or scoring on 15 of those 21 completions.
All the while, the offense has remained balanced.
The Hurricanes have called 184 run plays against 153 pass plays through five games. Twelve of their touchdowns have come on the ground, 11 in the air. They won with a steady run game against the Florida Gators. They won through the air against the Florida State Seminoles. A near even mix helped them beat Notre Dame and rout USF.
Now, there are some highlight-reel plays mixed in — Daniels’ one-handed catch against Notre Dame and Toney’s two touchdowns against Florida State easily come to mind — but Miami is just as content at winning with consistently getting 4 or 5 yards per play as it is with generating explosive plays.
Whatever the defense gives them, they’re going to try to exploit and not do any more than that.
“Continue to stay consistent and have a capacity for boredom,” Beck said. “Don’t get bored with what we do. Continue to do what we do and continue to execute what we do. I think a lot of teams and coaches go wrong when they start trying to find new things and find new stuff that you’re not essentially good at, but you think that magically, just what you do is just not going to work anymore. That’s not how it works. Obviously, there are wrinkles that we throw in and different things that we like to add because I believe that we have the capacity and the players to be able to do that intellectually and also from a physical standpoint, but just continue to stay consistent and do what we do.”
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