Here’s the major change UM must make with football. And Miami’s biggest miscalculation
When Manny Diaz replaced Mark Richt as UM’s coach, he promised an attacking offense that, like his defense, would make opponents “uncomfortable.”
That Diaz hasn’t succeeded in achieving that is one of the enormous disappointments of his first season, and one that might have been avoided if he had moved toward the spread offense that has frequently flummoxed opposing defenses in modern college football.
Diaz has clung to the hope that UM could win with a system that won during the glory years, with a pro style offense and power running game, and some modern-day run/pass options and spread elements intertwined. His rationalization is that because the system worked in the 1980s and 1990s, it should work today.
But that was, in my view, his first and biggest miscalculation since taking over at Miami.
Oklahoma won with the Wishbone during the Barry Switzer era but has smartly transitioned into a spread attack that exasperates opposing defenses often unable to stop it.
Look at the top 10 teams in points per game in college football this season. Seven run a traditional spread or some version of the spread the majority of the time or, in some cases, almost entirely: Ohio State (which has added some under-center elements since Ryan Day replaced Urban Meyer), LSU, Oklahoma, UCF, SMU, Memphis and Washington State. An eighth, Alabama, has incorporated more spread elements in recent years.
UCF, SMU, Memphis and Washington State are vastly outproducing UM’s offense with recruiting classes that were ranked much lower.
In 2017, Rivals rated Miami’s class 11th, Washington State 51, Memphis 53, UCF 64 and SMU 84th. Of course, with SMU, a huge factor is the Mustangs landing Texas transfer QB Shane Buechele during this past offseason.
UM, meanwhile, continues to plod along with slow-developing run/pass options -- plays that have become so predictable at times that FIU said several were easy to anticipate -- plus deliberate drop-backs by Jarren Williams from under center (giving defensive players more time to rush) and fake handoffs that usually fool no one.
Enos’ offense is diverse - mixing shotgun with under-center formations and lots of motion and different personnel groupings - but the Canes are just 77th of 130 FBS schools in yards and 69th in points (even while counting the 63 points against FCS opponent Bethune Cookman).
Early in Diaz’s tenure, before he hired Enos, an associate of mine in the coaching business said officials at North Texas were telling people that they were fearful they would lose offensive coordinator Graham Harrell and his “Air Raid” offense to UM.
Instead, Diaz hired Enos and Southern Cal’s Clay Helton landed Harrell, who overcame the season-ending knee injury to starter JT Daniels in the opener and with freshman Kedon Slovis at quarterback, has produced offensive numbers vastly superior to UM’s.
Against FBS teams, the Trojans are averaging 462.2 yards and 33.2 points per game. UM - vs FBS teams - is averaging 369 yards and 25 points per game, numbers that easily rank in the bottom half of college football.
The Hurricanes have been a particular embarrassment on third downs, converting 1 for 10 against FIU and an NCAA-worst 27.1 percent for the season.
After hiring Enos, Diaz said he wasn’t so much concerned with the system that UM ran as the person he was hiring. And to Enos’ credit, the quarterbacks have improved under his watch, until Saturday night’s debacle. Enos was in high demand last offseason, because he’s a sharp mind with a proven record of developing QBs. So the problem is not Enos as much as the clinging to the system that Diaz envisioned winning with.
Fact is, UM has gone too long hoping that its recruiting would be strong enough to generate big offensive numbers with a pro style offense. It’s not happening and it’s naive to think it will change anytime soon.
So here’s what Diaz must do now: Tell Enos he wants to experiment, at least next season, with a high-octane spread with large doses of no-huddle, a system that gets Miami’s explosive playmakers in space and doesn’t require the deficient offensive line to hold blocks for as long. (And I emphasize the no-huddle aspect, to tire defenders out.)
If Enos agrees to do it, great. If not, then they should go their separate ways, and Diaz will have another chance to hire the type of spread coordinator who - if he does his job correctly - can compensate for lack of talent.
It was criminally negligent for UM not to get the ball a single time to Jeff Thomas during the first 50 minutes of Saturday’s FIU game, and for Dee Wiggins to have only three touches for nine yards. Both assuredly would get more touches with the quick passes and crosses that are hallmarks of a spread offense, and chances are they would break a couple for sizable gains.
Before the fourth quarter of the loss to FIU, there were too many slow-developing plays under center, far too many plays where the receivers and tight ends were bunched too close to the quarterback, instead of forcing FIU defenders to spread out. And Williams did Enos no favors by playing poorly.
I don’t want to hear that a spread offense sacrifices the running game. Middle Tennessee, which runs a spread offense, threw for only 25 yards but ran for 471 in a 50-17 bludgeoning of FIU last month.
Many teams with spread offenses - including UCF (215 rushing yards per game), SMU (184 rushing yards per game), Memphis (196.2) and USC (126.3) - all rush the ball better than UM, whose 123 9 rushing yards per game is 15th-worst among 130 FBS schools. UCF, in particular, does a great job of spreading out to run the ball.
As ESPN’s Ahmad Brooks said last year: “In a spread offense, more people touch the football. When you are out selling your program, you can say we’ve got plenty of balls to spread around. We will give you your touches and we can match what you were doing in high school. This is the offense that fits the U the best.”
What’s clear is this: Diaz must stop trying to convince himself that the old way of doing things - with the addition of run/pass option plays and more motion - works in the modern era of college football without elite talent.
Fact is, UM is incapable of snagging enough elite offensive linemen - or a good enough quarterback - to make a pro-style system consistently effective.
It’s time to embrace the system that has made offenses with far less-coveted recruits light up scoreboards and leave UM in the dust. It’s time to run the spread, and do it with the no-huddle, frenetic approach that would genuinely make defenses feel “uncomfortable,” as Diaz set out to do.
Here’s my Wednesday Dolphins piece with news on a veteran whose contract they’re working to extend.
Here’s my Wednesday Dolphins piece with lots of other news, including a draft pick setback.
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 6:23 PM.
