Was D’Eriq King’s game Friday the best ever by a Canes quarterback? What the data says
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Monday:
▪ Was what we witnessed by D’Eriq King against North Carolina State on Friday night the best performance ever by a Hurricanes quarterback?
It’s all very subjective, but statistically, a strong case could be made that it was.
Alex Schwartz, an associate director in UM’s very strong athletics communication department, said he “looked up a bunch of numbers and feel quite confident saying D’Eriq King just turned in the best game ever by a” Canes quarterback, in UM’s 44-41 win.
That’s weighty stuff for a school previously known as Quarterback U, one which produced two Heisman winners at the position (Vinny Testaverde and Gino Torretta).
King’s performance wasn’t the most historically significant or impactful by any means.
In that regard, it would be difficult to top Bernie Kosar’s excellence (19-for-35-300 yards, two touchdowns, one interception) in UM’s 31-30 win against Nebraska in the January 1984 Orange Bowl, catapulting the Canes to their first national title.
Nor was this nearly as significant as Ken Dorsey’s 22-for-35-262 yards-3 touchdowns-1 interception masterpiece in Miami’s 37-14 Rose Bowl thrashing of Nebraska to win the school’s fifth national title.
But if you remove the dynamic of the game’s significance and judged only the numbers (plus the comeback and the victory), it would be difficult to top King’s night against North Carolina State, which included 31 completions in 41 attempts for 430 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, plus 105 yards rushing on 15 attempts (7.5 average).
King became the first FBS player to throw for 400 yards and five touchdowns and also rush for 100 yards in a game since, well, King did it for Houston in 2018.
This is the sixth time a QB has hit those numbers in a game in the last 10 seasons, and King is the only player to do it twice. No UM quarterback had ever done that before King.
But in determining whether this was the best-quarterbacked game in Canes history, Schwartz offered these numbers:
▪ This was the first 100-yard rushing game by a UM quarterback in school history.
▪ This was the second most yards of total offense produced by a quarterback in a game in school history (536), trailing only Stephen Morris’ 568 vs. NC State in 2012.
▪ King’s passing yardage was seventh most in school history; it was the 13th 400-yard passing game ever at UM.
▪ King is the third Miami quarterback who threw for at least 400 yards in a road game, joining Brad Kaaya (405 in 2015 at FSU) and Morris (436 in 2012 at Georgia Tech).
▪ King joined Morris (from the aforementioned NC State game) to throw for 400 or more yards and five touchdowns in a game. King is the first to do it without an interception.
▪ King’s 31 completions are tied for seventh most in a game in school history. It’s the 10th time a UM QB has completed over 30 passes in a game.
Schwartz said that “Morris’ 2012 NC State game is the other one I think you can make a case for as the best game, but he threw a pick and went 26/49 (53.1 percent), whereas King had no turnovers and went 31/41 (75.6 percent).”
Also, Morris had just two yards rushing in that 44-37 UM win.
The caveat with all of this, of course, is that passing numbers are inflated in this modern era of college football. But that shouldn’t tarnish King’s Game for the Ages on Friday.
▪ King’s improvement on deep balls has been staggering.
Entering the Virginia game, he was 8 for 33 on passes that traveled at least 20 yards in the air.
Against Virginia, he was 6 of 7 for 187 yards and a touchdown on those passes, per Miami Herald metrics correspondent Daniel Gould.
Against North Carolina State, he was 6 for 11 for 176 yards and three TDs on those passes.
“We always knew he could throw a good deep ball,” offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said Monday. “It takes time to get on the same page.”
▪ Lashlee, who has done good work, has a relatively simple and short playbook. Is he tempted to add plays during the season to keep opponents off balance, particularly in the run game?
“Our playbook may not be huge but honestly we have too many plays sometimes,” he said. “It makes perfect sense that things seem simplistic... but reality is all the good offenses do the same stuff every week, maybe with a different wrinkle.
“If you don’t have tendencies and do stuff over and over, it’s hard to be consistent. Sometimes it’s easy to think a new play is the answer. It’s our job to strike a balance of adding a new wrinkle to the scheme to present a new challenge to the defense.”
And then Lashlee made this clear: “It’s about players. Sometimes a great player can make a bad play call right. We mix it up every week. We give guys different looks each week but we need some form of an identity or we wouldn’t be good at all.”
▪ Manny Diaz talks often about the importance of player development. Two examples where we see it: receiver Mike Harley Jr. and left tackle Zion Nelson. Both have dramatically raised their level of play.
“What Zion and Mike have in common is schematically, there’s simplicity and ability to do the same thing over and over,” Diaz said. “Zion [has] fewer protections and running plays [to remember].”
Harley caught 10 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown against Virginia, then hauled in 8 for 153 and 2 TDs against NC State, including the game-winning touchdown. His 323 yards receiving the past two games is higher than his output in his first 13 games as a Hurricane.
With 497 yards in receptions, he already has topped his total for last season (485).
“It’s about perseverance and being in an offense with plays there to be made,” Diaz said of Harley. “And going out and making good plays.”
On Harley’s game-winning touchdown, where he nearly fell but recovered and then ran another 40 plus yards, Diaz said Harley’s “leg drive” — thanks to his work with strength and conditioning coach David Feeley — and ability to “run out of a tackle and having the speed to carry it into the end zone” made the difference.
Nelson hasn’t allowed a single quarterback pressure - let alone a sack - in 96 pass blocking chances over the past two games. As a freshman last year, he allowed the most sacks by a tackle in college football, per Pro Football Focus.
Diaz cited “the transformation with his body. He’s a different guy than the one who walked into the weight room 18 games ago. Zion, talk about development, give credit to our strength staff. Zion gets the credit too; he’s put in the work.”
▪ Quick stuff on offense: PFF graded King, Harley, Don Chaney Jr., Jarrid Williams and DJ Scaife as Miami’s top five performers on offense … Center Corey Gaynor had by far UM’s lowest grade on offense…
Cam’Ron Harris continues to get most of the snaps at running back (60 on Friday), compared with Jaylon Knighton’s 18 and Don Chaney’s 7. Lashlee said the plan was to play Chaney more against North Carolina State, but he was banged up in the game.
▪ Couple notes on defense: PFF rated Jaelan Phillips, Te’Cory Couch, Jahfari Harvey, Jon Ford and Amari Carter as Miami’s top five performers on defense. But Harvey played only 8 snaps…
Jared Harrison-Hunte started ahead of Ford at defensive tackle and played more snaps than Ford, 43 to 22. Defensive coordinator Blake Baker said that was the byproduct of the fact that “Jared had been producing more. It’s a production based business. Both played well Friday.”
Baker said he was “very encouraged” how Ford responded to losing his starting job.
Players in similar situations to Ford “can pout or sulk or come to work every day and practice, which he did and it showed,” Baker said. “He played probably his best game of the season.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 2:19 PM.
