The blueprint for UM to overcome its secondary shortcoming. And lots of personnel notes
A six-pack of notes and thoughts as the Miami Hurricanes (7-0) prepare for Saturday’s home game against Florida State (7 p.m, ESPN) and keep pushing for a bid in the College Football Playoff:
▪ If you’re hoping this UM defensive backfield will suddenly become reliable, that’s probably wishful thinking. As much as NIL payments and the portal have made college football begin to resemble the NFL, there are no midseason trades.
So how can UM’s defense overcome its greatest shortcoming and keep pace in potential playoff matchups with some of the nation’s best teams?
Three things must happen, besides Cam Ward needing to remain healthy and playing at this supreme level:
1). The highly-talented defensive line must be consistently elite. With sacks or pressures or takeaways, they must throttle a handful of drives each game.
The group of Simeon Barrow, Rueben Bain Jr., Tyler Baron and Akheem Mesidor is certainly capable of that, but they must be superhuman against elite offenses to overcome deficiencies in the secondary.
On Saturday, Bain had a sack and 10 quarterback pressures; Barrow had a sack and five pressures and Baron had six pressures.
2). UM’s defense must force a couple of turnovers a game. On Saturday, Barrow and Bain combined on a forced fumble that Raul Aguirre picked up for a touchdown.
3). Middle linebacker Francisco Mauigoa must begin to resemble the All-ACC-caliber player he was a year ago, not the player who has struggled at times this season.
Pro Football Focus rated Mauigoa UM’s next-to-worst player on defense against Louisville on Saturday, ahead of only cornerback Dyoni Hill. Mauigoa missed a team-leading three tackles and allowed 6 of 10 passes in his coverage area to be caught for 55 yards and a touchdown.
If all three of those things happen, UM might be able to beat Oregon, Ohio State and Penn State and the top Southeastern Conference teams — provided the offense keeps operating like a well-oiled machine.
▪ The metrics for UM’s defensive backfield Saturday confirmed what your eyes told you: This group of players can’t keep up with talented offenses, especially with Damari Brown sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body injury.
Daryl Porter Jr. was torched: 8 completions in 10 targets for 122 yards.
Hill also was torched: four completions in four targets for 75 yards.
Jadais Richard allowed five completions in eight targets for just 25 yards, but one was a touchdown.
Lack of closing speed and miscommunication have been two problems.
“We had a couple of busts, rotated the wrong way on the TD throw,” coach Mario Cristobal told WQAM’s Joe Rose on Monday, speaking in general and not about any particular player.
“Our alignments on their TD run were incorrect. Those are things that are teachable, are actionable items that can be and need to be better and addressed. It’s on us as a program, as a team, as coaches, players to get that right. And cut it loose. Let’s not be frozen, let the lights get too big.”
At safety, Mishael Powell yielded two completions for 29 yards and a touchdown against Louisville.
Jaden Harris permitted a 3-yard TD throw on the only pass in his coverage area, and UM then started giving playing time to freshman safety Zaquan Patterson, who didn’t allow a catch in two targets.
Harris ended up playing 55 defensive snaps, compared with 21 for Patterson. Powell played all 75.
Patterson “played well, had a great tackle called incomplete, chance for a fumble right there,” Cristobal told Rose.
One consistent bright spot of the secondary: freshman OJ Frederique, who permitted just one completion in three targets for 6 yards against Louisville.
Cristobal said, “He’s steady, a really good player. Smart, does not get nerved up, fazed by anything. We really believe he is currently one of the best freshmen in the country. His future is out of this world.”
The Canes are now 21st in the nation in yards allowed per game (306), a number skewed by September success against Florida A&M and Ball State.
But UM is 56th in points allowed per game, at 22.6, and the Canes have yielded 39 points per game in three conference games. Miami is 61st in passing yards per game allowed (214).
The good news is FSU’s offense is dreadful, ranked 132nd among 133 FSU schools in yards per game (276) and scoring (15 per game).
▪ Per PFF, UM’s highest-graded players on defense on Saturday were Bain, Barrow, Patterson, former Louisville linebacker Jaylin Alderman (16 snaps) and Powell.
UM highest-graded players on offense were running back Damien Martinez, Ward, receivers Sam Brown and Xavier Restrepo and left tackle Markel Bell.
▪ There’s no greater indicator about how a coaching staff feels about its freshmen than who gets playing time in big games.
Among natural freshmen, besides Patterson’s 21 defensive snaps, Frederique played 49, edge player Cole McConathy 15, tight end Elija Lofton 12, defensive lineman Justin Scott three and several defensive players one apiece.
Lofton had an excellent block on a successful Mark Fletcher Jr. run on a fourth-and-1 in UM territory.
▪ UM made a subtle offensive line change for portions of the game, moving Jalen Rivers from left tackle (where he started) to left guard and inserting Markel Bell for 20 snaps at left tackle.
On 54 other plays, Matthew McCoy played left guard and Rivers played left tackle.
Bell and McCoy didn’t give up a sack or pressure on their snaps. Rivers allowed two pressures.
The right side of the line was uncharacteristically poor in pass protection. Right guard Anez Cooper permitted a sack and four pressures.
Right tackle Francis Mauigoa relinquished three pressures.
▪ Martinez averaged a sterling 6.17 yards after contact, highlighted by two plays in which he dragged defenders with him, one ending in a 30-yard touchdown.
“Great player, physical runner, also fast, explosive,” Cristobal said.
For the season, Ajay Allen is averaging 7.9 yards per rush on 22 carries.
Fletcher is averaging 5.9 yards on 50 carries, and Martinez is averaging 4.9 on 78 rushing attempts.
This story was originally published October 21, 2024 at 11:27 AM.
