The Miami Hurricanes defended Hard Rock Stadium on Homecoming with a 38-10 win over the Syracuse Orange. Miami came into the game as ~28 point favorites (17 points according to me) and took care of business, eventually.
The Canyonero Keys to Victory main theme vs. SU was to watch out for the gunners. I think if QB Steve Angeli wasn’t injured this would’ve been a different case, but without him ‘Cuse could hardly start let alone gun the engine.
The individual keys to victory were:
1- Don’t allow the big play. Miami didn’t allow any tricks or shenanigans against ‘Cuse. The Orange were forced to drive the field and couldn’t get the job done against the ‘Canes starters. Mission accomplished here.
2- Get Beck back on track. Carson Beck only threw one touchdown but he did catch another on a throwback screen and finished 18-of-24 while hitting 10 different targets. He didn’t turn the ball over and that’s the most important part.
3- Win the kicking game. Miami made all of their kicks, the punt team looked fine, and no return blunders happened this week so all went well enough. Kind of a ‘push’ vs. Syracuse’s kicking game but that’s fine too.
The Doppler
On money downs Syracuse won the day finishing 6-of-15 (o-for-1 on 4th down). The Orange should’ve gone for it on an early 4th down around midfield but chose to punt instead, Miami went down and scored putting the ‘Canes up 7-0 and never looking back. Miami was 3-of-9 on 3rd down and didn’t feel the need to attempt any 4th down tries vs. SU.
Two areas Miami won outright were in turnovers and penalty yards. Syracuse turned the ball over three times while Miami had zero turnovers on the day.
The Orange were flagged for 65 yards in penalties while the ‘Canes were only called for 54 yards.
Again the Miami kickers were perfect with Carter Davis making his lone FG try but also nailing all four PAT’s and Bert Auburn making his PAT attempt.
Miami Offense
Beck got back on track against a bad ‘Cuse defense. These are the games QB’s need in order to get their confidence back in their arm. Beck averaged 10.3 yards per pass attempt with one TD and NO turnovers. He also caught a TD mass from Malachi Toney.
The Miami run game looked shaky until Gerald Pringle came in. Pringle averaged 7.9 yards per touch with a TD. Marty Brown averaged only five yards per carry as the thumper and Jordan Lyle might have just lost his job to Pringle as he hit only 2.4 ypc.
10 receivers got in on the action vs. SU and five went for double-digits including Keelan Marion’s 61 yard TD catch. JoJo Trader had another ugly drop, Toney was bracketed again, and Dylan Upshaw got some burn with a speedy 41-yard catch on a screen.
The Hurricanes O-Line allowed two sacks, but only three tackles for loss on the day.
Above– Lyle gets absolutely bullied back into Beck for an early sack. Mauigoa takes the right guy, an inside pass rusher is more dangerous than an outside one. Also the delay was something he couldn’t predict. But Lyle getting bullied is not a good look for a guy that has a clear shot at PT with Mark Fletcher out.
Above– Some QB’s (see: Bryce Young) hang their OT’s out to dry by getting deep and staying deep. I get why Beck doesn’t want to step up, his center is getting pushed into the pocket. But he has to make that angle harder for the outside pressure. Bell’s taught to open and ride the rusher up field but here that’s right into Beck.
Above– Toney does a really good job of blocking a safety here to spring open this run by Brown. Without his block it’s possibly a TFL or no gain.
Above– Syracuse was absolutely one of the worst tackling teams I’ve seen in quite some time. They’re bad high school football levels of bad. That’s why Brown’s ‘one cut and go’ method works here.
Above– Upshaw got the screen going with his ability to quickly accelerate. Brockermeyer with a huge block here in space, too. Bell blocking downfield as well. All around great play.
Above– When teams are told to key a certain player, Toney for instance, other plays can really work off of standard plays. Jet sweep can become criss-cross, play-action deep shots, reverse passes, etc. Here the screen back to Beck is WIDE OPEN. Four lead blockers vs. zero defenders.
Above– Pringle bounces this outside. What he needs to read is the LT’s butt. Since it’s pointing in he needs to cut under him and stay between the C and LT’s blocks.
Above– He bounced it and I’m 100000% shocked the ref didn’t flag this thing for holding. It’s not Bell’s fault, he assumes the RB will cut inside and he goes outside. Bell did a good job of letting go vs slinging with jersey.
Above– Beck rolled left and threw back to Mauigoa to the right. Mauigoa got a ‘rushing TD’ credit vs receiving but it was a fun play for the big RT. Something they probably should’ve saved for NC State but here we are, burning trick plays up 28 vs. ‘Cuse.
Miami Defense
Rickie Collins threw two picks on 3.4 yards per pass attempt agains the Hurricanes. He’s just not a very good QB and could be a good gadget QB if the Orange still had Angeli in the line-up. But as the starting QB that experiment is a failed one at best. Of Collins two picks one was a Keionte Scott pick-6.
‘Cuse had success running the ball against Miami even without a real passing threat. Yasin Willis averaged 4.8 yards per carry, Will Nixon averaged 8.7 ypc and lastly Tylik Hill hit 5.5 yards per rush.
The Syracuse O-Line did allow seven sacks and 11 TFL’s against Miami. Akheem Mesidor was the cream of the crop for Miami with 1.5 sacks and 3.5 TFL’s. Scott had the before mentioned INT plus a sack and a TFL. The do everything safety is going to get himself a nice NFL contract as a rookie.
Syracuse did hit nine different receivers in the passing game but only two were for double digits.
Above– Mesidor with a slap and rip to get around the LT and grab a sack. He had a really nice bounce back from injury type game.
Above– SU took their bad tackling over to offense where Scott obliterates this dude. I’m not sure how anyone thinks tackling like that won’t break your neck.
Above– One thing people don’t realize about contact is both the ball carrier and tackler’s feet are going to stop. The winner is the person who accelerates fastest coming off of contact.
Above– Toure has been a transfer disappointment for DC Corey Hetherman. Here he gets fit up and can’t shed before just diving at the runner’s legs.
Above– Later he’s shooting the b-gap on a run blitz and can’t finish this play. This winds up bouncing for a nice gain as Toure stumbles around chasing from behind.
Above– Thomas, bubby… you have a five yard angle advantage and wind up completely missing and playing behind the runner. Poyser is a loafer here coming from behind as well.
Above– The first football player to intercept a questionable ball and not take off running 30 yards to the end zone. Low Football IQ. You fake it til you make it, just don’t let the coaches blow a review if you know it’s not a pick. But force the refs either way (and here, he doesn’t have to!)
Above– Bain with such insane bend that he goes untouched by the RT. I mean that’s some insane bend for a stocky short (compared to NFL DE’s) dude.
Above– This is a perfect example of why you want a mobile QB, an RPO tag, and a read option tag at your disposal. Bain has this “mesh charge” if he wants it. “MC” means to run directly at the middle of the QB/RB ‘mesh’ exchange and force a sloppy pull or give.
The bubble freezes Bain and then the QB faking out his ‘keep’ does again. This is why you want CJ Bailey in ‘26 because he’s just mobile enough but is a solid passer, too.
This game went down exactly as we all said. Miami started off slow and leaned on the Orange for a bit in the second quarter while winning the middle eight. Miami opened up the playbook a little with the Toney pass and Mauigoa screen for a TD. I’m not sure why you’d wait until now to do so but hey it worked.
The ‘Canes will host NC State for senior day as the Wolfpack look to play the upset role coming off an ‘idle’ week. Miami might be a double-digit home favorite but the Pack do have some firepower and could be an issue for Miami. Every single week is a shot at the College Football Playoff and maybe even a potential ACC Championship Game bid if the conference melts down even further.
