We’re a month out from the opener this weekend. The sports book guys have us opening as about a
16 1/2 point dog. It’s really hard to tell considering the disappointing seasons both teams had last season. The Canes went 5-7 with a blowout 45-31 loss to MTSU at Hard Rock. Our most disappointing loss in last year’s 6-7 season was probably the one on the road at BG when our offense couldn’t move the football worth a damn.
But lots of things have changed - especially in Coral Gables. Mario has been as aggressive in the portal out/portal in game as anyone not named Deion in this off season. Their O-Line wasn’t very good last season. It’s supposed to be far better this year. They also added speed, a traditional killer of MAC teams aspiring to an upset, on both sides of the ball. I watched their spring game and they were definitely just trying to make the new and old pieces fit together. Mario openly admitted that in his post-scrimmage interview.
In a situation similar to Miami, they are bringing back an injured starting QB - Tyler Van Dyke.
ESPN ran a replay of their game at Texas A&M last season today. They lost it in a low-scoring close game - 17-9 - to a highly underperforming Aggie team that had been beaten at home by App State the previous week.
The Hurricanes are playing a rematch game at Hard Rock against A&M the week after they play us so I’m pretty sure they will be looking ahead to that one when we show up. That’s probably a plus for our RedHawks.
In watching TVD, it doesn’t take long to see that mobility is not the Cane QB’s forte. He doesn’t have much speed, isn’t very elusive and doesn’t pull the ball down and run on purpose very often. He appears to be happy when he’s well-protected in a stable pocket and uses a big arm to capitalize on that. Getting past that retooled O-Line to pressure TVD will be an obvious challenge - and a key to keeping us in the game. The back end has to shore up the loss of Saunders immediately so speedy receivers don’t run past us and let TVD throw the ball over their heads. Tighter coverage would also be a plus to avoid being picked apart.
Offensively, Brett needs to be back to the form he showed us during the first half at UK last season, the O-Line sans Feth and Shaffer must protect Brett and run block much better than last year’s unit so we aren’t always in second or third and long situations,
And someone needs to become the heir apparent to Hipp
I’m also interesting in seeing if the staff has figured out how to make Aveon a threat out of the backfield when Brett’s on the field at QB. I see that as a positive option after watching last year’s season unfold.
That’s just my opening observation.
Looking forward to seeing if our program is now finally strong enough to threaten what was a middle of the pack ACC squad on the road. Both Miamis should be better than they were last season.
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