This is typically a bad time of the year for Hokies as they are traditionally the protein of choice for most Americans on Thanksgiving Thursday. Some like them baked, some like them fried, I like them smoked. Going into Saturday’s game I was of the mindset that the Miami Hurricanes would finally get a Power 5 win and smoke the Virginia Tech Hokies up in Blacksburg, Virginia. It looked like we were on our way smoking the Hokies in the first half, but it all got bogged down in a pretty uneventful second half by the Miami offense. Miami’s defense was pitching a shutout until the 4th quarter when the real leaky defense showed up and suddenly it was an anxiety polluted environment that ended up making the end of the game far more interesting than it needed to be.
Tyler Van Dyke has finally regained good form as he is now throwing caution to the wind and just being himself. He is picking a guy and letting it fly. He is emptying the clip and letting it rip. It appears that Gattis is finally willing to abandon the running game and go more spread with wide receivers all over the field. The running game is not working consistently. We don’t see much push from the offensive line at the line of scrimmage. Trying to force the run game has led to empty plays, empty drives, and empty red zone possessions all season. Thankfully, Cristobal and Gattis are adapting to the situation even though I wish they would have made the change sooner. We need to see backs catching passes out of the backfield more to keep defenses honest. Flats, screens, outlets, and wheel routes need to be incorporated into offense more. Particularly, because that fits Knighton’s skillset very well. It was also nice to see Jacurri Brown get on the field and make plays with his legs to help us convert better in short yardage conversion situations.
Colbie Young is a ball player! Since his discovery in the North Carolina game, he has come on quite strong and is quickly rising up the charts as far as being a reliable wide receiver. Colbie has consistently ran routes that get him open and is making big time contested catches and scoring touchdowns. His chemistry with TVD is steadily growing and we can see the fact that TVD is trusting him more and more every game. This chemistry and compatibility are very important to the development of this team moving forward. Nine catches for 119 yards and a touchdown is the type of production we will need to see when we go up against our archrivals FSU and the ACC bully better known as the Clemson Tigers. Hopefully, Restrepo can be back in time for those games as well.
The Canes played an undisciplined brand of football on Saturday as they were penalized 17 times for a total of 159 yards. These are astronomical numbers that make it extremely hard to win. False starts, holding, pass interference, late hits out of bounds, no bueno. Miami needs to be more disciplined and stay focused in games to avoid seeing all of the yellow laundry on the field. This is something that Miami needs to get cleaned up as they move into the meat of their conference schedule and play against better teams.
Thank God for Akheem Mesidor! He has been the one defensive line standout that is continually creating pressures against opposing quarterbacks and converted those pressures to sacks on Saturday against Virginia Tech. Miami will need Akheem and his other defensive line teammates to step up big time as the Duke quarterback is a dual threat athletic quarterback. Athletic quarterbacks who can run or extend plays is the kind of quarterback profile that Miami generally struggles with historically. Miami is trending well in this area specifically as the team only had 10 sacks combined in its first 4 games but have had 11 sacks in the last two games against conference opponents. We understand that nothing happens overnight. Miami fans are experts in waiting. We have been patient for 20 years. As a fanbase we are just exasperated with losing to teams like FIU, Louisiana Tech, and Middle Tennessee State while other Conference USA teams have been destroying MTSU. Bring on the Duke Blue Devils.
(Special Note about the Photo, AP did not cover this game, photo is of TVD vs Tarheels).