I love the fact that Mario Cristobal has raised the bar so high that Miami fans have the luxury of nit-picking the team's imperfections after a 45-6 blowout win on the road.
Let's start with what went GREAT in the Hurricanes' demolition at Stanford before we get into what we need to see cleaned up in the future.
Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney were born to play together. The QB-WR duo connected early, often, and broke records along the way. Toney set a new single game Miami program record with 234 receiving yards. The previous record, set by "Downtown" Eddie Brown, stood for nearly 42 years. Mensah threw for 401 yards, 5 touchdowns, and zero interceptions while completing 90% of his passes. Mensah is the new favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, and Toney now sits 7th.
No sluggish start. A lot was made about Miami making a 6 hour flight for their opening game and playing through a 3-hour time difference. The Canes addressed this by flying out 3 days before kickoff and leaning on the sports science department to study the NFL methods of dealing with coast-to-coast travel. Miami scored touchdowns on 6 of their 7 drives when the offensive starters were in the game. The Hurricanes defense pitched a second half shutout and held Stanford to just 2 field goals and NO touchdowns.
Let's get to what must be cleaned up in the contest quest for perfection.
Offensive line was a mixed bag. From a pass-protection standpoint, they exceeded my expectations. They only gave up 5 pressures and zero sacks. Work needs to be done in run-blocking, though. Stanford did in fact stack the box to force Miami to pick up what Mario Cristobal refers to as "muddy yards." Even so, the new-look OL seemed out of sync early before starting to settle in during the second half. Miami was held to 3.8 yards per carry. OC Shannon Dawson was right to take what the defense gave him (OPEN RECEIVERS) but we want to see Miami return to their identity of dominance in the rushing attack.
Defense felt loose in coverage. The most important thing was keeping Stanford out of the end zone, and Miami did that. With that said, I expect more disruptive performances from the Hurricanes' D moving forward. Stanford QB Davis Warren had way too many open receivers between the 20's. It didn't help that top Miami corner OJ Frederique left the game with a shoulder injury and didn't return after his second snap. No word on his status yet, but he will be needed later this season.
I thought Miami's defensive line was considerably better than what the stat sheet shows. Yes, the Canes only got home for 1 sack in the game (thanks Armondo Blount) but countless other pressures resulting in Stanford holding penalties. Blount and Marquise Lightfoot played particularly well.
Miami is favored by 53.5 points against FAMU this Thursday. While the scoreboard won't be competitive, the Hurricanes have a great opportunity to build more chemistry in the units that didn't perform as well as others in Week 1.
