The Miami Hurricanes are favored by a whopping 56 and a half points against FAMU.
Even if the result of the matchup likely won't be in doubt, the Canes' home opener gives Mario Cristobal's team a second opportunity to sharpen their chemistry and set the tone for the rest of their schedule.
Here are my five keys for Thursday night:
- Get out of this one HEALTHY. Injuries are always a bad thing, but you especially want to avoid them against an FCS opponent when favored by over 8 touchdowns. Miami is already seeing their depth tested in the defensive backfield with corners OJ Frederique and Jaboree Antoine set to miss time. The last thing we want is to see the list of inactives grow.
- Establish DOMINANCE on the ground. Against Stanford, Miami rushed for a pedestrian 121 yards, albeit against loaded boxes for the majority. The Hurricanes will have a serious size and power advantage in the trenches, so this could be the game to rack up 200+ yards. I maintain the opinion that pounding the rock will be the best way to continue building chemistry for Miami's young offensive line. I'd love to see extended reps for freshmen Jackson Cantwell and Ben Congdon.
- Keep those penalties DOWN. The Canes offense did a sensational job of this at Stanford. Miami only committed 5 total penalties and none of them were pre-snap. If the Hurricanes can extend their streak of zero pre-snap penalties to two games, they'll show us the first time wasn't a fluke.
- SWARM tackle and increase the physicality. This is something defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman says he wants, and I wholeheartedly agree. The Canes D held Stanford to just 78 rushing yards. I hope to see them keep FAMU under 50 yards on the ground. Hetherman's philosophy for every game is to stop the run first and foremost, to make the opponent one-dimensional.
- Get some TAKEAWAYS. One thing Miami's defense didn't do week one was force a turnover. Creating more havoc and more takeaways was a major emphasis during the offseason. I expect to see Miami get their first takeaway (hopefully several) on Thursday night.
