Film Review: Miami 14 - Virginia 12

© Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The Miami Hurricanes beat the Virginia Cavaliers in a barn burner by the final score of 14-12. Four overtimes later Miami finally got in the end zone and got us all off to our Halloween parties.

The Canyonero keys to beating UVA were:

1- Score some damn points- Oh man. Well... there’s not much to say about it but 14 is more than 12.

2- Stop the pass- Miami ‘stopped’ the pass, Brennan Armstrong threw for 8.3 yards per attempt but no scores. Armstrong missed on a couple throws against DJ Ivey and the Hoos dropped a sure fire game winning TD or the defensive performance feels a little differently this morning.

3- Stay focused- If anything, Miami did stay the brand of focused they can at this juncture. The ‘Canes kept pushing and giving effort to the last play. Kam Kinchens playing with a hurt shoulder and making game saving plays is what the program needs to keep going.

The Doppler

Miami and UVA both limped through third downs with Miami finishing 5-of-17 and the Cavaliers finishing 5-of-16 and 0-for-1 on 4th down. Neither team turned the ball over, and Miami kept the penalties down to five for 22 yards while Virginia committed six for 50 yards.

Miami won the time of possession battle- good job Josh Gattis, good job! Both teams finished 4-of-4 on field goals with the final outcome being decided in the two point conversion period of OT.

Miami O

The offense is pictured above, as in, non-existent.

“The back up is better than the starter,” cliche from The Solid Verbal podcast just got put on the table, and Jake Garcia clearly isn’t ready to be an every day starter. Last year, Miami lost to UVA 30-28 with Tyler Van Dyke scoring twice on 51% passing. Garcia averaged 4.3 yards per pass and only the 2-point play on the books.

The Miami offensive line gave up three sacks, four hurries, five tackles for loss and seven PBU’s. Besides the sacks, Miami actually strung together a run game. Henry Parrish rushed for 113 yards on 24 carries. QB Jacurri Brown picked up 5.6 yards per carry, and walk-on Lucious Stanley averaged six per attempt.

The difference between Van Dyke and Garcia, and playing the UVA defense, was even Colbie Young being shutdown. Young averaged only 9.2 yards per catch, Will Mallory 7.3YPC, and Xavier Restrepo was shutdown in limited duty.

© Provided by SB Nation

Above- Levels, a 10 yard in route and Garcia got to his third read. Maybe a little extra hitch up that took too long but it was one of a few attempts where he had time, and football IQ, to get through the progression.

© Provided by SB Nation

Above- This time, on the two point play, Garcia gets to his third read and forces a throw into triple coverage. That was time to release (run) in R4 terminology.

© Provided by SB Nation

Above- Bold choice here by Gattis to run this concept to the boundary. The split zone slide RPO.

© Provided by SB Nation

Above- Reading the defensive end, if he “squeezes” (plays the running back inside) the QB pulls. He has a post snap RPO at the 2nd level (linebackers) to throw or keep based on what the LB does.

© Provided by SB Nation

Above- The LB played Garcia, slowly, and he should dump the ball to the TE, but he doesn’t.

© Provided by SB Nation

Above- Garcia didn’t trust the throw, keeps, and just barely sneaks in over the pylon.

Run this to the field and Garcia should just walk into the end zone, but running it to the short side created some more drama.

Miami D

Armstrong threw for 8.3 yards per attempt but failed to score, obviously. He missed badly on two throws and suffered through some Miami caliber drops, including one for a TD. Miami went boom or bust on defense, with five sacks and no hurries, but 11 TFL’s and six PBU’s.

Defensive linemen Mitchell Agude and Leonard Taylor combined for two sacks, five TFL’s and 13 tackles alone. Miami finally gave Caleb Johnson some burn and he comes away with six tackles and two TFL’s. Jahfari Harvey picked up two TFL’s of his own.

UVA ran okay, but mostly on the legs of Armstrong. Armstrong rushed for 67 yards including his sack yardage. UVA had two explosive receptions, one from Mike Hollis for 64 yards and one from Lavel Davis Jr. for 47 yards. Again, the Hoos were two off throws and a dropped TD away from a completely different outcome.

© Provided by SB Nation

Above- Two Miami DB’s bang into each other, which is exactly how UVA drew it. Wheels and crossers always hurt defensive backfields that don’t communicate well. When UVA was stopped on the three yard line I knew they wouldn’t score a TD.

© Provided by SB Nation

Above- Tackling and tracking in space. Align. Assign. Finish. The finish still needs some work in Coral Gables. Remember, UVA has a bottom tier offense in all of FBS. Shutting them down is expected, not exceptional.

© Provided by SB Nation

Above- Mesh is a great red zone play, especially +5. Defensive coordinators typically go to man coverage and no. 85 gets free and drops a wide open TD. What’s burned Miami finally comes back to save them- mindless drops.

© Provided by SB Nation

Above- Tyrique Stevenson had a hell of a game. He made the plays that needed to be made both in the run game and on PBU’s. He saves the game here for Miami in coverage fighting to the floor for a PBU.

The Wrap

I don’t understand how the offense has gotten this bad, or how this many Hurricanes are injured, but it’s really a week-to-week scenario for Miami. Mario Cristobal has Miami at 4-4 (2-2 in the ACC) right now heading into Florida State week.

The final four regular season games could be tough. Florida State at home, on the road against Georgia Tech and Clemson, and a Thanksgiving weekend home game against Pitt. I understand “we’re not playing for 2022” is the current motto, after taking losses to MTSU and Duke of course, but Mario Cristobal sure looked (fist) pumped over dragging the game into overtime.

Turnovers were way down, the run game was a thing, and penalties were reasonable, but there were still glaring issues. One week at a time.