No. 11 Miami Hurricanes (4-1, 3-1 ACC)

Head Coach: Manny Diaz (10-8 at Miami)

Series: Miami leads the all-time series 10-7

Last Meeting: Miami defeated UVa 17-9 at Hard Rock Stadium last year

Performance: Miami’s new-look offense has been a catalyst for its overall improvement. In 2019, the Hurricanes struggled to move the ball and score points throughout the season as they rotated quarterbacks. They scored 25.7 points per game last year and often relied on their defense to put them over the top. This year, the offense is a strength, averaging 35.6 points per contest. Under new coordinator Rhett Lashlee, the Canes are much more potent and diverse schematically than what we saw from Dan Enos’ offense last year, or the Mark Richt offense in years before.

Miami has balance on offense, with success on the ground and through the air. Overall, the Hurricanes are averaging 5.8 yards per play and are putting up 4.8 yards per carry, with 895 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns in just five games. The passing game has taken a big step forward as well, with 1,143 yards and 11 touchdowns thus far. The Canes have turned the ball over eight times but still have an advantage in the turnover margin. They have been solid on 3rd down, converting 43 percent of their tries. Miami has been solid in the red zone as well, scoring 16 times on 17 trips, with 12 touchdowns and four field goals. The Canes are also explosive, ranked in the top 10 nationally in plays of 30+ yards and 40+ yards.

Scheme: The Hurricane establishment wasn’t happy with their offense last season, so they went out and made big changes. First Diaz brought in Lashlee to run the offense. A Gus Mahlzahn disciple, he coached at Auburn, UConn, and SMU before heading to Coral Gables. Lashlee brought with him a shotgun-focused offense that goes at a fast tempo often with a lot of plays that give defenders a lot to defend.

Lashlee was just one piece of the puzzle with the other being Houston transfer D’Eriq King to play quarterback. One of the nation’s top signal callers two years ago before cutting his 2019 season short and opting out early to gain an extra year of eligibility, King is dramatically shifted the outlook for Miami’s offense this year. He has helped the Canes go from middle-of-the-road to one of the top teams in the ACC.

King’s dual-threat skills make him a tough player to defend for any team. His ability to run gives defenses pause on every play and can create schematic advantages for the Hurricanes.

First, if he takes off, it’s trouble. King’s best trait is his escapability and on this play below you can see how he has natural instincts to get out of trouble and turn a busted play into a positive.

Miami also uses King on read-option plays often, where he can keep the ball or hand it off. This misdirection helps set up the rest of the offense, particularly the passing game.

King’s ability to run helps his running backs as well, with the quarterback drawing a lot of attention. Running back Cam’Ron Harris is another dangerous weapon in the backfield, and when he gets the handoff on a read play defenses that focus too heavily on King are going to be in trouble.

Miami has a lot of passing plays off of these run looks that are designed to freeze a defense and open up space for easy throws. The Hurricanes have two excellent tight ends in Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory, both of whom are used heavily in the passing game. They get the ball to the tight end quickly and often off of run fakes.

This play is a quick out to Jordan off of a fake run, with a blocker in front. A tremendous athlete, Jordan is then able to make a great play in space.

Here is another throw to the tight end, this time to Mallory. And again, it's a throw off of a fake run play. King fakes to the back and Mallory, lined up on the left, fakes a block before running down the seam.

Watch the Louisville linebacker fooled by the fake, allowing Mallory to slip in behind him to open space. King then has a simple throw to make for the touchdown.

Fake draws for King are also a useful tool for the passing game, sucking in the defense. He is great at executing these fakes and time and time again they allow for easy throws.

This first one was an easy touchdown pass to Jaylan Knighton against Louisville. Knighton runs a wheel route out of the backfield and after receiving the snap, King takes a jab step forward, faking a quarterback draw. Watch as all of the Cardinal defenders look into the backfield, letting Knighton slip out wide open for a long touchdown pass.

Here is a similar play, this time a touchdown to Harris out of the backfield after the jab step forward. Watch Pitt’s linebackers get caught watching King, letting Harris run free into space for a touchdown.

Here is a final example, this time with creative tight end usage. Mallory is lined up in the backfield and comes up to the line of scrimmage at the snap, to appear to be an extra blocker for King. Instead, he runs his route up the middle of the field and another effective jab step brings the last defenders forward. That gives Mallory acres of space to run into. The result is another easy touchdown pass for King.

QB D'Eriq King

RB Cam'Ron Harris

Harris is a talented back who could give UVa problems tomorrow night. He leads the team in rushing with 338 yards on 58 carries and has found the end zone five times on the ground. Harris is also a threat to catch the ball out of the backfield, with 11 catches for 75 yards and a score this season.

Performance: Miami has been solid this year on defense as well. The Hurricanes have held three of their five opponents under 20 points, with Clemson and Louisville the exceptions. Opponents are averaging 23.8 points per game and Miami has only allowed 43 points in three home games. The run defense has been particularly stout, allowing just 3.98 yards per carry. The Canes have been solid in short-yardage and 3rd-down scenarios as well. Opponents are converting just 31.8 percent of 3rd-down tries, the 17th best rate nationally for a defense.

Miami has had success getting stops in the red zone as well, forcing five empty trips for opponents on 23 tries.

The Hurricanes have allowed a decent amount through the air, however. Opponents have accumulated 1,261 yards and nine touchdowns through the air across five contests. They have forced four interceptions however, and eight turnovers overall. The pass rush has been solid, with 14 sacks thus far. Miami creates a lot of havoc, with 49.5 tackles for loss, third most nationally.

Scheme: Miami runs a base 4-3 and once again has an excellent defensive line. The Hurricanes run a more conservative scheme, choosing not to blitz often. In fact, they blitzed Pittsburgh just 16 times on 50 passing downs last week. Against Clemson, they blitzed just eight times on 48 passing plays for Trevor Lawrence. And Miami posted a great defensive effort in a 52-10 win over rival FSU, despite blitzing just seven times. But the Hurricanes don’t have to blitz to create pressure because they have a lot of talent up front.

Despite losing future first-round pick Gregory Rousseau to an opt-out, Miami still has a lot of talent and production up front. Despite the lack of blitzes, Miami still created pressure on 42 percent of passing downs against Pittsburgh. The strength up front is on the edge with Quincy Roche and Jaelan Phillips, a pair of impact transfers, collapsing the pocket. But Miami has a lot of strength up the middle as well, with Jared Harrison-Hunte and Nesta Jade Silvera.

On this play against Pitt, watch Miami drop into a traditional coverage look and rely on their four players up front to get after the quarterback.

Miami’s front is so strong that the defenders can occupy blockers, allowing blitzers that do come to get free looks at the quarterback.

On this play, the Canes run a stunt with Roche that freezes the left side of the line, allowing the linebacker blitzing off the edge to run free at the quarterback.

The front is also athletic, enough so that even when they are out of position they can make plays in space. The ends do a great job keeping players from hitting the edge as well.

On this play, FSU tries to get tricky but Miami’s front four do a great job holding their ground and forcing the play backwards before it gets blown up.

DE Quincy Roche

The aforementioned Roche joined Miami as an impact transfer from Temple, helping negate the loss of Rousseau. He has been as advertised, dominating the edge with 2.5 sacks and a team-high 9.5 tackles for loss. Roche will be one of the top edge rushers UVa’s offensive line will have seen all year and will see for the remainder of the year.

DB Bubba Bolden

Another impact transfer, Bolden is Miami’s top defensive back. A the former USC signee is having a breakthrough year, with a team-high 33 tackles through five games. Bolden also has an interception, a sack, and four tackles for loss, making plays all over the field from his safety position.