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QUESTION: What is Miami’s greatest area of need after the Florida game?
Tick, tick, tick, tick.
The 60 Minutes watch is ticking for Miami. In 60 minutes against the Florida Gators, the Hurricanes’ foremost need for improvement became glaringly obvious. This is not a debate.
The offensive line was a disaster.
Florida’s defensive backs could not tackle or avoid committing pass interference on 4th and 34. Florida’s quarterback could not throw. Florida’s skill-position players could not handle the ball. Florida’s offense could not score on a lot of possessions inside the Miami 40. Florida made enough mistakes for a whole season. The Gators constantly begged the Hurricanes to take over. Florida invited The U to claim this opener and boost the Manny Diaz era.
Miami refused to accept the Gators’ many generous offers.
Why did this winnable game not turn into a dubya for the Canes?
Their offensive line.
The one Florida position unit which played great was the defensive line, which constantly overwhelmed Miami up front. Florida struggled to perform so many tasks on Saturday, but the one thing it could always rely on was a fierce pass rush which took away time from a freshman, Jarren Williams.
Don’t blame Williams. A freshman might be able to more easily acclimate to college football and the speed of the college game against an FCS or Sun Belt cupcake in Week 1. Instead, Miami chose to play Florida, which won a New Year’s Six bowl last season. Williams was never going to win this game by himself. He needed help.
He did not get it from his O-line, which was ripped to shreds.
Miami now faces a race against the clock. The U has a rest break on Sept. 28 (Week 5 of the season), followed by the two most important games of the season against the Virginia schools. Miami will have time to prepare for the two best defensive minds in the ACC Coastal: Bud Foster of the Hokies and Bronco Mendenhall of the Hoos. Those two men surely salivated as they looked at Miami’s O-line on Saturday.
Manny Diaz and his staff have to come up with schemes and adjustments to get that O-line ready for those two games.
Miami has a soft schedule before that Sept. 28 off week. Having the offensive line ready for Oct. 5 and 11 is the key to the Canes’ 2019 season. Everything else is secondary.
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