Is this rock bottom? I certainly hope so because it certainly feels like. Miami lost its second consecutive game to Middle Tennessee State at Hard Rock Stadium. But this one feels a lot worse.

Last week, the Hurricanes battled hard, and you could argue that they out-played the Texas A&M Aggies at home.

There can be no such argument this weekend. From the very beginning they were listless and lethargic, they actually fell behind at one point 24-3 in the second quarter. They tried to mount a second half rally but eventually lost 45-31.

This game didn’t feel that close.

There’s no way to sugarcoat this, it’s a disastrous early loss for Mario Cristobal, who is trying to rebuild this once proud program. I know it’s early, and there’s still plenty of football to be played, but this team took a huge step back today.

The team looked unprepared, and quite frankly, many guys looked like they didn’t really want to be out there for much of the game. The Blue Raiders — who came into this game as a 26 point underdog — from the very first snap were the better squad.

Now, UM goes into a bye week before facing North Carolina. It can’t get worse than this…can it?

Some other thoughts on this game..

– It’s time to make a change at quarterback. Tyler Van Dyke is not taking to this Josh Gattis offense, and his first two throws in this game resulted in two interceptions, one of which was a pick-six. Obviously, it’s never about one player, but TVD looked nothing like that player we saw last year in ACC play.

He was once again very late in making reads, missed some wide open throws, and beyond that, his body language was bad.

– The coverage of the game from the ACC Network was beyond bad in terms of production. Because of the lightning delay, it was explained that certain camera’s were not available. This looked like a cable access production. It was almost unwatchable.

But I will say this, once again Mark Herzlich impressed me with his analysis. He was very blunt in his assessment of certain Miami players and their effort.

Once Jake Garcia got into the game, he gave the team and the fans some energy. Garcia doesn’t have the cannon of Van Dyke, but he does have a quicker release and more mobility. If it were up to me, he gets the start on October 8.

– There’s no other way to say it, Gattis has been a bust as the Miami offensive coordinator. Yeah, this unit lacks real explosive playmakers outside, but overall, it’s just a slow, methodical style of football. Quite frankly, it’s boring, and worse, not very efficient. MTSU, didn’t have nearly as many total plays, but they consistently took shots downfield and made explosive plays.

Despite having the ball seven more minutes, the Hurricanes were out-gained 507 yards to 367. Miami is not meant to play like a Big10 team.

– Terrible day for Kevin Steele’s defense. They were put into a hole early on with turnovers from the offense, but much of this game they played with very little energy or intensity. And every time they needed a stop, they simply couldn’t get the needed stops.

Also, they have a clear issue at cornerback. Time and time again, different guys got beat over the top for huge gains. Linebacker play remains an issue. It could be time to make the full transition to guys like Wesley Bissainthe and Chase Smith.

– The coverage of the game from the ACC Network was beyond bad in terms of production. Because of the lightning delay, it was explained that certain camera’s were not available. This looked like a cable access production. It was almost unwatchable.

But I will say this, once again Mark Herzlich impressed me with his analysis. He was very blunt in his assessment of certain Miami players and their effort.