When the Miami Hurricanes were more than twenty plus favorites at home and lost 45-31 something happened. And the Student of the Game MTSU vs. Miami Hurricanes edition highlights (or lowlights) what. It was a little bit of everything this week and the calamity of errors piled up.

The Hurricanes will enter the bye week with a slight quarterback controversy on its hands. Jake Garcia entered the contest and undeniably added a spark when he did. Both quarterbacks hovered around a 50% completion percentage on the day which could indicate another wholesale issue in its entirety.

First play of the game on offense led to a turnover. Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke stared down a receiver into the boundary and it was an interception. The play call wasn’t great. It was a traditional mirrored all outs concept that limited the quarterbacks options. With the absence of a “choice” route the cornerback was able to leverage both Hurricane receivers.

The Kevin Steele led defense did everything in its power to cannibalize itself. On the rare occurrence Miami managed to do something well on offense, the defense simply didn’t let the the Hurricanes get back into the game. MTSU had four pass plays that totaled 327 yards and all of them were collective back breakers.

Coach Mario Cristobal had this to say about getting beat on explosive plays.

Man coverage. You can check the film, there’s no sugar coating it. We’ve got to scheme better and analyze our matchups better. We need to help our players to be the as successful they can be. They got behind us. Good throw, good catch, but they got behind us.”

The Hurricanes were cooked in coverage and the communication breakdowns were abundant. Here you will see an example of how the Blue Raiders were in an empty set look and a receiver standing still in the flats bewildered the Canes. Someone has to go with the vertical threat. This kind of blown coverage was inexcusable and again led to some MTSU points.

It is time to get you pencils and popcorn. Sure, this week you might need a couple of antacids but at least you already know the final score. The Miami Hurricanes are going into the bye week with more questions than answers. Student of the Game is the video breakdown series exclusive to the OBB Legend. Just push play. #OBB #BANG #GoCanes.