Prior to the season, many hopeful expectations about the Hurricanes had to do with Tyler Van Dyke at quarterback. After bursting on to the scene last year, Van Dyke’s success in 2022 was imminent, and doubt regarding his play was nowhere to be found.

Fast forward to today, and Miami’s worst fears have been realized. Van Dyke has not gelled with Josh Gattis’ offense, and the Canes are unable to move the ball and score points like they did in 2021.

In an embarrassing loss to Middle Tennessee State on Saturday, Van Dyke was benched for Jake Garcia. Van Dyke ended the day going 16-for-32 for 138 yards, one touchdown pass and two interceptions.

Though, it was worse than the stats even say. Van Dyke, again, was just off. He was missing receivers, starting down his targets, and the offense had no rhythm. By the time Van Dyke was benched down 31-10, Miami’s offense had scored one touchdown in their last seven quarters.

So far this season, saying Van Dyke has struggled would be an understatement. Through four games, Van Dyke has thrown for 809 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions, completing 59% of his passes.

Now, some of this has to do with the fact that Van Dyke lost his favorite receiver following week-two, after Xavier Restrepo went down with an injury. Follow that with an injury to Jacolby George against Texas A&M, and Van Dyke’s weapons are not what we all thought they’d be.

Going off of that, Van Dyke lost both leading receivers from 2021, Charleston Rambo and Mike Harley.

Another reason is the fact that Van Dyke worked much better in Rhett Lashlee’s up-tempo, spread attack. It’s very easy to tell, Van Dyke does not look comfortable operating and running Gattis’ offensive scheme.

So that being said, sitting at 2-2, does Mario Cristobal and Gattis make a change at quarterback? Is it time to start Jake Garcia?

Garcia went 10-for-19 against Middle Tennessee, throwing for 169 yards, and if it wasn’t for a disaster on 4th-and-goal early in the 4th quarter, he may have led Miami on a comeback.

When you watch film from Saturday’s game, you could clearly see the boost that the offense got with Garcia in at QB. With how lethargic Miami has looked with Van Dyke under center, why not try and give the whole team a lift and start Garcia?

During this bye-week, Coach Cristobal and this staff have to determine which quarterback will give Miami the best shot at getting back on track this year.