The Miami Hurricanes lost to the Duke Blue Devils 45-21 off the backs of EIGHT turnovers. That was tragic. Equally as tragic, Tyler Van Dyke apparently suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder. Here is my Roman is Burning Duke post game thoughts.

Rhett Lashlee proved you can score points here. Currently the Gattis experiment after seven games has been an utter failure. Versus P5 opponents the Hurricanes currently average 18.5 points a game. From that vantage point the former Broyles Award winner is looking up at a national list of point scorers.

In the same category, Ohio State averages 50.0, Georgia 44.0, TCU 43.5, UCLA, 42.3, Mississippi, 41, Wake Forest, 40.3 and Tennessee averages 41.0. Sure there are teams on this list who have more talent. Ohio State and Georgia are juggernauts. But Miami fans often default to a stance of, “doesn’t have the talent” when it’s convenient.

Last year Miami was out recruited by the Buckeyes and Bulldogs but out-recruited every single other school on that list. The Duke Blue Devils ranked 52nd in composite score for any of those wondering.

247 2022 Recruit Football Team Rankings

15th

17th

27th

45th

61st

72nd

So if the reason is the Miami Hurricanes don’t have enough talent, how do the other “less talented’ teams do it? Offense is king and Miami has been the epicenter for bad offense for decades. Going back to 2009 the Miami Hurricanes have NEVER been in the top three in terms of ACC scoring. Lashlee was top 5 in his back to back seasons as coordinator. That was good enough to get him a job at SMU

Josh Gattis is Mario Cristobal’s version of Dan Enos. He is a paper tiger. They both were. I don’t fault the hire in principal because an award was issued for best assistant. But it is clear Josh Gattis and his vision and style of offense is not the fit this Miami Hurricane team needs. Too many times a simple cat blitz beat you today. The red zone woes, the inability to run the ball, the loss vs MTSU and 18.5 vs. P5 opponents is not going to get it done. Not here at least.

In his defense today no offensive coordinator is going to win a game when you commit 8 turnovers. But I can’t ignore he invited so many blitzes on the perimeter and put quarterbacks in harms with his philosophy. You can run tight sets but you sure as hell need to block it right. It is pretty clear they didn’t block it right. You line up close, they come close. When they came close and blitzed the Hurricanes didn’t have any answers.

The two minute drill in the first half started with three of the same consecutive runs. Perplexing is an understatement. The offense needs a complete overhaul or a change of coordinator at the end of the season. Eventually Mario will get the trenches right and you can operate in more of that Power Spread you covet and dream of. Until then, the words pro and Miami have been Romeo and Juliette. Destined to die together.

Offense aside this year is a complete rebuild. You are 3-4 and will fight to become even bowl eligible. A mid tier bowl win would be considered a monumental win for this program at this point. Mario Cristobal’s triumphant return has been anything but. His staff on the field has put him in a situation where he has to work harder at recruiting off the field.

Defensively hard to “let your nuts hang” as Tyrique Stevenson said in the WQAM post game show when the offense did you no favors. I am sure Steele had a game plan to stop Riley Leonard in the run game. But if he had one I didn’t see it. Some missed tackles showed up today and then when Miami actually had momentum and needed a critical stop, they took the day off.

There was a a complete regression at Hard Rock Stadium today. Coach Cristobal has to come front and center and take ownership of that. He will. Mario isn’t the type to mince words and deflect blame. In the end, he has to. My advice though, Mario might want to see what Manny Diaz did after his offensive coordinator scored only 25.6 yards a game vs. P5 in 2019. His current OC averages 18.5.

Roman is Burning Duke Post Game thoughts.