It is hard to find the words to say right now. Miami lost to Duke 20-12, driving the losing streak to 3, dropping the Canes to 5-4 on the year, and giving Duke their first win in Miami since Gerald Ford was the President of the United States.

This is worse than anything I imagined this season could be.

Here’s your game recap by Dylan Sherry

Here’s your 3 stars by Matt Washington

Let’s jump into the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Good

• DT Gerald Willis III. 6 tackles, 2 TFLs, and a sack. He continues to play well in a season that’s turning into a nightmare for the Canes.
• RBs Travis Homer and DeeJay Dallas. Both backs went over 100 yards, with Dallas having 133 and Homer having 124. Each player had a touchdown, which accounted for the entirety of Miami’s scoring.
• Miami’s running game. Well, for the first half, at least. The Canes totaled 300 yards and 2 TDs running on the day. Which would normally lead to a win. But.....
• LB Shaq Quarterman. 10 tackles, a QB hurry, and a PBU. Solid game.
• S Jaquan Johnson. 7 tackles, a TFL, and an interception.
• Offensive line in the first half. Miami ran the ball a ton during the mid-game monsoon, and the success found there was due in part to solid run blocking. See, good things can be said about the OL (at times)
• 6.8 yards per carry
• 300 yards rushing
• 32:08 time of possession
• 411 yards of offense
• 16 first downs
• 11 chunk plays (3 passes, 8 runs)
• Held Duke to 3-16 on 3rd downs
• Held Duke to 4.3 yards per play
• Held Duke to 290 yards total offense
• Some motion and variety in the offensive gameplan (FINALLY)

Bad

• Losing. Losing is always bad. It sucks. I hate it. And this was particularly bad.
• Field position. The field was tilted in Duke’s favor all game long. Duke’s average starting position: their own 42. Miami’s? Their own 19.
• Difference in average starting position: 39 yards
• Hidden yardage advantage of 585 yards (39 yards x 15 drives) for Duke. So, their offense didn’t have to go that far bc the transition on special teams gifted them 4 first downs worth of field position every time they got the ball. Holy shit.
• 0 points on the 1 Duke turnover
• 5 chunk plays allowed (2 passing, 3 rushing). The number isn’t too bad, but when one is a TD, that’s bad bad.
• 6 penalties for 73 yards
• 8 TFLs allowed
• 3 sacks allowed

Ugly

• 2-7 in the last 9 vs P5 teams
• 5-7 in last 12 overall
• Not only losing, but the way Miami lost. No urgency on offense in the 2nd half, when Miami was shut out. Just, lethargic and malaise. Disgusting. — sound familiar? it should. That’s the same opening ugly statement from last week AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Losing to Duke at home for the first time since 1976.
• Giving up a 75 yard TD on the first play of the game. Over pursuit. No backside contain. That was atrocious.
• Mark Richt’s continued rotation of QBs. No consistency. No stability. No trust. No support. This situation has been horribly mismanaged, as has this season.
• N’Kosi Perry’s game. I know he was yanked in and out, but 5-16 passing for 35 yards is never good enough. Perry endured a couple tough drops by receivers, but he was wildly inaccurate on many of his incompletions.
• DeeJay Dallas’s 2 fumbles. Unacceptable. Can’t happen.
• 12 points. Scoring has declined in each of the last 3 games — 14 at UVa, 13 at BC, and 12 tonight.
• Shut out in the 2nd half for the 2nd straight week.
• 3-14 on 3rd down.
• Kicking game. 1st XP no good bc bad snap and the ensuing shenanigans. FG attempt blocked, but it was kicked so low it hit the defender below the shoulder. Punting (2 punters) average at the height of their performance. Just terrible.
• 8.5 yards per completion
• 3 sacks allowed
• A couple really bad drops
• A plethora of really bad throws
• Offensive line gown owned in pass protection all game, with both QBs in there
• We lost to Duke, man. DUKE

Team Grades

Offense: F-

It’s been bad and has gotten worse. Rotating QBs is a dumb move. Limiting the play calls during Perry’s first 2 drives (which started on the Miami 8 and 2, respectively) then pulling him again did nothing for his confidence or integration into the game. 300 rushing yards, but just 12 points. 2 fumbles by DeeJay Dallas. Drops. Penalties. There was a measure of creativity shown with some new plays, but it didn’t amount to yards or points. Every team in America knows how to stop Miami’s offense, and Miami’s offense helps them in that task. I shudder to think how this could get worse, but they keep finding ways to sink to a new low every week, so we’ll see.

Defense: B-

First play aside, Miami’s defense did well tonight. The TFL numbers were way down (less than half the normal production rate), but Duke didn’t have much room to work. The field position advantage helped the Blue Devils score, but the defense was good. Except for those times when Manny Diaz got cute. Cut that out.

Special Teams: D

Punting and Kicking were really bad. Returns were okay.

Coaching: IMMEDIATELY Fireable

Changes to the staff are not desired, they’re required at this point. An update to the offensive paradigm is, too. Rotating QBs without rhyme or reason is incredibly stupid. This “aww shucks” routine after losing is also played out.

Major changes to the staff, roster, and paradigm are needed. This cannot stand. This team, and this season, have been mismanaged to a level where other coaches would have been fired. Miami’s not firing Richt, but they need to fire him from the OC/Playcaller spot and force other changes to be made.

I am disgusted and refuse to view the declining state of this program as acceptable.

That’s my view of things. Share yours in the comments section below.

Go Canes