The Miami Hurricanes started the 2019 season with a heart-breaking 24-20 loss to the Florida Gators in Orlando. It was a back and forth game, but in the end, the Canes didn’t have a final rally in them to win the game. Ugh. This sucks.

Here’s our Game Recap by Todd Forrest.

Here are our 3 stars from the game by Candis McLean.

And now, with no further ado, let’s get into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

• QB Jarren Williams. Let me start by saying that Miami seems to have found a quarterback. 19/29 passing for 214 yards and a TD is a strong start. Williams didn’t look out of place in this game. There are things he can improve (we’ll get there) but 15 looks like the real deal.
• The new Turnover Chain!! 305 baby!!!

• The new Touchdown Rings!! BLING BLING!!!

• TE Brevin Jordan. A true gamechanger, Jordan had 5 catches for 88 yards and a TD. He was a mismatch all night long, and would have eclipsed those stats if Miami’s OL had been able to give Jarren Williams more time. Still, bravo, Brevin!
• RB DeeJay Dallas. 12 carries, 95 yards, and a TD rushing, 4 catches, 37 yards receiving. Whether as a Wildcat or in the screen game, Dallas was a dynamic weapon for Miami. Big things ahead for him.
• Oh, and Dallas’s 50 yard TD run? Beautiful

• WR Jeff Thomas only had 1 run for 16 and 2 catches for 28, but he showed that he can flash greatness at any moment.

• RB Cam’ron Harris trucked a guy.

• CB Trajan Bandy. Miami’s #1 CB was all over the place, affecting the UF passing game, and making his presence felt in run support, too. His stats were low — 3 tackles and a PBU — but Bandy’s impact extended further than the stat sheet, to be sure.
• S Gurvan Hall. Miami’s sophomore safety had a team-high 8 tackles and a TFL. Good first start here.
• S Amari Carter. 7 tackles and an interception. Safe to say that in Hall and Carter Miami has firmly found their new starting Safety pairing.
• DE Gregory Rousseau. 2 tackles and a sack. I know he’s coming back from injury last year, but 15 has to play more at DE moving forward. He’s too dynamic to keep on the bench.
• 20 first downs
• 11.3 yards per catch
• 7.47 yards per passing attempt
• 36:13 time of possession
• 66 plays (which isn’t GREAT but it was more than UF and helped the Canes hold the ball for more than 36 minutes)
• 4.7 yards per play
• 12 chunk plays — 8 passes (15+), 4 runs (10+)
• Only 1 turnover
• Held Florida to 2/10 on 3rd downs
• Forced 4 turnovers (2 interceptions, 2 fumbles recovered)
• Held Florida to 52 yards rushing on 1.9 yards per rush attempt
• Held Florida to 306 yards of offense
• Shifts and motion and offensive variety. At least it wasn’t a sedentary offense anymore.

The Bad

• Losing. Losing is always bad. It sucks. I hate it. And this was particularly bad BECAUSE WE LOST TO FLORIDA.
• Field position. The field was tilted in Florida’s favor all game long. Florida’s average starting position: their own 37. Miami’s? Their own 30.....but that was helped GREATLY by a couple of those turnovers the defense got. Without those turnovers, which gave Miami the ball at the Miami 48, Florida 40 and Florida 25, Miami’s starting field position was THEIR OWN 18 YARD LINE.
• Difference in average starting position (minus the TOs)? 12 yards per possession. Yikes.
• Hidden yardage. How many yards came off the board due to penalties? My conservative estimate is a million.
• 6 Chunk plays allowed — 3 passes (15+), 3 runs (10+)
• Losing to Florida. Yes, I put this twice. Fight me.

The Ugly

• Tackling in the 1st half. Miami missed no less than 4 tackles on Kadarius Toney’s 66 yard TD catch and run, and missed more tackles at other times, too. Not. Good. Enough.
• Offensive Line play, but ESPECIALLY in the 1st half. Both Zion Nelson and John Campbell struggled with missing blocks and creating penalties (false start and holding). They MUST improve on their performance if Miami is going to be a 10-win team.
• Yeah, I wrote that early. The Offensive Line was worse than I thought. Nelson and Campbell were absolute turnstiles at Tackle, and Miami rarely left a RB or TE in to help them against Zuniga or Greenard. And it was absolute destruction because of it. If this is the best Miami has at OT...............
• Jeff Thomas’s muffed punt. I hate to pin a 60 minute game on one play, but I tweeted at the time that that mistake may have cost Miami the game. That turned out to be true.
• Jeff Thomas’s dropped TD catch. Look, I KNOW that would have been a tough play to make. I KNOW CJ Henderson is an elite cover corner who was man-to-man with Thomas on the play. I don’t care. Jarren threw a dime on the run, fit the ball into a tight window, and hit JT4 in the hands. That has to be a catch for a player of Thomas’s ability and aspirations. Has to.
• Penalties. All of the penalties. 14 for 125 yards, and several big plays being negated because of them. Bad HS teams don’t even have 14 penalties in a game. This is laughable.
• 16 TFLs allowed. No, that’s not a typo.
• 10 sacks allowed. 9 of which were on Nelson or Campbell. Again, not a typo.
• Allowed UF to convert 4-4 on 4th down, including a fake punt on their first drive. Disgusting.
• Missing a chip shot FG to bring the lead down to 1. Can’t have that.
• NOT cashing in on the myriad turnovers the defense created. Time and again, the Canes’ D gave the O back the ball. Time and again, the O failed to do anything with that. Atrocious.
• The tackling. Whew buddy. Missed tackles galore on Toney’s long TD. Many more missed tackles throughout the game. Franks stepped out of SEVERAL sacks bc we didn’t wrap up. Really, REALLY poor showing here, for the most part.
• 2-13 on 3rd down. Laughable.
• 0-2 on 4th down. Poor.
• 2.6 yards per rush (including sacks). Even with a couple chunk runs, that’s not gonna be good enough.
• The refs. Just a piss-poor showing. ONE EXAMPLE (of which there are many, but I’m not going through all of them) was this play on a crucial 4th down for Florida, where the RT moved 2 beats early and it wasn’t called. Florida converted the play and scored a TD shortly thereafter.

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Team Grades

Offense: D

There were some good things, but the run game was non-existent outside of a few wildcat snaps. Jarren Williams did some good things, but held the ball too long at other times. And the offensive line. Dear LORD, what an atrocious performance. And, not being able to capitalize on some prime field position after UF turnovers, and failing to score TDs when the game could have been put away. There were flashes, but they were few and far between. I can see what Miami is TRYING to do on offense. But without some serious, SERIOUS upgrades along the OL, they won’t be able to do it.

Defense: C+

Look, it was a tough ask to have the field position disadvantage Miami had to contend with most of the night. But, time and again, the defense rose to the occasion. The Canes’ D got 4 turnovers, 2 of them late in the 4th quarter when Miami desperately needed the ball to try and mount a comeback. The tackling was quite poor, and that allowed Florida to score when they otherwise wouldn’t have. Without the TOs, this would have been a D or an F.

Special Teams: D

Punting was better and 42.5 yards per punt will work. I’d like more, but that’s still 5+ yards better than last year off the bat. But, Miami missed a chip-shot FG, and Jeff Thomas muffed a punt that led directly to Florida taking the lead back. There was that cool fake FG, though, which was nice. But, I’m not raising the grade for that, and I’m not sorry about it.

Coaching: C-

There were a TON of operational penalties, and some of that has to go on the coach. Timeouts were wasted. And, in general, it just wasn’t a clean game. And that’s even before we talk about the missed tackles and turnstiles known as Offensive Linemen. I think this grade is quick generous, actually.

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That’s it. That’s the piece. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Miami’s 24-20 loss to Florida. Miami had every chance to win this game, and gave it away. Ugh. I’m sick.

Discuss in the comments.

Go Canes