Some brief thoughts about ND Win

Hurricanes Football
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I hate ND…Fugg ‘em.

-Stock up

Toney- Well Yeah
Daniels- 40+ catches without a TD last year at LSU and made maybe the most important play of the game in spectacular fashion.
C.Brown- I was worried about this take…But kid ran tough and efficient, moved the pile, and even showed hands. I just hope CMC doesn’t fall in love with him, we need Lyle’s explosiveness (supposedly injured ankle).
K.Scott- Very, very key piece for this defense
Corners- Sure they were helped out by Carr’s inexperience. But ND does have some players on the outside and we locked them up.
Mesidor- Maybe the best player on the defense tonight, and that’s saying something because his colleague Bain was excellent as well.
C.Davis- Don’t know if it will continue with his injury but he won the job and then the game, kudos to the kid.

-Question marks
Toure- At least as an every down LB. He’s a thumper no doubt was good against the run all night. (could actually list him as a plus against the run) . But the blown coverage to the TE wasn’t the 1st time he was lost in coverage on the night. On passing downs he is either a blitzer or Pruitt needs to be on the field. That simple. He has a big place on this team, but it’s not in coverage
Poyser/Safety play- Safety play is still a concern. I still like Dylan Day to possibly take a job. A lot of fanbase just assumed Poyser was a lock. He is young and has the measurements, but it’s a big step up. Not going to give up on him. Jakobe Thomas also just falls asleep on the scramble TD (3rd and long!), but he’s never been known as a coverage safety. He’s an eraser/in the box type player (great play at the goal line)
Penalties- Albeit I think it was pretty clear UM took the worst of it penalties (starting with the pass interference on Toney that was a TD if he isn’t grabbed). Starting the 2h with a delay of game when I see Beck and Fletcher working on a secret handshake before the play? Needing a timeout to set up punt safety ND’s first series?

-I thought ND did us a favor by not giving it to Love (or even Price) quite enough, we did a good job with him, but he is just a different animal. 14 touches isn’t enough for him.

-Thought Beck was very good. Not perfect, but it’s hard to put it on the numbers all night vs. a good defense. He’s very good and his post game interview kinda gave me the vibe he is all in.

-That being said ^^^…I’m usually more open than most fans to playing for the FG. But I have no idea how you put the game on the leg of a kicker who never won the leg of a senior kid who never won the job at FAU, who was brought in to do kickoffs, and whose first made field goal was downright ugly from much shorter…Over your 3 million quarterback who played very well all game? To make a kick that Davis is probably 50% tops to make? I get it that ND corners were really starting to suffocate our WR…And Trader after missing a chunk of camp was basically invisible, but still…You have to at least let him throw a pass or two there.
Now if Davis wowed CMC in camp ehhh maybe, but the word was neither kicker was good the entire camp and it went down to the last week and basically the lesser of two evils won the job. Mind boggling. Great story though, local kid wins job then game. But that’s going to be a headache all year. On the flip side punt game was good and probably cost us a game.

-Nice to see the new pieces K. Scott, J.Scott, Aguirre, Toney, Moore, Marion…All perform well. Cristobal has built a pretty damn good roster.

All in all, great win with a lot to be excited about. Notre Dame is a very good team.

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Agree that some of the newcomers are primarily “thumpers.” Which is good for what it is. But a thumper isn’t a coverage lockdown guy and those are needed situationally. Who are those guys for UM?

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MANNY:

Carson Beck wasn’t trying to be rude. Still, as he signaled to the stage where Carter Davis was answering questions from reporters, it became apparent what Miami’s quarterback was trying to convey to his kicker.

“It’s past my bedtime,” Beck told Davis as he patted him on the back and swapped spots with him behind the microphone.

Davis, who kicked the winning 47-yard field goal in Miami’s first victory over a top-10-ranked opponent since 2017, was not with the Hurricanes this time last year. He was at Florida Atlantic, struggling to make kicks go through the uprights.

Beck? He was at Georgia preparing to lead the Bulldogs to another SEC championship, hoping to be a first-round draft pick before he suffered a season-ending elbow injury against Texas in December.

Both Beck and Davis turned out to be instrumental players in No. 10 Miami’s 27-24 win over No. 6 Notre Dame. A lot of transfers were.

“I grew up a Gators fan because of my dad,” said Davis, who was 2 of 7 on field goals last season. “You grow out of it.”

Why Notre Dame’s loss to Miami felt different from the Marcus Freeman era’s other setbacks

The Irish entered this season with ample benefit of the doubt after playing for a national title last January.

Miami had a good team in Mario Cristobal’s third season as coach, including quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick in last April’s NFL Draft. Those Hurricanes went 10-3 — only the second double-digit win season for the program since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2004. However, the ending to the 2024 season was painful. Miami’s 9-0 start and No. 1 offense weren’t enough to get the Hurricanes into the conference championship game or College Football Playoff.

Cristobal pressed the reset button on defense and aggressively pursued players in the transfer portal. Many of the new faces brought in played a significant role on Sunday in the program’s only second top-25 win under Cristobal.

Freshman receiver Malachi Toney, a month shy of his 18th birthday, led the Hurricanes with six catches for 82 yards.

LSU transfer CJ Daniels, who Miami badly wanted to sign the first time he entered the transfer portal in the winter of 2023, made a ridiculous one-handed touchdown catch right before halftime to give the Canes a 14-7 lead.

North Dakota State transfer Marty Brown teamed up with Mark Fletcher to pace Miami’s running game, bruising his way to 54 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, including a lot of touches on the game-winning drive.

At the top of the list of key new contributors for Miami, though, was defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman.

The pass coverage breakdowns we saw from Miami’s defense down the stretch in 2024 didn’t happen nearly as often. There was only one — a costly 65-yard pass from Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr to Eli Raridon to set up the tying touchdown with 3 minutes, 21 seconds to play.

In the end, Miami’s defense held Notre Dame to 314 yards of offense, including 93 rushing yards. Jeremiyah Love, a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate, finished with 33 yards on 10 carries. Only one team held the Irish to under 100 yards rushing last season: national champion Ohio State.

Miami’s defense featured seven new starters, six of whom were brought in via the portal: defensive tackle David Blay Jr. (Louisiana Tech), linebacker Mo Toure (Rutgers), cornerbacks Keionte Scott (Houston) and Xavier Lucas (Wisconsin) and safeties Zechariah Poyser (Jacksonville State) and Jakobe Thomas (Tennessee).

All of them made plays.

“It’s night and day (difference) from last year,” said linebacker Wesley Bissainthe, a returning three-year starter who had one of Miami’s five tackles for loss. “We can be even better.”

Carson Beck threw two TD passes in his Miami debut. (Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

Miami forced two turnovers, and the game ended with defensive end Akheem Mesidor and Rueben Bain recording back-to-back sacks. Bain had an interception and was relentless in stopping the Irish rushing attack.

How has Miami made such a drastic defensive improvement from one year to the next? Better communication and honesty amongst players — things Hetherman preaches.

“That process began with the bond we have with each other,” Bain said. “That’s what makes it different — holding each other accountable, having strong communication.”

Miami was prepared for a physical battle with the Irish. The thought was Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock would lean on Love and Jadarian Price to carry the load for the redshirt freshman quarterback Carr, who was making his first start. Instead, Denbrock opened the game with four consecutive passes and put the game on Carr (19 of 30, 221 yards, two TDs) instead of his offensive line and running backs.

“He is hard to prepare for with how he mixes things up,” Cristobal said of Hetherman, who helped Minnesota improve drastically in his one season with the Gophers. “I will tell you what, if we do not bust, our defense is elite. And that is OK. We knew that playing at home, there was going to be a ton of noise, and for the most part, we were able to communicate.

“We got caught on one bust and his level of teaching, communication, scheme and intensity — he was a game-changer for us today. He makes everybody better.”

Still, despite the Hurricanes’ strong play for the first 50 minutes of the game, it came down to Beck having to lead a winning drive. He didn’t flinch. After going 24-3 as a starter in the SEC, playing a top-10 team didn’t faze him one bit.

What did he tell his teammates as Miami took the field in a tie game with 3:21 to play?

“I told them we were going to go score,” said Beck, who finished 20 of 31 for 205 yards and two touchdowns. “We were looking forward to this one — especially me. I hadn’t played football in eight months. The last time, the team I was on, we played them and they beat us.”

Beck was emotional immediately after the win. He discussed overcoming surgery and expressed gratitude for being able to play football again.

However, by the time it was his turn to field questions from reporters, he was tired and ready for bed. Wins like these are nice, but when you have bigger aspirations, you tend to move on quicker.

“Win or lose today, we would have had 11 other games to play,” Beck said. “The first game of the season is very interesting — now that I’ve been a part of six of them. Tonight, I think we showed we’re physical. Our O-line moves people, protects very well. We have a lot of talent at wideout and in the backfield. Our tight ends didn’t really get involved tonight, but they will.

“Coming into it, the bus ride over here, I was feeling it. Like, in my head, it felt like any other top-10 matchup I’ve played in. But when I got on the field, I was surprisingly comfortable. God has put me here for a reason, and I’m not in this alone.”

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At corner we have them…We knew safety was not quite as strong…Some better coverage options at safety may be Fitzgerald or Day, both of who played some last night…M.Williams is probably just depth at this point.

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Yeah, I would say overall a very good game by us. Always things to nitpick on the first game given college does’t have preseason games. I would image NFL teams would be going thorugh some of the same stuff if not for preseason games, heck, they still do at the start of the season.

I thought our offensive playcalling got a bit stale as the game went on. This muddling/plodding running game that we have is hard to watch. Hate this RPO stuff with the RB, just turn around and hand it off. That’s just me. Fletcher looked good. Brown is a beast. Lyle danced too much for me and I think is better served running the outside as opposed to the inside.

Our Oline is massive! And very well disciplined. Kudos to the coaches and the players.

Where are the TE??

Other WR will emerge as the season goes on and Beck settles in and the playbook opens up more. We have the guys!

Beck: Just a huge difference maker for us this year.

D looked much better already. I agree on the S positions. Perhaps Poyser can be deployed more as a LB in the box? Corners are good. That TD was horrible coverage on our part. Poor Moten…put in all that pressure just for his guys to fail him in the back.

I think Carr is good but it still stinks that we made a true frosh look good

Would like to see some more DE guys step up. Bain and Mesidor can’t do it all.

As far as thumping…we need better tackling and less thumping…

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How did Carr not end up at Michigan? His grandfather was the head coach there and he grew up and played high school ball in Saline (sa-lean not saylean) which is an adjacent town to AA. I guess he wanted something different the way some South Florida kids reject Miami and UF to go play in Oregon or Arizona.

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The defensive turnaround really was amazing. We got great recruiting updates from you skeeter throughout the year, but it’s another thing to see it in a game. Very physical and pretty darned disciplined, all things considered.

Nice to see Beck call this out. He’s a smart guy.

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I am still not sold on the strategy we used in the last quarter to win the game. Mario seemed afraid to air it out despite having a veteran, seemingly highly intelligent QB.

If I have one big criticism, it’s on our rushing attack. Hard to argue about the productivity of Shannon Dawson, but I believe there are some things we could do to improve our ground attack. Dawson needs to take a look at what Malzahn did to take down Alabama. Why don’t we run any trap plays? Why don’t we put more players in motion. Why do we elect to use a direct handoff when a sleight of hand counter handoff would be more effective. Last year, Ward would motion as if the play was going one way, then surreptitiously hand the ball off to the RB countering the motion. I love naked reverse plays where the QB is the ball carrier.

The offense however really deserves kudos for downfield blocking, especially the WRs. I distinctly remember Trader putting a miraculous block on a defender twice his size.