The terrible season for Miami continues. The Canes were beaten in ever phase of the game by FSU. Ultimately, you can see that FSU head coach Mike Norvell finally has a system in place. As for Miami’s head coach Mario Cristobal, the journey to bringing Miami back looks to be a long one.
Unfortunately, Miami has been plagued by injuries all season, but some can say all decade. Needless to say, Miami vs FSU is a rivalry game and should have been a little bit more competitive than what we saw.
FSU
Trey Benson & Jared Verse
The transfer running back has been good all season, but he made a statement against Miami. Benson rushed for over 100 yards on 15 carriers and two touchdowns. Benson ran hard through the tackles and was more physical than Miami all night.
Miami’s defense had no answer for the tough running by Benson. Benson only had one catch out of the back field for 25 yards.
Another transfer that has been huge for FSU all season who made it difficult for Miami as well was Jared Verse. Verse was able to get to the quarterback once and got a fumble recovery. Although he did not have many tackles in this game, he was able to hold his side down to allow other players to make the tackles.
Jordan Travis
The first time we saw Travis play against Miami, he was on the other end of a 52-10 loss. 3-years later, and Travis has led FSU to a comeback victory and a blowout against the Canes.
Travis went 10/13 for 202 yards and 3 touchdowns. He did not have to do much in this game because of how bad Miami looked on defense. Travis has become the overall nucleus of Mike Norvell’s rebuild of FSU.
Miami
Where do I begin for Miami. The Canes looked undisciplined from the start of the game to the end. It’s the unfortunate side effect of having so many key players injured to go along with significant depth issues. Miami was out matched and definitely out coached.
Josh Gattis
All season, Miami has had a terrible time getting into the end zone. The former Michigan Offensive coordinator took over the same job at Miami that had a potential 1st round quarterback on its roster. Most expected the Miami offense to pick up where it left off in 2021, but that hasn’t happened.
The Canes haven’t reached the endzone in over 9 quarters of action. We can all agree that the scheme that Gattis is running just doesn’t work for Miami. Some might say it’s the players, but former offensive coordinator and current SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee had Miami’s offense humming last season at the end.
Although Miami is suffering from many injuries, Gattis has to create plays for the offense to have an opportunity with who they have. Sadly, Gattis has not been able to do such a thing.
I thoroughly believe Miami has a good roster of players with an offensive scheme that handicaps them every game.
Against FSU, Miami’s offense only generated 188 yards of total offense and zero touchdowns again. It goes without saying that Gattis will need to show some improvement before the end of the year, or we could see him on his way out.
Mario Cristobal
The next few games to finish the season off will be very important for the future of his program. There will be a lot of players transferring out who are seniors or juniors of this current roster. However, what remains will be players who want to be a part of the growth at Miami.
Unfortunately, I expect Tyler Van Dykes and Jake Garcia to be two quarterbacks that leave the program at the end of the season. TVD went out early after suffering an injury for the second time this season. As for Garcia, his play when given the chance to lead Miami hasn’t been great at all.
Garcia threw another interception and fumbled late in the game. It would be Jacurri Brown, the third string quarterback that would show a little spark in the offense. Brown rushed for 54 yards on the ground and threw for 37 yards in the air.
The freshman looked like the only player who wanted to play in this game. Although we haven’t seen his arm much this year, when he has thrown it shows a big arm.
Moving forward, this Miami team has to show some improvement, if any.
What’s Next?
For the Noles, FSU will need to continue to recruit well and develop well. They have shown great progress over the last 3 years under Norvell, that FSU should be considered contenders for the ACC Championship game in 2023.
As for Miami, Mario will need to continue to keep that recruiting class together. He will also need to get some of the younger guys on the field. He might actually have a quarterback for 2023 in Jacurri Brown. In today’s game, having a mobile quarterback like Brown is crucial.