2010 Miami Hurricanes Football: Four Flaws That Need Fixing Now

The 2010 college football season is only a few weeks away, and we have listened to the analysts and coaches all talk about their teams.  Most are predicting a good season for Miami with many talking about an ACC title, but all of those assumptions are based on how things look on paper. 

Every team has flaws that make them play less than optimal, and these weaknesses work against them to lead to losses.

The Miami Hurricanes are no different. This team could have easily gone through the season last year with just one loss. There is really only one game anyone can point to where the Hurricanes were out of it early and had no chance to win the game in the fourth quarter. 

The team has many flaws, and they will have to overcome these if they want to win the ACC and even have a shot at competing for a National Title.

Here are four critical flaws that need to be fixed by the team this season if they hope to reach their goals and have the type of year they are capable of having.  There are more than four, just like with any team, but these seem to be the ones that have the biggest effect on each game, and they're also the ones that seem to come up the most often.

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Flaw No. 1: Showing Up Unmotivated

The Miami Hurricanes have always been known as a team that comes out with passion and fire.  In recent years though, the Hurricanes have shown a tendency to go through the motions. 

It is almost the same process each time. They come out and get a quick touchdown then go into hiatus for most of the game.  Then, the fourth quarter rolls around and they decide they want to play football. 

You can point to this behavior in several games: Virginia Tech (they didn’t play in the fourth), Wake Forest (a heroic comeback in the waning minutes), and Wisconsin.

All of those games have very similar themes as to how the team came out to play from the start of the game.  The interesting part about all of these games is that the team came out and looked like they were going to put up a good fight early. Then it’s like the bottom fell out and they could not recover against Wisconsin and Virginia Tech—it was pure luck that they won the Wake Forest game.

Many will blame Randy Shannon for not getting the team ready and motivated, but I put a lot of the blame on the players.  If you come to Miami you take pride in the logo on the side of your helmet, and you do everything in your power to win the game (at the minimum give 100 percent effort). 

The players are the ones on the field getting hit in the mouth and not fighting back, so how can you blame the coach?

Perhaps in some cases they are not the right recruits for the job; it is difficult to coach a person to be tough if they naturally aren't.  But part of this issue is the fact that there were not many upperclassmen in starting roles who chose to influence the team. 

This coming season things should be different as there are many players who have matured and now in prime position to lead this team and hopefully prevent these lethargic situations.

Flaw No. 2: Consistent Offensive Line Play

The Hurricanes have talent at every skill position, but that does not matter if they do not get better play from the offensive line.  Jacory Harris will only be as good as his offensive line allows him to be.  The hurricanes have size along the offensive line, but lack a lot of depth.

They partially addressed that issue by signing a lot of young offensive line talent, but it is unclear if those young players will make a difference this season. 

Can players like Seantrel Henderson and Malcolm Bunche contribute enough to make the offensive line deep up front? With teams like Florida State, North Carolina, Ohio State, and Virginia Tech on the schedule there will not be time for on-the-job training.

Mark Whipple can help the problem with better play calling. This will help to highlight the strengths of the offensive line and how they’re playing. If you do not get the proper protection, what sense does it make to call passes several times a series?

Whipple can also use the running game to loosen up the pass rush on those plays where he wants to go deep.  Orlando Franklin and Joel Figueroa will need to step up as leaders this season and make sure the young players grow up quickly.

Flaw No. 3: Stop Giving Up Big Plays on Defense

Last season the Hurricanes were only blown out in one game: against Virginia Tech.  All the other games were winnable and for the most part lost late in the game.  In most of these games the offense scored over 30 points, which should be enough to win most of a team's games.

The common theme in a lot of these games is the defense giving up a big play or two that kept the other team in it or gave them the go ahead score late. 

The long touchdown pass to CJ Spiller against Clemson, the slant pass for about a 40 yard touchdown against Wake Forest, and who can forget countless plays against Florida State.  Luckily, through late game heroics, most of these came out as victories.

Even against Georgia Tech the defense shut down the triple option but was abused by Nesbit and Demaryius Thomas for long pass plays. 

This is a product of the type of defense they run, but this indicates that the safety is being fooled or gambling too much when these plays occur.  This is also a product of the defense lacking a consistent pass rush which causes the secondary to cover for longer periods of time.

The Hurricanes' pass rush should be better this season with Marcus Forston back which allows Allen Bailey to move back to defensive end.  If the Hurricanes can reduce the number of big plays they give up, or at least when they give them up, this team will have a much easier time on Saturdays.

Flaw No. 4: Better Clock and Game Management

One overlooked aspect of the game is clock and game management, and the hurricanes did not do a great job with either last season. Randy Shannon and his coaching staff must do a much better job of managing the game.

There were several times last season when the hurricanes needed a timeout but did not have one because it was wasted earlier in the half.

Many of the situations were inexcusable and hinted at a lack of preparation from the players. Managing the game is one of the coach's primary duties, and the coaches that do it well generally win.

Those drives at the end of the first half, for example, are crucial and can turn the outcome of games. On several occasions Miami missed scoring chances because of bad clock management, only to lose the game by a small margin late.

The Hurricanes' two-minute offense has not looked particularly well either, and if it weren't for late game heroics by Jacory Harris and his receivers, those games would have been losses.  The coaches need to do a better job of predicting their next move in games rather than acting shocked when their initial game plan does not work.

Too often it seemed that the coaches were scrambling for answers when a situation would arise in the game rather than having the decision ready or anticipating a possible situation before it happens. 

Halftime adjustments end up determining the game more times than not, and the Hurricanes do not always do a good job of adjusting in the second half.  In order for the Hurricanes take the next step and win an ACC title, they will need to improve greatly in this area.