Miami Hurricanes Football: Grading Their Loss to Kansas State

What a heartbreaker.

The Hurricanes finally came alive in the second half just to get denied on four straight plays from within the 5-yard line.

Kansas State escaped from Miami as Jacory Harris was stopped a half yard short of the goal line on fourth down with less than a minute remaining.

The Hurricanes are now 1-2 on the season and face Bethune-Cookman next weekend.

Here is my report card for the game against the Wildcats.

Quarterback: B

Although the Hurricanes lost, you really can not blame Jacory Harris.

After a shaky first half, Harris came back in the second half and led the Hurricanes to a fourth-quarter lead. He did have one interception in the first half, but really made great plays down the stretch.

Unfortunately on the biggest play of the game, he got stopped at half a yard from the goal line, giving the Wildcats the win.

Harris ended the night 21-of-31 passing with 272 yards and two touchdowns.

It was a good comeback for Harris after a two-interception game against Ohio State, and hopefully this game will be a confidence booster for him.

Running Back: B

Lamar Miller had 18 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown as he stayed on pace for his personal goal of 1,000 yards rushing in a season.

Mike James, on the other hand, had just four carries for 10 yards.

Although Kansas State stacked the line with eight or nine defenders most of the first half, Miller was still able to rush for over 100 yards.

Miller is a very special player, and with his quickness and speed, there may be no stopping him from his goals.

Wide Receivers/Tight End: A-

One of my biggest concerns for the Hurricanes this year was at wide receiver. Not anymore.

Tommy Streeter, Allen Hurns, Travis Benjamin, LaRon Byrd and Phillip Dorsett combined for 199 yards and two touchdowns.

It's not the numbers that are impressive; it's the fact that they don't drop balls like they did last year.

Tight end Chase Ford also got into the mix, catching one pass for 33 yards. The Hurricanes still need to get the tight end more involved, but I have been really impressed with the entire receiving corps thus far.

Offensive Line: B

Every game is becoming more of the same for the big uglies in the trenches. They continue to grow and do not allow sacks, period.

Harris did get a few bumps and bruises, but that was more because he held on to the ball longer than he should.

Miller was able to get 100 yards as the offensive line did a tremendous job opening some holes even with Kansas State stacking eight or nine at the line.

Defensive Line: D+

What was to be one of the bright spots this year is turning into a nightmare.

The Hurricanes defensive line has its moments, but they are just so inconsistent and seem to be a little too small. Kansas State was able to push around the defensive line and rush for over 250 yards against Miami.

Miami was able to get a few sacks, but the run defense was horrible.

Linebackers: D

Miami's linebackers miss way too many tackles; I truly believe the linebackers are becoming the main reason the defense is giving up too many yards.

You can tell there is a lack of experience as Miami rotates two freshmen in a lot. Ramon Buchanan has been nearly non-existent so far for the Hurricanes.

Sean Spence is the exception to the grade as he was lights out all game. Spence just gets it and has a nonstop motor and seemed to be involved in every big play. Spence needs to rally his teammates to play better as a unit.

Defensive Backs: C

Although Kansas State only had 133 yards passing, its quarterback completed 12 of 18 passes and two touchdowns.

Again, lack of experience at the cornerback position is the main reason there are too many open wide receivers. Kansas State had four dropped balls by wide-open receivers.

Miami's safeties played a pretty good game besides a couple of mistakes in the first half.

I really cannot wait for two more weeks when Miami will get a boost from the return of Ray Ray Armstrong from suspension.  That will allow JoJo Nicolas to move to cornerback.

Special Teams: B-

Miami did a good job at keeping Kansas State from any major returns, and the Hurricanes were able to get a few good returns.

Jake Wieclaw connected on a 39-yard field goal and made all his extra point conversions.

Punter Dalton Botts didn't have as good of a game, punting the ball four times for 156 yards, or 39 yards per punt.

With Lamar Miller and Travis Benjamin returning kicks and punts, I expect a little more out of them. Benjamin did have one exciting punt return where he almost took it to the house.

Coaching: D-

I truly believe the main reason why the Hurricanes lost this game was because of the play calling and the lack of knowledge of the Kansas State offense.

It absolutely drove me crazy in the first half when Kansas State was playing one-on-one coverage against the Hurricane receivers, yet they wouldn't throw the ball deep. Granted Harris has a questionable arm, but the Hurricane receivers were much more athletic and faster than the Wildcat defensive backs.

It showed in the second half when the Hurricanes continually burned the Wildcats on the deep ball.

Than to cap it off, the Hurricanes run four bogus plays from within their 5-yard line that eventually lost them the game.

Any reason why you wait until fourth down to run a play-action pass or bootleg?

The defense wasn't ready either and I blame the coaching staff for not making the proper adjustments.

There was no way Kansas State was going to throw the deep ball and Miami should have crowded the line a lot more and played one-on-one at the corner.

This was a very poorly coached game, especially coming off a great win last week against Ohio State.

Intangibles: D

The Hurricanes really should have beaten the Wildcats on Saturday.

Miami was the much faster team, but faster won't always equal a win as Miami's overpursuit on defense and horrible tackling allowed the Wildcats to escape with a victory.

Miami really needs to look in the mirror and play to their strengths and ability. As good as Lamar Miller is, Miami needs to trust in the much improved wide receiver corps. I think Miami can throw the ball downfield more, allowing Miller to have better opportunities.

The coaches need to open up the playbook a little more from here on out.