Miami Football: Grading the Hurricanes Loss to the Virginia Cavaliers

If the Virginia game was any indication on how the second half of the season is going to go for Miami, they might as well start looking ahead to next year.

Miami lost for the second straight year to a Virginia team that just isn't in the same league as the Hurricanes, at least not talent wise.

With the loss, Miami is now 4-4 and still needs two wins to even become bowl eligible.

Here are my grades on their performance against the Cavaliers.

Quarterbacks: A

Jacory Harris had another great night of football throwing for 311 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Harris continues to strive with Jed Fischer's new offense and is renewing himself as a very good college quarterback.

Stephen Morris also got some playing time at the end of the game completing two passes 36 yards.

Between the two quarterbacks they completed 23-of-32 passes for 347 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

You can't do much better than that.

Running Backs: C+

Lamar Miller ran for 70 yards on 16 carries, but it was the way he was finishing his runs that made me give the position a lower grade.

Although he got injured earlier this season, he has had some good games, but there are games, like this one, where it seems as though he is off.

Miller doesn't finish all runs, and I am not sure if that shoulder bothers him at times or if he is already burned out?

Whatever the case is, Miller needs to run with anger and end the plays with more power and less finesse.

There were times during the game that if he would have just put his head down and rolled over the Virginia safety, Miami would have gotten first downs.

Mike James was once again nearly invisible as he had just two yards on four carries.

This is Miami's strongest position, and they need more out of them, not necessarily their fault, but when Miller and James get the ball, they need to run more aggressively.

Wide Receivers and Tight Ends: A

Finally.

Wide receiver Tommy Streeter came into his junior season with six catches for 156 yards and one touchdown.

In the Virginia game alone, he had seven catches for 176 yards and two touchdowns.

The most impressive thing about Streeter this year is his hands, as he rarely drops anything thrown his way.

The knock I had on Streeter this game was the deep ball he didn't catch in the end zone at the end of the game.  Although it was tipped by the defender, if Streeter would have attacked the ball instead of letting it come to him, Miami would have tied the game up.

Travis Benjamin and Allen Hurns caught four passes a piece for 68 yards and 35 yards, respectively.

Tight end Chase Ford caught two passes for 22 yards.

Offensive Line: D

Considered one of the best offensive lines in the ACC, if not the country, has turned into a huge disappointment against Virginia.

I am unsure of what the problem is, but there definitely is one because they are not able to protect the quarterback or able to create holes for Miller.

Head coach Al Golden has already came out and said that Brandon Washington was not doing his job at left tackle, last year was a guard.

I studied Washington on Thursday during the game, and Golden has a good point.

My only issue is why isn't Seantrel Henderson playing left tackle?  He was moved, before he got hurt, to that position, but was used at the right side instead.

Whatever the case is, the offensive line better get it together soon.

Defensive Line: C

What a difference a player makes.

The return of Olivier Vernon has been tremendous already, and I promise you that if Vernon stays one more year at Miami, he will be a first-round draft pick in the 2013 draft.

Vernon is an absolute beast on the defensive and improved the defensive linemen one entire grade alone.

There are still other problems on the line and missing tackles is the No. 1 problem.

I can't give you exact numbers, but the defensive linemen missed a lot of tackles and overpersue way too many times against shifty ball carriers.

The line has been a major issue all year long, and it was no different against Virginia as the Cavaliers gained 207 yards on the ground.

Linebackers: D

Virginia gained over 470 yards of offense on Thursday and a majority of the reason why was because of the lack of tackling by the Hurricanes defense.

The linebackers struggled once again as Virginia ran all over them.  They missed tackles and gave up a 73-yard touchdown pass.

The only bright side was Sean Spence, once again, as he led the Hurricanes in tackles again.

Defensive Backs: D-

The Hurricanes defensive backs are raw and struggled against the Virginia wide receivers.

The defensive backs made Cavalier quarterback, Michael Rocco, look like Andrew Luck as he threw for 226 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Rocco came into the game with four touchdown passes and eight interceptions.

The Hurricane backs are so inexperienced, and there is really nothing more they can do than continue to get more game time.

Maybe it is time for the coaching staff to give the younger players more time on the field.

Special Teams: B-

The good news is punter Dalton Botts has been punting a lot better after a disappointing season as he punted three times for a 43-yard average.

The bad news is Jake Wieclaw missed another field goal.  After going without a miss for six games, Wieclaw has missed field goals in two straight games.

On the return side, Benjamin provided a a great opportunity late in the game with a 54-yard kickoff return, only to have the offense turn it over on downs.

Coaching: D

I like the coaching staff, believe it or not, but what I do not like is lack of tackling, and I put that on the coaching staff.

I understand if you have a team without talent, but Miami has talent, and I believe the coaching staff needs to get them in better positions to tackle.

I also do not like the play-calling on offense of late.

The way Jacory Harris and his receivers are playing Miami needs to air it out more.

The Hurricanes came into the game with a 4-3 record with really nothing to gain, and I believe they need to take more chances.

Al Golden and the rest of the staff need to stop being predictable and start playing towards their strengths, and that means more touches for Lamar Miller, Tommy Streeter and Travis Benjamin.

Intangibles: D

Just like the rest of the season, this game was filled with ups and downs.  The main problem going on with Miami right now is inconsistent play.

They beat very good teams in Ohio State and Georgia Tech but lost against two suspect teams in Virginia and Maryland.

If Miami wants to continue to grow this year, they must play more consistent and if they can do that, there is no way they lose another game.

They have a very explosive offense, and with the return of Olivier Vernon, the defense will continue to get better.