Miami 2010

Miami (2009 Statistics)

• Head coach Randy Shannon is in his 4^th season and fans are getting anxious for a BCS bowl appearance for the first time since the 2003 season when they beat Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
• Quarterback Jacory Harris will determine the success of Miami in 2010.  In last year’s four losses, he struggled in the passing game by either being unable to move the ball (just 150 yards passing against Virginia Tech and 188 yards passing against Wisconsin in the Champs Sports Bowl) or throwing interceptions (he threw 3 interceptions against Clemson and 4 against North Carolina). Harris is not a mobile Quarterback and doesn’t opt to run very often.  Of his 48 rushing attempts last year, he really only chose to run 15 times as about 33 of those were Sacks.  And even though a sack takes place during a passing attempt it is accounted for statistically as a negative rushing attempt).  That explains why he had -219 yards (yes, negative) rushing last year.
• Part of the sack issue has to do with an Offensive Line that needs to improve.  But this has been the story for them in recent years.  For the past six years straight Miami’s rushing offense has been held to less than 4.0 yards per carry.  The fact that Miami is not making the most of each carry is attributed (whether or not completely deservingly) to the offensive line’s inability to hold off defenders and make lanes for their rushers.
• On the other side of the ball, their Defensive Line does a great job of winning the battle at the line and preventing the other team from taking advantage of their rushing opportunities, holding them to an average of 3.5 yards per carry.
• Overall the defense needs to be more aggressive and opportunistic and improve their number of sacks (just 24 last year was the fewest they’ve had in years) and turnovers gained (they improved from 2008’s low of just 15 but still need to do better).
• Graig Cooper was the leading rusher for Miami for the past three straight years, but 2010 finds him with an ACL injury.  Luckily the #2 running back on the team, Damien Berry, had a solid 6.5 yards per carry average along with 8 touchdowns (Cooper had 4) in 2009.