**Taken From My Writing on State Of The U**
There’s no denying the gap that exists in Miami’s game. What pushed us to the 10-0 start in the 2017 season was the high-energy, turnover-creating defense that kept the team’s playoff hopes alive. The Hurricanes had some luck with our offense and was able to ride that out in their advantage (The one-point win over Georgia Tech). But we we’re never prepared to be ranked anywhere near #1 in the country. The over-confident Miami attitude that started this season with sky-high expectations and a glitzy new chain, just ended up hurting our mental game and made the Hurricanes act more entitled than they ever deserved. These last three games have shown us the Hurricanes have massive room for improvement in their offense if they even want to be considered a ranked team next season.
Richt isn’t to fully blame here, even though it seems like every fan on the internet believes he is. He turned the team around in one season and brought the Hurricanes their first Coastal Division title last season. He brought in Manny Diaz as defensive coordinator and donated $1 million of his own money to help fund the new indoor practice facility.
But for weeks now, Miami has struggled with 14, 13, 12 point offensive performances against unranked schools. That struggle falls on Richt, and the starting quarterback dilemma doesn’t help the situation. Red shirt freshman Perry and fifth year senior Rosier have battled for the QB1 crown, both struggling to get on the same page as the wide receivers this season. The constant question mark that sits on the roster has made it hard for the offense to get synchronized with an exact quarterback and his style. Nine weeks into the season, it seems like there should be a clear quarterback choice, however the opposite is true.
“Obviously you’d love to have one quarterback who is playing his tail off and there’s no question to who the guy is” said Richt, “I can sit here and try to say who it’s going to be, but sometime you say something now you may not want to say after the film is viewed.”
Yes, conditions were muddy and wet against Duke, which aren’t optimal for receivers. But our plays were more disappointing than anyone could have expected, the Hurricanes had home field advantage and still couldn’t pull off a win. Duke outscored Miami 13-0 in the second half, showing again that Richt lacks at half time adjustments, whose been shut out in the second half in back to back games.
Sometimes in tough situations a serious change is needed, or a whole new variable added to the equation. Cue talks about true freshman Jarren Williams here. When asked about the idea of Williams getting time this season Richt seemed open but unsure of it, “The red shirt rule would allow him to play a little bit. So, I’m not saying that couldn’t happen. I think anything is possible at this point.”
If Williams and Perry aren’t the future answer for the Hurricanes, Richt has to be prepared to find a QB transfer (just as Michigan and Washington State have accomplished so well this season). That’s a whole other story though, but for now it seems like the Hurricanes need a shake up in the system, so there’s nothing to lose by giving Williams some snaps this season. This isn’t how any Hurricanes fans expected the season to go, but we’ll work with what we have. And for our offensive game, there’s almost nowhere to go but up.
Photo Credit: (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS)
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