CaneSport Roundtable: Picking two biggest keys to success for the Miami Hurricanes v. 2024
With Miami fall drills around the corner, today the CaneSport staff is breaking down the two most important areas of the team that will determine success or failure in the 2024 season. It can be related to a player or position group, an opponent or even a concept.
So, without further ado, here is our take:
CANESPORT ROUNDTABLE SERIES: Is the season-opener a must-win game? …. Will the D finish ranked higher nationally than in 2023? … Who starts in the secondary, and is it an area that can get the job done? … Will Cam Ward break Miami’s passing records? … Who will be the No. 2 QB behind Cam Ward, and will that be an indication of the starting QB in 2025? … Does Damien Martinez surpass 1,000 yards and get past 1,500 to push Willis McGahee and Duke Johnson for school record? … Three true freshmen that will make the biggest impact for the 2024 Miami Hurricanes … Will Miami average scoring 39 or more points per game for the first time since 2002? … Why the top three Miami receivers that emerge matters, and our predictions … What is the biggest issue facing the secondary … and who will lead the team in INTS? … Biggest trap game on the schedule
GARY FERMAN
History has shown me that no matter how good a given team might be entering a season, there are going to be several games hanging in the balance in the fourth quarter. If you are going to win those games, it is going to take some luck. Let’s take a look at last year‘s Georgia Tech game, for example. When Mario Cristobal failed to call for the taking of a knee, that understandably drew all of the focus away from how much luck Georgia Tech had to still have to win that game. First, Cristobal had to make that colossal mistake. Second, the ball had to be stripped from Don Cheyney‘s hands. Next, the Yellow Jackets had to recover the loose ball. After that, Miami’s defense had to fall apart and allow a pair of completions that never should’ve happened, one of the miscues by safety Kam Kinchens, who was believed to be an All-American who was simply better than that. Miami also lost close games last year to Rutgers, Louisville, and FSU, and won a close game with Virginia. So the first key to success for me in any season is getting some luck. No team is at its best every week.
My second key is a little bit of a cliché, and kind of obvious, but that will be avoiding injuries. As improved as we want to feel the Miami roster is heading into this next season, proven depth is still at a premium at most spots. We have talked a lot this off-season about the importance of the Hurricanes really focusing on player development this season. The transfer portal tries to bring instant gratification. But the teams that do the best job of talent evaluation and traditional recruiting, and then developing those players, are the ones that are going to be set up in the future for the best success. So when Miami does experience injuries, it obviously will be important that those young players are ready to step up and make positive contributions. But the bottom line is that you can’t minimize the importance of keeping the best players on this team healthy this fall while that process is hopefully taking place at the right pace.
MATT SHODELL
Two keys to the season? Heck, there are probably 100 I can list if I really wanted to. But for me the biggest starts with QB Cam Ward. Because I think perhaps the expectations are ratcheted up higher than reality. He was projected as a mid-round draft pick, which is fine, but it seems fans are expecting Ken Dorsey-like results. He has to really ignore the outside expectations and his own personal goals, just do his job and not try to do too much. Because let’s remember he has fumbled 46 times in four years and even though he led Washington State to a No. 4 ranked passing offense in 2023 the team finished with a losing record. He has to be a leader for the entire team and be steadfast in his demeanor. A ton rests on his shoulders with making good decisions, keeping the ball out of harm’s way and getting it to the numerous playmakers. Miami’s going to need to outscore some opponents this year with some questions marks on the UM defense, so the offense has to perform at a consistently high level.
My second big key could have been pretty much anywhere on defense, but I’m actually going with coaching. Because on offense Shannon Dawson has to really scheme things up the right way to create mismatches and find diverse ways to get guys the ball, including in the run game where it felt like 80 percent of the runs last year were right up the middle. Damien Martinez can help spread defenses out, and Dawson had to do that. Lance Guidry on the defensive side? He has to temper his level of talent and perhaps some holes personnel-wise with his aggressive scheme, sometimes dialing it back to keep opponents guessing. And Mario Cristobal has to let his coaches do their jobs and not get over-involved … and make good gameday decisions.
IZUBEE CHARLES
The two biggest keys to success for the Hurricanes, in my opinion, will be quarterback play and winning the turnover battle. Last season, those were the two biggest areas of concern, and from what I saw, that was a big reason the Hurricanes dropped a handful of games last fall. So far, Miami has addressed the issue of quarterback play by bringing in arguably the best quarterback transfer available in Cam Ward. Although he has not taken a meaningful snap for the Hurricanes just yet. From what we saw this spring, it’s hard not to think that Miami didn’t hit a home run with his addition. With turnovers, I would love to see the offense limit those and the defense increase theirs. Last year, the Hurricanes had the 94th-worst turnover margin at -4. That simply has to change if Miami wants to have the season they expect.
STEPHEN WAGNER
My first key is going to be clock management in tight games for obvious reasons. If Cristobal just kneels out the clock against Georgia Tech and doesn’t butcher Miami’s final goal-to-go sequence against Louisville, Miami finishes the season with nine wins, likely in the top 25 and with a chance to win 10 games for just the second time since 2003. But Cristobal can, at times, have a tendency to focus so intensely on not losing that he forgets to play win — especially in games Miami is perceived to have a talent advantage.
My second key, which also falls on the head coach, is Cristobal not being excessively involved in Miami’s offensive game plan. The Hurricanes clearly want to play through their offensive line and hang their hat on physicality in the trenches, but that shouldn’t mean Miami throws out offensive creativity against teams the staff believes it can dominate up front. That’s how some of Cristobal’s Oregon teams found themselves in trouble against teams like Washington State, Arizona State, Arizona, Cal and Stanford, and there’s a fear lingering in the back of my mind the Canes are banking on Ward to bail them out of bad situations. I still believe Shannon Dawson is an above-average coordinator who can put together good game plans when handed full, unquestioned control of the offense, but none of Cristobal’s teams have been at their best when they’ve thrown offensive creativity out the window.
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