Miami Hurricanes dominated the line of scrimmage
The Miami Hurricanes look like a completely different team in the trenches, dominating the opener against Miami of Ohio.
Transcript
00:00 I haven't been this encouraged about the Miami Hurricanes physicality at the line of scrimmage
00:05 since probably 2017 back when they had that 10 to 2 year.
00:09 Not saying the Canes will go 10 and 2, but bear with me.
00:12 I'm really encouraged by the physicality.
00:14 Not only did the Miami Hurricanes offensive line not give up a single sack in this game,
00:19 which is big, there were zero lost yards on running plays.
00:26 Everything was moving forward.
00:28 Matt Lee, the new starting center, as expected, absolutely owned that spot.
00:35 He's a physical blocker, does a great job calling the signals, fits like a glove with
00:40 him.
00:41 Jalen Rivers, who it's not necessarily his natural position, but he's serviceable at
00:46 all five.
00:47 He looked really comfortable at left tackle.
00:49 I know he spent a lot of time in the off season preparing to play that spot while Zion Nelson
00:53 is still recovering from injuries.
00:55 Jalen Rivers earned the highest pass blocking grade on the team at an 86.7 per pro football
01:01 focus.
01:02 It's nice when the guy who's protecting your quarterback's blindside earns the top pass
01:06 blocking grade.
01:07 At 86.7, that is an excellent grade.
01:10 I think with PFF, they consider anything over a 70 to be a good grade.
01:15 Once you start getting into the 80s and then into the 90s, you're getting into rarefied
01:19 air.
01:20 A good night from Jalen Rivers.
01:22 On that left side of the offensive line, when you talk about that physicality, yes, we're
01:27 talking about a team that rushed for 250 yards.
01:31 Okay.
01:32 I don't care who you're going up against.
01:33 I know what you're going to say, Dono.
01:35 It's Miami, Ohio.
01:36 Try that against Texas A&M.
01:38 We'll, you know, we'll take one opponent at a time here, but no matter who you're going
01:41 up against, and by the way, Miami of Ohio last year, they did a great job defensively against
01:46 Kentucky when they played them last season.
01:48 They had the top rushing defense in the Mac last year.
01:51 So 250 rushing yards for the Canes.
01:54 That's a very good number.
01:56 And they had their most success running behind the left side of that offensive line.
02:00 Jalen Rivers and Javion Cohen, who also had a good Hurricanes debut.
02:05 Hurricanes picked up 92 rushing yards to the left side.
02:08 And yes, running behind Matt Lee and the guards was also successful.
02:13 74 yards on nearly seven yards per carry in those situations.
02:19 So the left side and up the middle seemed to be the winners for the Canes last night.
02:24 And listen, on the right side, still, he's going to get better and better as the season
02:29 goes on.
02:30 But I did think CeCe Maui Noah had a fine debut as a true freshman right tackle.
02:34 He doesn't look out of place there.
02:35 His run blocking right now is a little bit ahead of his pass blocking per the grades,
02:39 but we know CeCe is going to be a great one.
02:42 And yeah, Cam McCormick, Miami's blocking tight end, who's in, I think, his eighth year
02:47 in college.
02:48 He's a man wilder and the old man is an awesome blocker.
02:51 OK, so good blocking up front from the offensive line and from your blocking tight end.
02:56 As far as the defense goes.
02:59 They only gave up 51 rushing yards.
03:03 They held the Red Hawks to two for 12 on third down.
03:07 That is outstanding.
03:08 That might be my favorite stat of the game.
03:10 Two for 12 on third down.
03:12 The only other stat I love is they didn't give up a single touchdown, which is nice.
03:16 So Lance Guidry, who's now Miami's defensive coordinator, he had the top third down defense
03:22 in America last year at Marshall, and he's clearly trying to do the same thing here.
03:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]