SP+ offense per Bill Connelly<\/a>, while Miami\u2019s offense was 22nd in SP+.<\/p>\nLooking back at the 1991 Hurricanes where Mario Cristobal was a starting OL the \u2018Canes had three main backs in Larry Jones, Stephen McGuire and Martin Patton. McGuire averaged 4.9 yards per carry while Jones averaged 5.0 and Patton 3.2. The trio combined for 16 TD\u2019s and the offense was 15th nationally in scoring with 33.1 PPG.<\/p>\n
While the backs were typically two \u2018thumpers\u2019 and a scat back in the Dennis Erickson one-back offense, the QB was expected to take the top off in between tunnel screens to the slot WR. In \u201891, QB Gino Torretta (the 1992 Heisman Trophy winner) averaged almost 16 yards per completion and 8.3 yards per attempt.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s more yards per completion than Beck last season (11), Cam Ward in 2024 (14) and Darian Mensah for Duke in \u201825 (11.9). If Mark Fletcher (5.5 yards per carry), Marty Brown (3.9ypc) and Girard Pringle (6.0ypc) are two thumpers and a scat back (they combined for 23 TD\u2019s) then someone has to take the top off the defense.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Canes 2025 offense scored 30.9 PPG which was good for 35th in FBS. That\u2019s less PPG in 2025 than in a much slower paced CFB landscape in 1991.<\/p>\n
So who will make the explosive plays for Miami in 2026? In 1991 the WR trio of Lamar Thomas, Horace Copeland and Kevin Williams were all explosive players. Thomas averaged 16 yards per catch, Copeland 19.1ypc, and Williams 15.7ypc. The trio combined to score 13 TD\u2019s in Erickson\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n
The Hoosiers had the no.2 offense per SP+ and their WR\u2019s averaged 13.6 (Omar Cooper Jr.), 12.8 (Elijah Sarratt) and 20 (Charlie Becker) yards per catch last season with 32 TD catches between them.<\/p>\n
As a comparison at OSU Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate and Brandon Innis averaged 14.3, 17.2 and 7.5 yards per catch, respectively; with 24 combined TD catches. OSU\u2019s offense was 21st in PPG with 33.4.<\/p>\n
A year ago with Beck behind center Miami lacked explosive offensive plays. The \u2018Canes trio of WR\u2019s were Malachi Toney, CJ Daniels and Keelan Marion. Toney and Marion both averaged 11.1 yards per catch while Daniels hit the 13.1 ypc mark. The trio combined for 19 TD\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The 2026 grouping with Mensah at QB will need to hit on some deep shots in order to keep opposing defenses off of an OL that will more than likely start a freshman RT and a bunch of other guys attempting to figure each other out early on. We already know that Toney is more than just any old WR, he can run, pass and block with the best of them.<\/p>\n
Vandrevius Jacobs, Cooper Barkate and Cam Vaughn are three portal WR\u2019s looking to add to what Josh Moore and Toney have to offer Mensah out wide. Jacobs is the deep threat at 17 yards per catch, while Vaughn averaged 15.5, Moore 12, and Barkate 15.4.<\/p>\n
On defense the \u2018havoc plays\u2019 of Bain, Mesidor and Scott must be replaced by transfer edge Damon Wilson II, DB Omar Thornton and an emerging Ahmad Moten. Wilson logged 9.5 TFL\u2019s, nine sacks, two PBU\u2019s, and one INT last season for Missouri. Thornton had eight TFL\u2019s, two sacks, four forced fumbles, one PBU and one INT. Moten picked up nine TFL\u2019s and 4.5 sacks in a late emergence against the nation\u2019s best OL\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Can you expect to replace the havoc and explosive play squashing ability of Mesidor, Bain and Scott? Probably not. I don\u2019t care who you bring in via the portal those three were quite the trio. But can you expect much more from Mensah, Barkate and Vaughn alongside Toney? I think so. Even with a new OL the offense should be more explosive and Bryce Fitzgerald and the guys should limit explosives jumping to the \u201824 level, even without all the havoc up front.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Miami Hurricanes will enter the 2026 season without four star players from the 2025 National Championship Game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,1806],"class_list":{"0":"post-793948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-football-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116177138195999084","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}