MIAMI FOOTBALL

Bye week timing good for 'these' RedHawks

By MIKE SMITH
For those who have seen ANY episode of Bar Rescue on TV, they know what a stress test is. Bar "interventionist" Jon Taffer brings in a group of customers to "test" how/why that show's featured bar is failing. Typically, it doesn't go well.

​Miami football coach Chuck Martin seems to think of the RedHawks recent matchups against Big Ten teams similarly -- especially given a massive turnover in personnel this year. 
The RedHawks . . . 

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. . . fell at Wisconsin (17-0) in Week 1 and dropped a 45-17 decision at Rutgers last Saturday. 

Painful as they might have been at times, those football stress tests can also be learning experiences for Miami players -- most of whom don't have that much actual game experience. 

As Martin recently observed, playing Big Ten teams "exposes" a lot of things. With a bye this week, the RedHawks will have some extra time to digest-and-correct. 

"(With) an experienced team like last year, you can use (a bye week) later in the year when you have more bumps and bruises," Martin said. "For us, its can we spend two weeks learning? How much more consistent can we try to play (with) our systems.?"

Now in his 12th season at Miami, Martin saw progress over the first two weeks and expects more from a relatively raw but "talented, athletic bunch on both sides of the ball."

"These are tests that help you grow in a hurry if you want to be good. If you don't, then you sulk and pout," Martin said.  

In the opener at Wisconsin, Miami's offense sputtered badly. The RedHawks totaled 117 yards of offense and failed to convert a third down (0-for-9). However, the defense played relatively well and did not give up a touchdown until late in the third quarter. 

Last Saturday was a different story, with the MU defense struggling at times, while the offense registered 368 yards  and 17 points.

"At times on the sideline, our defense looked a little bit like our offense in the first game. They looked a little bit bewildered, and we've got to get through that" Martin said. "You're not going to dominate like in high school. You can't let plays affect you. ... You can't let a series get you down."

Much like one of Taffer's expert mixologists would advise, success will be tied to consistency. 

Many good efforts on both sides of the ball have been hampered by inconsistency, and Martin noted some areas from Saturday's loss at Rutgers.

Offensively, he said, there were more points to be had, but "inconsistencies" handicapped several drives. 

Defensively, Martin said the RedHawks were "out-executed by Rutgers." I always felt like we could stop them, because they weren't pouring through us," he said. "They just kept executing and waiting for us to make mistakes. On third down, they way out-executed us. ... We didn't cover very good on third down."

For the game, Rutgers went 7-of-10 on third down conversions. 

"A lot of young guys on defense learned just how consistent they have to be to be a really good player. (It's not) two out of three snaps," Martin said. "You've got to be good for all three snaps."

Two non-conference losses against Big Ten foes do not a season make.They can, however, serve to make a team better. Martin indicated he and his staff can now combine  video and some extra instruction time. 

"We're learned hard lessons on both sides of the ball in the first two weeks," Martin said. "We're going to keep working on getting better. I really like this group."

BIG PENALTIES, BIG PLAYS
• Rutgers never trailed, but the game was tied 7-7 after one quarter and Miami was within three (10-7) when one of the game's key plays changed momentum. 
Miami had a first down at the Scarlet Knights' 19-yard line when quarterback DeQuan Finn attempted a pass to the right flat. Rutgers DB Bo Mascoe read the throw and undercut the throw, intercepting the ball and returning it 68 yards before Finn could bring him down at the MU 12. Three plays later, the hosts scored to grab a 17-7 lead.  
"We misread the coverage and throw a ball ... to a flat, and he gets a pick and they immediately score," Martin said. "Instead of it being 14-10 (us) or minimally 10-10 ... the next thing you know, it's 17-7 (in their favor) within three plays. ... Other than that, we moved the ball pretty consistently throughout the day. That was a key segment."
• While Rutgers was flagged twice for a total of 14 yards, Miami drew 10 penalties for 94 yards. It was arguably worse than that, because some of the penalties wiped out big RedHawk gains. 
Martin was particularly angered by a third quarter offensive pass interference penalty. With MU trailing 31-17, Officials ruled there was a "pick" on the play. When an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was tacked on, Miami started the next play from its own seven instead of the Knights' 40-yard line. 

OFFENSE HAD FINNISH LOOK
• Finn was a huge part of the Miami offense against Rutgers. He passed for 251 yards and ran for another 85, totaling 336 of MU's 368 yards on offense.
"DQ (Finn) had to scramble (and) had a couple designed runs that he got chunk runs on," Martin said. He also noted the RedHawks had two receivers with over 100 yards. Keith Reynolds (formerly with Washington) caught seven balls for 120 yards. Kam Perry (Indiana) had four caches totaling 108 yards. "They're both guys that haven't  played a lot of college football, but they're both explosive athletes," Martin said. .Offensively, "our timing on a lot of things was way better on Saturday than it was the first week." 

TIGHTENING UP
• Rutgers thrived early on short passing routes as RedHawk defensive backs lined up with generous "cushions." 
'That's not the cushion we practice. No one has a cushion that soft," said Martin, adding that younger, less experienced DBs are often short on confidence during actual games. . 
It took a while, but the cushions closed a bit as the game progressed

TALENTED REBELS UP NEXT
• After a couple weeks on the road, Miami follows a week off with two straight home games. Next up is UNLV, which is off to a 3-0 start and also has this week off. 
• Last Saturday, the Rebels rolled out to a 23-0 lead on UCLA before the Bruins hit a field goal before intermission and added 20 second half points in a 30-23 UNLV victory. It was the Rebels first win over a Big Ten team in 22 years. 
• The UNLV offense scored 38 points in each of UNLV's first two games.
"The quarterback is a dual threat. ... He played a lot of games at Virginia, and obviously since he's come over (to UNLV), he's done really well," Martin said. "They've (also) got a bunch of different running backs that can play."
• Noting UNLV has embraced the transfer portal, Martin said the Rebels are a "talented, talented athletic bunch on both sides of the ball."

FRIENDLY CONFINES
• Miami has been very successful at home in recent years. Since 2019, MU is 23-4 at Yager Stadium. Three of those losses were in 2022 when Cincinnati, Western Michigan and Ohio pulled out wins. 
"We've got back-to-back home games, which is exciting," Martin said. "We love being at Yager. The crowd makes a huge difference."