Heading into Saturday’s game against #24 Texas A&M, Miami has the 10th-lowest points against (10.0) in the country, while scoring an average of 50.0 themselves (T-14th). The 239.5 rushing yards per game is 16th best, led by Henry Parrish Jr, who already has four touchdowns.
Cristobal is quickly proving that no matter who he coaches, points will come early and often. Miami put up 70 in their opening game against Bethune Cookman, then followed up with 30 against Southern Miss last week. Texas A&M comes in fresh off a monumental upset at the hands of Appalachian State, which saw them fall from sixth in the country.
The Aggies are certainly going to have a chip on their shoulder when hosting the Hurricanes in College Station, but Cristobal needs to find a second gear that will let Miami ride their momentum. We saw what happened when Oregon went into Columbus last year against Ohio State, winning 35-28 in a game that was nowhere near as close as the final score. After reaching third in the country twice last season, the Ducks lost three of their last four games, all to ranked opponents.
Oregon was outscored 123-49 against Utah (twice) and Oklahoma, costing the Ducks a chance at the College Football Playoff.
Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke will be missing his leading target in WR Xavier Restrepo on Saturday. Restrepo suffered a foot injury against Southern Miss that has sidelined him indefinitely. Miami only averages 278.5 yards passing on offense, which certainly is not going to improve in Restrepo’s absence.
Should Miami emerge with the victory, this certainly should put them in the top 10, while not only kicking Texas A&M out of the top 25, but you may not see any votes for them altogether when the new polls are released on Sunday.
A win such as this could shake up the pecking order in the ACC for the rest of the year. Clemson is still in the top 5, but has a ton of unanswered questions. Kedon Slovis is certainly not Kenny Pickett in Pittsburgh. Most of Miami’s key conference games are in Coral Gables this year, while the Clemson game is on the road. Last year was only the second time we did not have an ACC team in the playoff, and each year it had been Clemson.
Miami only has five seniors on its 2022 roster. To make things even more scary for the remaining ACC schools, five recruits graded above 85 by ESPN have already committed for 2023. Quarterback Jalen Rashada from Pittsburg High School in California committed at the end of June, picking Miami over Mississippi, Florida, LSU and who else…Texas A&M. Van Dyke is only a sophomore, so the duel should be fun to watch next spring.
The statement that Miami could make with a victory over the Aggies could go a long way towards vindication for Cristobal. Several coaches made a lateral move from marquee programs, none more than Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame for LSU. Scott Frost was just fired at Nebraska earlier this week, after five subpar years. Chip Kelly is just 18-25 in four years at UCLA. Cristobal is trying to go from a marquee Power Five school to a hometown school trying to regain their dominance.
Orange and green dominance will look a lot better than the 50-some different schemes his previous school did.
-JC24