By The Numbers 2024: A look at how the Miami Hurricanes graded out in nailbiter vs. Virginia Tech

Miami faced Virginia Tech in a crazy nailbiter on Friday, and now it’s time to go inside the grades with Pro Football Focus:

RUN GAME ANALYSIS

Fans can easily blame the running backs for a lackluster performance against a Virginia Tech team that entered Friday night’s game ranked No. 101 in the nation against the rush. But per Pro Football Focus the backs’ grades were pretty good – Damien Martinez was at a 78.8 percent run grade and Mark Fletcher 79.4. The production didn’t match the grades, of course, as Martinez ran 14 times for 60 yards and Fletcher five times for 22 yard (Jordan Lyle had two carries for two yards and Chris Johnson lined up in the slot and had a 24-yard reverse on his lone carry).

The culprit?

Well, per PFF it was the blocking.

Aside from Francis Mauigoa’s excellent 81.6 run block grade, no other lineman was above a not-real-good 60 percent. Matthew McCoy checked in at 57.1 percent as a run blocker, Markel Bell 54.7, Zach Carpenter 52.4 and Anez Cooper 49.3.

It also didn’t help that WRs Isaiah Horton and Jacolby George had the two worst run blocking grades on the team at 39.9 and 31.7 respectively. So not a lot of blocking help on the perimeter, either.

BREAKING DOWN CAM WARD

Ward was hurried 11 times per PFF and was sacked three times on his 48 drop backs, as the pass blocking had some issues at times. He had an excellent 84.8 overall grade, a 73.8 pass grade, 89.6 run grade and low 38.1 grade when it came to protecting the football (fumble grade). He scrambled six times on his 48 pass plays.

Go inside the numbers a bit more and you see he had an elite 89.4 grade when kept clean in the pocket. That dropped to 68.9 percent when he was pressured. When blitzed he really had issues – his grade was just 48.4 percent with a low 37.4 passing grade on those 23 plays. On the 25 plays he wasn’t blitzed? An outstanding 95.2 grade with a 94.2 passing grade. So Miami and Ward need to figure out how to handle the blitz better.

Ward also excelled on his deep throws, something he’s making a habit of. On 20-yard plus attempts he was 6-9 for 178 yards with two TDs and 0 INTs, an elite 92.8 grade. His nine 10-19 yard passes saw him hit just three for 47 yards with a TD and two picks, earning a 61.4 grade. PFF also gave him a low 56.7 grade on throws from 0-9 yards (7-11 for 74 yards with a TD in those situations). Ward was 8-9 for 44 yards on throws behind the line, an 80.4 grade.

MIAMI MISSED 21 TACKLES ON DEFENSE

Miami really struggled getting guys to the ground in this game with 21 missed tackles noted by PFF. The biggest culprit was Mishael Powell with four missed tackles (a 25.4 tackle grade) followed by three apiece from Francisco Mauigoa (24.2 tackle grade), Daryl Porter (29.5 tackle grade) and Elijah Alston (39.1 tackle grade). So that needs to be cleaned up.

Also of note is Tyler Baron had six QB hurries with Mauigoa and Alston netting five apiece. But none of those three had over a 65 percent pass rush grade (70 is considered good). The best grade in that area went to Simeon barrow at 71.0 percent followed by Akheem Mesidor’s 68.3. So really nothing great for anyone in the pass rush in this game overall.

In the secondary no player graded out at higher than 68 percent in coverage (that was D’yoni Hill’s grade). The Hokies really picked on Daryl Porter after he struggled the prior game – Porter was noted allowing six receptions on seven targets for 50 yards, so another tough game for him although he did have one pass breakup. His cover grade was a lowly 56.1 percent. Jadais Richard also gave up three completions on four targets for 59 yards (46.8 cover grade), and Powell had a rough day at safety allowing three of five receptions for 36 yards with a bad 44.7 cover grade. Jaden Harris also really struggled with a 45.6 cover grade to go with a really bad 28.5 tackle grade. So the secondary had major issues noted by PFF.

Miami offensive grades (snap count)

Cam McCormick, 87.4 (16)

Cam Ward, 84.8 (74)

Francis Mauigoa, 80.0 (74)

Elijah Arroyo, 75.9 (49)

Mark Fletcher, 74.7 (23)

Damien Martinez, 73.0 (39)

Riley Williams, 72.2 (18)

Chris Johnson, 71.1 (6)

Xavier Restrepo, 68.7 (67)

Jacolby George, 66.7 (47)

Isaiah Horton, 64.7 (40)

Sam Brown, 63.7 (49)

Matthew McCoy, 61.5 (74)

Jordan Lyle, 60.8 (5)

Ray Ray Joseph, 60.0 (1)

Ajay Allen, 60.0 (2)

Elija Lofton, 55.5 (8)

Zach Carpenter, 55.0 (74)

Markel Bell, 53.8 (74)

Anez Cooper, 52.6 (74)

Miami defensive grades (snap count)

Wesley Bissainthe, 76.1 (61)

Justin Scott, 71.1 (11)

Simeon Barrow, 71.0 (23)

CJ Clark, 69.7 (25)

Isaiah Horton, 67.4 (2)

Ahmad Moten, 67.2 (33)

Marley Cook, 67.1 (9)

Raul Aguirre, 66.6 (11)

Akheem Mesidor, 65.1 (51)

D’yoni Hill, 65.0 (39)

Zaquan Patterson, 64.8 (14)

Elijah Alston, 64.8 (46)

OJ Frederique, 63.3 (35)

Malik Bryant, 61.2 (22)

Markeith Williams, 61.1 (25)

Tyler Baron, 59.8 (48)

Jadais Richard, 55.7 (68)

Daryl Porter, 55.5 (62)

Jaden Harris, 50.5 (29)

Mishael Powell, 46.4 (68)

Francisco Mauigoa, 45.8 (66)

The system reflected in the above? Well, a PFF analyst will grade each player on a scale of -2 to +2 per play. A “0” would be an average play in which a player didn’t have a “good” or “bad” play. There are three total analysts that look at the grades, which are then verified by the Pro Coach Network (a group of former/current NFL coaches). Then the grades are put into a 0-100 scale, with 64 considered average and anything 85 or higher considered elite.