Tight End U Returns: The U is about Smashmouth Football

Saturday's victory over Florida State was significant in many ways for a reeling Miami football program. Perhaps the two most notable things were a definite message by Offensive Coordinator Patrick Nix: He wants to run the ball down the opponents throats and he wants to get the Tight Ends involved in Miami's passing game much like past Miami teams were able to do.

The early somewhat surprising decision by Greg Olsen to seek an NFL career left Miami with three inexperienced Tight Ends all of whom had little experience to fall back on. That was obvious early in the season as Miami failed to utilize the Tight End and Miami's Wide Recievers continued their recent subpar play.

But when the chips were down yesterday and Miami needed to win a huge rivalry game, the Canes returned to the well which has yielded so much positive "holy" water in the past. The Tight End. Near the goal line early in the game Richard Gordon got open and was held by an FSU defender. The ACC crew led by Ron Cherry failed to throw a flag but Miami would go back to that twice: once on a fake field goal where DajLeon Farr caught his third TD of the season and most notably on the winning TD when Kirby Freeman found Dedrick Epps all alone in the end zone for six points. Miami's poor red zone offense this season can be attributed directly to the loss of the option of the Tight End, which has been since the days of Glenn Dennsion and Willie Smith, the Canes default go to red zone play.

Back to the Running Game. Miami is a weak team on both sides of the ball, inferior in talent to most ACC opposition. Miami fans don't seem to want to admit this but it is without question the case. Where Miami does have an advantage is along the offensive line (when Jason Fox is healthy) and at the tailback position. After a confusing, error prone first half which found the Canes chasing the game in Tallahassee, Pat Nix and Randy Shannon determined to get back to what Miami can do better than anyone. PLAY SMASHMOUTH FOOTBALL.

The Hurricanes came out in the second half and ran the ball down FSU's throats. Despite being behind Nix, unlike so many of his peers in the business didn't abandon the run- instead he basically abandoned the pass and rededicated the Canes to doing what they can do best. Javarris James ran right through FSU's defense and if not for a fumble by Shawnbrey McNeil, Miami may have been able to continue running right down FSU's throat the rest of the half and kill the game. But Miami's turnover prone offense kept giving FSU good field position and conceding Field Goals to the kid they call weed (Gary Cismesia), but Nix didn't waver from running the ball. By keeping Miami's weary defense on the bench, the Canes D was able to step up and make the big stops when they had to for the victory.

The 37-29 scoreline looks like a shootout, but it wasn't. While FSU has to rely on the pass to make big plays, Miami has been for several years primarily a running team. The problem is Miami has fallen behind so much in games recently that the run was abandoned early for the pass, and Miami predictably lost. What Pat Nix showed us yesterday is even when behind Miami is going to be patient and do what we do best. Run the football and look for the Tight Ends on short patterns. This should also allow Miami to return to a more play action based attack in the future, something I know both Nix and Shannon hope to accomplish before the year ends.