Is Patrick Nix developing a new offense for the Canes?

The reviews on Pat Nix's first season as offensive coordinator have been mixed. For my part I give him an incomplete since he had a roster of inherited players recruited to run a pro set style offense based largely around play action. He was forced to do this with two QBs whose regression through time reflected a lack of coaching and a lack of confidence.

This year should be the a clean start for Nix's offense. With a new QB, whomever it may be and a new go-to WR needing to be developed. This year Nix seems set on recruiting QBs who played in High School shotgun systems and WRs who played in four receiver sets in H.S. However, it must be asked how does this affect Randy Shannon (and my) stated desire that Miami's offense be oriented around a power running game?

I personally liked the Power I formation with one WR and three TEs we saw at times this past season. If you have superior athletes on the line and confidence in your backs you can run right at defenses whose orientation these days are towards stopping gimmicky "spread" offenses. Some smash mouth football would give Miami a distinct advantage.

The problem is with the exception of the game against NC State, Miami's offensive line isn't dominant enough to run such an offense. Miami unfortunately has a talent gap that has developed in the later Coker years with the better defensive teams in the ACC like Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Boston College. So essentially Nix has to throw in some new wrinkles to allow Miami's running game to excel. When your QB throws for under 100 yards seven times in twelve game, defenses that are more talented than your offense know they just need to shut down your running game to rout you.

The solution is to return to a variation of an offense run by Denis Erickson at Miami and most recently run by John L. Smith, a disciple of Erickson at Louisville and Michigan State and by Bobby Petrino who closely studied Denis Erickson's Miami offenses. In other words, Miami will look more like Louisville and less like Florida, Troy or Oregon as many of our fans have been screaming for.

When Rich Olson became the offensive coordinator at Miami in 2006 I expected this kind of offense to be implemented. But my hopes were dashed probably because Larry Coker as Head Coach dictated the type of offense that should be run. After Olson left for Arizona State and Coker had been fired, Coker gave Todd Berry the freedom to implement some spread elements for the MPC Computers Bowl and Kirby Freeman ran the offense perfectly leading the Canes to what I considered an unlikely win. (For all the bashing of Nevada on Miami fan sites, they were in 2006 a slightly better team than Miami and the Hurricanes had to travel cross country with a fired coach to play them.)

When Kirby Freeman was named the starter in fall practice I assumed we'd see some of what Berry had implemented for the Bowl game. But instead we saw a very confusing offense that shuffled WRs on every down and focused a lot less on the TE than Erickson's offenses which featured Coleman Bell or even the 2006 offense which featured Greg Olsen. Nix flirted with a 4 receiver spread option look versus Oklahoma and Bob Stoops team ate it up. Back to the drawing board with two limited QBs, Miami returned to a default offense which yielded a 5-7 season.

But now with better athletes and a perfect power running compliment of the big Javarris James, the physical Derron Thomas, and the lightning quick Shawnbrey McNeal and Graig Cooper, Miami has the compliment of Tailbacks to spread the field with 3 WRs and a TE and an H-Back while running at least 35 times a game. Too often this year when behind Miami hit the panic button and started tossing the ball in the air with two limited QBs and almost no consistent WRs who could get open. The one time ironically enough Miami resorted exclusively to trying to run when behind early in the 2nd half was in Tallahassee when Miami's power running game took over the game. Two weeks later against NC State, Miami ran the ball effectively but out of the Power I with a QB who had one completion the look was a dead give away.

Part of what made Erickson's offenses so successful at Miami were quick screen passes to WRs. They aren't the most famous names in Miami history, but Jonathan Harris, AC Tellison and Jammi German excelled in running these routes in the later Erickson years which allowed power backs like James Stewart and Donnell Bennett the ability to run the ball right up the middle. The flanker screens forced the DBs to play pass on quick drops allowing draws, traps and screens with big backs that could power through the line to be very successful.

The Erickson spread if we want to call it that or, the power spread as Bobby Petrino calls it is the best offense for Miami. It keeps Miami's emphasis on the TE and running attack always elements of the pro style attack as well as allowing a QB to get into a rhythm and with short quick passes allow Miami's WRs to use their athleticism to make plays.

I sincerely hope Patrick Nix is looking at old Miami teams, and around college football (preferably at Louisville) for idea on how to move forward with Miami's offense. A return to the early 1990s Miami offense with some newer wrinkles (including using the shotgun) will give the Canes the best opportunity to change its fortunes in ACC play next season.