2011 Miami Hurricanes Football: Miami vs Virginia

The Virginia Cavaliers registered an upset of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets earlier in October. The Miami Hurricanes have defeated North Carolina and Georgia Tech in back-to-back weeks during the very same month of October. The team with the better month is the team that wins a Thursday night throwdown in South Florida.

Miami is one of the more improved teams in the ACC since losing at Maryland to open the season. Since that opener, Miami dominated Ohio State, lost in a last-minute heartbreak to currently-undefeated and top 10 Kansas State, blew out Bethune-Cookman, lost another last-minute heartbreak to a currently top 15 Virginia Tech, beat North Carolina, and dominated Georgia Tech. Miami has steadily improved over the course of the season as their starters have returned from suspension.

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The Hurricanes will face a Virginia team that could have used its huge upset over Georgia Tech two weeks ago as a springboard to a bowl appearance, but it fell on its face last week at home against North Carolina State in a completely lackluster performance where the Cavs gained under 250 yards of offense and turned the ball over four times. Against the Wolfpack, Virginia employed a two-QB rotation, but it backfired as freshman David Watford threw three picks while sophomore Michael Rocco was largely ineffective after the first drive of the game. The quarterback hydra will face a much better, more athletic Miami defense that should be at nearly full strength. While this Hurricanes defense won’t remind anybody of the future-NFL-packed-supersquads of the early part of the decade, there are some legitimate stars on defense, especially safety Ray Ray Armstrong and linebacke Sean Spence, who could be in the running for ACC defensive player of the year.

The Virginia rushing offense hasn’t been much better than the passing offense, though it has certainly been more consistent, with three running backs rushing for at least 250 yards and at least 5 yards per carry, led by Perry Jones, who already has 576 yards on the season, with Kevin Parks and Clifton Richardson also getting significant carries. Kris Burd has taken on the primary wide receiver role after sharing catches last year with Dontrelle Inman, while Perry Jones catches a lot of balls out of the backfield.

Miami’s offense will go up against a Virginia defense that has given up at least 20 points in every game against an FBS opponent (the Cavs held William and Mary to three points in the opener), though its opponents are averaging only 23 points per game, in part because no opponent has scored more than 31 (in a win over Indiana). Chase Minnifield is a legitimate next-level player, but otherwise, the Virginia defense lacks the star power to contain an improving Miami offense. Lamar Miller has emerged as perhaps the best running back in the conference and has 799 yards and 6 touchdowns on 137 carries. He has taken this offense on his back to alleviate the need for Jacory Harris to have to win games on his own. Harris has responded by having his best year, with 90-145 passing for 1,244 yards and 12 touchdowns on the season. More important, the turnover-prone QB has only thrown four interceptions on the season so far. As long as he can get the ball to Tommy Streeter or Travis Benjamin instead of Chase Minnifield, Miller’s running should be the focus of the Hurricanes’ offense.

Miami Hurricanes vs Virginia Cavaliers Football Preview