Miami’s ugly loss to Duke featured 8 turnovers, 6 sacks and a QB lost: 9 takeaways

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Mario Cristobal didn’t have much to offer in his opening statement after the Miami Hurricanes’ latest embarrassment.

“Obviously not good,” Miami’s $80 million coach said after his team turned it over eight times (the most by an FBS program since Central Michigan did it in a loss to Wyoming in 2017) in a 45-21 loss to Duke. “Not a good performance in every respect.”

He was right.

Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke went down in a heap of pain, clutching his right elbow against his chest as he walked off the field midway through the second quarter.

Backup Jake Garcia tossed two touchdown passes in the first two minutes of the third quarter to rally Miami from a 10-point deficit to a 21-17 lead, but he and the Hurricanes turned it over five times after that (once on downs). Garcia fumbled twice and threw three interceptions as Duke (5-3, 2-2 in the ACC) handed Miami (3-4, 1-2) its third consecutive loss at home.

The last time that happened to the Canes? When the Orange Bowl closed in 2007 and Cristobal was just getting started as a first-year head coach at FIU. His record after Saturday’s loss is 64-63.

Here are nine takeaways from the game:

1. Cristobal is going to have to start booting guys from the team who aren’t putting forth the proper effort. One thing former coach Manny Diaz had going for him before he was fired last season was a team that kept fighting right through the very end. The Hurricanes finished 5-1 after a 2-4 start under Diaz, who is now Penn State’s defensive coordinator.

As Duke pulled away in the fourth quarter Saturday, turning Miami’s mishaps into easy points, there was a drop in energy and effort by the players.

“We’ll see on tape,” Cristobal responded when asked if his players stopped playing hard. “If somebody stops playing hard, they gotta go play somewhere else. What we’ve got to do requires tough people. To turn the program (around) and rebuild it requires tough-minded people that are willing to do the work. That shows up on tape. (If not), gotta find it somewhere else. Some guys have played really well. Some guys have played hard. We’ll go from there.”

Said tight end Will Mallory, who caught a touchdown pass: “If we don’t stay together, it’s only going to get worse.”

It’s hard to imagine it looking any worse than it has to this point. But there are five games left.

2. The fourth-quarter collapse was pretty epic. Garcia was sacked three times in the fourth quarter and threw ugly interceptions.

There were also a couple of head-scratching moments by teammates. In one sequence after Garcoa was hit and fumbled, receiver Jacolby George tried to scoop the ball up instead of falling on it like players are taught to do. Duke recovered the ball.

Miami’s tackling in the fourth quarter was more lackluster than it had been earlier in the game.

How do you explain it? How do you fix it?

“I don’t think it’s magical,” Cristobal said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to also say someone didn’t play as hard, because other teams make plays too. You have to look at the tape and thoroughly assess it. Because there’s nothing worse (than) to say someone didn’t play hard when they play hard. Maybe they got through and didn’t tackle a guy. Maybe they weren’t able to sustain a collision and get a guy on the ground.

“Most importantly, it’s understanding when you go through something like this and you’re rebuilding a program and you get hit in the face like this, that you’re tough enough to look each other in the eye and go to work. It doesn’t magically get better. You have to go to work and that’s the only focus. That’s the only thing we’re going to do.”

3. Receiver Colbie Young continues to be a bright spot. He’s caught four touchdown passes over his last three games and led the Hurricanes with six catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns Saturday.

Asked about players taking accountability after the game, Young said: “Everyone, we stand together. Nobody is fighting each other. Nobody is separating. We all got some things to clean up and we’ll all figure it out tomorrow in film (study).”

COLBIE.

YOUNG.

AGAIN.@ColbieYoung | @CanesFootball pic.twitter.com/ubGVnUqx2v

— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) October 22, 2022

4. It’s a shame Van Dyke was injured. He was just starting to turn the corner in the past few weeks.

He threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Young in the first quarter to put the Hurricanes up 7-0 and was 11 of 16 for 81 yards before Duke linebacker Cam Dillon knocked him out of the game with 8:58 to go in the half.

“Don’t know the severity of it,” Cristobal said. “Sometime tonight or tomorrow.”

5. Can Garcia keep Miami’s offense afloat? If Van Dyke is unable to play moving forward (he didn’t return to the Hurricanes bench), it’s hard to imagine offensive coordinator Josh Gattis will alter the offense much to accommodate Garcia. He’s the same kind of pocket passer Van Dyke is, and without adequate protection, is more likely to struggle than last year’s ACC rookie of the year.

Garcia was sacked three times and lost two fumbles against Duke.

“He had some good moments,” Cristobal said of Garcia, who finished 13 of 21 for 198 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. “He had some others that weren’t so good.”

6. The offensive line remains a MASH unit and it doesn’t appear to be getting better. The Hurricanes — who have played most of the season without last year’s starting left tackle, Zion Nelson, or starting right guard, Justice Oluwaseun — started redshirt freshman Laurance Seymore at right guard. It was the first start of Seymore’s career. Center Jonathan Denis was injured moments after Van Dyke exited and returned to the bench in the second half in street clothes with a large knee brace and crutches.

Jakai Clark, who was Miami’s starting center before going down in the loss to North Carolina and being replaced by Denis, filled in for Denis but is clearly playing through pain.

Duke racked up six sacks and held Miami’s running game to 48 yards on 31 rushes.

“We gave up some pressures that allowed them to get some sacks,” Cristobal said. “Sometimes we have to turn the protection that way. Sometimes they’re bringing pressure away from the protection. Sometimes the ball has to get out, and sometimes it has to be picked up. It’s a little bit of everything.

“We didn’t establish the run game. We’re not knocking people back enough like we need to to help the pass game.”

Current mood 😈 pic.twitter.com/R6eoD9GASQ

— Duke Football (@DukeFOOTBALL) October 22, 2022

7. The defense could have saved the day, but did not. Even with the mess Miami is dealing with on offense, the Hurricanes still had a lead in the third quarter and a chance to beat Duke.

Kevin Steele’s defense simply couldn’t get off the field. Duke quarterback Riley Leonard led an 18-play, 79-yard scoring drive to retake the lead, 24-21, and he made several big plays to do it.

First, he converted a third-and-13 with a 19-yard pass to Jordan Waters. Later, faced with a fourth-and-9 at the Miami 39, he found Eli Pancol over the middle for a 21-yard gain. On fourth-and-goal from the 2, he flicked a perfect shovel pass into the hands of tight end Nicky Dalmolin for the score.

Steele didn’t bring much pressure at all during the drive and relied on his four-man front to try to disrupt Leonard’s rhythm. It didn’t happen. Leonard finished 13 of 25 for 136 yards and a touchdown but also ran for 61 yards and three scores on 14 carries. Miami sacked him three times, but it wasn’t nearly enough to shake him.

“We obviously didn’t start the third quarter the way we wanted to and probably couldn’t have started it any worse if we tried,” Duke coach Mike Elko said. “But we had to go out there and respond and that’s what really good football teams do. Those kids just started to execute the plan a little bit better and that was obviously a huge drive. … That drive was enormous, getting the momentum back in the game to where it needed to be.”

Duke then stopped Miami’s ensuing drive on fourth down at the Blue Devils’ 44-yard line and controlled the game the rest of the way.

8. The win for Duke included some sweet revenge. The Blue Devils could be heard celebrating with loud music after the game in their locker room. Duke has two former Hurricanes on the staff: strength coach David Feeley and defensive line coach Jess Simpson.

They enjoyed themselves plenty.

Some days are better than others @Coach_DFeeley #bleedblue pic.twitter.com/qT0mO7JiJX

— Jess Simpson (@CoachHJSimpson) October 22, 2022

9. We’ll have to see how Miami’s recruits handle the 3-4 start. Top recruit Francis Mauigoa, a five-star offensive tackle from Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy, was in attendance.

The Hurricanes have the 11th-ranked recruiting class in the 247Sports Composite with 17 commitments.

Miami hasn’t added any commitments to the class in months but also hasn’t had any decommitments.

(Top photo of Tyler Van Dyke walking off the field: Peter Joneleit / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)