CORAL GABLES — Close observers of the Hurricanes’ offense this year might notice that Miami has frequently lined up in tight formations.
Although the trend in college football for years has been to spread the field to create space for skilled playmakers, condensing the field with tighter formations has its advantages, as well.
“I think there’s advantages of both,” UM offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “And I think mixing it up well is really good, getting in different formations, getting in different personnel groupings.”
Dawson said running tight formations offers a few different perks. It helps when blocking safeties in the running game, and he can call “really cool” play-action passes.
“It limits what the defense can do coverage-wise,” Dawson said. “If you look at those sets, when they get condensed, typically they have a couple things they go to that they like. And so you can kind of forecast what they’re going to do in those sets to get the extra hat in a certain place. But I do love open sets too. I like both.”
Hetherman praises Indiana’s Cignetti
Right behind the No. 2 Hurricanes in the AP Top 25 poll is No. 3 Indiana. Unlike UM, the Hoosiers do not have much history of football success, and their No. 3 ranking is the highest in program history.
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti has changed a lot with the program. Cignetti is 17-2 in two seasons at IU after the Hoosiers hired him away from James Madison. He took the Hoosiers to the College Football Playoff last year.
Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman worked as Cignetti’s defensive coordinator at JMU from 2019-21, and he is not surprised Cignetti is winning in the Big Ten.
“I think it’s how he goes about the process. It’s how he goes about the day-to-day,” Hetherman said. “And that staff, just knowing a lot of some of the players that they had that they took that’s just what it was. It was all about the process every day and constantly focusing on that and getting better.”
Hurricanes booked for primetime again
Miami is getting another game in primetime this month. UM will host Stanford at 7 p.m. on Oct. 25, the ACC announced on Monday.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
The Hurricanes have never played the Cardinal, but now the teams are conference foes.
An old friend in town
One of Mario Cristobal’s most successful NFL products, Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, broke South Florida sports fans’ hearts on Sunday.
Herbert, who played under Cristobal at Oregon, led the Chargers to a last-minute win over the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium.
“One of those deals where you want him to do well,” Cristobal said on WQAM’s “The Joe Rose Show” on Monday morning, “Certainly, you root for the hometown team, but it’s no surprise, what he did. He’s been doing that his entire career.”
Herbert threw a pass to Ladd McConkey that set up the winning field goal, while former UM star Jaelan Phillips tried to bring the quarterback down. Herbert, the No. 6 pick in the 2020 draft, helped carry the Cristobal-led Ducks to the 2019 PAC-12 championship and a Rose Bowl win.
“He’s even a better human being,” Cristobal said. “That guy, he was just different. He was as visited by NFL teams as anybody that we’ve ever had here, there, Alabama. He’s just a Freakazoid of a specimen. He’s all of 6-6, and probably 235, 240, gets up to 250, and he could flat out fly. A great, great, great leader.”