Miami (FL) Game Preview: Hurricanes' Offensive Scheme

What a difference a year and a new coordinator makes. It may seem small, but a .8 difference in yards per play is huge when divvied out over 879 plays. Miami's offense went from being a complete non-factor, especially in the passing game, to being an effective and dangerous component, especially in the passing game. Jacory Harris and Mark Whipple are a perfect fit for one another; Harris is a long, lean passer with considerable accuracy on the deep ball; Whipple loves play-action like ESPN loves Boise State. The two combine to form an offense that a.) has a purpose, and b.) has the personnel to carry out that purpose.

This table tells us what Miami does on offense, but how do they do it?

I's On The Prize

Miami's primary formation last season, clearly, was a variation of the I-Formation. In five different games I viewed, three closely, Miami was in I-formation the majority of the offensive snaps. They are not, however, a "three yards and a cloud of dust" team. Miami uses the constricted formation and heavy personnel to create space on the second and third levels of the defense. Once they force a defense into matching them in numbers close to the line of scrimmage, they do this:

Notably, that touchdown pass came out of an unbalanced formation. Unbalanced formations are most often used to change the way a defense thinks; since most defenses set up by weakside/strongside, the unbalanced formation can lead to advantageous match-ups for the offense. Whipple loves using unbalanced formations, as does Jim Tressel, and you will see them on both offenses in this game. The most common unbalanced formation is the tackle over, and it's what Miami used in the above video:

For further reading, Bob Davie has a ton of good information on unbalanced lines here.

Ace of Base

 


Whipple uses Ace (1 back/under center) as the secondary formation. It's more balanced between skill position players and heavy personnel, and Miami has shown that it will run and pass from it. Below is a 5-step drop pass for a touchdown from Ace formation.

Granted, FSU's defense was lost last season, but Miami kept them off-balance by varying their passing routes and quarterback drops.

Shotgun

Whipple does not use Shotgun formations very often. When they do, they usually utilize one of the above.

Shift, Baby, Shift

Boy, does Mark Whipple love to shift and motion.

Many teams use motion and shifts for many different, specific purposes, but the end goal is usually the same- force the defense to adjust to what you do pre-snap. Sending a receiver in motion is usually a way to determine man vs. zone coverages, but the above signals something different from Mark Whipple. He used motion to change the initial position of the wide receiver, from a wide alignment near the sideline to a more balanced position where he's free to attack the middle of the field. This use of motion is very reminiscent of the NFL offense, which uses slight adjustments like that to achieve slight differences in play set-up. Unsurprisingly, Mark Whipple appears to have picked something up from his time in the NFL.

What I Expect

Last week the Hurricanes debuted a new style of play. Against FAMU, they ran almost all of their offensive snaps using a no-huddle, quick tempo style offense, utilizing multiple receivers more than they did a season ago. Does this mean the Hurricanes will abandon their previous style this season?

In my opinion, not likely. Psychologically, this is the game that the Hurricanes have pointed to as their "return," for many years, so I'd expect some gamesmanship. Last week's offensive showing was designed to force Ohio State to prepare for a no-huddle attack. That said, I do expect the Cane offense to vary the pace at certain points of the game, but it's doubtful that Mark Whipple would change his entire offensive philosophy overnight.

And I also expect the Hurricanes to use more receivers and multiple receiver sets than they did a year ago. They lost three tight ends to graduation last season, and the wide receiver group is supremely talented. Less heavy personnel and more skill position athletes will require Ohio State to be in their "Nickel" defense more often- Tyler Moeller will be a very important piece to the defensive puzzle against Miami.

Expect Mark Whipple to stick to his guns, though. Play-action is the big play force of the Miami offense, and it will be very important for the Buckeyes to not overreact to slight success on Miami's part. Whipple wants a defense to overcompensate for 5 yard gains so that he can take advantage for 50 yard gains. Patience on the part of the coaches and players will prevent those 50 yard gains from happening, and patience on the part of the fans will lead to more enjoyment of the game for yourself.