{"id":444452,"date":"2026-11-01T18:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T18:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/444452\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T18:32:41","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T18:32:41","slug":"hurricanes-defense-struggles-but-um-pulls-out-win-vs-unc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/444452\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurricanes’ defense struggles, but UM pulls out win vs. UNC"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. \u2014 The Miami Hurricanes made it out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with\u00a0a 38-35 win on Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The game came down to its final moments, but after two failed UNC onside kicks, Miami ran down the clock.<\/p>\n

Here are five things we learned from the Hurricanes\u2019 eighth win of the season:<\/p>\n

The pass defense is struggling<\/p>\n

The Tar Heels do not have a high-flying passing offense. They entered the game with the nation\u2019s No. 76 passing offense, averaging 221.9 yards per game. Quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. entered the game completing just over 60 percent of his passes.<\/p>\n

Miami\u2019s defense made the Tar Heels look like one of the nation\u2019s best passing offenses. North Carolina racked up 341 yards through the air. Edwards completed 82 percent of his passes and threw four touchdowns with no interceptions.<\/p>\n

Pro Football Focus gave UM a 30.1 coverage grade on Sunday, which is the lowest grade the Hurricanes have ever received from the site with records dating back to 2014 (the grades get updated over time, so that grade could change later).<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought there were some soft spots in our coverage where our zone drops weren\u2019t as good, as detailed,\u201d Miami coach Mario Cristobal said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think we swarmed to the ball like we have been. We usually run to the football, get a lot of hats there. Didn\u2019t happen. We were very sporadic in the way we tackled. And then sometimes we just got beat in man coverage \u2014 that simple. They had some really good pick routes. They have some really good wide receivers and tight ends, as well. So I think a combination of all those things, and there were times where we just weren\u2019t getting enough pressure on the quarterback. Now, that being said, I do think they\u2019re a very good offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missed tackles continue to be an issue<\/p>\n

Miami had 14 missed tackles in Saturday\u2019s win, according to PFF. That is tied for their second most in a game this season. UM has missed 10 or more tackles in five of its eight games this season.<\/p>\n

Freshman safety JJ Dunnigan tied for the team lead with nine tackles, but he also led the team with four misses, according to PFF.<\/p>\n

Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman preaches swarming to the football, so that even if one player misses a tackle, other players can bring the ball-carrier down. Cristobal said that did not happen enough on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Defensive end Marquise Lightfoot, who made one of the biggest plays of the game when he forced a late fumble, said too many players were trying to make big plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the main things we came out of the halftime thinking about was just making sure we did our jobs,\u201d Lightfoot said. \u201cBecause that\u2019s what the main problem was was had too many of us (were) trying to make a play. We\u2019re leaving people wide open. We\u2019re not setting the edge, not holding the edge. But once we stuck to that plan, then we (were) good.\u201d<\/p>\n

More HeisMensah materiah<\/p>\n

It was another week with more highlights for the Darian Mensah Heisman campaign.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes star completed 76 percent of his passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns. This week, he added some scrambles to his game, rushing for 36 yards on four carries (which includes a sack). The three times Mensah took off and ran, he secured a first down.<\/p>\n

PFF gave Mensah an 87 offensive grade with an 84.9 passing grade.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, when the Hurricanes needed Mensah and the offense to deliver on nearly every drive, the he coolly led his team down the field. Miami scored on six of its seven complete drives and scored touchdowns on five of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust got to go out there and keep scoring,\u201d Mensah said. \u201cBut at the same time, try not to put too much pressure on yourself or the offense. But I think we executed at a high clip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offensive line improvement<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes\u2019 offensive line has been a work in progress throughout the year. Facing a solid North Carolina front, UM showed improvement.<\/p>\n

Miami allowed one sack and five quarterback pressures on Saturday, which was its lowest amount of pressures allowed since it allowed four pressures against Florida A&M in Week 2.<\/p>\n

Guard SJ Alofaituli and center Ryan Rodriguez did not allow a single pressure. Tackle Matthew McCoy and guard Ben Congdon allowed two each, and tackle Samson Okunlola allowed one.<\/p>\n

Okunlola (85.2) and McCoy (81.5) both earned good grades in run blocking.<\/p>\n

A win\u2019s a win<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes went on the road to UNC and came out with a win, snapping a five-game losing streak against the Tar Heels and winning in Chapel Hill for the first time since 2017.<\/p>\n

In a season so full of upsets, surviving the road is an accomplishment in itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell people all the time \u2014 I don\u2019t know who wants to believe it or not \u2014 but conference games are playoff football,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cEverybody has to find a way in to keep battling and elevate themselves to a point where they can keep extending their season. And so all of these games are going to be knockout, drag-out games. And again, proud of our team for finding away.\u201d<\/p>\n

That does not mean the Hurricanes do not have room for improvement. The defense did not play well, and the biggest game of the regular season \u2014 on the road against Notre Dame \u2014 is coming up<\/a>. Miami has to get a lot better, or it could drop its first game next weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally proud of our guys for finding a way to get it done,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cAll this stuff to be fixed, we\u2019ll fix that tomorrow. Right now, the important message in there is you found a way to win, and you are very resilient, and let\u2019s go build from there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHAPEL HILL, N.C. \u2014 The Miami Hurricanes made it out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with\u00a0a 38-35 win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,114,123,125,5079,124,110],"class_list":["post-444452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-college-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-hurricanes","tag-miami-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}