Notre Dame Football Opponent Preview: Miami (FL) Hurricanes Offense

The Notre Dame football team travels to Miami to battle the Hurricanes on Saturday. This is Notre Dame’s biggest game to date. The Fighting Irish must win if they want to stay in the hunt for a College Football Playoff birth. Here is a brief preview of the offense that Notre Dame will face under the lights in Hard Rock Stadium.

Quarterback

First year Quarterback Malik Rosier will make his ninth career start against the Fighting Irish. In his first season as Miami’s starting signal caller, he has thrown for 2273 yards with 19 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.

His completion percentage of 56.2% is not the highest. However, both his accuracy and overall production through the air has been much better than Notre Dame starter Brandon Wimbush.

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When comparing him to other signal callers that the Irish have faced, Rosier stands out as one of the most productive. Only USC’s Sam Darnold, NC State’s Ryan Finley and Michigan State’s Brian Lewerke are better through the air.

Rosier threatens to run but is not necessarily dangerous. In the first nine games of the season, he ran for 295 yards on 82 attempts. His 3.6 yard average is not earth shattering.

Running Back

Junior Running Back Mark Walton was supposed to lead the Hurricanes as the top rusher this season. However, Walton suffered a season ending injury.

With Walton’s injury, Sophomore Travis Homer immediately jumped into the starting lineup. He has hit the ground running with 607 yards in eight games. Since being declared the starter, Homer has averaged exactly 100 yards per contest.

Receivers

Senior Wide Receiver Braxton Berrios leads the Canes in receiving yards with 474 yards on 36 receptions. In addition to his receiving yards, he has also added 7 touchdowns.

Just behind Berrios is Tight End Christopher Herndon IV. Herndon has collected 392 yards receiving.

In the third spot, Sophomore Wide Out Ahmonn Richards has tallied 341 yards on 17 receptions. He is definitely a big play type of receiver.

Freshman Jeff Thomas is also a big deep threat. He averages 22.64 yards per catch.

Rosier definitely has enough targets to throw to. Notre Dame’s secondary needs to be sharp if they want to keep these receivers from making big plays.

Offensive Line

Miami (FL) brings an experienced Offensive Line into Saturday night’s matchup. KC McDermott, Trevor Darling, Tyler Gauthier, Tyree St. Louis have started 29, 12, 35 and 16 games respectively.

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Freshman Guard Navaughn Donaldson is the only player with limited starting experience. Donaldson started the first four games of the season. However, he returned to the starting lineup last week against Virginia Tech. At 6’6″ and 350 lbs., he is an imposing player regardless of experience.

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