The Hurricanes’ running game powered the offense through Miami’s first four wins of the season. When Miami played Florida State, the Seminoles loaded the box and kept UM’s running backs in check, but Carson Beck and the wide receivers made up the difference.
Against Louisville last Friday, Miami could not run the ball at all, and the passing game faltered, leading to the Hurricanes’ first loss of the season. No. 9 Miami scored a season-low 21 points against the Cardinals, and the first step to improving the offense is fixing any issues in the running game.
“We still believe that — not trying to take anything away from the other team — but we know when we’re on our A game, we’re locked in, we’re executing, that nobody can stop us,” running back Mark Fletcher Jr. said. “So we have to be better.”
The running game did provide a bulk of the offense early in the season. Miami ran for 12 touchdowns in its first four games, averaging 180.5 yards over those four contests. In their past two games combined, UM has rushed for 160 yards. If the Hurricanes still averaged 180.5 yards per game, they would be 47th in the nation. Instead, they rank 78th with 147 yards per. UM is also 42nd in Pro Football Focus’ running grade.
“The devil’s in the details,” UM coach Mario Cristobal said. “We’ve been really good at running the football, and we’ve been a little bit off the last couple of weeks. And we need to get back to our ways and the form and the way that we do run the football. And that’s with the principles of technique and fundamentals and pad level and making sure we can get both downhill and outside by doing what we do.”
Fletcher and transfer Marty Brown have gotten the vast majority of the carries so far this season. Fletcher has 86 carries for 446 yards and six scores, and Brown has 60 carries for 234 yards and four touchdowns.
Jordan Lyle, a sophomore who was expected to play a large role this season, dealt with an injury early in the season and has only 17 carries for 44 yards.
Fletcher and Brown are both proficient power running backs. Fletcher is 6 foot 2 and 225 pounds, and Brown is 5-11 and 220 pounds. So the majority of the Hurricanes’ run attempts have been between the tackles, and they have been marginally better at inside runs (523 yards on 110 attempts for a 4.75 yard average) vs. outside runs (312 yards on 74 carries for a 4.22 average, not including end-arounds or jet sweeps). Miami averages the most yards when it runs between the guards and tackles (5.6 yards per carry between the left guard and left tackle, and 5 yards per carry between the right guard and right tackle).
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“I don’t know about correcting it. Our run game is what it is,” offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “We need to execute it better. There’s times when we have things there and we miss it, and I don’t deflect any blame from that. I have to stick with it. I have to package it together a little bit better, probably. But ultimately, we just need to keep doing what we’re doing, and I have to stick with it and just execute.”
The running game does not fall only on the running backs. UM’s offensive line also needs to improve. The Hurricanes currently rank seventh in the nation in run-blocking, according to PFF. Miami has a 74.4 run-blocking grade for the season, but it has been just above 65 over the past three games.
Right tackle Francis Mauigoa has been one of the nation’s premier run blockers; his 85.5 run-blocking grade is fifth in the nation among linemen with 100 or more run-blocking snaps. But Miami’s four other offensive linemen with 100 or more run-blocking snaps are in the 60s, which is solid but not great. The next highest-graded UM lineman in that group is right guard Anez Cooper, who is tied for 150th nationally with a 67.6 grade.
“Obviously, that’s something we take a lot of pride in as an offensive line,” center James Brockermeyer said. “And all 11 players on the field are responsible for the run game, along with the coaching staff. There’s been a ton of accountability (from) everyone, from coaches to players, that we all just need to do a better job of executing. And when you’re playing a really good team, like Florida State or Louisville, they’ve got really good players, too. So we’ve got to execute better and do our job better.”
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/10/21/hurricanes-run-game/
