this hat is rather uncomfortable

I won't pretend that I pored over extensive video of Miami (NTM), a team that hasn't won a football game since October of 2012 and last week lost to Eastern Kentucky, which as a result vaulted into the final spot of the Coaches Poll... for the FCS. I sat through a decent chunk of Miami's opening-week loss to Marshall before Brian told me to stop for my own good; by this point, I'd already heard the ESPN3 announcer talk up Marshall's chances of making the CoFoPoff, so the damage was already done.

So, yeah, this post is abbreviated this week, and as a result I've combined the offense and defense; if we're really at the point where poring over every snap of a team that's lost 18 straight games is meaningful, these posts are going to take a dark durn.

OFFENSE

Personnel. The diagram returns, thanks to Seth, and now includes a "key backups" section [click to embiggen].

Miami will empty their backfield on a regular basis; reserve receiver Rokeem Williams is second on the team in both receptions (9) and yards (204) by quite some distance.

Spread, Pro-Style, or Hybrid? Spread-to-pass. This would've been a really nice team to play in week one; head coach Chuck Martin served as Notre Dame's offensive coordinator and QBs coach for the last two years, and he'd prevoiusly been on Brian Kelly's staff at Grand Valley State before taking over as their head coach when Kelly left for Central. The offense Martin runs is stylistically and schematically very similar to Kelly's; it's effectiveness is a work-in-progress.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the breakdown.]

Basketball on Grass or MANBALL? Miami appeared to run a higher percentage of zone blocking than Notre Dame; they're not afraid to utilize the quarterback in the running game and they try to get the ball to receiver Dawan Scott—a high school running back—on jet sweeps. Marshall was all over those, though.

Hurry it up or grind it out? The RedHawks were one of the slowest teams in the country last year; now, in their first year under Martin, they've picked up the pace dramatically, running 85 plays against Marshall and 90 against EKU.

Quarterback Dilithium Level (Scale: 1 [Navarre] to 10 [Denard]): Grad-year Notre Dame transfer Andrew Hendrix finally has a starting gig, albeit not at the school he initially planned, and his legs are featured heavily in the offense. Despite this, he doesn't wow with his athleticism—I'd give him a five here. Hendrix is capable of taking what the defense gives him, but he's not a guy who's going to make many defenders miss in the open field, and he doesn't get much open field to work with in the first place.

Dangerman: In an offense that lacks weapons, I'll give this to top receiver David Frazier, who leads the team with 13 receptions and 215 receiving yards. He plays bigger than his listed 6'0", 180, and plays the ball well in the air even though he often has a difficult time getting separation from defensive backs—this is a pretty good example:

That works when Hendrix is on his game—Rokeem Williams had a couple similar deep catches against good coverage whe he put the ball in just the right place—and not so much when he isn't.

HenneChart: No actual chart this week, because that seemed excessive. Hendrix has been pretty erratic while getting a ton of work trying to make up for the lack of a decent running game; in just two games this season, he's 49-of-101 (48.5%) on 6.7 YPA, with 4 INTs offsetting his 4 TDs. Three of those four picks came against Eastern Kentucky; the interception against Marshall was a Tommy Rees throw-against-your-body-on-the-run special:

I guess that's to be expected from a quarterback who could not surpass Tommy Rees on the depth chart for four years.

OVERVIEW

It all starts up front, and that's bad news for Miami, since their offensive line isn't particularly effective. The RedHawks got blown up on a couple fourth down attempts because their line couldn't prevent Marshall from surging into the backfield:

That was actually a better effort than their first fourth-down attempt, when Hendrix got cracked by a free hitter after a play-action fake. Miami gave up four sacks for 27 yards, allowed 23 more negative yards on tackles for loss, and had a tough time opening up room for their running backs.

Even worse, the backs didn't look like they knew what to do when they had openings. This was actually third-and-five (ESPN3's scoreboard was, um, erratic), and RB Spencer Treadwell had this gaping hole on the left side of the line:

See the linebacker standing totally still on the far hash at the 12-yard line? He managed to pull down Treadwell (the guy in the giant hole) a yard short of the first-down marker at the 14-yard line. Last week, with sacks removed, the RedHawks averaged 2.8 YPC against Eastern Kentucky. It's an all-around effort.

Frazier is the most dangerous receiver, while Williams is also capable of utilizing his ball skills to make big plays down the field. Dawan Scott, who was the team's top non-QB rusher last season despite lining up as a receiver, doesn't threaten much downfield but is used freqently on jet sweeps and the like—his four carries against Marshall went for negative-two yards, however, as the offensive line couldn't prevent penetration even against three-man rushes.

DEFENSE

Personnel. Diagram goes here [click to embiggen].

Base Set? Miami plays a 4-3 over of sorts, though it's really a base nickel package with Notre Dame transfer Lo Wood listed as a hilariously undersized outside linebacker. Even when Marshall went four-wide—which was frequently—Miami stuck to their base personnel, shading safeties over slot receivers as necessary.

Man or zone coverage? Mostly zone until the red zone, when Miami ran more man and got burned routinely, mostly by the tight end matched up against the strong safety, Jay Mastin. If Jake Butt is truly healthy, we should know on Saturday.

Pressure: GERG or Greg? Miami got burned on an aggressive third-down zone blitz early and got pretty darn conservative after that, sending a lot of three-man rushes towards Marshall QB Rakeem Cato, who took the opportunity to pick apart an overmatched secondary.

Dangerman: DE Bryson Albright, though this is largely by default. Albright led the team last season with 11.5 TFLs and four sacks, and he came through against Marshall with a nice speed rush around the left tackle to take down Cato. The other bookend of the defensive line, J'Terius Jones, had far better numbers against Marshall, but that seemed like the result of the Herd running right at him on many occasions.

OVERVIEW

The line got pushed around by a Marshall squad much better known for its passing than running. That'll happen when both defensive ends weigh in the 245-pound range. This is a run off the left tackle and a solid representation of the type of movement Marshall got against Miami's line all day:

That's a defensive end getting buried six yards behind the line of scrimmage. As for the interior of the defense...

...oh. That's not good.

If Alright isn't the defense's top player, it's MIKE Kent Kern, who manages to be around the football a lot despite playing behind that line. He spends a lot of time cleaning up runs five yards downfield when he's not getting bashed in the chest by a free-releasing guard.

Miami's number one corner, meanwhile, started for the last four years... at point guard. On the basketball team. It's his first year on the football team. Their defensive backfield is pretty large—the former hoopster is actually the smaller of the two corners—but Miami isn't comfortable sticking them in press man. Here's a fun screenshot:

Marshall hit the slot receiver to the far side on a bubble screen that netted an easy eight yards on first down because look at all that grass.

This game should look a whole lot like the season opener, and if it doesn't, that should be a major concern.