5 up, 5 down Miami Hurricanes in win over Clemson
· Yahoo Sports
The Miami Hurricanes secured a convincing victory over the Clemson Tigers on Saturday night, winning comfortably over Dabo Swinney’s team 41-13.
Naturally, in a game where Miami lead early and throughout, there were plenty of standouts for the Canes. Who did Pro Football Focus recognize as the top standouts, as well as those with performances to forget? And how did it match up with my eyes? As usual, I’m going with players who saw a mimimum of 20 snaps.
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Top 5 Canes
1) Ahmad Moten, Sr. – 85.2
2) JJ Dunnigan – 84.0
3) Mark Fletcher, Jr. 81.4
4) Malachi Toney 78.2
5) Damon Wilson II – 77.0
What’s not to love about this entire group?
Wilson had a legacy game, with 11 QB pressures and 2.5 sacks. Moten added a sack and three pressures and helped shut down Clemson’s running game right in the middle. Fletcher looked like a wrecking ball again, going for 77 yards and two scores. Toney had a touchdown called back for what appeared to be a very iffy illegal shift call, but he blocked like a demon as usual (and the grade reflected it with a team-high 72.7 run blocking grade) and had some big catches during the game. Dunnigan’s pick six speaks for itself and was the exclamation point of the game.
Honorable mention: Ryan Rodriguez and Max Buchanan. Both earned 83.0+ marks in pass blocking to lead the team and had very nice overall games. Buchanan’s toughness for coming back from a lower body injury is also notable, the same for tackle Matthew McCoy. Tough, gritty guys.
Bottom 5 Canes
1) Gavin Mueller – 38.6
2) Samson Okunlola – 49.5
3) Marquise Lightfoot – 56.4
4) Booker Pickett, Jr. – 56.8
5) Matthew McCoy – 57.1
Okunlola was credited with two pressures allowed, less than against Wake, and no sacks allowed but he still got popped with a 27.6 pass blocking grade. Don’t understand that one. I admittedly did not see Mueller struggle, but he was hit with a 41.0 run blocking grade to drag his numbers down in 21 snaps. Have to go back and watch that performance, I guess.
Lightfoot generated three pressures before leaving with an injury after 21 snaps. Pickett was credited with three as well. But both were popped with tackling marks of 25.6 or worse despite just one missed tackle each. Again, don’t get that at all.
Not going to go in on McCoy at all. The opposite actually. He got run over for the one sack Miami allowed, but he was clearly laboring with what appears to have been a shoulder injury based on the harness. Again, a gutsy performance.