Miami’s defense is a tough matchup for anyone, and they just showed the world how dominant they could be in the 1st round against Ohio State. But the Ole Miss offense isn’t Ohio State’s. Corey Heatherman’s Canes defense has a stout front seven with a secondary that is solid in coverage but certainly benefits from what the front seven is able to do. They want to get pressure in the backfield and force you to take 1-on-1 shots towards the sidelines. As fantastic as Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate are, it didn’t help that this is exactly what Ohio State’s offense is built to do. 

Their offensive line wasn’t great all year and finally hurt them in their final two games, as Sayin had pressure in his face all day. He’s also not a statue in the pocket but he isn’t a “mobile” quarterback by name either. His season-high in rushing was 13 yards against Penn State. Their offense also didn’t utilize the middle of the field very much all year, namely because their focus was getting Smith and Tate the ball on the outside. So you have a QB under pressure who can’t extend plays with his legs as much as he needs to in an offense built on outside production. That’s a Corey Heatherman wet dream. 

They aren’t the only example either. Remember Week 1 against Notre Dame? The Irish couldn’t move the ball for a few different reasons. They were scared to run the ball with Jeremiyah Love and resorted to an offense of quick screens and contested throws to the boundary. Once they abandoned that strategy they started to come back and CJ Carr found his footing quickly. Unfortunately they figured it out too late and that’s why Miami made the playoffs instead of them.

If you want an example of a team who didn’t take too long to figure it out, look no further than SMU, who is by far the most similar offense to Ole Miss that Miami has faced this year. They did the same thing as Notre Dame for the 1st quarter: screens galore which led them to a scoreless 15 minutes. They flipped the switch in the 2nd quarter and started just bombing Miami over the middle of the field repeatedly. Kevin Jennings finished with 365 passing yards and a win after the adjustments were made (and their TE Hibner finished with 4/36 FWIW).

Enter Ole Miss and Trinidad Chambliss. Don’t be fooled by what you saw against Georgia from the Rebs. They took a lot of those same 1v1 shots on the outside we just talked about, but it was more out of necessity. That has been one of Georgia’s weaknesses all year contrary to the strength of Miami’s defense that it is. Hence why the Sugar Bowl included a lot of De’Zhaun Stribling and Tre Wallace to the tune of 278 combined receiving yards. Ole Miss wants to attack the middle of the field and they want to do it with tempo. And they especially want to find matchup advantages across the middle that they can exploit for YAC. Dae’Quan Wright is their guy for that. At 6’4 255 he is a matchup nightmare for Miami’s coverage unit, especially considering the amount of nickel defense they run. And while I think Trinidad extending plays with his legs will be key tonight, he will still have to get the ball out quick at times. Who better than your safety blanket tight end right into the weakest part of a really good Miami defense. Feed him.