Behind Enemy Lines: Miami football beat writer Manny Navarro discusses CMU game
Central Michigan Life's Evan Petzold spoke with Miami beat writer Manny Navarro from The Athletic to preview Central Michigan's 4 p.m. Sept. 21 game against the Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
Miami began the season with two straight losses at the hands of Florida (24-20) and North Carolina (28-25) before finding the win column, 63-0, against Bethune-Cookman last weekend.
In 2018, under former coach Mark Richt, the Hurricanes finished 7-6 overall and 4-4 in ACC action.
Navarro discussed former Central Michigan coach Dan Enos (offensive coordinator for Miami), the style of first-year coach Manny Diaz, starting quarterback Jarren Williams and much more on both sides of the ball in this exclusive Q&A.
Central Michigan Life: What is there to know about Miami entering Week 4?
Manny Navarro: They're still transitioning with the new offensive coaching staff and Dan Enos' offense. The first couple of games, when you have two freshmen starting at offensive tackle, they were only one of three teams to do that in college football this year, you're going to have some struggles. That's what happened to them against Florida. Offensively, they weren't prepared to face an SEC team, and they still had a chance to win the game late, which is amazing now that Florida's 3-0.
Against North Carolina, you thought they'd get their act together play better coming off a bye week. North Carolina came out, laid some haymakers early and went up 17-3. After that, I thought Miami dominated until the defense gave up a fourth-and-17 late. They had that game won, pretty much.
Where they're at now, after beating Bethune-Cookman, they finally have some confidence. There's no preseason in college football, and Miami didn't schedule any cupcakes until Week 3. Now, what you'll see going forward, is what Manny Diaz envisioned as far as the offense is concerned. Defensively, too, they're replacing two NFL safeties in Sheldrick Redwine and Jaquan Johnson. They've had some problems with younger guys being in there in Amari Carter and Gurvan Hall. Carter got hit with a targeting penalty, so he was out of the game after 10 plays against North Carolina. That hurt them in the secondary. He came back last week and played better.
There's a lot more confidence after those first two losses, and they feel like a better football team than their record indicates.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Hurricanes?
Linebacker and front seven (are strengths). Their defensive line is very, very good. I know they don't have tremendous sack numbers and haven't done a great job of getting the quarterback down. They've had opportunities, just haven't done it. But their run defense is phenomenal, averaging less than 2.3 yards per carry. They did that against two teams that run the ball pretty well in Florida and North Carolina. They've got all the experience at linebacker, as Shaq Quarterman, Michael Pickney and Zach McCloud are four-year starters. McCloud hasn't played much since teams are coming out with three or four receiver sets. The front seven is good, and Trajan Bandy is an elite cornerback.
The weaknesses are in the secondary. Those guys have to prove against good teams that they aren't going to give up big plays. They gave up two 60-yard plays to Florida, and they gave up a 62-yard touchdown pass to North Carolina. The secondary is the weakness. Those guys haven't proved it. Offensively, it's the offensive line. They gave up 14 sacks in their first two games, 10 against Florida. You've got two true freshmen in there. When they face teams with really good fronts, that's going to be the question all season.
The running game is good. DeeJay Dallas is averaging 8.4 yards per carry. K.J. Osborn, the graduate transfer from Buffalo, has been a godsend for them, and he leads the team in targets. Brevin Jordan is one of the best tight ends in the country. They've got weapons on offense, it's just about the offensive line showing up and protecting the quarterback consistently. They had a horrendous start but have gotten better each week.
What is Dan Enos like in South Beach?
He was asked in the press conference Monday about Central Michigan. He's like, 'I didn't get the support I wanted, so that's why I left.' You know, Dan Enos is a guy that's obviously not afraid to change jobs. He's done that quite a bit in his career. One thing we've heard consistently from him and Manny Diaz are that their philosophy is the same – that's why Enos is here. I'm pretty sure $1.5 million to be the offensive coordinator doesn't hurt either.
I think Dan Enos is looking to prove he's an elite play caller and a guy that should be a head coach again – not at a MAC school. He wants to be the head coach of a Power Five school. That's his goal. Ideally at Michigan State, if something were to go wrong up there. Again, this is my opinion, but I got to spend a little time with Dan during the spring when he was speaking at a community service event.
My opinion is that he's hungry. He wants to prove himself, and he doesn't care if he has to take a step back in the eyes of the public by leaving a head coaching job or an offensive coordinator position. It was the same thing when he left Alabama. He was the quarterbacks coach and could've eventually been the offensive coordinator there, but he left that job to come (to Miami) and deal with one of the worst passing offenses in the country, as it was last year. Now, he's taking great pride in making Jarren Williams a good quarterback. They're completing over 70 percent of their passes, last year it was 51 percent.
Why did Jarren Williams win the quarterback battle, and how has it worked out to this point in the season?
People look at the completion percentage (73.9) and quarterback rating (166.4), and it's phenomenal. The analytics show you the numbers are really good. You take a closer look at where he's throwing the football and anywhere from 15 yards in, he's as accurate as anyone in college football.
The issue is the deep ball. Can he stretch the field the way elite quarterbacks can do? He hit on a 54-yard pass against Bethune-Cookman, which was a nice completion. He had a couple of nice 20-yard strikes to K.J. Osborn, where he had to put some mustard on it to perfectly place it. He doesn't have the best arm strength on the team. (Backup) N'Kosi Perry has the strongest arm, but Jarren's accuracy is phenomenal from 15 yards in. Very rarely do we see him throw off target. If he does, it's because someone's in his face or his feet aren't set because he's escaping the pocket.
Jarren's earned the respect of his teammates. Everyone thought Tate Martell was going to come in and win the thing because he was transferring from Ohio State. He's at wide receiver now and threw in the towel because he's not going to play quarterback here.
That's what Jarren Williams has become – the guy. Miami didn't have a guy last year, and that was the problem. It's a huge improvement.
If Central Michigan is going to pull off an upset, how would it happen?
It's turnovers. Miami has only turned the ball over once this season, and it was on a muffed punt by Jeff Thomas against Florida. Jarren Williams has not thrown an interception. He's fumbled the ball a couple of times, but Miami has been fortunate enough to recover the ball. If you're going to beat the Hurricanes, you have to force Williams into mistakes and force the offense to feel some pressure, which is what it did against North Carolina. Now, they came back from down 17-3 to take the lead in the fourth quarter, but they haven't scored consistently in the red zone. I think the touchdown rate is around 56 percent.
To me, for Central Michigan to have a chance, it has to rattle Jarren Williams unlike anyone else has rattled him. Even getting sacked 10 times against Florida, he still didn't turn the ball over. He won't put the ball in harm's way. You've got to hit him, knock the ball out of his hands and pounce on it. That's the way Central Michigan wins the game.
Offensively, they've got to beat Miami deep. Running the ball against this team probably isn't going to happen. It's a top-15, top-20 run defense in the country. If you're going to beat Miami, you have to do it over the top with big plays and taking advantage of mistakes in coverage.
What does the Miami staff want to get out of this game?
For Miami, it's about getting out of the game healthy and preparing for the ACC opener in two weeks. They want to get some backups in the game to see who could really help them if someone were to get hurt. Who could they honestly trust? I think they'll want to get (backup quarterback) N'Kosi Perry some snaps. (Running back) Lorenzo Lingard is one five-star recruit that's actually on the roster. He didn't get to play last week due to a concussion and this week, it's 50-50 whether he plays.
It's the same thing as Bethune-Cookman. You want to win, you want to win convincingly, and you want to get backups in the game.
After Miami scored 21 points in the fourth quarter in a 63-0 win over Bethune-Cookman, should we expect something similar to happen against the Chippewas?
Manny's trying to get back to the days at Miami where they blew people out, and it wasn't close. It's the old Miami, the championship Miami. That's why, a game like this where they're favorited by 31 (points), I can see them pouring it on in the fourth quarter.
They'll make sure they cover the spread to impress the fans.
Score prediction?
Miami 52, Central Michigan 10
