5 up, 5 down Miami Hurricanes against Central Michigan

Howdy, y’all. Back again for another look at which five Miami Hurricanes were good in a 52-3 win over Central Michigan in the eyes of Pro Football Focus, and which five were not.

As usual, going with a minimum of 20 snaps here to qualify.

Top 5 Canes

1) Darian Mensah – 91.8

2) Marquise Lightfoot – 89.8

3) Malachi Toney – 76.6

4) Ethan O’Connor – 76.1

5) Cam Pruitt – 74.7

Mensah and Toney should be on this list about every week, and I have to wonder if Toney got knocked for the offensive pass interference call on his freakish touchdown grab that was overturned. I see that push not called in just about every game, but it was here…..in what was frankly a terribly officiated game. Mensah, 23/27 338, three passing touchdowns, one rushing, no turnovers. What is there not to love?

Speaking of, despite the personal foul on the fumble return by Damon Wilson II, Lightfoot dominated and continues his breakout season. He was all over the place with two sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, so yeah, that grade clearly meets the eye test.

O’Connor was sticky, allowing two catches for a grand total of three yards with three tackles and a pass break up. He’s playing an important role now, and he’s playing it well. Pruitt had one missed tackle credited to him, but he still led the team in tackles and allowed no catches on a target. So also, a nice game for him.

Bottom 5 Canes

1) Damon Wilson II – 54.7

2) Milan Parris – 55.8

3) Zechariah Poyser – 56.3

4) Omar Thornton – 59.0

5) JJ Dunnigan – 59.8

I wonder how much this would be different for Wilson if that fumble return touchdown that was wiped out by Lightfoot’s penalty would have counted. In any event, Miami’s important edge rusher had no tackles and two QB pressures. He also had a roughing the passer call on the first drive that facilitated . Miami needs more from him at Clemson on Saturday.

It feels like some nits were picked with Miami’s secondary, and I can’t say that I agree too wholeheartedly. CMU went 11 plays, 40 yards on their first drive for a field goal. They completed two short passes for three and four yards on that drive. That’s it. CMU had drives of three, three, three, five, and one yard the rest of the half against Miami’s starters. That’s close to perfect. Poyser was dinged for a pair of missed tackles, so perhaps I get that, but the rest? Eh, I just don’t. The defense largely played as it needed to absent perhaps a bit more pressure.