CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Malachi Toney’s absence didn’t change Miami’s offensive blueprint in Shanon Dawson’s eyes. It changed who had to carry it out.
After the Hurricanes’ trip to Notre Dame, Dawson made it clear that the plan stayed intact even with a major shakeup to the lineup. Miami had to adjust on the fly, but the playbook itself didn’t suddenly become something different.
“The system is a system,” Dawson said in review of the Notre Dame game. “I mean, we run a very systematic approach to offense, and so it’s next man up. I mean, you know, we would have run the same plays in the game.
“We run a very systematic approach to offense, and so it’s next man up. I mean, you know, we would have run the same plays in the game. You know, it’s just [Daylyn] Upshaw just moving over to H and dumping all those reps into him and other people getting ready to play other positions, but other than that, like nothing.”
That approach showed up once Miami fell behind 24-3. The offense shifted into a pass-heavy mode and started producing. Darian Mensah threw for 202 yards in the second half, and tight end Elija Lofton was a major part of the surge, piling up 113 of those yards after halftime and finishing with a touchdown.
Elija Lofton had his best game as a Cane against Notre Dame:🟠 7 Catches🟢 113 Yards🟠 1 TD🟢 16.1 Yards per Reception pic.twitter.com/Jds0e0V1yv
Mensah also leaned heavily on Cooper Barkate, a familiar target who turned into a centerpiece in the second half. Barkate caught 10 passes and scored two touchdowns after halftime, helping Miami’s offense settle into something much closer to its normal rhythm against one of the two best defenses in the country.
Dawson pointed to the slow start as the part that has to improve. Miami managed only 28 yards in the first quarter, then topped 100 yards in each of the next three quarters.
“I mean, we had over 100 yards in the second, third, and fourth quarters,” Dawson said. “In the first quarter, we had 28. And so if you have another, if you have the first quarter like the other ones, around 120 yards or so, you have a 500-yard day or 480-yard day, which is a good offensive day.
“I mean, heck, versus them, what we did was probably double their average. You know, they’re a pretty damn good defensive football team. And so they challenged us.”
With three games left, Miami won’t have Toney lining up all over the field. Dawson’s message is that the offense has to keep moving anyway, with the next man stepping in and the system doing the rest.
“I mean, next man up,” Dawson said. “I mean, you know, things happen.
It’s unfortunate, obviously, that, you know, nobody wants to lose a player of his caliber, but it’s football. It’s a sport that people get injured in.
And so when that happens, you’ve got to step up, and you’ve got to stay positive, and then the next man up, you’ve got to start dumping reps in other people.
“But, you know, it’s a little bit easier probably when it happens in the game because you got like a whole week, right? But it is what it is.
You can’t, you [snorts] know, you can’t, you know, predict anything like that. So when it happens, you just adjust to it, and you’ve got to do it with a great attitude, and you’ve got to, you know, people have to get ready to make plays.”
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