Miami’s offense didn’t fold without Malachi Toney. If anything, Saturday’s trip to Notre Dame showed how much more there is to this group than one missing star.
That was the big takeaway from Monday’s breakdown: the Hurricanes came out of a game that could have turned into a panic session feeling more encouraged about the offense than worried about it. The scoreboard told part of the story, but the bigger picture was how Miami adjusted after losing its best player on the last day of install.
Toney was hurt at Wednesday’s practice, the final padded session of the week, and that timing mattered. Thursday was jerseys and shorts, Friday was the travel day and hotel walkthrough, and Saturday was game day. The padded practices are where the real install happens, so Shannon Dawson had almost no time to rework a plan built around Toney.
Notre Dame also made life miserable up front. The Irish didn’t need a bag of exotic looks to disrupt things; they just kept hammering away with bull rushes, mostly with four rushers and sometimes five, shrinking the pocket until Darian Mensah had to bail or get rid of the ball.
“They quite literally just said we’re going to shrink this pocket,” Ahmmon said. “That’s all they did pretty much the majority of the first half.”
Miami’s young linemen had trouble settling in, and the run game got bottled up early. Once Notre Dame scored just before halftime to make it 17-3, the idea of leaning on the ground game basically disappeared.
At 10-3, the game still feels manageable. At 17-3, and then down 21, you’re not living in inside zone anymore.
Still, the offense found answers. Miami put up 24 points on the road without the player who usually gives it 100-plus yards and a touchdown or two on a normal Saturday.
Cooper Barkate looked like a true WR1, winning underneath on slants all night and hauling in the fade in the end zone to keep the comeback alive. Elija Lofton finally got his moment, and his touchdown jump-started the push.
Dre Jacobs flashed too, showing more readiness and more true speed than Ahmmon expected.
“You showed you can score quality points without your best player,” Ahmmon said. “Now when Mali comes back, you plug him in, and you’ve got other weapons teams have to account for.”
That’s why the blame shouldn’t land entirely on Dawson. The first-half play calling drew plenty of criticism, and fair enough - Notre Dame loaded up against the run and forced Miami to prove it could win through the air. But Ahmmon pushed back on the idea that the offensive staff alone should take the heat.
“People find it easier to critique Shannon Dawson instead of Hetherman,” he said.
“The offense could have scored 30, 31 points, and you’ve still got to rely on the defense to get a stop.”
His argument is simple: Dawson lost his best player on the final day of install, then watched the offense adjust as the game went on. Protection improved in the second half, receivers got separation and the passing game opened up. The problem was that it happened after Miami had already fallen behind by three scores.
The slot remains the one area that didn’t really pop, and that matters in this offense. Daylyn Upshaw moved inside, and the fit seemed like it should work.
It didn’t fully click. Early on, he was dealing with Leonard Moore in the slot, and Moore was everywhere.
Ahmmon called him a top-five-pick type of corner who can handle two receivers if he wants to, and that kind of matchup can shake a player early.
Even so, he wanted more from Upshaw. He’s bigger than most slot receivers, and when the ball comes his way, the expectation is stronger hands and more fight through contact.
“Shannon Dawson’s offense kind of starts in the slot,” Ahmmon said.
That’s where Xavier Restrepo stacked back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, and that’s where Toney’s production has lived too. Whoever lines up there is going to get opportunities. The job is to separate, win through contact and make the catch with somebody draped all over you.
There was also one more roster note from the conversation: Joshua Moore is out, and Miami is missing a big red-zone receiver because of it.
Lofton’s tying catch also sparked plenty of debate, and Ahmmon still isn’t over the ruling. He called it a perfect throw and a perfect catch, but his frustration is with the rule itself. Two feet down, possession, bring it in for the tuck, then step out - at what point is that not a catch?
Because it was ruled incomplete on the field, overturning it became nearly impossible. Some will point to the last two weeks and say Miami had the calls go its way, so now it’s even.
Fine. But the bigger issue, in his view, is that the catch rule needs to be cleaned up and made concrete.
The bottom line from the game is pretty clear: the defense is still the bigger question. On offense, though, the fear of life without Toney was answered better than most expected. Barkate can carry a load, Lofton is a real weapon and Jacobs brings speed nobody else on the roster has shown.
Now Dawson gets a full week to build around the players he actually has.
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