Head Coach Randy Shannon fired Patrick Nix as the offensive coordinator for the Miami Hurricanes this week. Nix was cordial to Shannon on the way out but also said he wanted to play a more wide-open, no-huddle type of offense and Shannon wasn’t willing to do play that style.
Isn’t that what most football fans like to hear? A more exciting offense? A way to isolate the Hurricanes athletes against their opponents? Nix’s offensive philosophy sounded like a better solution for the team. Is Shannon going to hire a offensive coordinator who wants to run the ball and eat up time on the clock? Do the fans want to see such an offense? Don’t the Hurricanes want to excite players to come to Miami because they play a wide-open, no-huddle type offense? The type of offense the Hurricanes played during their glory years.
CollegeBowlProjections.com decided to take a look at the numbers to see if they warranted a dismissal of Nix.
2008 ACC Offensive Statistic Rankings
Points per game: Miami 2nd
Offensive yards per game: Miami 5th
These don’t look like horrible numbers. Especially if you consider Nix was working with two freshman quarterbacks as the starter. We decided to look at the defensive statistics to see if how they compared to the offensive side of the ball.
2008 ACC Defensive Statistic Rankings
Points allowed: Miami 11th
Yards allowed per game: Miami 7th
Are we missing something? Since Randy Shannon fired the defensive coordinator last year he had to lay the blame on the offense?
The most alarming stat was the amount of interceptions the Hurricanes created this season. The defense was only able to pick off opposing quarterbacks four times this season. Compare that number to 26 times for the Boston College Eagles and you can see why the Eagles won their ACC division and the Hurricanes didn’t. If the Hurricanes had half the interceptions of Boston College they would of easily won three more games.
Apparently Shannon is laying the blame on the offense this season. Next year, Shannnon won’t have any place to look but at himself if the Hurricanes don’t turn it around.
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