When Miami made the playoffs people I knew that were college football fans but didn't really watch Miami started asking me questions after the Ohio State game. They were like, it's weird to watch Miami because they don't seem to be doing much on offense but then you look at the score and they're either tied or winning. My response was always that Miami's offensive strategy is to control the game, it's not to score points. And the plan is to have the ball on the last drive with a chance to win. Even the Indiana game, I had people telling me Miami is going to get blown out and I said that will NEVER ever happen to this team. We may lose but we're not going to get blown out.
A team like Indiana, that seemed to rely on a lot of advanced scouting and experience, wasn't going to be as effective against a team that was just going to hit you with body blows for 4 quarters. There's nothing you can do to really prepare for physicality.
The negative side to that was the game was always going to be close and things like blocked punts and interceptions will doom you. I hope the defense keeps that level of intensity this year but I hope the passing game allows us more flexibility on offense. I think if it lands somewhere between the Ward offense and the Beck offense then we'll be golden. 2001 offense was like that.