Week 3 Stat Roll

[OrangeBowlMagic]

As always, these are only numbers from FBS vs FBS competition.

Offense:

Yards per play: 16th (6.87 YPP)
Yards per game: 20th (463.5 YPG)
Points per game: 19th (39.0 PPG)
Passing yards per game: 10th (324.0 YPG)
Passing completion percentage: 2nd (87.0%) *Absurd*
Passing yards per attempt: 17th (9.4 YPA)
Passer rating: 6th (201.2)
Passing TDs: 6th (8 TDs)
Interceptions: 32nd (1 INT)
Rushing yards per game: 69th (139.5 YPG)
Rushing yards per attempt: 58th (4.23 YPA)
Rushing TDs: 80th (2)
Sacks given up per game: 8th (0.5 per game)
First Downs per game: 14th (25.0 per game)
3rd down conversion %: 15th (54.17%)
4th down conversion %: NA (Haven't attempted a 4th down conversion)
TFLs allowed per game: 5th (2.00 per game)
Red Zone TD %: 14th (85.7% TD rate, 6 TDs in 7 chances)
Red Zone Scoring %: 1st (7 scores in 7 chances)
Field goal %: 88th (2 for 3)
PAT %: 1st (10 for 10)
10+ Yard Scrimmage Plays: 53rd (31) *15.5/game average, in 2025 we averaged 13.5/game*
20+ Yard Scrimmage Plays: 49th (10) *5/game average, in 2025 we averaged 4/game*
30+ Yard Scrimmage Plays: 39th (5) *2.5/game average, in 2025 we averaged 1.87/game*
40+ Yard Scrimmage Plays: 51st (2) *1/game average, in 2025 we averaged 0.87/game*
50+ Yard Scrimmage Plays: N/A (0)
60+ Yard Scrimmage Plays: N/A (0)
70+ Yard Scrimmage Plays: N/A (0)


Defense:

Yards per play allowed: 34th (4.98 YPP) *We finished 2025 at 4.73 per play, against obviously way better competition*
Yards per game allowed: 36th (316.5 YPG)
Points per game allowed: 16th (13.0 PPG)
Passing yards per game allowed: 107th (266.5 YPG)
Passing completion percentage allowed: 34th (58.0%)
Passing yards per attempt: 24th (6.1 YPA)
Passer rating allowed: 36th (117.82)
Rushing yards per game allowed: 4th (50.0 YPG)
Rushing yards per attempt allowed: 12th (2.56 YPA)
Sacks per game: 44th (2.0 sack per game)
3rd down % allowed: 38th (33.3% allowed)
4th down % allowed: 16th (20%, opponents 1/5 on 4th down)
Red Zone td % allowed: 17th (40% allowed -- 2 TDs in 5 chances)
Red Zone Scoring % allowed: 42nd (80% allowed -- 4 scores in 5 chances)
Punting: 25th (46.29 Yard average)
10+ Yard Scrimmage Plays allowed: 72nd (28) *11.2 allowed per game in 2025*
20+ Yard Scrimmage Plays allowed: 37th (7) *3.27 allowed per game in 2025*
30+ Yard Scrimmage Plays allowed: 4th (1) *1.33 allowed per game in 2025*
40+ Yard Scrimmage Plays allowed: 17th (1)
50+ Yard Scrimmage Plays allowed: 1st (0)
60+ Yard Scrimmage Plays allowed: 1st (0)


Team Stats:

Penalties: 46th (6 penalties per game) *Have ranked 112th, 97th, 76th, and 104th in Mario's 4 years here*
Penalty yards: 88th (62.5 Yards per game)
Turnover margin: 57th (0 per game -- 1 takeaway, 1 giveaway)
Time of possession: 27th (32:54 per game)
Seconds per play: 107th (29.0 seconds between plays) *Too **** Slow*


Takeaways:

Welp, we were well on our way to being Top 3 in the country in **** near every offensive metric, and then the middle of the 3rd quarter happened, and the bed****ting began. I still haven't fully comprehended what I watched yet, I am planning on going back and doing a "before and after" comparison for some numbers, but either way, through 2 games, the offense is good, but not yet great. That's what gaining 17 yards on 15 plays will do to you when you still have a small sample size.

If you want to be optimistic, you can say that if you go 5 straight drives where you do not get a single first down and you score 0 points in a road conference game, you often lose. We didn't, and we actually never even had the game as a one-score game. That's something positive, as utterly ridiculous and unacceptable that quarter and a half was.

One thing of note, we haven't had our stat padding game yet, in terms of these numbers. Remember, this is only FBS vs FBS, so the FAMU game isn't included in any of this. Whereas most of the other teams in the country have played a G5 game that do count towards their stats. For example, Memphis is #1 currently in yards per play, they have a game against Arkansas State, where they averaged 8.30 YPP. Boise State is #2, they have a game against Colorado State, where they averaged 9.64 YPP. I think you get the point. We get to play a G5 FBS team this week, and we *should* be able to rack up big numbers, to make us a little more comparable to the other teams. And we've seen a MASSIVE P4 to G5 disparity so far this year, which makes sense when you consider how these teams are just raided now via the portal. Here's how it's broken down thus far:

P4 vs G6: 62-2, average margin of victory of 26.7 ppg.

So, if you're playing a G6 team, you're almost certainly blistering them, and almost all the other P4 teams have played one to this point. We have not, until Saturday. So I expect we'll move up in a lot of these rankings after this week.

Other than that, I'm not going to go into too much detail here. Still very early in the season with a lot of disparity in schedules. But I will say, Miami is 1 of 2 teams in the country who are 3-0 with two P4 road wins. Should we be throwing a parade? Obviously not, what happened in the 2nd half last week was unacceptable, and we have bigger fish to fry than Stanford and Wake, but we are 2-0 in conference with both being road wins, at night, on weekdays, by double-digits. I'm not going to let 5 drives make me hit the panic button.

I'll add some random advanced metrics and graphs to this through the week as we get some commentary, if anyone is interested in anything else from a metrics standpoint, let me know.

 

[genxcane]

Wait, do I read that correctly?

Our passing % is 87% and we are still ranked 32nd?

 

[919cane]

Wait, do I read that correctly?

Our passing % is 87% and we are still ranked 32nd?

Has to be a typo lol

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

Wait, do I read that correctly?

Our passing % is 87% and we are still ranked 32nd?

I have fat Italian sausage fingers and am a dimwitted individual who cannot type correctly due to said deformities.

A thousand pardons, sir. It should say "2nd"....that 3 snuck in there like my bed in college. It's been updated.

 

[TwentySix]

I have fat Italian sausage fingers and am a dimwitted individual who cannot type correctly due to said deformities.

A thousand pardons, sir. It should say "2nd"....that 3 snuck in there like my bed in college. It's been updated.

Just because I know someone else will be curious, this only trails Army who has played 1 FBS game and threw the ball 11 times.

 

[919cane]

I have fat Italian sausage fingers and am a dimwitted individual who cannot type correctly due to said deformities.

A thousand pardons, sir. It should say "2nd"....that 3 snuck in there like my bed in college. It's been updated.

Who tf is 1st? Is there a minimum # of pass attempts to qualify?

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

Just because I know someone else will be curious, this only trails Army who has played 1 FBS game and threw the ball 11 times.

Correct. Probably should have mentioned that. What concerned me most on Friday was Mensah completed 88.2% of his passes (30/34), which is simply out of this world. If you complete 88% of your passes, your yards per attempt should be through the roof.

But his was 6.5, which for a season, would've ranked 89th last year. So we're completing basically every ball we throw, but we only threw for 220 yards. I know "this is what Wake Forest does", and that's kind of true. Wake was 11th in the country last year in 20+ yard plays allowed. But if you're able to take away everything deep AND only let us get 17 yards on 15 plays in the 2nd half, something is wrong on our end.

 

[TwentySix]

Correct. Probably should have mentioned that. What concerned me most on Friday was Mensah completed 88.2% of his passes (30/34), which is simply out of this world. If you complete 88% of your passes, your yards per attempt should be through the roof.

But his was 6.5, which for a season, would've ranked 89th last year. So we're completing basically every ball we throw, but we only threw for 220 yards. I know "this is what Wake Forest does", and that's kind of true. Wake was 11th in the country last year in 20+ yard plays allowed. But if you're able to take away everything deep AND only let us get 17 yards on 15 plays in the 2nd half, something is wrong on our end.

I haven’t rewatched the game yet, but I don’t remember the last time I was as frustrated as I was sitting in that stadium in the second half. Mind blowingly bad.

 

[Shooter McGavin]

I was getting ready to talk **** to the CIS writers for taking Miami to score less than 40 against Wake. I’m mind blown on how bad the offense was after the Toney td early in the third.

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

I haven’t rewatched the game yet, but I don’t remember the last time I was as frustrated as I was sitting in that stadium in the second half. Mind blowingly bad.

I believe Toney played 12 snaps in the 2nd half. No, that's not an excuse. I don't care if Malachi Toney is out and Toni Braxton is in, you can't get less than 20 yards on 5 straight drives. But this offense is built around him, period. Yes, Mensah is a Heisman finalist if the award is given today. Yes, it's deserved. Yes, he's having a sensational season. But this offense is built around Malachi Toney. A Shannon Dawson offense is always built around the slot receiver, but when you have one this good, it goes to another level.

Remember, in 2022, Tank Dell caught 109 balls for 1400 yards and 17 TDs in this offense. And I think, as good of a player as Tank is/was before that horrible knee injury, Mali seems to be on another level.

So when he's off the field, it's a different offense.

This is how I'm keeping myself sane. Am I lying to myself? Probably. But if Mali was healthy and played every snap and we did what we did, I'd probably be more concerned than I am. He is this offense. Everything we do centers around him, both when we scheme him the ball, when we get other kids open off the attention he gets, and even how he impacts the run game both with his presence and when he blocks.

 

[TwentySix]

I believe Toney played 12 snaps in the 2nd half. No, that's not an excuse. I don't care if Malachi Toney is out and Toni Braxton is in, you can't get less than 20 yards on 5 straight drives. But this offense is built around him, period. Yes, Mensah is a Heisman finalist if the award is given today. Yes, it's deserved. Yes, he's having a sensational season. But this offense is built around Malachi Toney. A Shannon Dawson offense is always built around the slot receiver, but when you have one this good, it goes to another level.

Remember, in 2022, Tank Dell caught 109 balls for 1400 yards and 17 TDs in this offense. And I think, as good of a player as Tank is/was before that horrible knee injury, Mali seems to be on another level.

So when he's off the field, it's a different offense.

This is how I'm keeping myself sane. Am I lying to myself? Probably. But if Mali was healthy and played every snap and we did what we did, I'd probably be more concerned than I am. He is this offense. Everything we do centers around him, both when we scheme him the ball, when we get other kids open off the attention he gets, and even how he impacts the run game both with his presence and when he blocks.

Right there with you, I’m going to rewatch it, scream to myself about the oline play, and then flush it.

I get they were bubble wrapping him, and that’s fine. End of the day it was a two score win on the road against a team that’s probably better than most people realize, and I firmly believe has the best qb we’ll see in conference play.

The only thing I would have liked to have seen if they were going to play it that way would have been to put Toney out there on a second down every now and then, even if he’s a decoy. Because going two plays for nothing and then putting him out there on obvious passing downs was clearly too predictable.

 

[TitansHope]

Correct. Probably should have mentioned that. What concerned me most on Friday was Mensah completed 88.2% of his passes (30/34), which is simply out of this world. If you complete 88% of your passes, your yards per attempt should be through the roof.

But his was 6.5, which for a season, would've ranked 89th last year. So we're completing basically every ball we throw, but we only threw for 220 yards. I know "this is what Wake Forest does", and that's kind of true. Wake was 11th in the country last year in 20+ yard plays allowed. But if you're able to take away everything deep AND only let us get 17 yards on 15 plays in the 2nd half, something is wrong on our end.

he was at ~9 ypa at the half, if i recall correctly. still not super explosive, but that obviously wasn't the gameplan against what wake does, and 9 ypa is more than acceptable. it was, of course, the nightmare second half that brought him way down.

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

he was at ~9 ypa at the half, if i recall correctly. still not super explosive, but that obviously wasn't the gameplan against what wake does, and 9 ypa is more than acceptable. it was, of course, the nightmare second half that brought him way down.

For sure. I said I plan to do a first and 2nd half comparison, for anyone who wants to say bye to their lunch.