Takeaways from Miami’s Win over Virginia Tech

6. Penalties took their toll

As well as the Hurricanes played in several phases of the game, there are still, Cristobal noted, several areas where they need to continue improving.

On Saturday, one of those areas was penalties.

For the most part, Miami has played clean, disciplined football this season. The Hurricanes entered the game averaging just 44 penalty yards per game.

Against Virginia Tech, though, the Hurricanes were whistled 17 times for 159 yards. That’s 52 more yards than they gained on the ground and it’s something Cristobal said his team needs to clean up, quickly.

“As some of the guys started getting banged up, we started having issues with execution, particularly in penalties,” Cristobal said. “We entered the game as the least penalized team in the conference, but we walked away with a ton of penalties.”

7. Finishing a priority

More than a few of those penalties came into play late in the game, while the Hurricanes were dealing with injuries to various starters and Virginia Tech was trying to mount a comeback.

The Hokies nearly did – scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter while holding Miami to just a field goal in the second half.

Continuing to mature and play with poise, Cristobal said, will be a focus, especially given the number of young players that are starting to see increased playing time.

“We had some really, really unacceptable penalties. So for us, honestly, we’ve got to learn not to get anxious,” Cristobal said. “As the game gets tighter and things start getting a little bit closer, we’ve got to learn how to play with poise. We’ve got to start taking more pride and confidence and conviction and performing that way. All of that is just more and more work.”

8. Red zone a mixed bag

During some of their recent struggles, the Hurricanes have been able to move the ball, but haven’t been able to score as much as they’d like.

While in the first half Miami scored 17 unanswered points, in the second, they managed just one field goal. They finished the day 4 of 4 on red zone opportunities – but only two of those chances resulted in touchdowns.

“There’s a lot of room to grow, I think,” Van Dyke said. “Obviously, we moved the ball great, almost 450 [yards], something like that…I think that’s a pretty good day. But it’s all about converting and scoring. Obviously, we’re still going to work on it. At the end of the day, we got the win and that’s what matters.”

9. Canes…