CORAL GABLES — When the Hurricanes were tied with Stanford at halftime on Saturday, some fans expressed their recent frustrations with Miami’s offense. Those on social media posted about their displeasure, and some fans in attendance at Hard Rock Stadium booed after certain plays.
Many of those fans were ultimately satisfied as the No. 10 Hurricanes rolled to a 42-7 win against the overmatched Cardinal. Even though Miami finished the game with 199 rushing yards—the team’s best total since a win over USF—and a season-high five rushing touchdowns, the style of inside running game left some displeased.
The Hurricanes have taken the majority of their runs between the tackles, with coaches calling plays they believe offer the best chance to succeed, head coach Mario Cristobal and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said.
“Everything we do has a process, and anything game planned is because it gives us the best opportunity,” Cristobal said. “Sometimes it’s designed to go between the tackles, sometimes designed to stretch things out a little bit more than they end up between the tackles. Sometimes we bank on someone getting spilled on a counter and bouncing outside. Sometimes we think we could kick out and get inside. But I think the run game here for us has been pretty successful for a long time. We do face some loaded boxes. Sometimes it’s successful, and sometimes not as successful, but it is thoroughly planned.
“We’re always looking for an advantage in the form of a formation, in the form of an extra hat, in the form of numbers and in the form of leverage. So that’s what goes into game planning the run game. And we’re always looking for ways to improve that in every part of our program.”
Miami has run between the tackles slightly more this year than it has in the past under Cristobal and Dawson, according to Pro Football Focus. In 2025, 54 percent of UM’s runs have been between the tackles (not including jet sweeps and end-arounds). The Hurricanes have notched 4.67 yards per carry on those runs, and 57 percent of their rushing yards have come on those plays.
Last year, 50 percent of Miami’s carries were between the tackles, accounting for 49 percent of their rushing yards. UM averaged 6.37 yards per carry on those runs last season. In 2023, 52 percent of carries were between the tackles, accounting for 54 percent of the yardage, with Miami averaging 5.81 yards per carry on those runs.
In all three seasons, Miami averaged slightly more yards per carry running between the tackles than running outside the tackles or tight ends.
The Hurricanes have gotten mixed results from their run game. UM averaged 4.5 yards or better on the ground in three of its seven games, but Florida State and Louisville both held Miami below 100 yards total.
There are several reasons why the Hurricanes are averaging fewer yards on runs between the tackles this season. They no longer have Damien Martinez, who ran for 1,000 yards (555 of which came from runs between the tackles), and they don’t have quarterback Cam Ward, whose excellent season may have forced defenses to devote more players to stopping UM’s passing attack.
When opponents don’t load the box with extra defenders to stop the run, the Hurricanes can take advantage and gash teams up the middle—especially when running with power backs like Mark Fletcher Jr. (6-2, 225 pounds) and Marty Brown (5-11, 220 pounds).
Fletcher has been one of the top running backs in the nation, earning an 87 run grade from PFF, which ranks 10th nationally among running backs with 50 or more carries.
“Some of the runs that Mark made and scored were up the middle,” Dawson said. “Hate to admit, but like a 9- or 10-yard gain, which is amazing—you can run up the middle and get a 10-yard gain. But one of the reasons that the box was weak is because they have to respect those wide receivers out there.”
Dawson added that while it may appear Miami’s running game is simply trying to pound the ball toward the middle of the offensive line, in reality, they are running different run concepts that—based on how the team lines up in shotgun formations—often end up hitting the interior gaps.
“So the fact that it has to go all the way around the tackle on outside zone, it’s probably not going to happen unless the defense gets out of gap, which they did a couple times,” Dawson said. “And so I’m 100 percent good with the ball hitting the A-B gap.”
When the Hurricanes call zone runs, which they have on 101 of their 224 designed runs this season according to PFF, the running back reads the blocking to see where to take the ball. If the better crease is inside, that is where he is supposed to go, regardless of whether it’s an inside zone or an outside zone.
“Really it has everything to do with how the defense fits it,” Dawson said. “And so you can run outside zone 15 times, which we probably ran it 10 or so times in the game Saturday. It hit outside one time. It hit in the B gap most times. It hit in the A gap a handful of times. Like duo—you can run duo 10 times. It’s probably going to hit in the A gap six of those times. It’s probably going to spit to the B gap or backside B gap a handful of times. And there’s going to be a couple times where it falls off the table because they mis-fit it. So where the ball hits, I can’t dictate. The defense dictates that a lot by how they fit.”
Dawson said he can simulate a stretch-run game by throwing the ball to the flats and allowing pass-catchers to make plays. That has worked well, particularly when throwing to freshman star Malachi Toney.
Toney has a 96.8 receiving grade on passes of 0-9 yards, which leads the nation. On those passes, he has 14 first downs, 143 yards after catch, and seven forced missed tackles.
“We use a lot of things to spit the ball on the edge, which creates edges to defenses,” Dawson said. “To me, that’s our stretch game—getting the ball in the flats, which we do approximately eight to 10 times a game.”
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/10/28/why-are-the-hurricanes-running-inside-so-often-mario-cristobal-shannon-dawson-explain/
