Miami (OH) vs Miami (FL) Preview: Gabbert’s Shocking Victory?
Gabbert Will Return From a Shoulder Injury That Kept Him Out For Most of 2022
It’s the battle of Miami’s in Week 1 of the college football season.
The Miami-Ohio RedHawks will take on the Miami Hurricanes under the bright lights on Friday night. The Hurricanes finished 5-7 overall and just 3-5 in the ACC last season under Mario Cristobal. That wasn’t good enough to land a bowl game in the NCAAF playoffs for the Hurricanes last season.
Cristobal is in a bit of a rebuild with Miami. But another bowl-less season in Miami will have fans restless, especially with all of the culture and tradition that the Hurricanes carry.
They’ll take on a RedHawks team that went bowling last season. They were just 4-4 in the MAC and went 6-7 last year. But it was good enough to play some extra football.
RedHawks quarterback Brett Gabbert told the media that the RedHawks were the real Miami. Can Miami-Ohio pull off the upset?
Let’s look at the Miami (OH) vs Miami (FL) preview for Friday’s matchup.
Miami (OH) vs Miami 
Day/Time:
Location: Hard Rock Stadium
Streaming: ACCN
Who Is The Real Miami?
If history has any say, the real Miami is the Miami Hurricanes. The Miami Hurricanes have won five AP National Championships, with the last NCAA football championship in 2001.
It’s been over a decade for Miami. But the team has a rich history of success throughout college football’s life.
But that didn’t stop quarterback Brett Gabbert from starting some trash talk earlier this week. During a press conference, the media asked Gabbert a question to begin the week. The question was simple. The media member asked, “The real Miami is where?”
Brett Gabbert replied, “Oxford, Ohio. We’ll show them September 1st.”
Get your popcorn ready for this showdown. It’s about to be electric.
Gabbert had an incredible 2021 campaign, leading Miami-Ohio with 26 touchdowns and just six interceptions. But he was knocked out of last year’s season with a shoulder injury. Gabbert is healthy and ready to take over the quarterback duties for the RedHawks again.
He had been in the transfer portal but decided to come back. The grass isn’t always greener, and Gabbert knew it.
Gabbert has a lot of deep threats at receiver. However, he’ll no longer have Mac Hippenhammer, who was Miami-Ohio’s best receiver over the last few seasons.
However, the offensive line will need to be better for Gabbert to have enough time to allow those big plays to develop. The offensive line lost a lot of NCAAF players to graduation or the transfer portal. That’s the biggest weakness of the team heading into 2023.
Meanwhile, the defense was the No. 1 scoring defense in the nation last year. The pass rush wasn’t incredible, but the defense added a lot of turnovers. With Gabbert at quarterback, these turnovers will be worth more this year.
No More Excuses for Miami (FL)
The Miami Hurricanes had plenty of injuries last season. There were plenty of inconsistencies, and the run game was boring.
Miami was held to 17 or fewer points in five games last year. But with the development of the transfer portal, Miami should never have a losing season again. The history and culture of this program is just too good for that.
The fans deserve better.
Tyler Van Dyke will start for the Hurricanes at quarterback. He should be more developed this year after adding 1,836 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. That’s just not going to cut it this year.
Van Dyke also doesn’t have the most impressive receivers, either. Yes, Miami has a lot of returning talent. But that talent didn’t exactly “wow” anyone last season, either.
As always, the offensive line should improve with a Mario Cristobal-coached team. That should help the run game break out for more prominent players. The addition of Ajay Allen from Nebraska should pay dividends. But there’s a lot of questions surrounding this team moving forward.
On paper, it doesn’t look great for Miami.
Don’t Sleep on Miami-Ohio
The Miami-Ohio RedHawks are confident that they can beat the Miami Hurricanes this year.
And why wouldn’t they be?
The Hurricanes have embarrassed themselves countless times over the last few years. This NCAAF team was upset by Middle Tennessee State, 45-31 last year, while ranked as the No. 25-ranked team in the country.
Guess who played quarterback for Miami in that game?
It was Tyler Van Dyke. He was benched in the third quarter for his play in that game. Now, we expect him to flash excellence in 2023? Yeah right.
The Hurricanes are 0-6 against the spread in their last six home games.
Over the last 11 games, the Hurricanes are just 1-10 against the spread. They’ve underperformed at an all-time embarrassing level. In our Miami (OH) vs Miami (FL) preview, another loss isn’t out of the question.
Miami struggled to get off the field on third downs. This is one of the many reasons Gabbert believes he’ll dominate the Hurricanes’ defense.
The Hurricanes were good at forcing takeaways. The safeties for Miami are excellent. But Gabbert is a veteran thrower who rarely makes mistakes. In 2021, he threw just six interceptions in the entire season. He threw four touchdowns and no interceptions before he went down with a shoulder injury last year.
So if you combine his last two seasons, Gabbert has thrown for 30 toit’sowns and six intethey’llns.
Miami needs takeaways on defense to be successful. But it’s hard to imagine they’ll get it against Gabbert and the RedHawks.
Give Me The Points!
The college football betting odds have the Miami-Ohio RedHawks as 17-point underdogs on the road. The Hurricanes defeated Southern Miss, 30-7, and dominated Bethune-Cookman, 70-13. But other than those two games, Miami either lost or wouldn’t have covered the 17 points.
The Hurricanes are not built for massive wins. At least not right now. Especially against one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the nation.
Van Dyke has the potential. But if the Hurricanes had their choice at quarterback this year, they’d probably take Gabbert over Van Dyke.
Therefore, in this Miami (OH) vs Miami (FL) preview, I’d back the RedHawks at +17.
For NCAAF betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
