Hurricanes Efficient on Offense

Sept. 16, 2004

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Miami’s fourth-ranked football team continued its preparations for Louisiana Tech and the Bulldogs’ high-powered rushing offense on Thursday afternoon with a short practice in shorts and helmets at the Greentree Practice Fields.

“Today was a regular Thursday routine,” Miami Head Coach Larry Coker said. “It was a much better day today than we had last time we had our Thursday-type practice. The guys moved around well and had a lot of fun. We got in and out of the huddle well.”

The Miami coach was also pleased with the Hurricanes’ efficiency on the offensive side of the football, and he thinks their mistakes from a week ago have been taken care of.

“Our efficiency on offense was much better today,” Coker said. “Hopefully we have fixed some of the problems we had with the clock in the first half last week.”

The Miami defense will be focusing on Louisiana Tech’s running back Ryan Moats, who leads the country in rushing with 257 yards per game.

“Well, he is good,” Coker said. “You have to control him, I don’t know if you completely stop a guy like that. He is going to make some plays. We just have to swarm him and surround him and make sure we have a lot of people around the ball. And then we have to tackle well.

“I don’t know if there are any sophisticated schemes. We just have to make sure we don’t have too many people isolated one-on-one with him, because he is a good player.”

Placekicker Jon Peattie is healthy enough to play on Saturday and is expected to handle the field goal and extra point duties. Middle linebacker Leon Williams is doubtful with a fractured hand.