Saturday’s game between Miami and Georgia Tech was uncharacteristic not only for Hurricanes quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, but for the team all around against what was deemed to be one their easiest games on the schedule.
Instead, Mario Cristobal’s team suffered its first loss of the season as Georgia Tech pulled a 23-20 road upset and Van Dyke tossed 3 interceptions to just 1 touchdown pass.
With an off performance like this from Van Dyke, some questioned if there were concerns surrounding his injury status, which Cristobal said after the game was not an issue.
Van Dyke viewed his issues as coming down to decision-making in his own right.
“I mean, from my viewpoint, I can’t put us in those situations,” Van Dyke said in his postgame press conference. “Three interceptions, you know, giving them those close fields and them able to capitalize on it. I mean, I put us in the situation. I got to be better. I can’t force the ball, make dumb decisions. I just got to be better.”
Some of that had to do with the Georgia Tech defense and some of the different looks they were giving.
“I mean, yeah, they had a new defensive coordinator, maybe a few looks different,” Van Dyke said. “I mean, it’s football, so one-high, two-high, zone, man, like it’s not too complicated. Just can’t force it into tight coverage and, you know, got to go watch the film and get better.”
Up until this point, Van Dyke had been playing himself into the early-round conversation, living up once again to the hype that surrounded him around when he initially took the field for Miami in the place of D’Eriq King.
In the first 4 games of the season, Van Dyke was good for 74 of his 99 passing attempts (74.7%), throwing for 1,042 yards with 11 touchdowns and just 1 interception back in Week 1.
By Week 3 of the season, he was PFF’s highest-graded quarterback in the NCAA with a 94.2 overall grade.
That put him ahead of Michael Penix Jr. (Washington, 94.1), Shedeur Sanders (Colorado, 92.5), Conner Weigman (Texas A&M, 92.4), Caleb Williams (USC, 91.3), Riley Leonard (Duke, 91.2), JJ McCarthy (Michigan, 91.o) and Drew Allar (Penn State, 90.8).
The good news for Van Dyke is that he has the ability to prove this was a mere fluke with No. 12 UNC up next on the schedule. A quality performance on this stage would all but erase the woes of last Saturday, especially in a direct matchup with Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye, deemed by nearly every analyst in the country to be the second-best quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft.
The Hurricanes and the Tar Heels are set to kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday in Chapel Hill.