Miami has been consistent in every aspect of the game except for the most critical area, the quarterback position. Since conference play began, Tyler Van Dyke has been turnover prone.

The Miami quarterback has thrown seven interceptions in three games. He only threw one in his first four. Against Virginia, it started badly with an interception on a deep ball intended for his favorite target, Xavier Restrepo.

"The first pick wasn't greed because it was open," Offensive Coordinator Shannon Dawson said. "He just underthrew it a bit, you know? I don't necessarily think that was a bad read; it just, you know, it just ended up bad because the throw wasn't very good, but he can make that throw all day."

On the same play, there were two options that Van Dyke could have thrown to - Mark Fletcher, and Brashard Smith on shorter routes. In the post-game press conference, Van Dyke said he needs to "check the ball down more," an area he has struggled in this season.

"I agree that every quarterback needs to check it down more, not just Tyler, and I think it's a process of learning," Dawson said. "We have to do a better job of taking what the defense gives. You get greedy, and bad things happen."

Dawson does not want to take the gun-slinging mentality away from "TVD." Van Dyke has connected on long throws of 64, 57, 54, 48 and 44 yards this season. He's averaging 269.1 yards per game, which is only second to UNC's Drake Maye in the conference.

"It's hard to take aggressiveness from a quarterback too, cause when you got the shot, you want it, so it's a very fine line," Dawson said. "And ultimately, we both live on that line; it's me and him, right? And so he knows that. I take as much blame as anybody when bad things happen. I have to put him in a better situation. I have to program it to where it's clear to him, and we will. I will do a better job of that moving forward."

The common critique of Van Dyke is that he locks on to one receiver. During his breakout season in 2021, Wide Receiver Charleston Rambo led the Hurricanes in catches (79), receiving yards (1,172), and receiving touchdowns (seven).

This season, Restrepo has 57 receptions for 648 yards and four touchdowns. The next highest receiver is Jacolby George, with 36 receptions for 495 yards and five scores.

"Are there other places that you can go with the ball, yes, but that's worked out a lot too," Dawson said. "So it's easy to point to the times when it doesn't work out and say, you know, look at this. Well, I can show 50 other times where it worked it pretty good. The critique of bad things is really easy to do in life."

Dawson admits that there were some missed opportunities against UVA:

"We could have hit some guys down the field, in the middle of the field, that could have burst some pipes."

He reiterated, however, that he knows that Van Dyke can make the throws needed to push the ball down the field.

"He's more than capable. We know what he's capable of, and so everybody is going to have a couple bad plays."

Van Dyke will try right his wrongs against NC State this Saturday. The last time Van Dyke played against the Wolfpack, he went off throwing for over 300 yards, four touchdowns, and zero interceptions.

Down 27-24 in the fourth quarter, Van Dyke led the Hurricanes on an 11-play drive, in which he converted two first downs passes and a four-yard touchdown pass to Rambo to take the lead en route to a 31-30 win. It was one of two fourth-quarter comebacks Van Dyke has on his resume - the other was a 33-30 comeback win over Georgia Tech later that year.

"The areas that we identified are all fixable and things that we have done well early in the year," Head Coach Mario Cristobal said. "So we've certainly gone at it, you know, directly, bluntly and every emphasize and gotten out the things that we feel are going to make it better because we're capable of doing it, and we expect to make it happen.”

The performance that was seen from Van Dyke against NC State in 2021 is what was expected this year in Dawson's offense, but unfortunately, the Miami QB has had to battle through adversity in his last three starts. Cristobal is confident that his quarterback will bounce back.

"There's no flinch in him at all," Cristobal said. "He's a really good football player, and he's going to play well.”

Miami travels to Raleigh, NC, for an 8 PM kickoff against the Wolfpack on Saturday.

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