Miami Football: 3 takeaways from Week 8 win over Syracuse

3. The Hard Rock turf is garbage

The Hard Rock turf has not recovered from Hurricane Irma which swept through Key West and Miami back in early September. The past two contests, where Miami hosted Flexbone option team Georgia Tech and now the Air Raid pass happy Syracuse Orange has seen the turf fall apart by the second half.

Saturday against Syracuse, it looked as though the teams were running on a snow covered field with slow cuts, players slipping, and kickers falling on their back sides to shank kick offs or make clutch field goals.

The Miami Dolphins also play on the Hard Rock turf and the site hosts large concerts, and international soccer events that tear up the natural grass surface down in Miami Gardens, Fla. If you recall, the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., required a make over with artificial turf back in 2010 after the surface was atrocious for a Miami-Wisconsin bowl game where Miami running back Graig Cooper destroyed his knee trying to cut on the loose grass.

Hard Rock may need to switch to a synthetic turf surface if they plan to host NFL and college football games every season, as well as international soccer and other events. The surface can’t handle it and there isn’t much you can do to account for hurricanes and tropical storms hitting in September.