Upon Further Review- Bethune-Cookman

Upon Further Review- Bethune-Cookman

Lance Roffers
Lance Roffers
Welcome back to Upon Further Review, where each week I will review the game film of the previous week’s matchup and highlight what happened. This week, Miami got on the winning track with an easy victory over Bethune-Cookman.

3rd down on first drive and Scaife exposes his chest and gets long-armed for a QB pressure. Scaife has to get that arm down and deliver his own punch to push this rusher wide. You can see the route is a square-in behind the LB and the MLB is flowing right into the zone that the receiver will be entering. Jarren threw this ball right to the LB and the interception is dropped. This same route pattern has given Shaq a ton of trouble this season, so nice play by their LB.
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Miami’s defense dominates BCU on the next possession and Garvin whips the LT on an inside move and forces the QB to throw the ball away. (Not pictured)

You see debates from fans at times on what is an RPO and what is a straight handoff or play action pass and this is an example of an RPO, as you can see the receivers are all in their routes rather than blocking and you have the same spacing you’d have from traditional routes without the RPO. This is a give and the OL collapses BCU inside and it’s a huge hole for DeeJay on the cutback.
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Donaldson allows his man to beat himself on the goal line play, Dallas evades the defender and scores.
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BCU gets Amari Carter isolated on their best receiver out of the slot and he presses Carter in his backpedal until he goes backwards, then cuts it off for an out-route. Carter plays it with good technique and tries to intercept it. Due to that gamble the receiver gets away and rips off one of their biggest plays in the game. (Not pictured)

Miami runs the same double-X stunt that they have run on 3rd down so many times this year (and given up runs because they lose leverage on the edge). QB evades the initial pressure and gets outside and hits the little shallow crossing route that Bandy is defending here. 1st down.
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BCU tries to run a counter with split zone and Bethel eats it up. Ford beats his man as well and meets at the ball carrier. LB’s read their keys are screaming into their gaps here. TFL.
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Miami blitzes Hall and Bandy on top of one another and there are holes everywhere. The stunt from that side is a nice touch though, as Garvin will either draw attention and open it up for blitzers or he has a free run. Luckily the QB panics and pulls the ball down right here instead of standing in there. It goes for a sack, but I have stated many times I’m not a fan of the blitz- especially on 3rd down- it opens too many holes and is too risk-reward for my liking.
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Zion Nelson continues to get better and better. Here he has perfect technique on the edge. Bent knees, flat back, arms delivering a strike to the defenders’ chest. Zion Nelson and Jakai Clark both look like they’re going to be hits in this recruiting class and both were lightly recruited from out of state.
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The OL gives Jarren time to hit Pope downfield. Frankly not a great throw, but you’d always rather underthrow the ball than overthrow it because your receiver has a chance that way.
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Definitely nit-picky, but Jarren was off early in this game. This throw is behind Thomas, which makes him lose all YAC ability.
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Baxa then misses the 30-yard FG attempt. Those are the kicks you just can’t be missing. You can accept 45+ yard kicks being missed, but never anything 35-and-under. (Not pictured)

BCU runs a swing pass to a TE on 3rd-down and the speed difference is apparent. Gurvan misses the tackle again, but no damage done. (Not pictured)

This is a neat play. It’s a TE trap with a rollout behind it. Mallory is outside in the slot, the LT blocks down and the flow is all to that side. The defender ducks inside and Mallory flows down and traps him as Jarren spins behind it. Complete out wide for a decent gain, but a fun little setup.
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On 3rd and long, Jarren throws the ball right into the hands of the MLB who drops it. Jarren should’ve taken the checkdown and had a chance at 4th down perhaps, but he gets away with the chance. (Not pictured)

Zion Nelson springs DeeJay on this long TD run. He is drive-blocking this defender out of the zip code. Jakai Clark has his man three yards downfield. Donaldson actually loses his block, which is why DeeJay bounces it to begin with. Mallory wins his block. Touchdown. Wait until Zion grows up, he truly still looks like a TE out there.
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Sometimes when I do these I point out officiating errors. You tell me if Pinckney is getting held at the LOS here. Not called, of course. Patchan gets home and forces the throw-away.
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It would cause me to have an aneurysm to coach special teams. You see it constantly, but why would you block this guy in the back (Te’Cory Couch)? It’s going to get called every single time.
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Is the OL playing against a team with far less talent than a P5 team? Yes. Is the OL improving each week? Yes it is. Look at Zion on the edge, that’s textbook. The rest of the OL is all in unison. Jarren has all day, and even though he stares down this post-corner route the entire way, it is still wide-open because of the time they give him.
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Donaldson gets beat to the inside and into Jarren’s face. He slides out to his left and finds Harley as his outlet who gets an excellent effort-block from Cam’Ron Harris and picks up a nice gain. This is excellent QB play, excellent effort, excellent design by the scheme to give him an outlet. Well done. (Not pictured)

This is a nice screen-shot to illustrate how a play functions. Harris gets the ball on a stretch play designed to go around the edge. Gaynor gets there a tick late but still locks-on and washes his defender down. Look at how Brevin has locked up a DL here and then Jakai Clark has gotten to the second level and blocked the pursuit LB. Receiver takes the CB and Zion is the blur running downfield nearing the 30. Harris cuts off of Gaynor and in front of Brevin and almost houses it.
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Here is what separates Zion from the majority of athletic, thin OT’s. He’s tough. This initial contact with a player who outweighs him by quite a bit shocks him backwards and nearly knocks him over (#60). Zion showed toughness and recovered and battled the guy. This run goes for a 1st down and while Zion’s man chases the play down for a tackle, it’s that toughness at this stage that tells me he is a puppy who bites on each play- even when he loses. Brevin is an excellent blocker on the edge and Hodges has taken Realus’ job.
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4th down play and we pulled Jakai Clark. The backside LB does an excellent job of seeing the puller and just darting through off his hip and into the backfield. Tackles Harris for a loss. The run before when we ran Tate out of wildcat, John Campbell was in for Donaldson and had the lead on a pull and went in wildly and while it looked like he was doing a lot, he didn’t get initial movement and they tackled Tate just short. Can’t have that on that play. (Not pictured)

Ivey beats the block and blows up this screen.
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Donaldson struggled in this game. Loses inside with quickness and Clark pulls and doesn’t get there. TFL. (Not pictured)

3rd and 2 and throw a swing pass to Osborn, who gets tackled too easily and doesn’t get the 1st down. Then on 4th down they have to run play-action and Brevin barely gets the first down. I admit this sequence had me frustrated and I tweeted out that Enos is losing me. (Not pictured)

Run the jet sweep to Wiggins and Brevin gets the key block outside, Wiggins cuts inside of the block and shows him speed. Mallory gets his man and then runs alongside him to get in the way of another. Tackled at the 2. (Not pictured)

Dallas gets behind Gaynor and Clark for a TD run. (Not pictured)

If I were an OC going against this defense, I would challenge our LB’s in space on every 3rd down, knowing there is going to be a blitz of some kind and the middle of the field will be open. WR fumbles after picking up the 1st down, but this was easy.
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Thank you Donaldson! I have been pleading for this OL to look for work and when you get a shot someone to just take their soul. Zion was engaged on the edge here and Donaldson levels him in his ribs so bad he almost took him out of the game. This is a perfect pocket and a laser throw from Jarren.
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This is an NFL throw by Jarren. Puts it high, where only his guy can get it, over the LB’s but with enough heat to allow the WR to box out the defender. Beautiful.
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Can’t say enough about the improvement the OL has shown over the past several weeks. Brevin and Mallory are doing their jobs as well.
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Little swing pass to Harley, who is normally the one doing the blocking on this play. Osborn is not an especially good blocker on the edge this season, but Harley evades his teammate being trucked into his path, turns it outside and actually scores on this play. First career TD for Harley, good on you my man.
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Same blitz on 3rd and long that we’ve sent four times in this game. Carter on the S blitz, Ivey on the CB blitz, Patchan on the stunt. QB doesn’t see it and Patchan gets the sack.
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Nice move by Pope to get inside and pick up the 1st down.
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When people talk about making a play outside of structure, it doesn’t just have to be with a dynamic run or making someone miss. Here, Jarren stays calm and rolls to his right. Hightower is smart enough to break off the route (a stick route outside) and goes back inside down field. Jarren hits him in stride and this gets to the 6-yard line.
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Another play where Jarren had to come off of his first read and get to another guy on 2nd and goal. He hits Hodges for the TD. Great play. (Not pictured)

When you have undersized, athletic T’s you can get them in space like on this jet sweep and make big plays. Zion comes allthe way from the LT spot and gets to that LB inside. Scaife is 51 downfield just looking for someone to hit. Pope has his best game as a Cane and they used him the way he can best make plays like this in space. This is the play Pope gets banged up on.
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Gaynor and Clark lead a nice screen downfield that gets to the 2-yard line. Harris gets the weakside flip and cuts it into the end zone. (Not pictured)

Brooks has a pick-6 if this ball is thrown where the receiver could reach it. You can see how impactful his movement skills in space can be on passing downs as the QB has to throw it high to prevent the interception and they’re off the field.
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Herbert was the backup LT in this game. Traore played RG and Hillery played RT. I didn’t see Tommy Kennedy play at all. (Not pictured)

Ryan Ragone got into the game as a striker at the end. Cool time for him. (Not pictured)

Brooks has incredible athleticism and explosion. He’s got to study and learn this year, but next year you could see more plays out of the position. I’d imagine that goes in the other direction sometimes as well, but his physical talents look to be returning to him after his injuries. (Not pictured)

Overall:
The growth of this team is evident on film. The talent disparity was huge, but there were moments you could see the execution and the talent starting to take shape with this team. There is a good chance this is the beginning of a solid run of wins for our Canes, and that could even result in a Coastal title if the young talent continues to develop and the safety position tightens up and stops allowing big plays.

Encouraged with this game, even though I was initially disappointed in the start.
 

Comments (34)

TE blocking hard. Brevin Jordan is making himself a lot of money with the film he is putting out.

Dead that blitz please. Safety and LB play needs to improve fast, especially Shaq Q.

Really excited by Zion and Clark, they actually had me watching the oline, something I never do during games. They actually are popping/flashing on tape.

RBs need more carries especially Cam. I’m satisfied with the number of Deejay touches but some of these throwaway playcalls should be Cam runs.

Finley is the safety net of this defense, hope he is ok.

Garvin and Enos should return to develop even more.

Great write up and breakdown!!
 
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Please stop with that one blitz, it’s not getting home and continually calling it makes it easy for OC’s to pick up on it. This defense just seems to lack the punch this year. Like we are playing on our heels instead of downhill.
i believe it's the same blitz that we used against fsu for a sack fumble against francois that changed the momentum of the game .... just got to tighten up the back end, but when timed right and used appropriately, it works
 
Great work as usual, Lance.

I love these posts, I immediately thought of you when I saw that clip of ND "looking for work" when he drilled that DE that Zion was blocking
 
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Miami runs the same double-X stunt that they have run on 3rd down so many times this year (and given up runs because they lose leverage on the edge).

@Lance Roffers what is the rationale behind this play design? Are we telegraphing this play? Failing to execute? Why has it appeared to be so ineffective?
 
Miami runs the same double-X stunt that they have run on 3rd down so many times this year (and given up runs because they lose leverage on the edge).

@Lance Roffers what is the rationale behind this play design? Are we telegraphing this play? Failing to execute? Why has it appeared to be so ineffective?

It’s designed to get a free rusher and make big plays. If it’s timed right it can lead to sacks and turnovers.

Like a lot of the defense it’s based on havoc. Just has a low success rate (as you’d expect or you’d run a play that gets TFL and turnovers all the time).
 
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Please stop with that one blitz, it’s not getting home and continually calling it makes it easy for OC’s to pick up on it. This defense just seems to lack the punch this year. Like we are playing on our heels instead of downhill.

I remember Diaz first year he was doing the same thing baker is doing now. Blitzing way too much, trying to get cute. It’s obviously great when it works but most of the time it’s just taking guys completely out of the ply cause it doesn’t get home. Diaz eventually stopped doing it as much and the defense got so much better. Hopefully baker does too cause it’s actually annoying and predictable at this point.
 
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Hopefully get some talented defenders back soon in Silvera, Joyner, and Bolden that can really help the overall play of this defense.
 
More concerned with the defense than the offense at this point

Agreed.. the Safeties and LBs have been our weakness this year. LBs too slow and Safeties have tackled very poorly and taken awful angles

The scheme for the DL also seems different but I think that’s due to the inefficiencies at S and LB
 
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If Manny's really the savage he appeared to be in the offseason, he'll squeeze responsibility away from Baker if the defense continues to suck and be predictable, right?
 
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