Upon Further Review- Virginia

Upon Further Review- Virginia

Lance Roffers
Lance Roffers
I watched it. It happened. Miami won a football game against a Power-5 team as an underdog. As many of you know, Miami was 2-8 over their last 10 games against Power-5 competition and just 4-12 since the streak ended in 2017. While we have a long way to go, I am just happy to be reviewing a victory here at Upon Further Review.

Opening kickoff and just imagine if Jeff Thomas wasn’t tackled by Mike Harley. He has an absolute lane to take this return through.
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Cool little concept on 2nd down as we ran a double screen. I believe Perry has the option to throw to either side on this play. The LG and C are releasing to the top of the screen and he has the slip screen to Harley at top of screen, or an underneath screen to Brevin at the bottom. Perry chooses the bottom and luckily the ball comes out quick because the unblocked rusher is about the crush him.
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On 2nd down we throw deep to KJ Osborn. It is completed on a nice adjustment by the WR, but you want to see a 6-5, 330 pound OL get destroyed by a much smaller man? Donaldson exposes his chest and gets absolutely pancaked by this Virginia defender right into Perry’s legs. He was flat put on his back because of bad technique. Lazy at point of attack, doesn’t bend, chest exposed and this guy took the opportunity.
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This is a called QB draw here and it would’ve had room but Donaldson completely whiffed on his block. You can see him turning around looking for the guy like a matador turns to look for the bull after raising the muleta.
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How do so many plays for Miami get blown up by lack of protection? Communication. You see over and over again on film. Here, Virginia crashes the DT inside and the RG goes with him. The DE stunts around and comes free. The OL has to communicate and Gaynor needs to take #91 and Clark needs to take the stunter. Thankfully, Perry escapes and runs for the 1st down, but over-and-over again you see Miami’s protection get confused by stunts.
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Try to run the ball and Virginia just owns the LOS. Look at how Donaldson is pushed back two yards, which forces DeeJay to bubble and allows the backside defender time to run it down. Miami has to start owning the LOS up front again to ever be a great team. I’d personally think about a change at LG. This is one of the plays where Louis Riddick called out the play calling for the slow-hitting outside zone runs. He’s right in the sense that Snowden is very fast and when you leave him unblocked he can run those down quickly. I’d try running them AT Snowden, rather than away from him.
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On the screen pass to DeeJay that goes for a TD, Perry showed courage holding the ball as long as he did in the face of a free rusher. DeeJay did a great job of convincing the DL he was blocking because he smelled a rat at first and slowed his rush. Then when he got on the edge, Osborn did an excellent job of working back towards the play and throwing the key block that springs him (Riddick said it was Gaynor, but he didn’t really block a soul before Dallas scored). Not pictured

3rd down on Virginia’s drive and Perkins picks this up if Patchan is in the game. Rousseau’s freaky length allows him to grab him just by the shoestrings as he’s stepping through. We spied Perkins with Pinckney, but he allowed himself to get blocked once Perkins took off. I felt like Pinckney was a little passive attacking this.
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OL has communication issues again. The edge rusher Snowden just comes completely unblocked as Zion and Donaldson take the same player (how do you leave their best defensive player unblocked?). Gaynor sees the stunter and takes him as he tries to loop back inside, but Perry spins away from this free rusher or it’s another sack. Zion has to fan out to him, Donaldson pushes the DE wide and Perry is protected.
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I’ve written several times about the need to replace if you rush wide and Miami purposely does that here. Pinckney spies to the edge that Rousseau gets upfield, Ford does a good job of turning and staying in his lane, Shaq fills a gap, DT stays in the middle rather than getting upfield. QB is stuffed.
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Unless you specifically have Finley playing the slant in this coverage there is no possible you can cover the slant by bailing your FS at the snap when he’s already 12-yards off the receiver. Easy read and throw for a 1st down.
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Shaq gets some criticism this year, but this is a very tough play. He takes on an OL at the point of attack and stones the RB at the same time. Never question Shaq’s toughness. It’s hard to see, but he’s going to his knees after getting hit by over 500 pounds, but this RB does not get the 1st down.
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And it turned out to be a huge play because for some reason Virginia doesn’t block Rousseau and he streaks in for a 4th down stop. Rousseau plays it perfectly because he stays upfield just enough that if Perkins pulls it, at the very least he will have to bubble around Rousseau and that’ll allow the calvary to converge. Put an asterisk next to that Shaq play that allowed this play to happen.
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First time I remember us running this play this year and it works. It’s a short pitch out of the shotgun to the short side of the field. Clark gets pushed back some but holds the edge. Scaife releases to the second level and Dallas’ speed gets him past the LB. His speed and strength are underrated and it was all because of him that this play goes for 18 rather than nothing because that LB read it well but took a shallow angle that DeeJay outran.
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Zion needs some serious technique work. He gets beaten easily on this play not because he’s too slow, but because he uses poor technique. His kick slide needs to be a big step back, with his second step coming down at almost the 39-yard line. Instead, he is practically running in place and has already taken two steps in this picture. He’s already turned his shoulders and opened the gate here. If he takes a much larger kick step back, he can mirror the defender’s arc much easier.
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The play-action got every LB to bite and they have completely vacated the middle of the field, but since Zion underset his kick slide, he blows the whole play up.
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This is a screen pass to Scaife’s side up top. They do it again and completely leave #14 unblocked on the edge. Brevin is supposed to block and then release and I think Scaife is supposed to replace him? Scaife never moves and the play just looks completely lost. Zion never touched anyone and I think he’s supposed to fan out and take #14 but simply didn’t.
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Jimmy Murphy sure does bring the energy on punt returns. He earned that scholarship without a doubt. (Not pictured)

We spied Perkins with Rousseau. Rousseau is in MOF and just takes too flat of an angle here and allows Perkins to bounce it around #72 and pick up the 1st.
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Rousseau giveth a lot in this game, but he also taketh away a bit with his propensity to get out of his lane. Allows #72 to push him inside here and it’s an easy escape for Perkins to get the 1st down.
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Virginia picked on Ivey in this game, who allowed every pass in his coverage area to be caught in this game. Three times on 3rd down and all picked up the 1st down. He tends to panic at the stem and doesn’t stay with the route even though he’s in good position to that point. (Not pictured)

Shaq tried to do too much on this play. Shaq’s gap is the other A-gap, up towards the hash mark. He hops inside here and is out of his lane (Romeo is responsible for the gap that Shaq jumps into). Virginia runs right through that hole and gets a big gain as Shaq can’t recover and make the tackle. This is bad LB play, unfortunately.
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On 3rd down Virginia runs the same slot square-in that Shaq has had trouble with all season long. He knows his responsibility but has trouble finding the receiver. He turns and show his numbers and finds the receiver here. Much better than previous attempts at it, but he’s at risk of drawing a flag if they actually throw the ball because he has no idea where the ball is here. I’m surprised Perkins didn’t try to complete this ball to #8 and see if he can get the 1st down because he’s beaten Ivey, who again doesn’t trust his technique when the receivers stems his route.
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FG attempt was blocked, so again it turns out to be a big play that they didn’t complete the pass over the middle to get closer. (Not pictured)

Virginia ran tricks up front all game long and they were largely successful. Here, they stunt the DE and bring a LB behind it. Gaynor needs to pick up the stunter that is about to decapitate Perry. Donaldson should pick up the defender that Gaynor has. Scaife fans out to take the edge. Harris picked the wrong guy to help on as Scaife has the edge defender here. Harris could’ve gone low on the DE and given Perry time. Total failure to allow a guy to be untouched right up-the-gut and if you block it you’ve got Osborn isolated on their MLB here.
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Blades misses Kemp initially but slows him down. Knowles takes a bad angle and doesn’t make the tackle. Clay James looks hurt running down the field. Big return as a result. Rousseau and Patchan actually make the tackle downfield.
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#14 liked to lineup offsides and was never called for it once. It gives him an advantage because he’s already got a step towards setting the edge. Asking Mallory to block him 1-on-1 on this Wildcat run was a losing proposition to begin with.
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You see the lack of speed Miami has at LB show up again here. Shaq comes too far upfield when they need 5 yards to get the 1st. Perkins outruns both Pinckney and Shaq around this corner and gets the 1st down.
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Shaq and Pinckney knife in on the next play and make a TFL. They make up for the previous play. (Not pictured)

Another nice, smart play by Shaq here. He rushes since he doesn’t have a receiver in his coverage zone, but instead of rushing straight at Perkins, he stays wide knowing that he probably isn’t making the tackle, but pushing Perkins back into his help defenders. It works and Perkins goes nowhere. A lot of good LB play is about angles and understanding where an offense is going.
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Another play where Ivey was a mess and panicked. This is simple cover-3 with a LB having the flat. Ivey pushes way too far inside here, where he had help. Realizes the boundary receiver is going deep and tries to recover only to fall down. Finley is yelling for Ivey to get there, but this goes down to about the 15-yard line. Defense had the right coverage called, Ivey just messed up.
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Ivey gets yanked for Blades and he saves a TD with this play. They throw a back-shoulder on Blades who stays under control and knocks the ball down with ease. It’s not a great quality look, but this was a dynamite play by Blades.
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This is the difference that I’m referencing with Ivey. He is in position, he just loses the ball or panics at the top of the route (stem). Another 3rd down coverage on Ivey’s coverage here as he has no clue where the ball is. In this situation you are taught to put your arm straight up through the opening between the receivers arms here. If he stays calm and rips through that area this is not completed.
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Nice job Jonathan Ford forcing this fumble.
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On this play you have six blockers to block five Virginia rushers. The MLB here comes completely untouched right up the middle and Perry has to scramble and throw it away. DeeJay should’ve taken the MLB if they had too many rushers coming as you work inside-out in pass protection as a RB. #56 just faked blitzing and DeeJay immediately stepped up to take him and never touched the MLB. The Virginia pressure scheme caused us problems all night long.
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Ivey loses sight of the ball and gives up another back-shoulder throw. He had a rough night.
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It wasn’t targeting on Carter as he led with his shoulder to the Virginia guy’s shoulder, but this generally draws a flag anyway.
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Look at Finley control the RB in the flat, eyes aware of running QB, comes up to force him out of bounds (he also drilled his own teammate on the sideline).
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Great image of what anticipating a throw looks like. Osborn catches this ball right on the yellow line and Perry is already throwing it here.
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Always like to run the screen game to Zion’s side. Use his size to your advantage as he is very comfortable in open space and gets a nice block on the Brevin play. Wish Pope had worked back across the face of the defender at the 10-yard line and Brevin scores, but still a great play.
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There were three plays in this game where we asked Will Mallory to block an edge defender 1-on-1. All were on 3rd down and all failed miserably. Love Mallory as a receiver, but as a blocker he just isn’t there. Probably a good idea to stop asking him to make that block. Irvin, by the way, had an outstanding block on this play and drove his man out of the end zone.
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#21 doesn’t make the tackle but he saves the TD. By staying outside towards the sidelines he forces the returner to cut back towards the defense. It’s actually a sign of a well-coached unit to see this. The second big return in the same game probably hurts that theory some.
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Pretty unacceptable to bring a 3-man rush on 3rd & 10 and let the QB step up and run for a 1st down.
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Would love to see more of this; just get the ball into the hands of your playmakers in space. Pope makes one man miss and he’s down the sideline.
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Perry needs to throw this one away instead of taking the sack.
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Data Corner
I was asked on Twitter to identify Miami has fared as an offense on the opening scripted plays of games this season. They have definitely fared better when Enos has a chance to script the plays at the beginning:

20 rush, 81 yards (4.05 yards per rush)
22-30, 278 yards (9.27 yards per pass)

7.18 yards per play overall with a 73.3% completion percentage.

Non scripted plays the offense has put up these numbers:
171 carries, 679 yards (3.97 yards per rush)
118-176, 1479 yards, (8.40 yards per pass)

6.22 yards per play overall with a 67.0% completion percentage.

I wanted to use the expected points calculations I compiled for the Hidden Points series I did before the season to see how each play expectancy impacted to the score of the game. Turns out, the score was pretty spot-on.

Miami had an expected points total of 14.33 points. Adding ~2 points for the two extra points brings the total to 16.33 points, and since you can't score a fraction of a point, 17 points would be their expected points in the game.

Virginia had an expected points total of 13.96 points. Their expected points were reduced by the two turnovers. One was a fumble, which reduces expected points by 3.5. The other was the stop of 4th down, which reduces the expected points by 2. The fumble has a much higher expected points due to the possibility of a return for points by the defense.

Making the expected outcome of the game a Miami win by the score of 17-14.

Overall
  • Virginia exposed Miami's protection issues in a big way in this game. While Virginia only had three official sacks in the game, they created unblocked pressure seven times in this game. Twice Perry escaped and scrambled for a short gain (removing the sack since it had a gain). Twice Perry threw the ball away. The other three times resulted in sacks. Miami must shore up this area moving forward.
  • DJ Ivey struggled in this game, giving up seven receptions on seven targets, with all of them going for 1st downs.
  • The last two drives of the game, when Miami needed it the most, they responded with two of their best drives of the season. Miami averaged 5.00 yards per rush, 12.00 yards per pass, 8.71 yards per play overall and completed 77.8% of their passes.
    • They accomplished this by moving to a shorter, quicker passing game and using screens smartly.
  • Rousseau laid claim to a starting position for as long as he is healthy during his time at Miami.
Nice to get a win. Hopefully this starts the train rolling down the tracks as they have a get well game coming up against Georgia Tech before the show goes back on the road.
 

Comments (49)

While you detail our weaknesses where they exist, you spoke about the positive side of the game... but more importantly you allowed yourself some optimism with the team, something that isn’t too popular on CIS these days.
Good work dude.... hope the next Upon Further Review has even better news.
 
I was yelling at the tv when Ford made the strip for the turnover. I was yelling because look how badly he is being held yet no penalty on the play. In fact, there's 3 Miami Hurricanes being held on the play.

The Miami coaching staff needs to put together composite of all the holding not called in ACC games and send it to the league office.
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Weird that the OL has gone from bad (74th) to WOAT (dead last) in sacks allowed and players like Donaldson have regressed to a point that it's hard to believe we are looking at the same player who started during Miami's 10-0 start in 2017 and showed flashes of dominance. Stacy Searles seems to be doing ok at UNC, so it's sickening how bad the OL is now under Butch Barry. I"m disgusted just thinking about it. Diaz should 1000% fire him immediately to show that he does not tolerate failure. You can try to scapegoat Zion Nelson (he should be redshirting) all you want, but when several players who serviceable to good suddenly forget how to block, that's primarily on the OL coach. Again, this is not just a minor dip in performance. Midway through the season Miami has already tied the number of sacks allowed that it did in 2018 (and that wasn't a particularly good line). Going back 10 years it looks like the worst offensive line was Miami of Ohio in 2009, which allowed 58 sacks. Miami currently has allowed 28 with 6 games to go (and possibly a bowl game if we can manage to go .500) So we are in line (no pun intended) to be the worst OL of at least the past decade in all college football. Time to tell Butch Barry to GTFO.
 
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Lance Roffers said:
I watched it. It happened. Miami won a football game against a Power-5 team as an underdog.
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my 8th grade English teacher, Mrs Horne, would beat Lance's *** and keep him after school for awkward sentence structure.

"as an underdog" could refer to either Miami or Power-5 team in the sentence.
 
I'm so sick of this OL being so brutally terrible. I love these threads but having played OL in my day, it just makes my stomach turn so much more. We could really be a decent offense if our OL was not so far below average. Sheesh
 
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Weird that the OL has gone from bad (74th) to WOAT (dead last) in sacks allowed and players like Donaldson have regressed to a point that it's hard to believe we are looking at the same player who started during Miami's 10-0 start in 2017 and showed flashes of dominance. Stacy Searles seems to be doing ok at UNC, so it's sickening how bad the OL is now under Butch Barry. I"m disgusted just thinking about it. Diaz should 1000% fire him immediately to show that he does not tolerate failure. You can try to scapegoat Zion Nelson (he should be redshirting) all you want, but when several players who serviceable to good suddenly forget how to block, that's primarily on the OL coach. Again, this is not just a minor dip in performance. Midway through the season Miami has already tied the number of sacks allowed that it did in 2018 (and that wasn't a particularly good line). Going back 10 years it looks like the worst offensive line was Miami of Ohio in 2009, which allowed 58 sacks. Miami currently has allowed 28 with 6 games to go (and possibly a bowl game if we can manage to go .500) So we are in line (no pun intended) to be the worst OL of at least the past decade in all college football. Time to tell Butch Barry to GTFO.
IMHO Donaldson is eating himself out of the NFL. He's way too heavy.
 
Lance, great work as always. It's shocking to see how much Donaldson has regressed, I though he would develop into a monster for us. It was rough watching Ivey, he was there to make a play on several completions and just didn't. I'm hoping that will improve with playing time and maturity.
 
  • The last two drives of the game, when Miami needed it the most, they responded with two of their best drives of the season. Miami averaged 5.00 yards per rush, 12.00 yards per pass, 8.71 yards per play overall and completed 77.8% of their passes.
    • They accomplished this by moving to a shorter, quicker passing game and using screens smartly.

This is what we have all been screaming for and it was beautiful to watch! I really don't get why it is so difficult for Enos to abandon some of the other concepts which expose our OL deficiencies. Great work as always, Lance.
 
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I watched it. It happened. Miami won a football game against a Power-5 team as an underdog. As many of you know, Miami was 2-8 over their last 10 games against Power-5 competition and just 4-12 since the streak ended in 2017. While we have a long way to go, I am just happy to be reviewing a victory here at Upon Further Review.

Opening kickoff and just imagine if Jeff Thomas wasn’t tackled by Mike Harley. He has an absolute lane to take this return through.
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Cool little concept on 2nd down as we ran a double screen. I believe Perry has the option to throw to either side on this play. The LG and C are releasing to the top of the screen and he has the slip screen to Harley at top of screen, or an underneath screen to Brevin at the bottom. Perry chooses the bottom and luckily the ball comes out quick because the unblocked rusher is about the crush him.
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On 2nd down we throw deep to KJ Osborn. It is completed on a nice adjustment by the WR, but you want to see a 6-5, 330 pound OL get destroyed by a much smaller man? Donaldson exposes his chest and gets absolutely pancaked by this Virginia defender right into Perry’s legs. He was flat put on his back because of bad technique. Lazy at point of attack, doesn’t bend, chest exposed and this guy took the opportunity.
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This is a called QB draw here and it would’ve had room but Donaldson completely whiffed on his block. You can see him turning around looking for the guy like a matador turns to look for the bull after raising the muleta.
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How do so many plays for Miami get blown up by lack of protection? Communication. You see over and over again on film. Here, Virginia crashes the DT inside and the RG goes with him. The DE stunts around and comes free. The OL has to communicate and Gaynor needs to take #91 and Clark needs to take the stunter. Thankfully, Perry escapes and runs for the 1st down, but over-and-over again you see Miami’s protection get confused by stunts.
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Try to run the ball and Virginia just owns the LOS. Look at how Donaldson is pushed back two yards, which forces DeeJay to bubble and allows the backside defender time to run it down. Miami has to start owning the LOS up front again to ever be a great team. I’d personally think about a change at LG. This is one of the plays where Louis Riddick called out the play calling for the slow-hitting outside zone runs. He’s right in the sense that Snowden is very fast and when you leave him unblocked he can run those down quickly. I’d try running them AT Snowden, rather than away from him.
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On the screen pass to DeeJay that goes for a TD, Perry showed courage holding the ball as long as he did in the face of a free rusher. DeeJay did a great job of convincing the DL he was blocking because he smelled a rat at first and slowed his rush. Then when he got on the edge, Osborn did an excellent job of working back towards the play and throwing the key block that springs him (Riddick said it was Gaynor, but he didn’t really block a soul before Dallas scored). Not pictured

3rd down on Virginia’s drive and Perkins picks this up if Patchan is in the game. Rousseau’s freaky length allows him to grab him just by the shoestrings as he’s stepping through. We spied Perkins with Pinckney, but he allowed himself to get blocked once Perkins took off. I felt like Pinckney was a little passive attacking this.
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OL has communication issues again. The edge rusher Snowden just comes completely unblocked as Zion and Donaldson take the same player (how do you leave their best defensive player unblocked?). Gaynor sees the stunter and takes him as he tries to loop back inside, but Perry spins away from this free rusher or it’s another sack. Zion has to fan out to him, Donaldson pushes the DE wide and Perry is protected.
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I’ve written several times about the need to replace if you rush wide and Miami purposely does that here. Pinckney spies to the edge that Rousseau gets upfield, Ford does a good job of turning and staying in his lane, Shaq fills a gap, DT stays in the middle rather than getting upfield. QB is stuffed.
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Unless you specifically have Finley playing the slant in this coverage there is no possible you can cover the slant by bailing your FS at the snap when he’s already 12-yards off the receiver. Easy read and throw for a 1st down.
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Shaq gets some criticism this year, but this is a very tough play. He takes on an OL at the point of attack and stones the RB at the same time. Never question Shaq’s toughness. It’s hard to see, but he’s going to his knees after getting hit by over 500 pounds, but this RB does not get the 1st down.
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And it turned out to be a huge play because for some reason Virginia doesn’t block Rousseau and he streaks in for a 4th down stop. Rousseau plays it perfectly because he stays upfield just enough that if Perkins pulls it, at the very least he will have to bubble around Rousseau and that’ll allow the calvary to converge. Put an asterisk next to that Shaq play that allowed this play to happen.
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First time I remember us running this play this year and it works. It’s a short pitch out of the shotgun to the short side of the field. Clark gets pushed back some but holds the edge. Scaife releases to the second level and Dallas’ speed gets him past the LB. His speed and strength are underrated and it was all because of him that this play goes for 18 rather than nothing because that LB read it well but took a shallow angle that DeeJay outran.
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Zion needs some serious technique work. He gets beaten easily on this play not because he’s too slow, but because he uses poor technique. His kick slide needs to be a big step back, with his second step coming down at almost the 39-yard line. Instead, he is practically running in place and has already taken two steps in this picture. He’s already turned his shoulders and opened the gate here. If he takes a much larger kick step back, he can mirror the defender’s arc much easier.
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The play-action got every LB to bite and they have completely vacated the middle of the field, but since Zion underset his kick slide, he blows the whole play up.
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This is a screen pass to Scaife’s side up top. They do it again and completely leave #14 unblocked on the edge. Brevin is supposed to block and then release and I think Scaife is supposed to replace him? Scaife never moves and the play just looks completely lost. Zion never touched anyone and I think he’s supposed to fan out and take #14 but simply didn’t.
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Jimmy Murphy sure does bring the energy on punt returns. He earned that scholarship without a doubt. (Not pictured)

We spied Perkins with Rousseau. Rousseau is in MOF and just takes too flat of an angle here and allows Perkins to bounce it around #72 and pick up the 1st.
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Rousseau giveth a lot in this game, but he also taketh away a bit with his propensity to get out of his lane. Allows #72 to push him inside here and it’s an easy escape for Perkins to get the 1st down.
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Virginia picked on Ivey in this game, who allowed every pass in his coverage area to be caught in this game. Three times on 3rd down and all picked up the 1st down. He tends to panic at the stem and doesn’t stay with the route even though he’s in good position to that point. (Not pictured)

Shaq tried to do too much on this play. Shaq’s gap is the other A-gap, up towards the hash mark. He hops inside here and is out of his lane (Romeo is responsible for the gap that Shaq jumps into). Virginia runs right through that hole and gets a big gain as Shaq can’t recover and make the tackle. This is bad LB play, unfortunately.
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On 3rd down Virginia runs the same slot square-in that Shaq has had trouble with all season long. He knows his responsibility but has trouble finding the receiver. He turns and show his numbers and finds the receiver here. Much better than previous attempts at it, but he’s at risk of drawing a flag if they actually throw the ball because he has no idea where the ball is here. I’m surprised Perkins didn’t try to complete this ball to #8 and see if he can get the 1st down because he’s beaten Ivey, who again doesn’t trust his technique when the receivers stems his route.
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FG attempt was blocked, so again it turns out to be a big play that they didn’t complete the pass over the middle to get closer. (Not pictured)

Virginia ran tricks up front all game long and they were largely successful. Here, they stunt the DE and bring a LB behind it. Gaynor needs to pick up the stunter that is about to decapitate Perry. Donaldson should pick up the defender that Gaynor has. Scaife fans out to take the edge. Harris picked the wrong guy to help on as Scaife has the edge defender here. Harris could’ve gone low on the DE and given Perry time. Total failure to allow a guy to be untouched right up-the-gut and if you block it you’ve got Osborn isolated on their MLB here.
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Blades misses Kemp initially but slows him down. Knowles takes a bad angle and doesn’t make the tackle. Clay James looks hurt running down the field. Big return as a result. Rousseau and Patchan actually make the tackle downfield.
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#14 liked to lineup offsides and was never called for it once. It gives him an advantage because he’s already got a step towards setting the edge. Asking Mallory to block him 1-on-1 on this Wildcat run was a losing proposition to begin with.
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You see the lack of speed Miami has at LB show up again here. Shaq comes too far upfield when they need 5 yards to get the 1st. Perkins outruns both Pinckney and Shaq around this corner and gets the 1st down.
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Shaq and Pinckney knife in on the next play and make a TFL. They make up for the previous play. (Not pictured)

Another nice, smart play by Shaq here. He rushes since he doesn’t have a receiver in his coverage zone, but instead of rushing straight at Perkins, he stays wide knowing that he probably isn’t making the tackle, but pushing Perkins back into his help defenders. It works and Perkins goes nowhere. A lot of good LB play is about angles and understanding where an offense is going.
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Another play where Ivey was a mess and panicked. This is simple cover-3 with a LB having the flat. Ivey pushes way too far inside here, where he had help. Realizes the boundary receiver is going deep and tries to recover only to fall down. Finley is yelling for Ivey to get there, but this goes down to about the 15-yard line. Defense had the right coverage called, Ivey just messed up.
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Ivey gets yanked for Blades and he saves a TD with this play. They throw a back-shoulder on Blades who stays under control and knocks the ball down with ease. It’s not a great quality look, but this was a dynamite play by Blades.
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This is the difference that I’m referencing with Ivey. He is in position, he just loses the ball or panics at the top of the route (stem). Another 3rd down coverage on Ivey’s coverage here as he has no clue where the ball is. In this situation you are taught to put your arm straight up through the opening between the receivers arms here. If he stays calm and rips through that area this is not completed.
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Nice job Jonathan Ford forcing this fumble.
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On this play you have six blockers to block five Virginia rushers. The MLB here comes completely untouched right up the middle and Perry has to scramble and throw it away. DeeJay should’ve taken the MLB if they had too many rushers coming as you work inside-out in pass protection as a RB. #56 just faked blitzing and DeeJay immediately stepped up to take him and never touched the MLB. The Virginia pressure scheme caused us problems all night long.
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Ivey loses sight of the ball and gives up another back-shoulder throw. He had a rough night.
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It wasn’t targeting on Carter as he led with his shoulder to the Virginia guy’s shoulder, but this generally draws a flag anyway.
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Look at Finley control the RB in the flat, eyes aware of running QB, comes up to force him out of bounds (he also drilled his own teammate on the sideline).
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Great image of what anticipating a throw looks like. Osborn catches this ball right on the yellow line and Perry is already throwing it here.
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Always like to run the screen game to Zion’s side. Use his size to your advantage as he is very comfortable in open space and gets a nice block on the Brevin play. Wish Pope had worked back across the face of the defender at the 10-yard line and Brevin scores, but still a great play.
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There were three plays in this game where we asked Will Mallory to block an edge defender 1-on-1. All were on 3rd down and all failed miserably. Love Mallory as a receiver, but as a blocker he just isn’t there. Probably a good idea to stop asking him to make that block. Irvin, by the way, had an outstanding block on this play and drove his man out of the end zone.
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#21 doesn’t make the tackle but he saves the TD. By staying outside towards the sidelines he forces the returner to cut back towards the defense. It’s actually a sign of a well-coached unit to see this. The second big return in the same game probably hurts that theory some.
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Pretty unacceptable to bring a 3-man rush on 3rd & 10 and let the QB step up and run for a 1st down.
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Would love to see more of this; just get the ball into the hands of your playmakers in space. Pope makes one man miss and he’s down the sideline.
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Perry needs to throw this one away instead of taking the sack.
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Data Corner
I was asked on Twitter to identify Miami has fared as an offense on the opening scripted plays of games this season. They have definitely fared better when Enos has a chance to script the plays at the beginning:

20 rush, 81 yards (4.05 yards per rush)
22-30, 278 yards (9.27 yards per pass)

7.18 yards per play overall with a 73.3% completion percentage.

Non scripted plays the offense has put up these numbers:
171 carries, 679 yards (3.97 yards per rush)
118-176, 1479 yards, (8.40 yards per pass)

6.22 yards per play overall with a 67.0% completion percentage.

I wanted to use the expected points calculations I compiled for the Hidden Points series I did before the season to see how each play expectancy impacted to the score of the game. Turns out, the score was pretty spot-on.

Miami had an expected points total of 14.33 points. Adding ~2 points for the two extra points brings the total to 16.33 points, and since you can't score a fraction of a point, 17 points would be their expected points in the game.

Virginia had an expected points total of 13.96 points. Their expected points were reduced by the two turnovers. One was a fumble, which reduces expected points by 3.5. The other was the stop of 4th down, which reduces the expected points by 2. The fumble has a much higher expected points due to the possibility of a return for points by the defense.

Making the expected outcome of the game a Miami win by the score of 17-14.

Overall
  • Virginia exposed Miami's protection issues in a big way in this game. While Virginia only had three official sacks in the game, they created unblocked pressure seven times in this game. Twice Perry escaped and scrambled for a short gain (removing the sack since it had a gain). Twice Perry threw the ball away. The other three times resulted in sacks. Miami must shore up this area moving forward.
  • DJ Ivey struggled in this game, giving up seven receptions on seven targets, with all of them going for 1st downs.
  • The last two drives of the game, when Miami needed it the most, they responded with two of their best drives of the season. Miami averaged 5.00 yards per rush, 12.00 yards per pass, 8.71 yards per play overall and completed 77.8% of their passes.
    • They accomplished this by moving to a shorter, quicker passing game and using screens smartly.
  • Rousseau laid claim to a starting position for as long as he is healthy during his time at Miami.
Nice to get a win. Hopefully this starts the train rolling down the tracks as they have a get well game coming up against Georgia Tech before the show goes back on the road.

Good stuff man.

I actually made a post after the game about the last two drives and why can’t we do that more? It was all short / intermediate throws , puts our athletes in space , helps the ol and makes read very simple for the qb.

Enos really is hard headed and make things as hard as possible.
 
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I think Perry is trying to signal to Wiggins to sit on this route. The DB has his back turned and has no idea where you really are. If Wiggins recognized that earlier, Perry could have hit him for a TD just before the sack
 
Lance Roffers said:
I watched it. It happened. Miami won a football game against a Power-5 team as an underdog.
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my 8th grade English teacher, Mrs Horne, would beat Lance's *** and keep him after school for awkward sentence structure.

"as an underdog" could refer to either Miami or Power-5 team in the sentence.

But it would be silly to mention it the other way, since we beat P5 teams every year while we are the favorite. Lance just didn't know what the spread was.
 
I am a fan of these UFR and the one constant theme is how bad this OL is playing. Barry has to go after this season. This line isn't this bad talent wise. These aren't a bunch of 1-2* guys on this line. Yeah Zion and Gaynor weren't highly recruited. But Gaynor has some skills you can develop if you are a good coach. Some of the mistakes this OL is making from looking at this thread on a weekly basis is **** you should have learned in Pee-Wee leagues! LOL.

And to the poster that said Donaldson wasn't this bad under Searles I agree 110%. Our whole OL wasn't this bad under Searles. Diaz actually downgraded the **** position!! And I also wonder what the **** SFields is doing? Mallory was supposed to be a stud this year. He has done nothing. A one-eyed, eunich could make Brevin Jordan look good so Im not giving Fields credit for him. Maybe we shouldn't have been so quick to fire Hartley either. Smh.
 
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