It is good to be back here at Upon Further Review and it is also good to be back after a win. Miami had another ugly performance offensively, but relied on their red zone defense and a QB switch to pull out the victory. Here is how it looked on film.

After Rousseau forces the QB to throw it away on 1st down, they come back with a smart play call on 2nd down. Defenders want to play off coverage, just throw the little slip screen with blockers and it’s a free 5-yards. Pitt testing the tackling of Miami early after the struggles of last game.


On 3rd down Miami runs a play I would like to see them move away from. They have a 3-man rush and then back Rousseau out into pass coverage. The result of this is an extremely slow get-off. Look at the OL already two yards off the LOS and the QB has the ball before a defender even crosses the LOS. Add to it we ran a single-high S look and this could’ve been a TD since we put Rousseau deep without S help.


This defense needs Blades to identify the RB in the flats quicker since he is the outside defender. Instead, Blades follows inside and the RB walks to a 1st down. No one is threatening your zone, Blades, you have to recognize this in zone. The QB didn’t even look him off. Eyes on the RB the whole way.


Blades blitzes and makes the tackle here, but it’s a good thing it wasn’t a pass. There is a deep safety over there, but it’s 1-on-1 if they throw it to him and an easy 1st down.


This is why you’d rather have Frierson covering and Rousseau rushing. Frierson is the one flipped head-over-heels by a RB and Rousseau is the one standing on the 30 playing the flats. This is actually one of Rousseau’s sacks because the QB scrambles his way and steps out-of-bounds shy of the LOS.


3rd and 11 and Knowles played the out route perfectly and made a nice play. Kudos #20. 54-yard FG follows. (Not pictured)

This is called a “reach” block for #87 against their #91. It’s a difficult block because of how far the blocker has to go to reach the block. Irvin doesn’t get there, the defender gets into the backfield and forces the RB to run wide of the LOS (called forcing a “bubble”). It kills the play and is only a minimal game. If Irvin makes that block this is a huge run as he has Brevin and Scaife leading the way around the edge. The other issue is that Jakai Clark is pushed into the backfield, which forces Gaynor to have to go around him and not get to #9 on the seal as he pulls.


It’s the little things about playing QB that can add up. Here, this ball is high and forces his receiver to go up high to get it and stop any YAC. If he puts this on the WR as he’s running he might be able to split these defenders (he does it later) and at least gets a few more yards.


Have to make this throw on the run. Not an especially easy throw rolling to your left, but you need to square up and deliver this ball to Mallory.


This is poor route running here. Brevin and Wiggins should be “playing tag” with their hips as they run by each other. If they do that, this WR comes wide open on the shallow cross and picks up the 1st down. There are so many instances of poor execution with this team. Missed a wide open throw on 2nd down, don’t execute the route concepts on 3rd down and you’re punting.


Gotta make this tackle on 1st down, Bubba Bolden! Make this TFL and they’re off-schedule and behind the chains. Instead he gets 5.


Zach McCloud does an excellent job of staying in the passing lane as the QB rolls out on 2nd down. Ivey gets the interception on the tip. Nice defense and nice play. (Not pictured)

Zion has to cut this man down and then Perry has to deliver a ball with touch here to Mallory. He might score if Osborn gets that block on a good throw. Instead it’s incomplete.


This screen was poorly executed. No idea why Harris spun inside back towards the defenders, especially with the throw leading him outside where he only has one defender to beat. Clark grabs his man by the shoulder pads and gets away with it. Only one blocker and two defenders. Just poorly done.


@Roman Marciante hit on this play, but I also wish that Perry would’ve seen that all of the defenders lined up on the goal line, meaning he should have anticipated the crosser coming open behind them. Once Wiggins gets in behind these LB’s (he’s coming out of slot across Perry’s vision) it’s a simple anticipation pass to where he’s going that he could’ve floated over the defenders if he had the feel to understand where the route was going, rather than just where it is.


Hall has had issues with tackling this year. He attacks this swing pass too aggressively and doesn’t have his feet under him and is easily evaded. Instead of 3rd & 11 and a tough pickup, he gets 9 and now you’re behind the chains.


Nesta and Bethel own the LOS and Knowles sets a hard edge for a TFL. Knowles has had a nice 1st quarter.


Patchan gets pushed wide, loses contain, McCloud gets spun around like a top by the RB and this is an easy step through for the QB. You can’t have both your ends rush upfield like this if they’re single-blocked because your DT’s can be doubled and moved like this. QB hits that RB who beats McCloud for a nice gain.


Blades struggling with overcommitting thus far. Here, the WR sells the fake inside and Blades jumps it, but he has help inside from McCloud. He just needs to trust the technique he’s taught on this play and he has it defended. The WR cuts back outside again and Blades misses the tackle because he’s too far inside.


The difference with Rousseau and Patchan is that even Rousseau gets upfield and creates a lane for the QB, he’s athletic enough and long enough to retrace and make the tackle.


Remember how Knowles set a hard edge earlier and got upfield to prevent any cutback? Here, Carter overpursues this play and leaves a cutback off of #84. RB gets 6 yards, when if Carter did the same thing Knowles did earlier, this is a TFL.


Bubba Bolden rips the ball out on a slant completion on the next play for an interception. Great play, young man. (Not pictured)

This play design is weird to me. You run that jet sweep and give the ball to Wiggins. I know you want to make your looks all the same so you can run counters off the play fake, but to leave this edge unblocked on this play and pull your play-side G to the backside edge makes no sense to me. He just runs straight upfield and forces Wiggins to bubble away from the LOS, which effectively kills the play. If you leave the backside unblocked and crash down on the playside edge defender this play has potential because the numbers are there (don’t get me wrong, Mallory loses his block here).


Miscommunication on the OL again. This is on Scaife because #36 is threatening Clark here. Scaife just doesn’t block the 3-technique lined up inside his shoulder here. Once nice thing I saw was Campbell absolutely drilled this dude that Zion is blocking in the ribs after he is cleared. 3-man rush gets a free release right at the snap. Effectively kills the drive.


Really like Bandy communicating on this play to make sure that there is a switch on this play. This team needs to get much better at communicating so I want to point out when you see it done. Bandy carries his man across the formation with confidence and the QB overthrows it right to Ivey who bailed when no receiver was in his area. Perfectly executed defense. If Ivey stays in when his guy motions out this is just an incompletion. If Bandy doesn’t communicate maybe that receiver comes open on the other side.


They go back to the jet motion again. The one where they released the play-side edge and he forced Wiggins to bubble. I figured they’d come back to it with a counter and they did exactly that on this play. They leave the play-side DT free this time and he shoots the gap, but Miami has a puller behind it who “traps” the DT and the RT releases while Brevin pushes the edge wide. Harris almost scores on this one but it’s a nice wrinkle to an earlier show in this game.


Earlier in the drive Shaq missed a big tackle on the QB on a scramble. He makes it up for it by getting his hands into the passing lane because a receiver was open behind him. Canes get off the field.


Something Miami had some success with in this game was bunch and stack routes. They’d put three receivers to one side or stack two receivers in a line and have the lead one block at the LOS while the others released. Here is a variation of that, where Harley is the lead man in the three-man bunch. Harley blocks initially while Pope releases. Harley then lets the guy come free as a rusher and Harley leaks out behind him for a wide-open 1st down. A few clever wrinkles from the offense in this one thus far.


3rd down & 1 and Pitt just run blitzes the A-gap and we run the dive right into it for a loss on the play. Teams are playing our tendencies on 3rd & short and we are going to need to run some boots or other variations to get them off the dive. (Not pictured)

Pitt has Miami outleveraged on this play. Wildcat play and they ran jet motion to get Carter to back out of there and hold backside edge. Pull G, C, H-back and it’s just a convoy to the edge. Picture perfect pin and pull by their TE on our edge player and the G pulls right off his hip. McCloud is slow to identify the pullers (both LB’s are flat footed and the RB has already faked it to the jet sweep). Shaq then misses the tackle after about five yards. RB gets out near midfield.


Here is the play from behind. McCloud has to recognize that there are two pullers and trust his keys. He needs to be shooting that gap to his right already. Shaq has to wait, but McCloud needs to get there. Shaq is just a step slow and doesn’t make the tackle. Huge play.


Rush wide again they can just push the rusher upfield and then double-down on the DT and wash him out completely. QB can just step into this huge area and get a big gain. McCloud overpursues this and Pickett gets inside the 20.


This is what winning as a defensive line looks like. Big-time hold on the edge (called). Ford and Bethel meet at the QB for a sack.


Drop Garvin into pass coverage on the next play and they run a screen right to where Garvin was and it’s a big gain. Gurvan Hall misses another tackle in the open field. If we never called another zone blitz again, I’d be ok with that. Let the pass rushers hunt QB’s. (Not pictured)

Not sure what this defense is called, but “don’t cover the slot receiver on 3rd down who has been killing you all day” is my nomination.


Great pocket and Perry delivers a lollipop downfield. Not a great throw, but completions over incompletions any day. (Not pictured)

I panned this play call while watching it live, but watching the game over, it looks like Harris blew this one. I almost certain he is supposed to follow his pullers around the edge on this pitch by Perry after the fake bubble to Osborn. I cannot imagine the intention is for Harris to cut this ball back right into the unblocked backside defenders.


Next play is an out-route and Osborn has his hands turned the wrong way (he has palms up inside of making a diamond and snatching the ball). Drop and it’s another punt. (Not pictured)

Perry vastly overthrows Harley on a quick out and is intercepted on 3rd down. (Not pictured)

Excellent work by the DL here. Garvin beats the LT and flattens down, Rousseau controls the RT with a longarm technique as the RT tries to push him wide. Ford spinning back to close the opening for the QB is key as well since the QB can’t step straight through. Rousseau easily retraces and brings him down for a sack.


That brings up a 3rd & long and the defense drops into zone and rallies up to tackle on a short completion and force another FG. (Not pictured)

Here is an after-effect of a 45-degree set by your LT. Zion is narrow-based and off-balance as the DE has an angle on him already. *There was quite a bit of chatter about “jump sets” by two former Canes OL last week and this is a variation of a jump set, which jumps on a defender and looks to engage on your first kick* A 45 turns at a 45-degree angle (hence the name) and the OL will punch on his second step and keep his hands up to be to ready to engage. Zion is a mess in this 45 with his hands low, here is his second step and he isn’t engaging and he’s already high and off-balance. Everyone else on the OL is jump setting, but none are really engaging and punching as quickly as they should. This play is an sack around the edge.


Same route concept that Miami ran earlier in the game and Pitt doesn’t run it tight enough either. I have no idea what technique McCloud is using in this pass defense as he should already be breaking with #10 but instead he is on his heels and watching the QB. 10 comes wide open after he clears and picks up an easy 1st down. McCloud has had a rough game.


Shaq breaks on a 3rd down pass and knocks it down. You could hear him scream through the broadcast because he knows he could’ve picked it. Pitt has to punt. (Not pictured)

Here is a great picture of a mesh RPO and the decision that Perry has. If the LB vacates the slant, he pulls it and throws this ball. If he stays in slant lane he gives it. LB overpursues this run and Harris breaks outside for a 1st down as Scaife pushes his man wide.


Here is a shot of a jumpset where they gave Zion some help. Zion jumps outside and the risk to jumpsetting is getting beaten inside quickly. Here Donaldson has the inside shoulder of Zion like he is supposed to and Harris offers support as well and there is a nice pocket for Perry to find Osborn 20 yards downfield.


I’ve talked a couple of times about one of the adjustments that Miami did in this game was to engage receivers as blockers for a split second and sell the run fake and then release into pass patterns. It worked well today. Here, Wiggins is at the very top of the screen engaged with the edge defender as though this is a running play. He releases on a crosser all the way across the field as Perry bootlegs towards him. It’s an easy pass and an easy 1st down.


This screenshot hurts to post. It’s a 4th down play and a stunt gets through Donaldson immediately. Perry is staring down the receiver who has three defenders near him. Meanwhile, I have talked a lot about how Perry is a QB who works outside-in, rather than middle-out and here you see Brevin uncovered at the 1st down marker. Mallory is wide open as well. Perry never sees either way and throws it 10’ over the head of Wiggins.


Trevon Hill played the reverse pitch back to the QB exceptionally well. He recognized it immediately, set an edge in case the WR ran it on the reverse, then chased the WR after the WR pitched it back to the QB rather than trying to go straight at the QB. It blew the play up as the QB then tossed it to the WR in the flat and Hill made a big TFL. Brilliant play by Hill. (Not pictured)

Head on a swivel Mr. Couch. Even on a fair catch.


Another problem I have with Perry is his propensity to drop his eyes and stare at the rush.


Same exact play that Pitt ran earlier in this game and got a big run on. Same. Exact. Play. Jet motion fake, pull the G and C, have the H-back as a lead blocker. This one isn’t executed as well as #2 ran into the H-back and eliminated him as a lead blocker. It’s a good thing too, because if they had the lead blocker he might score. Amari Carter is the only guy not in your screen and was the last man out there and he made the tackle after a big gain.


Several plays later they tried to run the same play again and this time you can see the difference in how Miami played it. You see the edge getting upfield and setting a hard edge that the pullers can’t just get downhill? That blows up the play and forces the RB back inside where the defenders are. This is really what Patchan does best.


This time they run a counter with motion and you see the difference in the way Garvin plays it. Instead of getting upfield and setting a hard edge, he tries to cheat inside thinking it will be a dive play and washed down easily. #77 crushes Carter and Finley makes a shoestring tackle to stop the TD along the sideline.


This is without a doubt the biggest play that Knowles has made in his career. He charges in off the edge, flattens, gets around this block here and gets into the legs of the RB in the backfield. If he gets blocked by that puller this is a TD because there is a hole there and a lead blocker. This forces Pitt to kick a FG and allows Miami to be able to make a game winning TD drive.


If you listen to podcasts I’m on, or you read my articles on the site, you know I’ve been begging for Miami to take advantage of the rules that allow you to block downfield if the ball is caught behind the LOS. On the 4th down to save the game, Miami does exactly that. Osborn picks this up easily and I’d love to see it be a staple of the offense on short yardage plays. So difficult to stop for a defense and you can pick out the weakest tackler in the secondary and run it to their side. That’s actually Marshall Few blocking downfield (poorly) with Harley.


If I were an opposing defensive coach against Miami, I’d stunt them on the majority of plays. Here, another stunt gets home on a huge 3rd down. Jarren evades the pressure and picks up the 1st down with his legs. Huge play.


Remember when we looked at the mesh point earlier and the edge was taking away the slant? I purposefully showed that play because I knew the game winner was on that same look. Here, the LB stays inside on the mesh and Jarren reads it and fires the slant into Osborn, who breaks a tackle and makes a house call.


Easy money with some juice on the ball.


Overall

• All season I have been wracking my brain as to how we have so many communication issues and busts along the OL. It took listening to Romberg and McKinnie say that Butch Barry talked about how great their jumpsets were for it to finally dawn on me why it’s happening so frequently. Jumpsetting is just as it sounds, you’re “jumping” to the spot you expect the defender to be an engaging immediately. On a stunt, that defender is not where you expect him to be and now you are out of position and unable to recover on the stunt because you’ve jumped to engage. Jumpsets are generally reserved for quick play-action passes where you want to sell a run block to the defense, or if you’re going to run a three-step drop. After hearing some of the things Barry was talking about teaching them, I watched closely for it in this game and we definitely do run a lot of jumpsets and some 45-degree sets. I like 45-degree sets with your tackles, so that’s not a knock per se, it just helps to explain why the long play-action plays often times result in free rushers based on the blocking technique we are running this year. When we do protect with them we tend to get huge plays out of those play-action looks and this is the upside.
• You saw Miami run a few wrinkles in this game and they were mostly effective when they ran them. The biggest plays Miami had in this game were almost entirely off of the wrinkles. Even the TD to Osborn was a wrinkle as it was an RPO out of Pistol, which is not something we have run much this season. The engage in blocking and then release receivers worked well also.
• Jarren Williams is the QB to lead this team and it is not close for me. Perry has a stronger arm and can open up some throws to the outside that Jarren does not excel at, but Williams’ ability to work inside-out makes the offense more efficient and is a big reason his completion percentage is so much higher than a QB running the same offense.
• If Miami continues to give help in certain situations to their young Tackles and keeps with the RPO game, there is a chance they can make some noise the rest of the way and get into a decent bowl game.

Expected Points
I figured that my model would say that Pittsburgh was a heavy favorite to win this game based on game script, but because of the turnovers, Miami was the favorite to win the game. My model had an expected score for this game of 15-10, which is not far from the 16-12 outcome it was. The margin for error was once again small for a Miami game, but this was not a lucky win.