canefan88xbl
Redshirt Freshman
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2013
- Messages
- 146
*Warning: long post*
After watching yet another implosion last week, I felt the need to share my feelings on the season. I like to consider myself a realistic, yet slightly pessimistic Canes fan. I felt before the season we were probably an 8 win team, but potentially 10, if we beat FSU and caught some momentum in the month of October. Unfortunately, it looks like this team will come under, even my lower expectations. As a Miami fan, it’s starting to feel like we are cursed (go watch the Friday Night Lights clip on YouTube to get my reference). We expect the worst to happen and it inevitably does. Even watching Penn St. upset OSU brings a bit of pain/jealously, because as a fan base, we haven’t been able to enjoy that jubilance in so very long. Even our prouder accomplishments in the last 5-7 years (e.g. beating Florida, OSU) were facades, as those teams ultimately finished with poor records.
The popular question for the media to ask: “is Miami back?” The answer: “unequivocally no.” We have one standard at Miami and that is winning championships, and I don’t mean the ACC. We will not be “back” until that is accomplished. Will Mark Richt get us there? The verdict is still out, but I’d like to pursue the optimist’s theory (yes, even as a natural pessimist). Theory: Richt won consistently at Georgia and will get over the hump at Miami, because he will have access to a greater talent pool. It is not the 4 and 5 stars that separate Miami, but the hungry 3 stars that play the game with a chip on their shoulder. I know we all wish that will happen overnight, but it looks like it going to take some patience. Something in short supply among this fan base.
With all that being said, he are my good, bad and ugly observations through the first 8 games
Good
• Defensive line – I’d say the best performing unit on the team, which we can attribute to a change in scheme and coaching. The performance is even more impressive when you consider the injuries and dismissal. This unit should only get better with everyone returning in 2017
• Linebackers – everyone praised the three freshmen since the beginning and they’ve lived up to the hype. They are obviously gifted players, but it’s their instincts that have been fun to watch. It is great to see them just “play.” Similar to DL, excited to see these savages play in 2017
• Corn Elder – the dude is just a stud. When he had to come out of the game, you can see what an impact he has on the entire defense. If he was bit bigger I think he would definitely be getting early round draft buzz. One of the only upperclassmen who I consider a “winner”
• Fan base – I’m sure Hard Rock will be empty moving forward, but I’ve impressed thus far with our turnout at games. Growing up in the Northeast, I’ve always been critical of South Florida fans for being frontrunners to the highest degree, but it’s been truly special seeing our turnouts at these games. We had so many fans at Ga Tech, it felt like a home game. Not the case in the years past
Bad
• Quarterback play – this is where I will catch the greatest flack on this forum. The people that want to replace Brad with Malik (or one of our other backups) are delusional. Brad is a rare talent (although maybe not first round) and to compare him to a backup QB with raw ability is ridiculous. I think Brad has four problems right now: 1. His skillset 2. Play calling 3. Offensive line 4. Skill players. Let’s face it, Ken Dorsey is not winning games in this situation either. Our collective disappointment with Brad is that he thrived with a bad coach/play caller and we thought we would make the leap with a coach who has a proven track record of developing QBs. It looks like he has developed some bad habits from getting hit so much, but you can still see the talent we admired when he either: a. has time to throw or b. has play calling conducive to the talent. Finish strong or not, he is our QB in 2017 and I hope all the issues get resolved or at least improve in order for us to find success
• Play calling – I really loved Pete’s podcast with Rudy Carpenter a few weeks back, especially when he talked about the play calling. Carpenter said something along the lines of “it feels like Richy is trying to build a program.” Basically, he is running the offense he wants to run in the years to come, but not the one that fits his current talent base. I’m not sure why Richt woke up one morning and decided to install a new style of offense that does not fit our current QB, but I wish he had not. I have three issues with Richt’s play calling: 1. Lacks flow 2. Does not maximize our skill set 3. Plays take too long to develop. We can give Richt the benefit of the doubt and say he’s out of practice, but this is a young man’s game, and you don’t see too many elite offensive play callers at the college level over the age of 50. I don’t see him giving up this responsibility in the foreseeable future, so not much else to say here…
Ugly
• Offensive line – I’d create a new category of “bad” if possible, because these guys are horrific. Watching from the endzone against ND, you can truly see how badly they get beat. In the 4th quarter, McDermott got beat so bad on a stretch play, you’d think he stole something. The DL was 3 yards in the backfield before Kaaya handed Walton the ball. How can a guard can beat that badly so quickly? While you can point to us getting some decent recruits by Rivals, this is the position, by far, where we got the most Al Golden specials and its showing. We have zero depth or alternatives to the bad play and it’s going to take multiple cycles to get the ship right
• Skill players – it is unthinkable that Miami, the school that sits the cradle of football civilization, is lacking skill players. Every year we are high on our skill players, because let’s face it, we are fans. However, we are really lacking in this area. Who do really have that other teams need to gameplan around? I know fans don’t want to hear it, but Stacy is an average WR. He has elite talent, but lacks discipline and durability. If you can’t stay on the field or not commit a hold you are not a complete player. I think Richards, Herndon and Njoku show promise, but definitely have areas to work on. The RBs have been talked about enough. They are both serviceable, but neither one is elite and it shows when we play better competition
• Mentality – let’s face it these guys don’t know how to win. When we are winning, we expect to lose and it feels like the kids do too. I think this is left over from Al era and I can’t wait for its stench to be eradicated
• Discipline – the amount of unsportsmanlike penalties we get is absurd. You know who talks s***? Winners. When you are 4-4, STFU and play the game. I, like everyone else, was going nuts when Jamal was talking s*** at the coin toss against FSU, but the enthusiasm has to be under control. You cannot let emotion make you so crazed that you commit dumb penalties and that’s consistently what happens. The fact that these guys stay in the game is the true highlight of our lack of depth. At any major program if a guy commits an unsportsmanlike penalty, they go to the sideline and sit out the next couple of plays. I believe a majority of these penalties are committed by upperclassmen (e.g. Carter, Coley, Jenkins), so I hope this will be resolved in 2017
After watching yet another implosion last week, I felt the need to share my feelings on the season. I like to consider myself a realistic, yet slightly pessimistic Canes fan. I felt before the season we were probably an 8 win team, but potentially 10, if we beat FSU and caught some momentum in the month of October. Unfortunately, it looks like this team will come under, even my lower expectations. As a Miami fan, it’s starting to feel like we are cursed (go watch the Friday Night Lights clip on YouTube to get my reference). We expect the worst to happen and it inevitably does. Even watching Penn St. upset OSU brings a bit of pain/jealously, because as a fan base, we haven’t been able to enjoy that jubilance in so very long. Even our prouder accomplishments in the last 5-7 years (e.g. beating Florida, OSU) were facades, as those teams ultimately finished with poor records.
The popular question for the media to ask: “is Miami back?” The answer: “unequivocally no.” We have one standard at Miami and that is winning championships, and I don’t mean the ACC. We will not be “back” until that is accomplished. Will Mark Richt get us there? The verdict is still out, but I’d like to pursue the optimist’s theory (yes, even as a natural pessimist). Theory: Richt won consistently at Georgia and will get over the hump at Miami, because he will have access to a greater talent pool. It is not the 4 and 5 stars that separate Miami, but the hungry 3 stars that play the game with a chip on their shoulder. I know we all wish that will happen overnight, but it looks like it going to take some patience. Something in short supply among this fan base.
With all that being said, he are my good, bad and ugly observations through the first 8 games
Good
• Defensive line – I’d say the best performing unit on the team, which we can attribute to a change in scheme and coaching. The performance is even more impressive when you consider the injuries and dismissal. This unit should only get better with everyone returning in 2017
• Linebackers – everyone praised the three freshmen since the beginning and they’ve lived up to the hype. They are obviously gifted players, but it’s their instincts that have been fun to watch. It is great to see them just “play.” Similar to DL, excited to see these savages play in 2017
• Corn Elder – the dude is just a stud. When he had to come out of the game, you can see what an impact he has on the entire defense. If he was bit bigger I think he would definitely be getting early round draft buzz. One of the only upperclassmen who I consider a “winner”
• Fan base – I’m sure Hard Rock will be empty moving forward, but I’ve impressed thus far with our turnout at games. Growing up in the Northeast, I’ve always been critical of South Florida fans for being frontrunners to the highest degree, but it’s been truly special seeing our turnouts at these games. We had so many fans at Ga Tech, it felt like a home game. Not the case in the years past
Bad
• Quarterback play – this is where I will catch the greatest flack on this forum. The people that want to replace Brad with Malik (or one of our other backups) are delusional. Brad is a rare talent (although maybe not first round) and to compare him to a backup QB with raw ability is ridiculous. I think Brad has four problems right now: 1. His skillset 2. Play calling 3. Offensive line 4. Skill players. Let’s face it, Ken Dorsey is not winning games in this situation either. Our collective disappointment with Brad is that he thrived with a bad coach/play caller and we thought we would make the leap with a coach who has a proven track record of developing QBs. It looks like he has developed some bad habits from getting hit so much, but you can still see the talent we admired when he either: a. has time to throw or b. has play calling conducive to the talent. Finish strong or not, he is our QB in 2017 and I hope all the issues get resolved or at least improve in order for us to find success
• Play calling – I really loved Pete’s podcast with Rudy Carpenter a few weeks back, especially when he talked about the play calling. Carpenter said something along the lines of “it feels like Richy is trying to build a program.” Basically, he is running the offense he wants to run in the years to come, but not the one that fits his current talent base. I’m not sure why Richt woke up one morning and decided to install a new style of offense that does not fit our current QB, but I wish he had not. I have three issues with Richt’s play calling: 1. Lacks flow 2. Does not maximize our skill set 3. Plays take too long to develop. We can give Richt the benefit of the doubt and say he’s out of practice, but this is a young man’s game, and you don’t see too many elite offensive play callers at the college level over the age of 50. I don’t see him giving up this responsibility in the foreseeable future, so not much else to say here…
Ugly
• Offensive line – I’d create a new category of “bad” if possible, because these guys are horrific. Watching from the endzone against ND, you can truly see how badly they get beat. In the 4th quarter, McDermott got beat so bad on a stretch play, you’d think he stole something. The DL was 3 yards in the backfield before Kaaya handed Walton the ball. How can a guard can beat that badly so quickly? While you can point to us getting some decent recruits by Rivals, this is the position, by far, where we got the most Al Golden specials and its showing. We have zero depth or alternatives to the bad play and it’s going to take multiple cycles to get the ship right
• Skill players – it is unthinkable that Miami, the school that sits the cradle of football civilization, is lacking skill players. Every year we are high on our skill players, because let’s face it, we are fans. However, we are really lacking in this area. Who do really have that other teams need to gameplan around? I know fans don’t want to hear it, but Stacy is an average WR. He has elite talent, but lacks discipline and durability. If you can’t stay on the field or not commit a hold you are not a complete player. I think Richards, Herndon and Njoku show promise, but definitely have areas to work on. The RBs have been talked about enough. They are both serviceable, but neither one is elite and it shows when we play better competition
• Mentality – let’s face it these guys don’t know how to win. When we are winning, we expect to lose and it feels like the kids do too. I think this is left over from Al era and I can’t wait for its stench to be eradicated
• Discipline – the amount of unsportsmanlike penalties we get is absurd. You know who talks s***? Winners. When you are 4-4, STFU and play the game. I, like everyone else, was going nuts when Jamal was talking s*** at the coin toss against FSU, but the enthusiasm has to be under control. You cannot let emotion make you so crazed that you commit dumb penalties and that’s consistently what happens. The fact that these guys stay in the game is the true highlight of our lack of depth. At any major program if a guy commits an unsportsmanlike penalty, they go to the sideline and sit out the next couple of plays. I believe a majority of these penalties are committed by upperclassmen (e.g. Carter, Coley, Jenkins), so I hope this will be resolved in 2017
