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Can the people who know ball more explain the second half to me?

AUcane said:
Even with a banged up team, you’d think we still have man beaters left in the tank?
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We tried mesh to solve it and the protection failed. We never tried again. I think Dawson needs an emotionless person next to him reminding him of probabilities and things he has and has not tried.
 
I think a couple things

1. Our big backs got injured which slowed down our running attack and hampered our pass pro

2. Toney injury hurt us - it’s been pretty clear we overly rely on Toney. Without him they went to man and our other receivers couldn’t win

As much as this left a bad taste I hope it’s a wake up call to this roster and coaching staff. To their credit the defense stepped and blunted their come back but the offense went into a shell.

Mirabal has some major problems to fix on the oline. The receivers need to figure out a way to be productive without Mali. The running back depth needs to get better at pass pro.

Lots of work to do. CMU couldn’t come at a better time to get healthy and for the depth to grow up.
 
Well our interior line didn't block well so they brought pressure there. We ran a bunch of dumb *** screens instead of going vertical and we ran up the middle too much instead of outside. On defense we tackled poorly to say the least. We had guys dead to rites plenty of times in terms of tackling. We had some bad coverages also. We have a lot to work on if you ask me. What I will say is the defense bent but didn't break and we finally got pressure on the QB.
 
LuCane said:
We tried mesh to solve it and the protection failed. We never tried again. I think Dawson needs an emotionless person next to him reminding him of probabilities and things he has and has not tried.
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Ill Do It 30 Rock GIF by PeacockTV
 
The offense needs to take a long look in the mirror because we got punched in the face and did punch back.
Also QB1 looked shook, which was concerning.
 
Thoughtsoncanes said:
Can someone who understands the X’s and O’s better than me explain what exactly happened in the second half?


We were basically going up and down the field in the first half. Wake really couldn’t stop us. Then it seemed like they made some relatively minor adjustments, particularly playing more man with Malachi out, and suddenly we had five drives where we didn’t get a single first down. How is that even possible? I understand an opponent making adjustments and slowing you down, but going from moving the ball almost at will to five drives without a first down is pretty unbelievable.


I feel like there are a couple things going on. First, I really don’t think the coaches have confidence in our ability to get push inside, and frankly I don’t blame them. Something has to be figured out with the interior OL. We simply are not getting the necessary push. If that means fast-tracking Cantwell at RT and moving McCoy back inside to guard, then I think you at least have to seriously consider it. Because at some point, this interior OL is going to cost us a football game.


The other issue is Malachi being out. Without him, I’m not sure defenses respect our other receivers enough to believe they can consistently beat man coverage. Wake seemed perfectly comfortable challenging those guys one-on-one, and if they found something that worked, you can guarantee everybody else on the schedule is going to see the same film.


And then what happened with Mensah and the playcalling? It felt like the entire offense went into a shell. Again, I understand Wake making adjustments. What I don’t understand is seemingly having no counterpunch whatsoever. Five drives without a first down after what we did offensively in the first half is really hard for me to wrap my head around.


That’s probably my biggest concern coming out of this game. Every team we play is going to look at what Wake did in that second half. Until Miami proves it can beat it, that’s going to be the template. Play us aggressively, challenge these receivers in man coverage without Malachi, and see if our OL can consistently win inside.


So what’s the answer? What did Wake change schematically, and why couldn’t we adjust to it?


The first half was fantastic. There was obviously a lot to like. And the injuries are starting to pile up to an almost absurd degree, which certainly isn’t helping. But I don’t think you can just write off what happened in that second half either. If Miami plays offensively the way it did during that stretch against the better teams on the schedule, I don’t think that’s playoff-level football.


I’m genuinely curious what people who understand the scheme better than I do saw. What exactly did Wake do differently, and why did we have no answer for it?
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Dawson.

Close thread.
 
It's hard for me to believe that a seasoned QB like Mensah was completely confused by some minor defensive adjustments made by their "mastermind" DC for which Dawson simply had no answer for. For 2 1/2 quarters we looked like the best offense in college football only to drop off in such dramatic fashion. Perhaps we need to diversify our playbook to include other players with talent. Toney is great but he should not be relied on so much that our offense simply can't move the ball without him on the field.
 
Wake played press man every down and a team with a 65+% yard share to a specific player was lost without him.

Our either stubbornness to force or inability to recruit over sleds like 65 and 9 certainly don’t help the offense.

Of course attempting a throw beyond the LOS also helps
 
Toney wasn't 100% and for whatever reason we started to funnel all his targets to Lofton. Lofton just aint it. He's a jag if we are finally being honest. We need to get the young TEs more reps.
 
CanesAreAble said:
Haven’t rewatched yet, but from memory:


1. Fletcher and Brown Injuries: Wake is the type of team you want to run north-south against. They prioritize speed over size, so they have smallish, disruptive players. Without our two big backs that were cooking, run game slowly died. Few perimeter runs went nowhere.

2. Pass Protection: Without Fletcher and Brown, blitz pickup faltered. Looked like it might have created a domino effect. Pressure started to get home.

3. Mensah Didn’t Look Right: With the pass pro shaky, he got hit a couple times, and started moving around gingerly. He wasn’t looking as comfortable in the pocket. Might’ve affected his eyes.

4. Malachi Toney Nicked Up: There goes Mensah’s security blanket. He was only in on 3rd down, and Mensah barely looked for him. Passing game seemed out sync.

5. Dawson Went in the Tank: Playcalling was disjointed, likely due to the first four issues mentioned above. But the personnel groupings were nonsensical. No idea why Lofton is in on obvious passing downs. He’s not a route god or a big catch radius TE. And we’re throwing him fade/go balls. Maybe Dawson didn’t trust the younger receivers. Maybe they were also banged up. Field turf sucks, so who knows. Regardless, that was a disaster class for five possessions in a row.

Again, need to go back and rewatch, but it seemed like a rare total system failure.
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I gotta disagree on your first point. Wake is a team you want to run to the edges and off tackle against. They have a very good DT and a LB that is 6'4" 235. Wake wants you to run North South. In fact if you watch their Purdue game, that is where they exposed the Wake defense.

Your second point is very valid tho. With your two most experienced RB's sidelined, your RB pass pro is affected. This is probably why they were going with quick mid screens.

I think there was a lot going on at once that made the second half look as terrible as it did. But this doesn't have to be a bad thing. You develop a lot more from losses or poor performances than you do just steam rolling everyone. Thankfully this was a poor second half performance that we still won by 2 TD's.
 
OL in run game remains an issue.
Loss of two down hill backs another issue. Pringle struggled. Also impacted protections.
Wake was able to pressure Mensah & didn’t handle it well.
For some reason, Mensah fell in love with Lofton & ended in 2 yard gains.
Toney was obviously hurt & a decoy when on field.
Wake is decent & competed *** off.
Hated the injuries, but this game was what we needed. Exposed weaknesses & at the same time defense was physical & didn’t fold. Two years ago we lose this game.
 
I blame Dawson. You have to be able to adjust. Doing the same thing over and over has never ever worked. You can take an nfl team and play wake and only run those 2 plays and they won’t be successful. I don’t care if you roll out or do quick hitters, throw over the top, you fn do it. Spafford and Wingo are not easy covers. It’s was one stupid mfer being stubborn that almost lost us the game. He sucks. Runs trick plays when his qb is perfect and then runs the same two plays over and over and over again when the other team knows what’s coming and refuses to change. We need that reporter in Tenn questioning him today. I want to see that mfer cry explaining how he can’t make a mid game change when the game is on the line. How he almost lost this game.
 
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