RadioRahim
Recruit
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2016
- Messages
- 42
I realize the sky is falling on this message board, and I'm pretty disappointed like the rest of you. But I'm also a bit more zen about all of this. Mario and staff just got punched in the mouth for 2 straight weeks with the latest loss being particularly inexcusable. Now is their chance to show how they handle adversity and grow - or fold under the pressure. This wasn't going to be a national championship season and we had to expect some growing pains in the transition from Manny's team/scheme to Mario's; I'm all for allowing coaches to make mistakes early in their tenure and learn. With that said, old school Canes teams would never have been this unprepared for an opponent, especially one they were universally expected to beat, so this current staff is far from meeting the bar that has been set previously.
- In my opinion, the defining play was getting stopped on the goal line to start the 4th Q and then MTSU scoring on that 98 yard pass. I know we got those points right back with the Keyshawn Smith kickoff return, but that changed the entire momentum of the game. Garcia had been on a roll with the O to that point and had MTSU backpedaling. We also were about to close the lead to 7 points. MTSU stopping the offense and then scoring immediately was a double whammy. It showed them that they could stop Miami on D and also showed MTSU's O they could push our defense around. After that sequence, there was ZERO fear of Miami on either side of the ball.
Other thoughts:
- Garcia may be the right choice at QB for this team. I still like TVD, but it was clear the offense is better with Garcia (off a limited sample size) and he has better chemistry with the WRs. Pretty sure TVD isn't going pro after this season anymore, so the loser of this battle probably transfers.
- This team just felt soft, which is actually surprising to me - especially given that my one takeaway from the TAMU game was that the guys played hard and didn't fold. I'll still give the team time to figure it out, but I didn't expect so many players to look like JAGs given how many were elite recruits. No one stepped up to be a difference-maker or make a huge play unlike the old Canes teams where Kevin Patrick, Rusty Medearis, Dan Morgan, PBuch, Santana Moss, Andre Johnson, Edgerrin, Sapp, Reed, STaylor, Winslow, etc. (the list is endless) would have put the team on his back in some way. Sadly that just means we don't have any of those types of players at the moment.
- Still can't believe the defense could hold TAMU to 17 points and then turn around and give up 45 to MTSU. TVD did them no favors, but they got pushed around and it wasn't even close. I put the loss more on the defense because they gave up so many big plays and couldn't get MTSU off the field when it mattered.
Mario has 2 weeks of soul searching to tear this all down and build it back up. Season isn't lost as it was a growth season to begin with, but the staff and team have to show some fight from here on or else this board's meltdown will be justified. The sky isn't falling... yet and we don't need to fly any banners, but Mario just squandered a lot of goodwill. Current forecast: lots of rain but no Hurricane in sight.
- In my opinion, the defining play was getting stopped on the goal line to start the 4th Q and then MTSU scoring on that 98 yard pass. I know we got those points right back with the Keyshawn Smith kickoff return, but that changed the entire momentum of the game. Garcia had been on a roll with the O to that point and had MTSU backpedaling. We also were about to close the lead to 7 points. MTSU stopping the offense and then scoring immediately was a double whammy. It showed them that they could stop Miami on D and also showed MTSU's O they could push our defense around. After that sequence, there was ZERO fear of Miami on either side of the ball.
Other thoughts:
- Garcia may be the right choice at QB for this team. I still like TVD, but it was clear the offense is better with Garcia (off a limited sample size) and he has better chemistry with the WRs. Pretty sure TVD isn't going pro after this season anymore, so the loser of this battle probably transfers.
- This team just felt soft, which is actually surprising to me - especially given that my one takeaway from the TAMU game was that the guys played hard and didn't fold. I'll still give the team time to figure it out, but I didn't expect so many players to look like JAGs given how many were elite recruits. No one stepped up to be a difference-maker or make a huge play unlike the old Canes teams where Kevin Patrick, Rusty Medearis, Dan Morgan, PBuch, Santana Moss, Andre Johnson, Edgerrin, Sapp, Reed, STaylor, Winslow, etc. (the list is endless) would have put the team on his back in some way. Sadly that just means we don't have any of those types of players at the moment.
- Still can't believe the defense could hold TAMU to 17 points and then turn around and give up 45 to MTSU. TVD did them no favors, but they got pushed around and it wasn't even close. I put the loss more on the defense because they gave up so many big plays and couldn't get MTSU off the field when it mattered.
Mario has 2 weeks of soul searching to tear this all down and build it back up. Season isn't lost as it was a growth season to begin with, but the staff and team have to show some fight from here on or else this board's meltdown will be justified. The sky isn't falling... yet and we don't need to fly any banners, but Mario just squandered a lot of goodwill. Current forecast: lots of rain but no Hurricane in sight.
