HurricaneVision
Staff Writer
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- Nov 16, 2012
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Take from this what you will, but I decided to rewatch the game and break down each play of the 1st quarter to see if the film tells the same story as the narrative/frustrations of our fanbase. Here is what I found:
11 personnel shotgun, TE split: Cross blocked RG and C, big hole up the middle, 8 yards
11 personnel shotgun with tempo, TE inline: Outside zone to short side, left backside DE unblocked, scraped down line, blew play up. Yearby made something happen. 3 yards
11 personnel shotgun with slot in tight, TE inline: shallow crossers high and low, TE cross opposite direction, wheel route for RB. No one open, incomplete to #6 , roughing the passer penalty keeps it going. Odogwu opened up too much and gave edge, Linder rocked back and played high, lost leverage, Gall was straight bullied, Isidora on-the-ground, Darling was really slow in kick, waited for blitzer, got beat around edge. All five OL scored negatively on the play. Impressive, that’s hard to do.
12 personnel pistol, offset FB, two WR to wide side, run dive with FB cross block, Gall gets beat, Isidora can’t hold his block, Linder turns his man to open hole, Dobard destroys CB to prevent help since there is no WR to hold that CB off the ground game once FB releases to other side. Yearby gets what’s blocked. 3 yards
10 personnel shotgun, motion RB out of backfield horizontally, Darling pushes his man wide after getting beat initially. Nice pocket otherwise, slant from slot, comeback from X, far slot fly to hold S, complete to Lewis for 4
11 personnel shotgun with offset TE. OL gets no push against four man front, MLB free to fill A gap on dive, short on 3rd down run. OL sucked.
21 personnel, pulled Herndon across formation and ran power out of shotgun. Dobard didn’t block anyone, but the OL did their jobs and Yearby had the hole. Finished run and gained 8. Linder got to the second level to prevent the LB from filling. Quick count helped with defense not set. Nice play.
20 personnel, three wide shotgun, we pulled Isidora to block weakside DE and downblocked the other three DL with LT, LG, C. We combo blocked strongside DE with Sunny and Walton. Walton actually had a great block on the DE and Sunny just kind of stood there after Walton stoned him. Ran Herndon on wheel routewhich pulled S out of that zone, we ran a deep in behind it with Waters and Kaaya threw a dime behind WLB and MLB. Waters dropped it.
10 personnel, three wide to wide side, Waters on short side. Delayed belly draw, Isidora is immediately off balance and whiffs his block, Linder trips over his own feet and falls. If he had gotten to second level this is a big play. Isidora’s man threw the timing off, Linder not getting his man pushed Walton back to the middle where the SAM scraped off Herndon and made the play. Herndon needs to block his man on that play, but I’m not sure if the design is for him to only be a decoy since the play should cutback to the short side of the field if Linder gets his block. Isidora is killing us. 5 yard gain, but left probably 10 out there.
10 personnel and they motion Walton out of the slot into the backfield for protection. Darling is beat immediately and Kaaya is pressured and hits his checkdown with the Swing pass to Walton and he gets the 1st down. You know it’s not the primary call because Waters doesn’t block and doesn’t run his shallow cross into the middle to pull the CB off that side. It’s a natural pick though and the SAM can’t get out there, but Waters doesn’t block and the CB forces him out-of-bounds. No yards left though because the SS is coming downhill as he goes out-of-bounds.
11 personnel shotgun with RB in backfield and TE offset, they love to run crossers to both depths and run the wheel route with the H-back or RB. Waters is physical and the deeper crosser and Kaaya makes a pro level throw. They pull the LG out to handle the strongside DE and Sunny is supposed to block down on the DT. He trips over his own feet and the DT hits our QB hard. I hate seeing OL on-the-ground.
11 personnel shotgun, with a bunch to the top of the screen, Dobard is on the LOS, which signals an obvious screen play in my mind. They fake the draw and Kaaya runs along the LOS. Dobard and the WR are blocking downfield, but we throw it forward (this is not allowed). They throw a flag on Kaaya for being past LOS, but he isn’t. The blocking part isn’t reviewable, so we steal one. The play action is meant to read the DE and not block him. If he crashes, you pull it. If he takes the QB, you give it to the RB. Darling is supposed to get the LB. He chips the DT and isn’t athletic enough to get out there. Kaaya carries out the fake and actually blocks the LB. You don’t want your QB doing this, you want your LT to make his block and keep any hits from your QB. Darling is not playing well.
12 personnel on the goal line, shotgun, H back is offset to the strong side. Dive up the middle for a TD. Isidora gets a nice scrape block, Sunny walled his guy off just enough. Linder had the best block and drove his guy off the line. Darling lost his matchup with quickness, but it didn’t affect the play. Gall got beat with quickness, but luckily his man went outside shoulder and Walton got through the crease before the DT could make the play and kept driving. Herndon did nothing and I’m still waiting for him to actually make a block in this game. We know Dobard can block their CB after this drive. That dude is a weenie and doesn’t want to tackle. Nice run by the freshman. Miami- 7, FAU- 0
3-4 setup, blitz Kirby and Grace with a double-A gap blitz, NT shaded over the C, McCord covering Y WR underneath with Bush taking deep responsibility. Trent Harris has X WR on the weakside. They did one-gap, but this was an easy pitch-and-catch with the out route. Burns ran a bail technique which left Harris to cover both the X and the Z WR in the shallow zone. This defensive play call had literally no chance to work with the route concepts they ran and the blitz being ineffective. 8 yards
3-4 setup, but with a standup rusher in Harris, Burns is in press to near side, Grace is playing off the Z WR. Bush has deep responsibility. Hert is shaded over the nose to the strongside, Moten and Kamalu are the ends. Howard has the boundary and is off man. They run blitz Dallas and McCord to the strong side, Hert scrapes down the line and stops the run. The DL was definitely two-gapping here. Kamalu was extremely slow getting off the snap. He looked tentative trying to protect his legs. It doesn’t look as though he likes getting cut. Not playside, so didn’t impact play.
4-3, McCord, Kamalu, Thomas, Muhammad are down, they run misdirection with Muhammad and McCord both unblocked. I think that was a mistake, but luckily for them McCord tackled the guy they faked to, Muhammad was on the other side, Kamalu got pancaked and Kirby got shoved out of the hole. Even on a busted play they pick it up, but terrible awareness from McCord. He’s playing poorly and Kamalu is getting destroyed. At least they one-gapped on this play and would’ve had a loss if McCord knew where the ball was.
4-3, Kamalu, Hert, Moten, Harris. We blitzed Bush off the weakside edge, dropped McCord out into coverage, played zone behind it. There was no one in McCord’s zone, luckily because he just spun like a top. He supposedly had the flat and middle crosser, but had no idea what to do. Absolutely no pressure as everyone just tried to bull rush, Burns was in off man coverage and had deep responsibility. H-back ran the seam unabated with no jam, easily gets into his route and eats up the cushion before the defense has a chance, the QB has an easy pocket, but dumps the ball into the ground. It’s incomplete, but this play is a loss. Howard was on boundary and they ran cover-3 deep.
4-3, same line, we walked Bush to handle the edge. We one gapped and slanted our defensive front. Harris goes too far down the line instead of keeping outside leverage on the RB, Kirby was horrific and took a gap that he had no business taking (that’s why we walked Bush down into that gap Kirby!!), Moten got his **** ripped by the OL, gaping hole right in the middle, where Kirby should’ve been to make a tackle for a two yard gain. Instead he rips through, Dallas with just a pathetic tackle attempt, Bush from all the way on the other side runs him down, but a huge run. This is bad everything, but this one was on the players, who simply got owned and didn’t do their jobs. The scheme was there to stop it, even if the playcall was a good one for the defensive playcall.
3-4, goal line, blitzing Grace into the B gap, but FAU has a false start.
3-4, goal line, Harris, Moten, Norton, Kamalu, McCord all up on the line, Moten gets a push up the middle, Norton is moved out by just the C, though he did stay on his feet he lost, Grace got too close to the edge and let the runner spin outside and sort of blocked Harris at the same time, Burns kept his edge, fought off the block and saved a bigger play. Crawford took a terrible angle and only Burns keeping his edge saved him from a terrible play. When the runner had to bounce, he got a chance to run to him instead of taking a bad angle and getting beat. 2 yards.
3-4, everyone in soft, off-zone coverage, Moten, Hert, Kamalu down, Harris standing on line to near side, McCord is covering the slot WR underneath with Bush taking the seam, Grace does a great job of ignoring a shallow cross to stay in his zone and tackle a little slot crosser after Kirby was beaten. In fairness to Kirby he was covering a shifty slot WR. Grace saved a TD by pushing back on the shallow crossers, letting it clear, then identifying the wheel route behind it by the RB. Pro-level play by Grace. Then he recognizes the pass, comes forward and helps tackle the WR who tried to bounce and run. Harris blew the play up by beating the RT to the inside shoulder and forcing the QB to bail the pocket. I wish he could’ve finished the play though. Also, it’s frustrating how much we ask McCord to drop back into coverage.
3-4 against 11 personnel with inline TE, trips to wide side, shotgun. Everyone five yards off in coverage, McCord rushes, Harris comes off the edge, Kirby blitzes up the A-gap and gets pressure, Burns with good coverage on the pick play. Ball overthrown. You could see Bush’s special athleticism as he trailed and ran with a crosser all the way or the QB had an easy TD over the middle. McCord was destroyed by the LT, but at least the DL one-gapped and got up field. FG. Miami-7, FAU- 3
12 personnel, inline TE, pistol formation, we pulled Grimsley on power, Yearby bounces, the line gets a nice push honestly, Grimsley had a good block, Yearby missed the cutback with was open after Linder drove his man off and Darling was his matchup. The WLB was there, but it was an easy 4, and a lot more if he made the WLB miss. Instead, he goes play side, Waters didn’t get lined up quickly enough, missed that we snapped the ball and was very late off the line and basically flopped to the ground. Herndon still hasn’t made a block. He whiffed badly, Yearby tried to bounce outside, FAU sets the edge, Waters doesn’t block anyone, LB flows to ball, gain of 2.
11 personnel with Dobard in the slot. Delayed draw, FAU blitzed up the A-gap and Linder did a wonderful job on waiting for the play to develop, blocks two FAU defenders and Yearby makes two guys miss for a huge run. Scott was downfield blocking, so nice effort to get back into the play there. Everyone did their jobs here.
11 personnel with H-back offset, OL does a great job giving an open pocket for shotgun, play action to Yearby who has no one to even block (I’d like to see him release in that situation), Darling got beat eventually, but gave plenty of time. Deep shot to Scott who ran right by CB, but a bad pas by Kaaya. This was simply a miss and not a good throw. Grimsley is playing so much better than Gall thus far. I see the LG making blocks and I check again, and yup, it’s 69. Should’ve been a TD.
11 personnel with Dobard in slot, Yearby runs an arrow route, wins immediately, Kaaya sees it, hits him in stride with perfect throw and Yearby makes a great run to the end zone. Isidora showed great feet, anchor, knee bend and strength to make this play possible. Keep doing this big fella. Miami- 14, FAU- 3
3-4, Moten, Hert, Kamalu down, Muhammed up top, Owens to bottom of screen on line, all corners in press, single-high S for the first time in Crawford. Kamalu gets pushed off the ball, but Moten scrapes down the line and makes the tackle with help from Muhammad. 2 yard gain on the defense we play pressure. It would’ve been a loss if Kamalu holds his ground. On this play, Hert has his head across the LOS and Kamalu still has his hand anchored to the ground. Kamalu is extremely slow to react I am noticing. Bad game for him thus far.
3-4, same line but flipped Moten and Kamalu, Driskel is the QB now, we are playing cover-2, Muhammad is dropping into coverage in the flat on wide side, Driskel throws a dart to short side and Burns is all over him, but a nice play by WR. Tip cap here, though I hated Owens and Muhammad both dropping into underneath coverage. Owens covered the slot WR well.
3-4, same formation, Muhammad walks up to strong side, Kirby/Grace off ball, Muhammad scrapes down the line instead of staying wider than runner, doesn’t go upfield, so the QB has time to pitch on the speed option, DL is all two-gapping so they have no penetration to stop the option, Burns again has to come off a block and make a tackle. Grace is running sideline-to-sideline to help clean up. Bad defense, but if Muhammad were allowed to get upfield, this is a big loss. Muhammad is a lot better than McCord thus far.
FAU with tempo now, so same formation, Muhammad ragdolls the RT, locks his arms and controls him, DL two gaps, gets no upfield penetration, Muhammad forces it back inside, Kamalu gets driven all the way down the line, but assists with Owens on tackle. First down though.
3-4, same formation but flipped Muhammad and Harris. Grace is out covering slot in off coverage, Hert gets penetration, we blitzed Dallas into the A-gap, Kamalu gets driven back, but helped plug the hole at least, 1 yard gain. Crawford has played whole game, Bush has come out for Jenkins.
3-4, Kamalu, Hert, Moten down. Muhammad to weak side standing, Owens/Kirby in box, Grace covering slot. Two-deep, DL is negated, Driskel throws a nice throw to X WR who breaks a Burns tackle, a Kirby tackle, an Owens tackle, gets five more yards, never goes down, flexes on our sideline. Embarrassing.
3-4, Moten, Hert, Kamalu, Owens strongside, Muhammad weakside. Kamalu gets cut to the ground, Hert jumps inside instead of staying in his gap, Owens misses a tackle, Muhammad owned on the edge, Kirby chooses wrong gap, Grace gets blocked by a releasing G after losing his assignment, Crawford with a pitiful open field tackle attempt, Kirby is so slow! Jenkins runs him down from far side to limit him to a 30 yard run. On the top of the screen, Artie Burns is never going to want to see this film, as he gets completely decleated on a heads up block. Then the FAU player lays on top of him and tells him about it. This is one ugly defensive play. Bad, bad, bad.
3-4, play action, Owens is very slow to realize it’s a WR bubble screen. Elder sees it and is shot out of a cannon to split two blockers and knock the ball away or it’s an easy TD. This is the play Owens is hurt on, but Elder made a big-boy play here.
3-4, Jenkins, Hert, Kamalu are down. Kirby blitzes up the A-gap, but somehow runs to a blocker and instead of avoiding him. They didn’t block Jenkins, who does a nice job of taking the QB first or it’s a TD, forces the RB handoff, he pushes him back inside to his defense, where Kirby scrapes down the line and Crawford makes the tackle as well. The S’s were at the goal line, which is a welcome change from seeing them five yards deep at the goal line. 1 yard run.
4-3, nobody is lined up in the end zone on 3rd and goal from the 4. Jenkins playing the 3-technique is the first guy off the snap. McCord completely gets fooled by the old TE fall down, stand up at the goal line play and loses his responsibility. It was his man that catches the easy TD and they did a good job running everyone else off so that it was an easy throw once McCord rushed. McCord is a Senior. It’s time not to be making these stupid plays like this. If he does his job it’s a throw away pass and holding them to a FG. Miami- 14, FAU- 10.
01 personnel, five wide shotgun, OL did a nice job. Every time I look up Grimsley is killing his man. Lewis runs deep post, Kaaya underthrows it a bit for an incompletion.
11 personnel with inline TE, Pistol, Yearby back, the whole line slants right, Darling cuts the backside to the ground, Linder combo blocks with Isidora to open a huge whole, Sunny seals his guy down, this is a perfect stretch running play. Nice work OL, 15 yard run.
11 personnel with Dobard in slot, shotgun, Walton back, they pull Grimsley to run power to RT. I’m not exactly sure what the plan was here, but I believe Isidora needs to hit the DT, hand him off to Grimsley, then get the LB coming downhill to fill the A gap to that side. Instead, Grimsley and Isidora pancake the DT, but they serve as a human shield, forcing Walton back inside where the LB has an easy tackle with no blockers to contend with. 3 yard gain, but this could’ve been a huge play if Isidora gets off the DT and gets to LB.
11 personnel, same formation, Kaaya threads the needle on a sideline route to Scott with the flat corner in zone trying to undercut the route. Dangerous throw that would’ve been pick-6 had he got there, but he didn’t. 10 yard gain.
21 personnel with inline TE, Pistol formation. We run the same play where we pull Grimsley, but we pull the ball and hit the backside slot on double slants. Herndon actually blocked someone this play. The FB didn’t do anything, but he didn’t really need to.
End of the 1st quarter has the Canes driving and the score 14-10. The OL has gotten much better as the game has gone along. Grimsley is just a lot better than Gall right now, no question about it. I still hate our defensive gameplan on most occasions, and honestly, our guys get flat out whipped on most individual matchups as well. My guess is that is because of the coverage and gap responsibilities we put on them. Muhammad is better than McCord, it’s just the truth. Kamalu is a liability on the field. Slowest player off the snap on our line, and that includes the NT’s. Chad Thomas is our best DL, he needs to be playing over Kamalu. Kirby is really not a good MLB. Not sure of the answer, but it isn’t him. Grace is our best LB, and it’s not close. Crawford can’t tackle is just not our best option. Bush needs to be out there allowed to make plays, and Crawford should never play. Make those changes, play more press with single high, and allow the team to get upfield with Muhammad and Thomas on the field at the same time and we will instantly improve on defense. When you look at our problems, it really is 50% personnel, 50% scheme. The frustrating part is we have the ability to fix 90% of that ourselves.
It’s nice to get a win, but a few hours of film study confirms what I was afraid of; we’re going to really struggle against physical teams upfront, which means the slow death once again against good teams if we don't make some changes- especially personnel wise, because I don't think the scheme is changing.
11 personnel shotgun, TE split: Cross blocked RG and C, big hole up the middle, 8 yards
11 personnel shotgun with tempo, TE inline: Outside zone to short side, left backside DE unblocked, scraped down line, blew play up. Yearby made something happen. 3 yards
11 personnel shotgun with slot in tight, TE inline: shallow crossers high and low, TE cross opposite direction, wheel route for RB. No one open, incomplete to #6 , roughing the passer penalty keeps it going. Odogwu opened up too much and gave edge, Linder rocked back and played high, lost leverage, Gall was straight bullied, Isidora on-the-ground, Darling was really slow in kick, waited for blitzer, got beat around edge. All five OL scored negatively on the play. Impressive, that’s hard to do.
12 personnel pistol, offset FB, two WR to wide side, run dive with FB cross block, Gall gets beat, Isidora can’t hold his block, Linder turns his man to open hole, Dobard destroys CB to prevent help since there is no WR to hold that CB off the ground game once FB releases to other side. Yearby gets what’s blocked. 3 yards
10 personnel shotgun, motion RB out of backfield horizontally, Darling pushes his man wide after getting beat initially. Nice pocket otherwise, slant from slot, comeback from X, far slot fly to hold S, complete to Lewis for 4
11 personnel shotgun with offset TE. OL gets no push against four man front, MLB free to fill A gap on dive, short on 3rd down run. OL sucked.
21 personnel, pulled Herndon across formation and ran power out of shotgun. Dobard didn’t block anyone, but the OL did their jobs and Yearby had the hole. Finished run and gained 8. Linder got to the second level to prevent the LB from filling. Quick count helped with defense not set. Nice play.
20 personnel, three wide shotgun, we pulled Isidora to block weakside DE and downblocked the other three DL with LT, LG, C. We combo blocked strongside DE with Sunny and Walton. Walton actually had a great block on the DE and Sunny just kind of stood there after Walton stoned him. Ran Herndon on wheel routewhich pulled S out of that zone, we ran a deep in behind it with Waters and Kaaya threw a dime behind WLB and MLB. Waters dropped it.
10 personnel, three wide to wide side, Waters on short side. Delayed belly draw, Isidora is immediately off balance and whiffs his block, Linder trips over his own feet and falls. If he had gotten to second level this is a big play. Isidora’s man threw the timing off, Linder not getting his man pushed Walton back to the middle where the SAM scraped off Herndon and made the play. Herndon needs to block his man on that play, but I’m not sure if the design is for him to only be a decoy since the play should cutback to the short side of the field if Linder gets his block. Isidora is killing us. 5 yard gain, but left probably 10 out there.
10 personnel and they motion Walton out of the slot into the backfield for protection. Darling is beat immediately and Kaaya is pressured and hits his checkdown with the Swing pass to Walton and he gets the 1st down. You know it’s not the primary call because Waters doesn’t block and doesn’t run his shallow cross into the middle to pull the CB off that side. It’s a natural pick though and the SAM can’t get out there, but Waters doesn’t block and the CB forces him out-of-bounds. No yards left though because the SS is coming downhill as he goes out-of-bounds.
11 personnel shotgun with RB in backfield and TE offset, they love to run crossers to both depths and run the wheel route with the H-back or RB. Waters is physical and the deeper crosser and Kaaya makes a pro level throw. They pull the LG out to handle the strongside DE and Sunny is supposed to block down on the DT. He trips over his own feet and the DT hits our QB hard. I hate seeing OL on-the-ground.
11 personnel shotgun, with a bunch to the top of the screen, Dobard is on the LOS, which signals an obvious screen play in my mind. They fake the draw and Kaaya runs along the LOS. Dobard and the WR are blocking downfield, but we throw it forward (this is not allowed). They throw a flag on Kaaya for being past LOS, but he isn’t. The blocking part isn’t reviewable, so we steal one. The play action is meant to read the DE and not block him. If he crashes, you pull it. If he takes the QB, you give it to the RB. Darling is supposed to get the LB. He chips the DT and isn’t athletic enough to get out there. Kaaya carries out the fake and actually blocks the LB. You don’t want your QB doing this, you want your LT to make his block and keep any hits from your QB. Darling is not playing well.
12 personnel on the goal line, shotgun, H back is offset to the strong side. Dive up the middle for a TD. Isidora gets a nice scrape block, Sunny walled his guy off just enough. Linder had the best block and drove his guy off the line. Darling lost his matchup with quickness, but it didn’t affect the play. Gall got beat with quickness, but luckily his man went outside shoulder and Walton got through the crease before the DT could make the play and kept driving. Herndon did nothing and I’m still waiting for him to actually make a block in this game. We know Dobard can block their CB after this drive. That dude is a weenie and doesn’t want to tackle. Nice run by the freshman. Miami- 7, FAU- 0
3-4 setup, blitz Kirby and Grace with a double-A gap blitz, NT shaded over the C, McCord covering Y WR underneath with Bush taking deep responsibility. Trent Harris has X WR on the weakside. They did one-gap, but this was an easy pitch-and-catch with the out route. Burns ran a bail technique which left Harris to cover both the X and the Z WR in the shallow zone. This defensive play call had literally no chance to work with the route concepts they ran and the blitz being ineffective. 8 yards
3-4 setup, but with a standup rusher in Harris, Burns is in press to near side, Grace is playing off the Z WR. Bush has deep responsibility. Hert is shaded over the nose to the strongside, Moten and Kamalu are the ends. Howard has the boundary and is off man. They run blitz Dallas and McCord to the strong side, Hert scrapes down the line and stops the run. The DL was definitely two-gapping here. Kamalu was extremely slow getting off the snap. He looked tentative trying to protect his legs. It doesn’t look as though he likes getting cut. Not playside, so didn’t impact play.
4-3, McCord, Kamalu, Thomas, Muhammad are down, they run misdirection with Muhammad and McCord both unblocked. I think that was a mistake, but luckily for them McCord tackled the guy they faked to, Muhammad was on the other side, Kamalu got pancaked and Kirby got shoved out of the hole. Even on a busted play they pick it up, but terrible awareness from McCord. He’s playing poorly and Kamalu is getting destroyed. At least they one-gapped on this play and would’ve had a loss if McCord knew where the ball was.
4-3, Kamalu, Hert, Moten, Harris. We blitzed Bush off the weakside edge, dropped McCord out into coverage, played zone behind it. There was no one in McCord’s zone, luckily because he just spun like a top. He supposedly had the flat and middle crosser, but had no idea what to do. Absolutely no pressure as everyone just tried to bull rush, Burns was in off man coverage and had deep responsibility. H-back ran the seam unabated with no jam, easily gets into his route and eats up the cushion before the defense has a chance, the QB has an easy pocket, but dumps the ball into the ground. It’s incomplete, but this play is a loss. Howard was on boundary and they ran cover-3 deep.
4-3, same line, we walked Bush to handle the edge. We one gapped and slanted our defensive front. Harris goes too far down the line instead of keeping outside leverage on the RB, Kirby was horrific and took a gap that he had no business taking (that’s why we walked Bush down into that gap Kirby!!), Moten got his **** ripped by the OL, gaping hole right in the middle, where Kirby should’ve been to make a tackle for a two yard gain. Instead he rips through, Dallas with just a pathetic tackle attempt, Bush from all the way on the other side runs him down, but a huge run. This is bad everything, but this one was on the players, who simply got owned and didn’t do their jobs. The scheme was there to stop it, even if the playcall was a good one for the defensive playcall.
3-4, goal line, blitzing Grace into the B gap, but FAU has a false start.
3-4, goal line, Harris, Moten, Norton, Kamalu, McCord all up on the line, Moten gets a push up the middle, Norton is moved out by just the C, though he did stay on his feet he lost, Grace got too close to the edge and let the runner spin outside and sort of blocked Harris at the same time, Burns kept his edge, fought off the block and saved a bigger play. Crawford took a terrible angle and only Burns keeping his edge saved him from a terrible play. When the runner had to bounce, he got a chance to run to him instead of taking a bad angle and getting beat. 2 yards.
3-4, everyone in soft, off-zone coverage, Moten, Hert, Kamalu down, Harris standing on line to near side, McCord is covering the slot WR underneath with Bush taking the seam, Grace does a great job of ignoring a shallow cross to stay in his zone and tackle a little slot crosser after Kirby was beaten. In fairness to Kirby he was covering a shifty slot WR. Grace saved a TD by pushing back on the shallow crossers, letting it clear, then identifying the wheel route behind it by the RB. Pro-level play by Grace. Then he recognizes the pass, comes forward and helps tackle the WR who tried to bounce and run. Harris blew the play up by beating the RT to the inside shoulder and forcing the QB to bail the pocket. I wish he could’ve finished the play though. Also, it’s frustrating how much we ask McCord to drop back into coverage.
3-4 against 11 personnel with inline TE, trips to wide side, shotgun. Everyone five yards off in coverage, McCord rushes, Harris comes off the edge, Kirby blitzes up the A-gap and gets pressure, Burns with good coverage on the pick play. Ball overthrown. You could see Bush’s special athleticism as he trailed and ran with a crosser all the way or the QB had an easy TD over the middle. McCord was destroyed by the LT, but at least the DL one-gapped and got up field. FG. Miami-7, FAU- 3
12 personnel, inline TE, pistol formation, we pulled Grimsley on power, Yearby bounces, the line gets a nice push honestly, Grimsley had a good block, Yearby missed the cutback with was open after Linder drove his man off and Darling was his matchup. The WLB was there, but it was an easy 4, and a lot more if he made the WLB miss. Instead, he goes play side, Waters didn’t get lined up quickly enough, missed that we snapped the ball and was very late off the line and basically flopped to the ground. Herndon still hasn’t made a block. He whiffed badly, Yearby tried to bounce outside, FAU sets the edge, Waters doesn’t block anyone, LB flows to ball, gain of 2.
11 personnel with Dobard in the slot. Delayed draw, FAU blitzed up the A-gap and Linder did a wonderful job on waiting for the play to develop, blocks two FAU defenders and Yearby makes two guys miss for a huge run. Scott was downfield blocking, so nice effort to get back into the play there. Everyone did their jobs here.
11 personnel with H-back offset, OL does a great job giving an open pocket for shotgun, play action to Yearby who has no one to even block (I’d like to see him release in that situation), Darling got beat eventually, but gave plenty of time. Deep shot to Scott who ran right by CB, but a bad pas by Kaaya. This was simply a miss and not a good throw. Grimsley is playing so much better than Gall thus far. I see the LG making blocks and I check again, and yup, it’s 69. Should’ve been a TD.
11 personnel with Dobard in slot, Yearby runs an arrow route, wins immediately, Kaaya sees it, hits him in stride with perfect throw and Yearby makes a great run to the end zone. Isidora showed great feet, anchor, knee bend and strength to make this play possible. Keep doing this big fella. Miami- 14, FAU- 3
3-4, Moten, Hert, Kamalu down, Muhammed up top, Owens to bottom of screen on line, all corners in press, single-high S for the first time in Crawford. Kamalu gets pushed off the ball, but Moten scrapes down the line and makes the tackle with help from Muhammad. 2 yard gain on the defense we play pressure. It would’ve been a loss if Kamalu holds his ground. On this play, Hert has his head across the LOS and Kamalu still has his hand anchored to the ground. Kamalu is extremely slow to react I am noticing. Bad game for him thus far.
3-4, same line but flipped Moten and Kamalu, Driskel is the QB now, we are playing cover-2, Muhammad is dropping into coverage in the flat on wide side, Driskel throws a dart to short side and Burns is all over him, but a nice play by WR. Tip cap here, though I hated Owens and Muhammad both dropping into underneath coverage. Owens covered the slot WR well.
3-4, same formation, Muhammad walks up to strong side, Kirby/Grace off ball, Muhammad scrapes down the line instead of staying wider than runner, doesn’t go upfield, so the QB has time to pitch on the speed option, DL is all two-gapping so they have no penetration to stop the option, Burns again has to come off a block and make a tackle. Grace is running sideline-to-sideline to help clean up. Bad defense, but if Muhammad were allowed to get upfield, this is a big loss. Muhammad is a lot better than McCord thus far.
FAU with tempo now, so same formation, Muhammad ragdolls the RT, locks his arms and controls him, DL two gaps, gets no upfield penetration, Muhammad forces it back inside, Kamalu gets driven all the way down the line, but assists with Owens on tackle. First down though.
3-4, same formation but flipped Muhammad and Harris. Grace is out covering slot in off coverage, Hert gets penetration, we blitzed Dallas into the A-gap, Kamalu gets driven back, but helped plug the hole at least, 1 yard gain. Crawford has played whole game, Bush has come out for Jenkins.
3-4, Kamalu, Hert, Moten down. Muhammad to weak side standing, Owens/Kirby in box, Grace covering slot. Two-deep, DL is negated, Driskel throws a nice throw to X WR who breaks a Burns tackle, a Kirby tackle, an Owens tackle, gets five more yards, never goes down, flexes on our sideline. Embarrassing.
3-4, Moten, Hert, Kamalu, Owens strongside, Muhammad weakside. Kamalu gets cut to the ground, Hert jumps inside instead of staying in his gap, Owens misses a tackle, Muhammad owned on the edge, Kirby chooses wrong gap, Grace gets blocked by a releasing G after losing his assignment, Crawford with a pitiful open field tackle attempt, Kirby is so slow! Jenkins runs him down from far side to limit him to a 30 yard run. On the top of the screen, Artie Burns is never going to want to see this film, as he gets completely decleated on a heads up block. Then the FAU player lays on top of him and tells him about it. This is one ugly defensive play. Bad, bad, bad.
3-4, play action, Owens is very slow to realize it’s a WR bubble screen. Elder sees it and is shot out of a cannon to split two blockers and knock the ball away or it’s an easy TD. This is the play Owens is hurt on, but Elder made a big-boy play here.
3-4, Jenkins, Hert, Kamalu are down. Kirby blitzes up the A-gap, but somehow runs to a blocker and instead of avoiding him. They didn’t block Jenkins, who does a nice job of taking the QB first or it’s a TD, forces the RB handoff, he pushes him back inside to his defense, where Kirby scrapes down the line and Crawford makes the tackle as well. The S’s were at the goal line, which is a welcome change from seeing them five yards deep at the goal line. 1 yard run.
4-3, nobody is lined up in the end zone on 3rd and goal from the 4. Jenkins playing the 3-technique is the first guy off the snap. McCord completely gets fooled by the old TE fall down, stand up at the goal line play and loses his responsibility. It was his man that catches the easy TD and they did a good job running everyone else off so that it was an easy throw once McCord rushed. McCord is a Senior. It’s time not to be making these stupid plays like this. If he does his job it’s a throw away pass and holding them to a FG. Miami- 14, FAU- 10.
01 personnel, five wide shotgun, OL did a nice job. Every time I look up Grimsley is killing his man. Lewis runs deep post, Kaaya underthrows it a bit for an incompletion.
11 personnel with inline TE, Pistol, Yearby back, the whole line slants right, Darling cuts the backside to the ground, Linder combo blocks with Isidora to open a huge whole, Sunny seals his guy down, this is a perfect stretch running play. Nice work OL, 15 yard run.
11 personnel with Dobard in slot, shotgun, Walton back, they pull Grimsley to run power to RT. I’m not exactly sure what the plan was here, but I believe Isidora needs to hit the DT, hand him off to Grimsley, then get the LB coming downhill to fill the A gap to that side. Instead, Grimsley and Isidora pancake the DT, but they serve as a human shield, forcing Walton back inside where the LB has an easy tackle with no blockers to contend with. 3 yard gain, but this could’ve been a huge play if Isidora gets off the DT and gets to LB.
11 personnel, same formation, Kaaya threads the needle on a sideline route to Scott with the flat corner in zone trying to undercut the route. Dangerous throw that would’ve been pick-6 had he got there, but he didn’t. 10 yard gain.
21 personnel with inline TE, Pistol formation. We run the same play where we pull Grimsley, but we pull the ball and hit the backside slot on double slants. Herndon actually blocked someone this play. The FB didn’t do anything, but he didn’t really need to.
End of the 1st quarter has the Canes driving and the score 14-10. The OL has gotten much better as the game has gone along. Grimsley is just a lot better than Gall right now, no question about it. I still hate our defensive gameplan on most occasions, and honestly, our guys get flat out whipped on most individual matchups as well. My guess is that is because of the coverage and gap responsibilities we put on them. Muhammad is better than McCord, it’s just the truth. Kamalu is a liability on the field. Slowest player off the snap on our line, and that includes the NT’s. Chad Thomas is our best DL, he needs to be playing over Kamalu. Kirby is really not a good MLB. Not sure of the answer, but it isn’t him. Grace is our best LB, and it’s not close. Crawford can’t tackle is just not our best option. Bush needs to be out there allowed to make plays, and Crawford should never play. Make those changes, play more press with single high, and allow the team to get upfield with Muhammad and Thomas on the field at the same time and we will instantly improve on defense. When you look at our problems, it really is 50% personnel, 50% scheme. The frustrating part is we have the ability to fix 90% of that ourselves.
It’s nice to get a win, but a few hours of film study confirms what I was afraid of; we’re going to really struggle against physical teams upfront, which means the slow death once again against good teams if we don't make some changes- especially personnel wise, because I don't think the scheme is changing.
