Fireside Chat with The Living Legend

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I said all last week it would be a shootout and that we would have to win with our offense. I thought it would be a 49-42 type of game. UL is as skilled as anyone on O. We needed to make a few stops and get a couple TOs, and we did. The days of dominant defenses are over. You won't be seeing those old 90s Miami defenses anymore so just give it up. This is especially true if you want to run tempo.

Respectfully, disagree. The teams who make the playoffs consistently have a dominant Defense. Even LSU, with their insane Offense, was nasty on Defense. Clemson, OSU, Bama, all have great Defense’s. Heck, Florida and Wisconsin do well because their Defense is their strength. If you want to beat Clemson, we need to figure a way to stop those guys, at the very least, hold them under 24-27. With what we are running, that’s not going to happen.
 
Great win, agree with everything you said. King looked great and could've looked even better had not been for some drops. Louisville tried to to take away his running ability and make him throw. He has a live arm and is accurate as ****, he is our best qb in years hands down. Brevin is a beast, target this kid at least 10 times a game. Cam is tough with home run ability. This offense is going to be scary good, great job by Lashlee with the up tempo. O-line played well. Disappointed in Harley and Pope and Pope underwhelms as a returner, would like to see Knighton on kickoff returns. Agree Phillips has a nonstop motor who is disruptive and Bolden was all over the field, we will only get better, we're believing and oozing confidence. Jose B has a cannon for a leg and has swagger, 60 yard range. Finally excited to watch this team and look forward to the next game.
 
I agree with most of everything in the OP except for the defensive analysis. We aren’t fundamentally sound and that has NOTHING to do with our OC, our offensive tempo, OU, LSU or anything else.

We simply aren’t well coached in the back seven and our play-caller is trash. That’s our issue.

We don’t need to choose between having a good offense OR a good defense. A better staff would dramatically change how we play on defense. Which is exactly what we are witnessing on offense this year.
It is true that Manny’s defense has its drawbacks, but we are a few CB recruiting misses from having a dominant defense. If we closed that class with Surtain and all those DBs that went elsewhere, we would have a defense to match our offense.

LB and CB depth and talent, along with the play caller, are what is holding this defense back. I don’t disagree with the premise that the days of holding quality opponents to 9 points may be long gone. But that doesn’t mean a defense still can’t dominate and win you games.

Just like the Lashlee offense is what Miami needs, I like Manny’s aggressive defense. I think kids, esp DL, want to play in it... we just need to win and close these recruiting classes. But give me a dominant, disruptive, attacking DL, with quality CBs that can play man coverage, safeties on the backend that are sound tacklers that can clean up, and competent LB play, and this scheme works fine for me.
 
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I heard Splatterfield and forgot the entire essay written before. Good write up and I agree with everything. Harvey had some good burst out there off the edge too, nothing like Phillips and Cam Williams though. Roche was meh.
 
I'll start with some general philosophy and then hit you with the pros and cons. It's time to celebrate, boys. Learn to celebrate the wins in life, and this was a big one. 2020 sucks for most even though I've never been happier, so breathe this one in and enjoy it.

Again, a large segment of the national media had us losing just like a lot of them picked UAB to beat us. They don't know what the astute UM fans know and what a few of us have been trying to tell you--we have a lot of talent on this team. All we needed was a leader at QB and a modern OC who would cater to the type of talent we have and not try to foist that 1970s Big 10 Boner Hayes pro style bro **** on us. We have both now.

Learn to accept that our defense isn't going to be a Sonny Lubick/Greg McMacken 9 points per game defense. Those days are over. Get over it. This is a defense built on creating havoc and splash plays. We hope to get the O off balance and in long yardage situations and force turnovers. It's not a sound defense, and it will always give up plays to good passing teams. Keep in mind that when you have a real O you don't have to be perfect every game or series on D.

OU makes the playoffs every year with a D that is complete dog ****; our D is better than theirs. It's all relative, boys. The entire Big 12 struggles to stop each other every year because football is an offensive game today. LSU was always a tough D, but they never had an O, and they struggled even with loads of talent. They get a great O, and they dominate everyone including Clemson and their great D. Look at the game holistically and stop focusing on one play or one player or one side of the ball. It's the ultimate team game, so when your D is struggling or playing a good O, then you lean on your O. We can do that now.

Pros:

Lash: This dude brings that big dyck swagger to our entire team. Just watch how he carries himself and how he coaches. He's tough, but he cares. He's not just a screamer who the players hate. He'll kick your *** then share some cookies his daughter made. He teaches and relates and demands excellence. On top of that, he brings the diversity I've been screaming for while most of you guys were telling me "but Dorsey and Booch and pro style is the Miami way."

King: Winner. Calm. Leader. Oh yeah, and he makes plays too. That throw to Harley where he was twisting and turned sideways and looked like Kareem dropping a sky hook was a thing of beauty. He looks a little robotic at times in the read option, but I still think they're trying to limit the hits on him. You don't want to destroy your QB in the first half of the season.

Cam Harris: I was tough on him last year, but he's proving to be a legit homerun hitter. Give him and edge or a crease, and he's gone. He's not going to be a guy who consistently picks up yards, but he's going to drop pellets on you if he gets a crease. And I love seeing that upright long stride of his when he gets loose. The turnover is fun to watch.

Brevin: Best TE in college football. Great job by Lash making him a focus. When you have a guy like that, you have to force feed him.

Joe B.: The ball explodes off his foot. I actually felt confident when he went out there for a 57 yarder. I would have been surprised if he missed it. It's a cannonading blast off his **** foot. Love the tats and eye black and the swag. This kid is Miami personified.

Cam Williams: Love his speed and length off the edge. He's playing like people were telling me Harvey was going to play last year. Future big time star.

Phillips: Stud. Warrior. Nonstop motor. He's all over the field and is a total disruptor. He might not have a million sacks, but he is constantly disrupting which is way more important than an occasional sack and then disappearance for 30 plays.

B. Bold: I actually saw idiots ripping him in the gameday abortion thread. This dude was everywhere. He's got great speed to the ball, and when he gets there he makes the play. Asking him to cover PooPoo AssSmell is retardation or complete lack of trust in your CB depth.

Cons:

CB Depth: If we can't get a 4th corner ready or god forbid lose 1 to injury, we will continue to have problems covering people. You simply can't ask any S to try to cover little fast dudes like AssSmell.

Jennings: Love his willingness to trade paint, but he's not a UM MLB right now. I'm not sure Brooks is either because I hear about how good he is, but I just don't see him jumping off the screen at me. None of our LBs seem to be jumping out at me. As a UM fan, you know when you have a great LB. We've seen them.

Harley: He was terrible. Can't drop TD passes. That's like a turnover in my book. Then, what the fck was he doing on that onside kick? That was awful.

Manny sitting on the ball at the end of the 1st half: That was horrible. You have all the momentum, 2 TOs, 1:40, and the ball in plus territory. And you take the air out of the ball. That was reminiscent of Booch's weak **** from the 90s.

Refs: They let UL hold and cheap shot all night. Pathetic.

Sissy UM fans: Fck you and buck up. LOL at you fools eating Splatterfield's *** all week, and then Manny owned him again for a 3rd time. And you're still making excuses for him.

@The Franchise, you're spot on with everything in your post. Kudos!! Plus, I like the wake up call of the defense, yeah I'm over here on my couch waiting to see the '89 Canes defense, but true to form those days are done and I can accept it, NOW. Just hoping to tighten up the defense and have it look like, just a wee bit, of those great Hurricane teams.... Hoping I'm not asking for too much in this tenure.

Great write up, my brother! I appreciate you! I'll just mosey my *** over by the fire pit and make some smores...
 
It is true that Manny’s defense has its drawbacks, but we are a few CB recruiting misses from having a dominant defense. If we closed that class with Surtain and all those DBs that went elsewhere, we would have a defense to match our offense.

LB and CB depth and talent, along with the play caller, are what is holding this defense back. I don’t disagree with the premise that the days of holding quality opponents to 9 points may be long gone. But that doesn’t mean a defense still can’t dominate and win you games.

Just like the Lashlee offense is what Miami needs, I like Manny’s aggressive defense. I think kids, esp DL, want to play in it... we just need to win and close these recruiting classes. But give me a dominant, disruptive, attacking DL, with quality CBs that can play man coverage, safeties on the backend that are sound tacklers that can clean up, and competent LB play, and this scheme works fine for me.

Quality CBs and LBs is relative to the coaching they receive and the scheme. We don’t have a lot of DEPTH at CB, but we have the personnel to scheme better on defense. Our LB talent is better than what we’re showing. A lack of elite coaching is holding us back. It’s no different than what Lashee/Justice are doing with our OL talent which everyone wrote off as trash last year.
 
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Respectfully, disagree. The teams who make the playoffs consistently have a dominant Defense. Even LSU, with their insane Offense, was nasty on Defense. Clemson, OSU, Bama, all have great Defense’s. Heck, Florida and Wisconsin do well because their Defense is their strength. If you want to beat Clemson, we need to figure a way to stop those guys, at the very least, hold them under 24-27. With what we are running, that’s not going to happen.

LSU's nasty defense still allowed the following teams to score a ton of points last year:

Texas scored 38
Vanderbilt scored 38
Florida scored 28
Alabama scored 41
Ole Miss scored 37
Oklahoma scored 28

So I think the point made by the Living Legend stands - the days of only allowing 9 points a game are over and are not coming back, mainly due to (1) rules changes that are heavily slanted in favor of the offense and (2) spread offenses.
 
Agree with you on Jennings, he over pursued & took a bad angle on that 4th & 1 run & he routinely gets swallowed trying to shoot the wrong gap.

A lot of those cutback stretch Zones get so many initial yards because Jennings doesn't have the feet or the hips to flip & shed to get back to his gap, once he's committed to going in one direction that's where he's going whether the runner is there or not lol.

IMO he's basically a less talented & slower Shaq Quarterman.

Brooks is the real deal, he's our fastest LB & recovers better than any of them, the issue he's having is he's playing to what Baker is asking of him, he needs to be allowed to roam & react freely, he's a Patrick Queen/Kendrick Murray style backer but we have him playing strict assignment ball where he can't really do what he does best which is run & hit.

Aside from the CB depth, the most annoying thing about our Defense is how we use our LB's & the personnel groupings we go with at LB. we have DL rotation figured out & Safety as well, but with LB it's a crap shoot from week to week.

I want to see Steed and Brooks on the field at the same time. I want to see more Steed on the field in general. He’s gonna get better with reps. The LB shuffle bothers me immensely.

Go Canes!
 
LSU's nasty defense still allowed the following teams to score a ton of points last year:

Texas scored 38
Vanderbilt scored 38
Florida scored 28
Alabama scored 41
Ole Miss scored 37
Oklahoma scored 28

So I think the point made by the Living Legend stands - the days of only allowing 9 points a game are over and are not coming back, mainly due to (1) rules changes that are heavily slanted in favor of the offense and (2) spread offenses.


This , as usual Miami fans are stuck in the past. Defense is almost impossible nowadays, then mix in a spread uptempo offense. There’ll be more opportunities with possessions and shorter drives because of the quick scores. Plus Lou has a great o.
 
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I agree, LSU got lit up, at times, last year but usually they are stronger on Defense. That Offense was one of the greatest of all time. Last year’s LSU team was probably the exception and not the rule. Clemson and Bama usually play good enough D to slow down elite opponents significantly enough to win. We are no where near that.
 
I'll start with some general philosophy and then hit you with the pros and cons. It's time to celebrate, boys. Learn to celebrate the wins in life, and this was a big one. 2020 sucks for most even though I've never been happier, so breathe this one in and enjoy it.

Again, a large segment of the national media had us losing just like a lot of them picked UAB to beat us. They don't know what the astute UM fans know and what a few of us have been trying to tell you--we have a lot of talent on this team. All we needed was a leader at QB and a modern OC who would cater to the type of talent we have and not try to foist that 1970s Big 10 Boner Hayes pro style bro **** on us. We have both now.

Learn to accept that our defense isn't going to be a Sonny Lubick/Greg McMacken 9 points per game defense. Those days are over. Get over it. This is a defense built on creating havoc and splash plays. We hope to get the O off balance and in long yardage situations and force turnovers. It's not a sound defense, and it will always give up plays to good passing teams. Keep in mind that when you have a real O you don't have to be perfect every game or series on D.

OU makes the playoffs every year with a D that is complete dog ****; our D is better than theirs. It's all relative, boys. The entire Big 12 struggles to stop each other every year because football is an offensive game today. LSU was always a tough D, but they never had an O, and they struggled even with loads of talent. They get a great O, and they dominate everyone including Clemson and their great D. Look at the game holistically and stop focusing on one play or one player or one side of the ball. It's the ultimate team game, so when your D is struggling or playing a good O, then you lean on your O. We can do that now.

Pros:

Lash: This dude brings that big dyck swagger to our entire team. Just watch how he carries himself and how he coaches. He's tough, but he cares. He's not just a screamer who the players hate. He'll kick your *** then share some cookies his daughter made. He teaches and relates and demands excellence. On top of that, he brings the diversity I've been screaming for while most of you guys were telling me "but Dorsey and Booch and pro style is the Miami way."

King: Winner. Calm. Leader. Oh yeah, and he makes plays too. That throw to Harley where he was twisting and turned sideways and looked like Kareem dropping a sky hook was a thing of beauty. He looks a little robotic at times in the read option, but I still think they're trying to limit the hits on him. You don't want to destroy your QB in the first half of the season.

Cam Harris: I was tough on him last year, but he's proving to be a legit homerun hitter. Give him and edge or a crease, and he's gone. He's not going to be a guy who consistently picks up yards, but he's going to drop pellets on you if he gets a crease. And I love seeing that upright long stride of his when he gets loose. The turnover is fun to watch.

Brevin: Best TE in college football. Great job by Lash making him a focus. When you have a guy like that, you have to force feed him.

Joe B.: The ball explodes off his foot. I actually felt confident when he went out there for a 57 yarder. I would have been surprised if he missed it. It's a cannonading blast off his **** foot. Love the tats and eye black and the swag. This kid is Miami personified.

Cam Williams: Love his speed and length off the edge. He's playing like people were telling me Harvey was going to play last year. Future big time star.

Phillips: Stud. Warrior. Nonstop motor. He's all over the field and is a total disruptor. He might not have a million sacks, but he is constantly disrupting which is way more important than an occasional sack and then disappearance for 30 plays.

B. Bold: I actually saw idiots ripping him in the gameday abortion thread. This dude was everywhere. He's got great speed to the ball, and when he gets there he makes the play. Asking him to cover PooPoo AssSmell is retardation or complete lack of trust in your CB depth.

Cons:

CB Depth: If we can't get a 4th corner ready or god forbid lose 1 to injury, we will continue to have problems covering people. You simply can't ask any S to try to cover little fast dudes like AssSmell.

Jennings: Love his willingness to trade paint, but he's not a UM MLB right now. I'm not sure Brooks is either because I hear about how good he is, but I just don't see him jumping off the screen at me. None of our LBs seem to be jumping out at me. As a UM fan, you know when you have a great LB. We've seen them.

Harley: He was terrible. Can't drop TD passes. That's like a turnover in my book. Then, what the fck was he doing on that onside kick? That was awful.

Manny sitting on the ball at the end of the 1st half: That was horrible. You have all the momentum, 2 TOs, 1:40, and the ball in plus territory. And you take the air out of the ball. That was reminiscent of Booch's weak **** from the 90s.

Refs: They let UL hold and cheap shot all night. Pathetic.

Sissy UM fans: Fck you and buck up. LOL at you fools eating Splatterfield's *** all week, and then Manny owned him again for a 3rd time. And you're still making excuses for him.
B046ECCB-AE46-4AC2-99A7-C29BDB2EC1F0.gif
 
LSU's nasty defense still allowed the following teams to score a ton of points last year:

Texas scored 38
Vanderbilt scored 38
Florida scored 28
Alabama scored 41
Ole Miss scored 37
Oklahoma scored 28

So I think the point made by the Living Legend stands - the days of only allowing 9 points a game are over and are not coming back, mainly due to (1) rules changes that are heavily slanted in favor of the offense and (2) spread offenses.
LSU had arguably the greatest Offense of all time. No one is asking to hold every opponent to 9 points but when Clemson is holding Louisville to 10 points (in 2019) and 259 yards, how can anyone tell me that’s impossible? I use Clemson as an example because they are in the ACC and arguably the best dynasty in the game, today.
 
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A beauty of the Living Legend is he can usually keep the bias toward certain players to a minimum. Some of our best football contributors from an Xs and Os perspective can’t really do that as it inevitably seeps into their posts.

Nicely done.
 
I'm so excited about the kicking game and Harrison-hunte. Buddy looked like a legit dude. Him and Leonard Taylor are gonna be fun.

I also agree they are telling King to limit his runs on read options. Open everything vs clempsum but until then we don't need a injury to our best shot at winning this year.

I know we didn't dominate the same but this feels almost like a note dame win. To me atleast.
 
I thought the D was solid given the opponent’s weapons. Nobody’s mentioning that because we scored on back to back 75 yard plays the D was on the field for 38 mins and 85 snaps vs only 66 for us. This is why yards per play needs to be considered. We were in control throughout. I prefer 47-34 than 26-13
 
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