Fireside Chat with your Dear Legend

[The Franchise]

Watching this 2020 UM team has me caught between "we're better than last year" and "we were so horrible last year that we can be better and still not be all that good." I watch about 10 full college games every weekend, and we are pretty average right now. We're ranked 11th, but if we played a weak SEC team like USC, I could see the game going either way.

Yesterday, we played a Pitt team without its best player and the heartbeat of its team, and it was another typical desultory ACC slap fight. Without Pickett, Pitt is total trash. Yet, they hung around the whole game, and their pop gun backup QB was making plays that he probably won't make against most of the other teams they play.

I make it a point to watch every ACC game, and, with the obvious exception of the super power Clemson and horrible Syracuse, all the rest of the teams are pretty interchangeable. GT lost by 300 to Clemson, who was clearly getting revenge for the 220 GT hung on Cumberland College, but that GT team could very easily beat us or any of the rest of the ACC.

Pros:

Our DTs got some push. Jade continues to be disruptive, and JHH is a future star.

Harvey stood out to me. He was active.

The freshman DB, Dunson, might have made the play of the game on the fake punt. He played that thing perfectly and snuffed out a potential game-changing moment.

Mallory stepped up. Still think he should be on the field a lot more and be a focus of the passing offense along with Jordan, Key Smith, and the RBs.

Don Jr. looked tough and fast before he got hurt. He's had shoulder issues, so I'm hoping he's not out for an extended time.

Restrepo at least looks confident and competent catching punts unlike Pope.

Cons:

Pretty much everything else. LOL.

King is either in a slump, or he's pretty much what I thought he was as a streaky passer. I thought he'd be a more dynamic runner though. Most of his best runs are off scrambles where he makes a couple great spin moves in the open field, but he's been completely ineffective in the read-option game. Seems slow in his get off and doesn't make great decisions in the read game.

John Campbell got disemboweled. By the end of the game, Patrick Jones was rendered less effective slogging through Campbell's entrails.

Wiggins and Pope continue to be weak. They're rapidly morphing into Khalil Jones and D'Mauri Jones without the artistic skills.

Our offense is slumping. We're all out of whack now that we're playing some competent defenses. We look disjointed and are very easy to defend. Teams are ganging up on the run game, which seems super basic, and forcing King and our WRs to beat them. And King and the WRs are failing pretty hard. Nice job by Lashlee sneaking Cam and Will out on those fake QB draws. Other than a couple big plays, we were pretty awful and couldn't sustain anything.

Defensively, we're just too easy to throw on. Guys are open all over the place. Old Yellen missed some wide open guys and they had some horrific drops when he did hit them. They bailed us out more than we stopped them.

Phillips has been nowhere near the pass rusher I thought he'd be. In fact, our overall pass rush is pretty weak.

 

[Dwinstitles]

Thank u chose u keep it 100 but u still won't open the eyes of these fanatics on here. The same people who slurp every different HC in here will start posting on defense mode. Then years later they will do the same with a new staff instead of seeing things for what they are.

 

[Baba Yaga]

From your lips to God's ears.

Get ready for the CiS white knight brigade to be all up in your **** for even suggesting King is human and Lashlee doesn't **** 50 burgers.

 

[bdcane4eva1]

thought the exact same thing watching this game - but you can't even think about voicing that in here or the CIS experts will drop the "we're still young, Pitt was one of the best teams we'll see all year, you can't expect to score on them, we don't have the horses" unending spin job game after game.
But I get it - most of these guys will play the "you're just a mope" card to disguise the fact that they know little about football or don't watch the actual games and rely on their 40k post counts to buy them some kind of credibility....sick of it tbh.

 

[Dwinstitles]

Facts facts facts thank u bro hopefully people can see through the bs. Our dbs are bad besides Bolden our linebackers suck jade and Hunt are the only two I like. Wideouts suck....mallory should see more time and king is a smarter and faster Rosier. And your right we would lose to a lower sec school....good u say it cause the minute anyone else does they are a "sec slurped"

The truth is the truth and I'm glad u fuqin said it's bravo sir....I also like me and u can disagree at times as men and not hold it against each other and talk later on like it's G. U the man bruh

 

[Dwinstitles]

thought the exact same thing watching this game - but you can't even think about voicing that in here or the CIS experts will drop the "we're still young, Pitt was one of the best teams we'll see all year, you can't expect to score on them, we don't have the horses" unending spin job game after game.
But I get it - most of these guys will play the "you're just a mope" card to disguise the fact that they know little about football or don't watch the actual games and rely on their 40k post counts to buy them some kind of credibility....sick of it tbh.

I think most people don't watch elite teams play. Real fans knew after watching 10 plays we were getting blown out by Clemson.

 

[20EReedboii]

Watching this 2020 UM team has me caught between "we're better than last year" and "we were so horrible last year that we can be better and still not be all that good." I watch about 10 full college games every weekend, and we are pretty average right now. We're ranked 11th, but if we played a weak SEC team like USC, I could see the game going either way.

Yesterday, we played a Pitt team without its best player and the heartbeat of its team, and it was another typical desultory ACC slap fight. Without Pickett, Pitt is total trash. Yet, they hung around the whole game, and their pop gun backup QB was making plays that he probably won't make against most of the other teams they play.

I make it a point to watch every ACC game, and, with the obvious exception of the super power Clemson and horrible Syracuse, all the rest of the teams are pretty interchangeable. GT lost by 300 to Clemson, who was clearly getting revenge for the 220 GT hung on Cumberland College, but that GT team could very easily beat us or any of the rest of the ACC.

Pros:

Our DTs got some push. Jade continues to be disruptive, and JHH is a future star.

Harvey stood out to me. He was active.

The freshman DB, Dunson, might have made the play of the game on the fake punt. He played that thing perfectly and snuffed out a potential game-changing moment.

Mallory stepped up. Still think he should be on the field a lot more and be a focus of the passing offense along with Jordan, Key Smith, and the RBs.

Don Jr. looked tough and fast before he got hurt. He's had shoulder issues, so I'm hoping he's not out for an extended time.

Restrepo at least looks confident and competent catching punts unlike Pope.

Cons:

Pretty much everything else. LOL.

King is either in a slump, or he's pretty much what I thought he was as a streaky passer. I thought he'd be a more dynamic runner though. Most of his best runs are off scrambles where he makes a couple great spin moves in the open field, but he's been completely ineffective in the read-option game. Seems slow in his get off and doesn't make great decisions in the read game.

John Campbell got disemboweled. By the end of the game, Patrick Jones was rendered less effective slogging through Campbell's entrails.

Wiggins and Pope continue to be weak. They're rapidly morphing into Khalil Jones and D'Mauri Jones without the artistic skills.

Our offense is slumping. We're all out of whack now that we're playing some competent defenses. We look disjointed and are very easy to defend. Teams are ganging up on the run game, which seems super basic, and forcing King and our WRs to beat them. And King and the WRs are failing pretty hard. Nice job by Lashlee sneaking Cam and Will out on those fake QB draws. Other than a couple big plays, we were pretty awful and couldn't sustain anything.

Defensively, we're just too easy to throw on. Guys are open all over the place. Old Yellen missed some wide open guys and they had some horrific drops when he did hit them. They bailed us out more than we stopped them.

Phillips has been nowhere near the pass rusher I thought he'd be. In fact, our overall pass rush is pretty weak.

Well said, I think your point about King in the read option is low-key one of the bigger hindrances of the offense. Obviously, the lil boys at Wide Receiver are really holding us back and allowing defenses to stuff the box, but King misses a couple of read option chances every game. If he can just bust one or two outside it could start to open up some space.

I don't think our pass rush is weak, however. I thought that Yellen and the other loser they trotted out at QB were pressured more often than not and even missed throws because of happy feet when we failed to get pressure. It also feels like Nesta Silvera gets held every play and can't get a call. But it's definitely not elite right now, and I agree with your point on #15 (there's a little bit of "looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane" in him)

 

[miamifan007]

Watching this 2020 UM team has me caught between "we're better than last year" and "we were so horrible last year that we can be better and still not be all that good." I watch about 10 full college games every weekend, and we are pretty average right now. We're ranked 11th, but if we played a weak SEC team like USC, I could see the game going either way.

Yesterday, we played a Pitt team without its best player and the heartbeat of its team, and it was another typical desultory ACC slap fight. Without Pickett, Pitt is total trash. Yet, they hung around the whole game, and their pop gun backup QB was making plays that he probably won't make against most of the other teams they play.

I make it a point to watch every ACC game, and, with the obvious exception of the super power Clemson and horrible Syracuse, all the rest of the teams are pretty interchangeable. GT lost by 300 to Clemson, who was clearly getting revenge for the 220 GT hung on Cumberland College, but that GT team could very easily beat us or any of the rest of the ACC.

Pros:

Our DTs got some push. Jade continues to be disruptive, and JHH is a future star.

Harvey stood out to me. He was active.

The freshman DB, Dunson, might have made the play of the game on the fake punt. He played that thing perfectly and snuffed out a potential game-changing moment.

Mallory stepped up. Still think he should be on the field a lot more and be a focus of the passing offense along with Jordan, Key Smith, and the RBs.

Don Jr. looked tough and fast before he got hurt. He's had shoulder issues, so I'm hoping he's not out for an extended time.

Restrepo at least looks confident and competent catching punts unlike Pope.

Cons:

Pretty much everything else. LOL.

King is either in a slump, or he's pretty much what I thought he was as a streaky passer. I thought he'd be a more dynamic runner though. Most of his best runs are off scrambles where he makes a couple great spin moves in the open field, but he's been completely ineffective in the read-option game. Seems slow in his get off and doesn't make great decisions in the read game.

John Campbell got disemboweled. By the end of the game, Patrick Jones was rendered less effective slogging through Campbell's entrails.

Wiggins and Pope continue to be weak. They're rapidly morphing into Khalil Jones and D'Mauri Jones without the artistic skills.

Our offense is slumping. We're all out of whack now that we're playing some competent defenses. We look disjointed and are very easy to defend. Teams are ganging up on the run game, which seems super basic, and forcing King and our WRs to beat them. And King and the WRs are failing pretty hard. Nice job by Lashlee sneaking Cam and Will out on those fake QB draws. Other than a couple big plays, we were pretty awful and couldn't sustain anything.

Defensively, we're just too easy to throw on. Guys are open all over the place. Old Yellen missed some wide open guys and they had some horrific drops when he did hit them. They bailed us out more than we stopped them.

Phillips has been nowhere near the pass rusher I thought he'd be. In fact, our overall pass rush is pretty weak.

**** forgot about the Jones’s.

 

[Zbrod95]

Disagree with you defensively on this one my brotha. While offensively we were dog **** we got after that Pitt line. We sacked them 3 times and got TFLs. Jaelen was credited with a sack as well. Jaelen is a 2 way guy and is usually the first guy there. It’s just hard to notice because Roche and JHH aren’t too far behind and clean it up or the ball is out for an incomplete pass. Nesta is becoming more disruptive and I felt our LB play improved tremendously as well which PS is still not much but that’s because Flagg/Brooks are young. Our CB room is our cb room, Al blades or nothing. Can’t change that this year but I loved the reps that Te’Cory got and thought he was better than Ivey. It doesn’t feel that way because the offense stunk so much that at one point in the 4th they practically doubled our possession time.

I don’t know how you feel offensively but Nelson mauled Jones/Weaver. The only time they were in action when they were his assignment was either the pocket collapsed because of Campbell or the play imploded. They literally moved Jones to the other side and started moving around Weaver to get pressure. He needs to be the LT and we should be starting Keyshawn Smith and Mike Redding. Smith and Redding are always open. I don’t care if they are freshmen Redding and Smith need to start on the outside.

 

[The Franchise]

Thank u chose u keep it 100 but u still won't open the eyes of these fanatics on here. The same people who slurp every different HC in here will start posting on defense mode. Then years later they will do the same with a new staff instead of seeing things for what they are.

We lucked out that Pickett didn't play. It's really that simple. Old Yellen wasn't anywhere near the QB Pickett is and posed no threat to run it like Pickett. Pickett would have extended drives with his feet several times, and he would have been far superior to Old Yellen in the throw game.

This was a nip and tuck game with Pitt not having their best offensive player and leader and a guy who was leading the country in passing yards. This would have been like us having to play TVD against them.

We need to be honest with ourselves, and just admit we lucked the fck out that Pickett got hurt. I saw him get hurt against BC, and I was thinking what a lucky break it was for us because I've watched him play every game this year, and he's been really fcking good. Probably was the 2nd best QB in the ACC when he got hurt.

 

[The Franchise]

thought the exact same thing watching this game - but you can't even think about voicing that in here or the CIS experts will drop the "we're still young, Pitt was one of the best teams we'll see all year, you can't expect to score on them, we don't have the horses" unending spin job game after game.
But I get it - most of these guys will play the "you're just a mope" card to disguise the fact that they know little about football or don't watch the actual games and rely on their 40k post counts to buy them some kind of credibility....sick of it tbh.

BC, with almost no material and having to play Pitt with Pickett, was much more consistent offensively against them.

 

[The Franchise]

Facts facts facts thank u bro hopefully people can see through the bs. Our dbs are bad besides Bolden our linebackers suck jade and Hunt are the only two I like. Wideouts suck....mallory should see more time and king is a smarter and faster Rosier. And your right we would lose to a lower sec school....good u say it cause the minute anyone else does they are a "sec slurped"

The truth is the truth and I'm glad u fuqin said it's bravo sir....I also like me and u can disagree at times as men and not hold it against each other and talk later on like it's G. U the man bruh

Not just SEC, but this team will be in dog fights the entire remainder of the season against mediocre ACC teams. This is what we are. We are just another average ACC team. Like I said, aside from Clemson and Syracuse, the rest of the ACC is pretty much even. Do any of you guys truly feel confident playing teams like UVA and NC State and Vag Tech and Wake? Any of those teams could beat us just like we could beat them.

We're just OK, and I'm still not sure Manny is the guy to take us to the next level. Our D is shoddy, and our O is improved but still very sporadic with tons of holes. I hope we can smoke and mirror our way to a one loss regular season and clean up in recruiting because that's what we need. Like I said before the season, what this program needs is to incrementally improve. Start winning 10 games every year for a few years. Start recruiting at a higher level. And then start thinking about being a top 10 team.

 

[CashMoneyCane]

I think most people don't watch elite teams play. Real fans knew after watching 10 plays we were getting blown out by Clemson.

How would you need to be a "real fan" to know this. All you needed to do was watch last year's team. Unless McGahee was coming back pre-knee-backwardation with Peyton Manning at f$#@ing QB throwing to Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison, we sure as **** weren't gonna hang with Clemson.

 

[The Franchise]

Well said, I think your point about King in the read option is low-key one of the bigger hindrances of the offense. Obviously, the lil boys at Wide Receiver are really holding us back and allowing defenses to stuff the box, but King misses a couple of read option chances every game. If he can just bust one or two outside it could start to open up some space.

I don't think our pass rush is weak, however. I thought that Yellen and the other loser they trotted out at QB were pressured more often than not and even missed throws because of happy feet when we failed to get pressure. It also feels like Nesta Silvera gets held every play and can't get a call. But it's definitely not elite right now, and I agree with your point on #15 (there's a little bit of "looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane" in him)

I feel like Phillips lost a little of his suddenness with all that weight gain. He was much faster as a freshmans at UCLA.

 

[Da Jumbo Mutombo]

What did Pope do THIS game to deserve the "weak" criticism?

I thought he was finally used properly (screens and a sweep) and had maybe his best game as a Cane. Don't remember him doing anything poor THIS game.

 

[The Franchise]

What did Pope do THIS game to deserve the "weak" criticism?

I thought he was finally used properly (screens and a sweep) and had maybe his best game as a Cane. Don't remember him doing anything poor THIS game.

What he did was pretty much nothing. He caught 4 short passes and gained a few yards after. That's the kind of **** anyone should be able to do. There's nothing explosive about his game.

 

[Zbrod95]

What he did was pretty much nothing. He caught 4 short passes and gained a few yards after. That's the kind of **** anyone should be able to do. There's nothing explosive about his game.

In reality, he should be the slot. Smith and Redding need to start on the outside with Pope in the slot.

 

[CashMoneyCane]

Like I said before the season, what this program needs is to incrementally improve.

Incremental improvement almost never occurs in a straight line. Last year's team loses this Pitt game. We took a "step back" playing against the best two DL's we'll see all season. The offensive scheme had been able to mask the OL's ineptitude until Clemson. But we won the game we needed to win by two scores.

Our weaknesses being exposed does not equal the sky is falling. What matters is seeing improvement from players or seeing personnel changes. We were all clamoring for the youth to get more starts at LB and WR, and we're starting to see that. It's early in the season and the Diaz era, we're a drastically-improved overall team vs. last year and have a good recruiting class lined up.

Maybe let's look at the trajectory as a whole and be happy we just won?

 

[OldhamA]

Not just SEC, but this team will be in dog fights the entire remainder of the season against mediocre ACC teams. This is what we are. We are just another average ACC team. Like I said, aside from Clemson and Syracuse, the rest of the ACC is pretty much even. Do any of you guys truly feel confident playing teams like UVA and NC State and Vag Tech and Wake? Any of those teams could beat us just like we could beat them.

We're just OK, and I'm still not sure Manny is the guy to take us to the next level. Our D is shoddy, and our O is improved but still very sporadic with tons of holes. I hope we can smoke and mirror our way to a one loss regular season and clean up in recruiting because that's what we need. Like I said before the season, what this program needs is to incrementally improve. Start winning 10 games every year for a few years. Start recruiting at a higher level. And then start thinking about being a top 10 team.

I think we're at the point as a team that if we come in prepared, we SHOULD beat everyone else left on our schedule. A few bounces either way and yes, we could lose some of those games.

The thing I'm watching for is Diaz keeping this team focused for the rest of the season. Clemson was the litmus test and showed us where we truly are as a programme - a long way from the elite.

I don't think it's smoke and mirrors either - few teams have the players to take away our RB trio, Mallory and Brevin (plus the legs of King when he decides to scramble). A #1 WR that can consistently beat his man is what's holding us back on offence more than anything. Lashlee is just having to get creative to work around that.

 

[Trav]

Watching this 2020 UM team has me caught between "we're better than last year" and "we were so horrible last year that we can be better and still not be all that good." I watch about 10 full college games every weekend, and we are pretty average right now. We're ranked 11th, but if we played a weak SEC team like USC, I could see the game going either way.

Yesterday, we played a Pitt team without its best player and the heartbeat of its team, and it was another typical desultory ACC slap fight. Without Pickett, Pitt is total trash. Yet, they hung around the whole game, and their pop gun backup QB was making plays that he probably won't make against most of the other teams they play.

I make it a point to watch every ACC game, and, with the obvious exception of the super power Clemson and horrible Syracuse, all the rest of the teams are pretty interchangeable. GT lost by 300 to Clemson, who was clearly getting revenge for the 220 GT hung on Cumberland College, but that GT team could very easily beat us or any of the rest of the ACC.

Pros:

Our DTs got some push. Jade continues to be disruptive, and JHH is a future star.

Harvey stood out to me. He was active.

The freshman DB, Dunson, might have made the play of the game on the fake punt. He played that thing perfectly and snuffed out a potential game-changing moment.

Mallory stepped up. Still think he should be on the field a lot more and be a focus of the passing offense along with Jordan, Key Smith, and the RBs.

Don Jr. looked tough and fast before he got hurt. He's had shoulder issues, so I'm hoping he's not out for an extended time.

Restrepo at least looks confident and competent catching punts unlike Pope.

Cons:

Pretty much everything else. LOL.

King is either in a slump, or he's pretty much what I thought he was as a streaky passer. I thought he'd be a more dynamic runner though. Most of his best runs are off scrambles where he makes a couple great spin moves in the open field, but he's been completely ineffective in the read-option game. Seems slow in his get off and doesn't make great decisions in the read game.

John Campbell got disemboweled. By the end of the game, Patrick Jones was rendered less effective slogging through Campbell's entrails.

Wiggins and Pope continue to be weak. They're rapidly morphing into Khalil Jones and D'Mauri Jones without the artistic skills.

Our offense is slumping. We're all out of whack now that we're playing some competent defenses. We look disjointed and are very easy to defend. Teams are ganging up on the run game, which seems super basic, and forcing King and our WRs to beat them. And King and the WRs are failing pretty hard. Nice job by Lashlee sneaking Cam and Will out on those fake QB draws. Other than a couple big plays, we were pretty awful and couldn't sustain anything.

Defensively, we're just too easy to throw on. Guys are open all over the place. Old Yellen missed some wide open guys and they had some horrific drops when he did hit them. They bailed us out more than we stopped them.

Phillips has been nowhere near the pass rusher I thought he'd be. In fact, our overall pass rush is pretty weak.

GT could not "very easily beat us." About 50 things would have to go spontaneously wrong and we'd probably need last year's kickers.