Fireside Chat with your Dear Legend

[Dude]

Great post. All of this stuff is why I was so angry that we hired Manny. I didnt think Miami fans deserve to go through growing pains.... but now that we are here, this is what we signed up for with every ugly win towards 10 helping us in recruiting and getting our coaches their much needed ojt. Just like Clemson, this is gonna take a lot of time to get to the top, so I feel like we need to enjoy the wins so that we can really enjoy the recruiting wins down the road. Maybe in 5 or 6 years Miami can be an actual power.

Assuming Manny is our Dabo, then we are like 2009 Clemson (9-5), except already recruiting much better.

 

[CashMoneyCane]

Great post. All of this stuff is why I was so angry that we hired Manny. I didnt think Miami fans deserve to go through growing pains.... but now that we are here, this is what we signed up for with every ugly win towards 10 helping us in recruiting and getting our coaches their much needed ojt. Just like Clemson, this is gonna take a lot of time to get to the top, so I feel like we need to enjoy the wins so that we can really enjoy the recruiting wins down the road. Maybe in 5 or 6 years Miami can be an actual power.

If you think there was any coach on earth that could come in and turn what Mark Richt left into a solid program, you're completely delusional.

Saban, Dabo or Meyer would have gotten 8 wins AT BEST with last year's roster. Our special teams were a complete disaster. We had arguably the worst QB room in America. The OL gave up... what.... the MOST sacks in CFB? Weren't we dead last in third down conversions? The offense was completely full of quitters. How many guys have transferred since? What are they up to now? The only thing that was actually working when Diaz took over was the defense.

Diaz has addressed glaring issues by and large well, as a whole, especially for a first-time HC without big-school resources. He understands we need to build a culture of work, accountability and a winning mentality. Call it coach-speak but it's what we **** well needed. I'm not, by any means, saying Diaz is the answer. I'm equally adamant in not saying he's not, yet.

We're 4-1 with a loss to the #1 team in the country and every other win by at least two scores and all we have is Chicken Littles squawking about.

 

[Sigma_Cane_7]

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

All Popes passes should be within 5 yards. He can get to the edge or make someone miss at times. Anything else we are setting ourselves up.

 

[FrancisSawyer]

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.

Nicely summed up as usual.

This obsession with the read option is literally chocking the life out of our running game. We are much more effective when we employ straight hand offs. This OL is miles better just firing off the ball and opening a hole. That and I'm at a loss as to why we refuse to employ any variety in our running game. At first the single minded fixation on that inside zone play was puzzling. Now it's facking goofy and obnoxious. King is a good kid and he plays hard but he has no feel for the read option stuff.

King's limitations have come much more clearly into focus now that we have played the 2 best defenses on our schedule. His deep ball is terrible, his arm strengh is questionable plus he tends to lock on to his primary. As you noted he's a streaky passer and he is much more effective in a clean pocket as most QBs are but with King it's a must.

The thing is that these 2 games have also made our offensive weaknesses much more apparent. The OL while improved is still not where it needs to be as a whole. IMO Zion needs to start at LT. He is our best and most consistent pass blocker thus far. Campbell got destroyed Saturday. He has some potential but the kid still needs work.

Our WR group in terms of the upperclassmen starters maybe the worst group I've seen at Miami ever. They are soft, weak and can't be counted on to win 1 on 1 opportunities. At this point Keyshawn Smith and Michael Redding need to be given every opportunity.

Despite his 2 TD performance, Will Mallory has been criminally underused in this offense. You would think we would make a point of feeding this kid but he goes far too long without being involved. The same goes for Jordan when he's healthy to a lesser extent. I would also like to see a more concerted effort to use our RBs in the passing game. We have seen this at times but I would like to see more of 2 RBs on the field at the same time in whatever combination. We also need to find times to give TVD some invaluable PT in a real game. He is the future not Perry.

Defensively I'm no fan of Baker. Having said that I though he called a fairly good game vs Pitt. Seeing Brooks and Flagg On the field together was great to see. The McCloud and Jennings duo needs to be retired. Each can contribute in small roles but as 3 down starters they are nothing more than a liability. Huff and Austin-Cave should be given more PT. Our worst position group won't get any better with the young studs rotting on the bench.

Our run defense was drastically improved Saturday as Baker made a few schematic adjustments. Pitt sucks running the ball but still noteworthy. The problem with the Diaz/Baker philosophy is the maddening tendency to play too timid and conservative on the back end. Consequently you have cardboard cutouts like Old Yeller and scrubs like him putting on pitch and catch clinics in front of our secondary. I can understand respecting an explosive opponent who threatens you with speed. I can't understand giving that type of respect to the Pitt offense. We've seen this too many times before. The fact is that vs teams with passing attacks like Pitt, our defense should concede nothing. Our defense should be having 3 and out parties.

I see what you mean about Phillips as I thought he would be a more explosive pass rusher. I still think he's a great player however and while he doesn't necessarily get the sacks, he has been quite disruptive in stretches. Quincy Roche continues to get better and better as do Silvera and JHH who is our most explosive DT hands down. Harvey is going to develop into an exceptional DE. He is hard not to notice. Is Cam Williams hurt? I didn't notice him on Saturday.

It was a pleasure watching TeCoury Couch starting to come into his own. He had a couple of plays where he exhibited textbook coverage. Absolutely textbook! Couch will be an excellent Nickel CB. Ivey gets a lot of heat here but the kid has most certainly held his own the last few weeks. The great news in that Blades, Ivey and Couch are becoming a very good CB trio. The bad news is that this trio consists of 3 fourths of the entire CB room. Totally unacceptable.

In other good news, Louis Hedley continues to do his brilliant Ray Guy/Reggie Roby act and Borregalles continues to be an unflappable stone cold sniper. These 2 are IMO the best Kicker/Punter duo at UM of all time. Special teams in general are literally night and day compared with 2 years ago. We actually block FGs now and our coverage units have been excellent. All we are missing is an electrifying KR/PR. I will say that I am much more comfortable watching X field a punt than I was with Pope. The STRIKER position led by Gil Frierson is starting to blossom. Patke takes a ton of **** here from many, myself included but I have to give the guy his credit. Maybe it's time to reevaluate the guy.

All the above being said, the issue that I find truly disturbing is this squads proclivity to commit stupid bone headed penalties at the most inopportune moments and to frequent mental lapses. As noted earlier, these are telltale signs of an unfocused and undisciplined team which goes right back to the head coach. Can Diaz correct this? Is there precedent of a coach accomplishing this? I'm not sure but if these issues cannot be resolved it places a hard cap on what Diaz will be able to accomplish here no matter how good his recruiting classes are.

You are correct that when faced with stiffer competition this squad is quite ordinary. This team has the potential to finish the regular season 10-1. It also has the potential to finish 7-4. This is a reflection of the feast or famine nature of this offense. When better defenses take away our ability to create explosive plays we have nothing. This offense lacks the ability to put together a long scoring march. We are far too disjionted and sorely lack any type of consistency. Having said that I think we have a very good nucleus of foundational talent and a potentially bright future. The game plan/expectation for this season should be to win the games that we should win and to finish the regular season with a record no worse than 9-2. This in turn will allow us to solidify our hold on our current 2021 commitments and build on it then repeat the cycle with 2022 class. This along with tweeking and upgrading the coaching staff should be the 2-3 year short term goal of this program. Assuming that we are able to accomplish this, we would be in great position to flat out own the Coastal and make us a staple in the ACCCG allowing us to battle Clemson for conference supremacy.

 

[Astcloud11]

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.

I think you're giving Pickett way too much credit for what hes done this year in comparison to what he did against us the last 2 times against us
In 2018 he had 63% completion rate for 130 yards passing. -34 rushing yards. 3 points
In 2019 he had 56% completion rate for 146 yards and 2 INTs. 22 yards rushing. 12 points.

In both of those years, he had really good game against most of the other teams he faced. Mark Whipple is still his OC.

 

[OldhamA]

Yea I was watching some houston stuff and king did look more explosive there than he does here. And he was hitting deep balls too there.

I'm not quite sure how THIS guy returned a KR for a TD. He isn't that explosive.

Maybe the added weight has slowed him down, or perhaps he's carrying an injury?

 

[OldhamA]

The only fly in the “Diaz got stuck with terrible players by Rick” is that Diaz was an autonomous DC and had everything to do with the defensive players he “got stuck with.” He’s done a good job evaluating and signing DL and a mediocre job pretty much everywhere else on D.

Agree to disagree - in my opinion the defence is much more talented than the offence.

The only place I'm disappointed in defensive recruiting is the number of CBs - if Williams would have stayed and we had a couple of good ones locked up in this recruiting class I wouldn't have much quibble there either. I think that's why Diaz wanted to fire Rumph - let's see if he gets his way this offseason.

I've just watched the extended highlights - the difference in the defence when Jennings / McCloud are on compared to Flagg / Brooks is night and day. It's interesting that Baker / Diaz are pairing them up that way - seems counter intuitive, you'd think you'd want to share the experience, but I suspect they're making the case for benching J&M entirely. Add Cave and Huff to that mix too and it's clear the young guys Diaz has recruited can play at LB.

 

[Handsome Squidbum]

The only fly in the “Diaz got stuck with terrible players by Rick” is that Diaz was an autonomous DC and had everything to do with the defensive players he “got stuck with.” He’s done a good job evaluating and signing DL and a mediocre job pretty much everywhere else on D.

I disagree with your assessment of the defense. I think you yourself said a few weeks ago that the game of football has changed and it's about scoring lots of points now. Clemson - LSU and recently Bama - Ol Miss, Bama - UGA being prime examples. All but Ol Miss have elite defenses yet they gave up a zillion points. The magic number last year was 31. If we'd scored just 31 points, we would have gone 12-1. The defense was not the problem. Is the D elite? No, but it was good enough to win 12 games if the offense had pulled its own weight.

In terms of recruiting, if you talked to me before the Clemson game, I'd have been highly critical of the talent at LB. But I saw a ton of promise in Brooks and Flagg the last two games. They should settle the biggest issues at the LB position this year (I am bullish on TAC and Huff as well). Granted, McCloud is a liability, at LB or striker.

Novels have been written about Rumphs bad recruiting. But credit where it's due. Couch erased Pitt's WRs. Blades is a gem. Dunson flashed as well. We definitely need to improve there, and I would not be surprised if Diaz makes a move to upgrade from Rumph unless he pulls some miracle and lands an elite CB. Frierson is doing well at striker, Hall has disappointed.

Safety is a mixed bag. Diaz brought in Bolden. He's going to play on Sundays. Carter is a knucklehead at safety, but I believe that if Avantae Williams was healthy, he'd be taking a lot of Carters minutes. I think Diaz also recognized that we've been weak recruiting at safety, and now we have an incoming 5 star, maybe the best safety prospect in the country. Williams and Williams have unreal potential.

All in all though, the defense has been good under Diaz's tenure. The talent infusion next year is going to be fun to see.

 

[OldhamA]

I disagree with your assessment of the defense. I think you yourself said a few weeks ago that the game of football has changed and it's about scoring lots of points now. Clemson - LSU and recently Bama - Ol Miss, Bama - UGA being prime examples. All but Ol Miss have elite defenses yet they gave up a zillion points. The magic number last year was 31. If we'd scored just 31 points, we would have gone 12-1. The defense was not the problem. Is the D elite? No, but it was good enough to win 12 games if the offense had pulled its own weight.

In terms of recruiting, if you talked to me before the Clemson game, I'd have been highly critical of the talent at LB. But I saw a ton of promise in Brooks and Flagg the last two games. They should settle the biggest issues at the LB position this year (I am bullish on TAC and Huff as well). Granted, McCloud is a liability, at LB or striker.

Novels have been written about Rumphs bad recruiting. But credit where it's due. Couch erased Pitt's WRs. Blades is a gem. Dunson flashed as well. We definitely need to improve there, and I would not be surprised if Diaz makes a move to upgrade from Rumph unless he pulls some miracle and lands an elite CB. Frierson is doing well at striker, Hall has disappointed.

Safety is a mixed bag. Diaz brought in Bolden. He's going to play on Sundays. Carter is a knucklehead at safety, but I believe that if Avantae Williams was healthy, he'd be taking a lot of Carters minutes. I think Diaz also recognized that we've been weak recruiting at safety, and now we have an incoming 5 star, maybe the best safety prospect in the country. Williams and Williams have unreal potential.

All in all though, the defense has been good under Diaz's tenure. The talent infusion next year is going to be fun to see.

Hall's a good player too. Doesn't flash the huge plays, but cleans everything up that he's meant to.

 

[Handsome Squidbum]

Hall's a good player too. Doesn't flash the huge plays, but cleans everything up that he's meant to.

Maybe it's one of those things where if you don't hear his name in a game , it just means he did his job. I really haven't noticed him much.

 

[Mandingo]

Good ****.

I think King is over-processing and since they're asking him to stay in the pocket and make the necessary reads, he's leaving a touch later than he normally would when he wants to scramble. We need to just let him play.

As it has been said, 83 and 88 need more reps. We're not running the triple option here. This means - we need a **** WR to become "that dude" in order for the offense to be anywhere close to what it should be. Can't just live off of TE and RB throws an entire game.

I'm wondering if 15 is attempting to overcome a physical wall. Played, got seriously injured, walked away from the game, lost a ton of weight, regained the weight plus more muscle, and is now the starting DE. I think we probably should split his reps a little more so he doesn't time out down the stretch. But, I'm just speculating...

We need to get Chaney more touches, IMO. He runs HARD. We need that toughness at RB. Cam doesn't run hard enough for my liking (sorry), and he doesn't have great vision. We miss a lot of runs out there between his poor vision and King's bad reads.

Agree - Lashlee has to make Mallory more of a focus in the passing game. I'm a little surprised they haven't done that already. It's a no brainer to me.

If Baker would cut out the ****** zone stuff, and stop having 5, 26, or 21 cover the team's slot player from 10 yards away, our pass defense would be 50% better. Our concepts are so fugged up sometimes. We literally had our Saftey covering the **** slot guy, and being the only person coming up to attack a dump to the RB. LBs are lost AF in pass coverage. We (oftentimes) have them doing nothing in coverage. Our zone is awful. Just get Couch on the field vs 3-wide sets and man the fugg up.

As it has been mentioned by others here - we give up WAY too many easy dump passes.

We have a long way to go. But, I'll take the win. We're not that far off from losing to FIU, UNC, VT, GT, Duke, and LT. So... I'll take the win and hopefully we can clean a lot of the crap up. Yesterday.

 

[SWFLHurricane]

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.

In full agreement @The Franchise.....
I happened to rewatch the game (2 straight weeks) and Chise, every week I'm scratching my head at this coaching staff....

 

[JOE'CANE]

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.

What did you think of the 2017 season?

 

[OldhamA]

Maybe it's one of those things where if you don't hear his name in a game , it just means he did his job. I really haven't noticed him much.

I make a point of looking out for him as I loved his HS kill shot tape.

He cleans things up 15 yards down the field in an unspectacular way.

 

[SWFLHurricane]

My Grandmother (Who passed in 1981) could get the edge against us....Jesus...EVERY week, it's either can't contain the edge...and/or...RBs having their way once pass the LOS....Brooks should be on the field as much as Humanely possible...

 

[OldhamA]

Good ****.

I think King is over-processing and since they're asking him to stay in the pocket and make the necessary reads, he's leaving a touch later than he normally would when he wants to scramble. We need to just let him play.

As it has been said, 83 and 88 need more reps. We're not running the triple option here. This means - we need a **** WR to become "that dude" in order for the offense to be anywhere close to what it should be. Can't just live off of TE and RB throws an entire game.

I'm wondering if 15 is attempting to overcome a physical wall. Played, got seriously injured, walked away from the game, lost a ton of weight, regained the weight plus more muscle, and is now the starting DE. I think we probably should split his reps a little more so he doesn't time out down the stretch. But, I'm just speculating...

We need to get Chaney more touches, IMO. He runs HARD. We need that toughness at RB. Cam doesn't run hard enough for my liking (sorry), and he doesn't have great vision. We miss a lot of runs out there between his poor vision and King's bad reads.

Agree - Lashlee has to make Mallory more of a focus in the passing game. I'm a little surprised they haven't done that already. It's a no brainer to me.

If Baker would cut out the ****** zone stuff, and stop having 5, 26, or 21 cover the team's slot player from 10 yards away, our pass defense would be 50% better. Our concepts are so fugged up sometimes. We literally had our Saftey covering the **** slot guy, and being the only person coming up to attack a dump to the RB. LBs are lost AF in pass coverage. We (oftentimes) have them doing nothing in coverage. Our zone is awful. Just get Couch on the field vs 3-wide sets and man the fugg up.

As it has been mentioned by others here - we give up WAY too many easy dump passes.

We have a long way to go. But, I'll take the win. We're not that far off from losing to FIU, UNC, VT, GT, Duke, and LT. So... I'll take the win and hopefully we can clean a lot of the crap up. Yesterday.

I've always thought that when you have a S covering the slot guy you're screaming "Hi, we're playing zone" to the QB.

I much prefer having 3 CBs on the field when they have 3 WRs on the field, but in the modern era I guess you'd never get out of Nickel in that scenario and they'd look to run on your smaller players - hence the Striker.

 

[Go Canes!!]

My Grandmother (Who passed in 1981) could get the edge against us....Jesus...EVERY week, it's either can't contain the edge...and/or...RBs having their way once pass the LOS....Brooks should be on the field as much as Humanely possible...

Pitt had 22 yards rushing the entire game. Where exactly did they "Have their way:

 

[Go Canes!!]

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.

Pickett hasn't done a thing to hurt us in two previous games.

He ran for 30 yards and passed for 146 with two INTs last year and was sacked 4 times. The year before he passed for a whopping 130 yards with no TDs and ran for negative 34 yards on 9 carries while being sacked six times.

So in your opinion we were lucky to dodge a guy who in two games has never thrown a TD pass against us, gets sacked 5 times a game, throws for about 135 and has a cumulative rushing total of zero yards?

 

[Dghustla]

Ahh yes the first to say “I told you so X weeks ago” when we lose crowd.

I get it: we suck, we’re lucky to win, if their starter played we’d have lost by 20, the DBs, the WRs, LBs, OLs, Rumph can’t recruit, manny sucks, Ed needs to ______,

Honestly it doesn’t matter. We knew what we had in this team When the season started these are not “revelations”

The good thing is we only have to be better than Virginia this week for 3 hours...that’s all.

Y’all should try this exercise: check your expectations for things you dont control and have no direct impact over.

Then sit down on Saturday and watch your favorite football team play a game. And enjoy those critical moments when the game hangs in the balance and you don’t know if you’ll win or lose.


(There was too much hyperbole to address in the OP, ain’t nobody got time for that.)

 

[hoover437]

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.

What do you think is the reason for us being an average ACC team. if one looks at the annual ranking of our recruits, the only team to consistently do better is clemson. I shake my head at the this. We don't look like the players are developing in mass on our team.