Fireside Chat with your Dear Legend

[The Franchise]

If the team that’s shown up for our four wins, shows up the rest of the way, we’ll have one more loss (to Clemson) and end up either 10-2, or 9-3 (with an unexpected loss). If we steadily improve, we definitely go 10-2 with no unexpected loss. Both losses to Clemson.

I would say that’s a significant improvement from last year. Let’s see how it goes. If we even regress some, then it’s up in the air, we could end up with three or four losses. But I don’t see it happening, at least not at this point.

I am seeing steady improvement which I did not see last year. If this continues, it bodes well. That’s what we need to look for, continued stepwise improvement. In 2018 or 2019, we would have easily lost the Pittsburgh game from this year. I promise you that.

Get me 10-2, and it's a solid incremental stepping stone season. Anything less than that, and it's a let down based on having a short-term rental in King and our best defensive players being transfers who will probably leave after this season given the way things have gone here with early departures.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

I would watch the game like I did and see a pretty bad QB carve us up and miss several open receivers and turn down several opportunities to take off and run for big yards and say, "The veteran QB, who is an excellent runner and much better passer with 30 games more experience would have played way better than that because he's a way better QB."

I don't know if I'd call Joey Yellen "a pretty bad QB". He was recruited to Arizona State by ROB LIKENS and had a couple of decent offers, including UGa. He transferred to Pitt after leaving Arizona State.

But I agree with you that Pickett would have presented the greater challenge, though we can only speculate on how he would have been with the injury. Quite frankly, we could debate how Miami would have done over the past 40 years if every opposing player had been healthy. We'd probably have dropped a couple more games to VaTech if Michael Vick had been healthier.

But I'm rooting for Pickett to get healthy in time to give Notre Dame some trouble.

 

[The Franchise]

Because the last 15 years have ZERO to do with this season.

Yet you're talking about last few years repeatedly in this thread.

 

[9oh4Cane]

King (and Lashlee) need to fix the read option. Seems like 50% of the time King doesn’t get it right. OL created an alley for Knighton near the goal line (he would’ve been untouched) and king kept it and was swarmed in the backfield. This should be King’s bread and butter..

 

[TheOriginalCane]

King (and Lashlee) need to fix the read option. Seems like 50% of the time King doesn’t get it right. OL created an alley for Knighton near the goal line (he would’ve been untouched) and king kept it and was swarmed in the backfield. This should be King’s bread and butter..

Yeah, I mentioned this earlier in the thread. Not sure how much blame falls on King, and how much on Lashlee. But where King seemed to make every decision perfectly in the first couple of games, the last couple of games have looked horrific when it comes to the decision to hand-off or keep it.

 

[The Franchise]

I don't know if I'd call Joey Yellen "a pretty bad QB". He was recruited to Arizona State by ROB LIKENS and had a couple of decent offers, including UGa. He transferred to Pitt after leaving Arizona State.

But I agree with you that Pickett would have presented the greater challenge, though we can only speculate on how he would have been with the injury. Quite frankly, we could debate how Miami would have done over the past 40 years if every opposing player had been healthy. We'd probably have dropped a couple more games to VaTech if Michael Vick had been healthier.

But I'm rooting for Pickett to get healthy in time to give Notre Dame some trouble.

I know Yellen's background. And Perry was was a 4 star QB who was pretty highly regarded too. So was Jarren Williams. Tate was a 5 star who went to Ohio Taint. You get the picture.

My point doesn't require all these mental gymnastics and should be very simple to grasp: At this point in their careers, Pickett is MUCH better than Yellen. Yellen performed pretty well against us; Pickett would have performed far better because he's much better than Yellen RIGHT NOW regardless of how badly our optimistic fans want to make Yellen out to be at or near Pickett's level to feel better about ourselves.

 

[OriginalCanesCanesCanes]

Get me 10-2, and it's a solid incremental stepping stone season. Anything less than that, and it's a let down based on having a short-term rental in King and our best defensive players being transfers who will probably leave after this season given the way things have gone here with early departures.

I would also be let down with 10-2, but I wouldn’t be shocked at 9-3, just because of the kind of weird year it is, like for example some game where by necessity we have some weird grouping of personnel due to the vid.

What I am looking for, is incremental improvement, and for this team not to regress. Because what we’ve had the last few years is regression towards the end of the year - it’s my biggest fear.

What my eyes are telling me now, is that it is more likely than not that this team continues to improve incrementally. I hope I’m not wrong. Because I’m telling you, and I don’t have a problem comparing to the past few years if it suits my purpose, the 2018 and the 2019 teams lose this game to Pitt. With or without Pickett.

That’s a low bar, but at least it shows me the mentality is better. And make no mistake I was at the game, we felt flat. But not so flat as we’ve been in the past. We overcame the flatness and quite a few errors.

 

[Matthew_Suero]

If you're going to play the "what would have happened last year" game, then you also have to be cognizant of the fact Pitt's leader and best offensive player and top 2 QB in the ACC didn't play. Otherwise, you're being disingenuous just to cheerlead. It was, in fact, a letdown game; we just benefited tremendously from Pitt not having its engine.

I think it is disingenuous to say the game would have been very different if Pickett had played. The defensive staff has had his number the past few seasons. This game is identical to last year's game from a defensive standpoint if you take out the drive that they started at the one-yard line. In both games, Pitt got just four field goals. Admittedly I haven't watched a ton of Pitt this year but from what I've seen and the numbers I'm not gonna say Pickett is the second-best QB in the ACC. He's been average. He had a good statistical game against NC State, I say statistical just because I didn't watch, but they are a bellow average passing defense. Every other ACC team held him under 270 yards passing. Where I'll give you the benefit of the doubt is by saying his legs could have helped them in the red zone turning field goals into touchdowns but I'm not ready to say he turns this into a Miami loss because once again, this staff has had his number the past two years. That means something to me at least.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

I know Yellen's background. And Perry was was a 4 star QB who was pretty highly regarded too. So was Jarren Williams. Tate was a 5 star who went to Ohio Taint. You get the picture.

My point doesn't require all these mental gymnastics and should be very simple to grasp: At this point in their careers, Pickett is MUCH better than Yellen. Yellen performed pretty well against us; Pickett would have performed far better because he's much better than Yellen RIGHT NOW regardless of how badly our optimistic fans want to make Yellen out to be at or near Pickett's level to feel better about ourselves.

Yeah, to most of our fans, Yellen was a big unknown before Saturday at 11:59 am. I'm not saying that HS ratings last forever, I'm just saying I didn't think he was terrible, he's a kid with talent, new to the Pitt offense, and I'm sure they'd love to have started Pickett instead.

I'm not trying to opine one way or the other. Pickett is good. But we also beat Pitt the last 2 years. I'm not going to sit here and say that Miami would have lost the game if Pickett had only been healthy.

 

[RightSaidFred]

King had an off day. It happens to every QB.

We came out flat and still beat them 31-19. It was clear to me that we had far more talent than they did, and there was a point in the game where I thought we might start pouring it on. We never did hit our stride, but the outcome of the game was never really in doubt.

And saying we "lucked out" because Pitt's receivers dropped some balls doesn't hold water. Dropping balls is what makes a team like Pitt.... well, that's what makes them Pitt.

If they caught every pass and executed every opportunity, they would be Clemson. So would we, for that matter. Football is a game of execution. The teams that execute with the football are the teams that make the playoffs.

We beat a team we should beat. Pitt wasn't any better or worse than they always are. That's really all there is.

 

[Macca21]

Mallory should be in slot more than Harley/Pope once Jordan is back and healthy.

Interesting take. I would be intrigued to see that matchup. Not a football guy but maybe watch some JMcD film on how he used the murderer and Goof ball in NE....

 

[Macca21]

To put a bit of a positive spin or maybe a bit different perspective on things. How many balls did our guys drop, how many plays did we miss that we should not have and what would could the score been if that did not happen. The Ville we score 60 with two plays we should have made. Score looks different.

maybe changes happen, kids get better and we bang around a few teams and confidence builds. Here is to hoping this happens. I still question the nice guy on the sidelines. He has to be feared, let the players like an assistant.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

King had an off day. It happens to every QB.

We came out flat and still beat them 31-19. It was clear to me that we had far more talent than they did, and there was a point in the game where I thought we might start pouring it on. We never did hit our stride, but the outcome of the game was never really in doubt.

And saying we "lucked out" because Pitt's receivers dropped some balls doesn't hold water. Dropping balls is what makes a team like Pitt.... well, that's what makes them Pitt.

If they caught every pass and executed every opportunity, they would be Clemson. So would we, for that matter. Football is a game of execution. The teams that execute with the football are the teams that make the playoffs.

We beat a team we should beat. Pitt wasn't any better or worse than they always are. That's really all there is.

We can say a lot of things.

But several of those Pitt drops were horrific. And should have been easy catches for decent yardage.

Having said that, we played the run very well. But we have to get better on pass defense. Losing guys to targeting penalties nearly every week is not helping matters. And we need to stop roughing the passer.

 

[Macca21]

We can say a lot of things.

But several of those Pitt drops were horrific. And should have been easy catches for decent yardage.

Having said that, we played the run very well. But we have to get better on pass defense. Losing guys to targeting penalties nearly every week is not helping matters. And we need to stop roughing the passer.

The penalties. Good lord. Put your foot down man. You are the head coach my man.

 

[NJshoreCane]

Im sure it was mentioned at some point in this thread, but the LB play is just putrid at this point. We might as well let Brooks, Flagg, and whoever else start getting some experience in hopes they can put it together.

A couple times on replays they show the snap and McCloud and Jennings dont even move when the ball is snapped. They stand there like statues and wait 1-2 seconds before making a decision. I get when they are in zone and covering an area the guy might not come right to them but they should know their keys and reads pre-snap and get in a position to make a play instead of standing there and hoping it comes to them.

I agree in that we are probably a slightly above average team who has beaten two pretty bad teams in UL and fspoo and gotten pretty lucky for Pitt QB to be out. And those drops by the Pitt WR's were lucky as well. Im not sure we win that game if Pickett was playing, and definitely think its a nail biter if they dont drop all those passes

They've lead the country in dropped passes the last 2 years.
That's who they are.
It's the same if I said "If king would have hit those deep balls".

 

[NJshoreCane]

The penalties. Good lord. Put your foot down man. You are the head coach my man.

We gave them 4 first downs by penalty.

 

[Macca21]

We gave them 4 first downs by penalty.

Painful. I had no illusions against Clemson but the offsides right off the bat on third down. You can’t even put a seed of doubt in their mind when you make that play. Clemson’s entire sideline was probably like, these guys aren’t ready for our noise lining up off side on a 3rd down play.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

They've lead the country in dropped passes the last 2 years.
That's who they are.
It's the same if I said "If king would have hit those deep balls".

Agreed.

But, again, we can't ignore that THOSE PARTICULAR DROPS against Miami were in "wide-open" situations.

Yes, Pitt drops a bunch. But that shouldn't excuse our poor coverage on SEVERAL of those drops.

That is all.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Painful. I had no illusions against Clemson but the offsides right off the bat on third down. You can’t even put a seed of doubt in their mind when you make that play. Clemson’s entire sideline was probably like, these guys aren’t ready for our noise lining up off side on a 3rd down play.

Had nothing to do with noise. More importantly, that was a play where Roche was dropping into coverage. He almost had an interception. Therefore, there was NO REASON to be up that close to the line of scrimmage. Roche was actually doing himself a disservice by being THAT CLOSE to the line when he was going to drop into pass coverage.

 

[RightSaidFred]

We can say a lot of things.

But several of those Pitt drops were horrific. And should have been easy catches for decent yardage.

Having said that, we played the run very well. But we have to get better on pass defense. Losing guys to targeting penalties nearly every week is not helping matters. And we need to stop roughing the passer.

Should have. But the day Pitt starts playing mistake-free football is the day they're no longer a middle of the road ACC team.

We're not the only team that beats itself. Everyone may be shocked to learn, but Mark Whipple isn't exactly Nick Saban. His players make mistakes pretty regularly.