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Fireside Chat with your Dear Legend

TheOriginalCane said:
Look, I think you're missing the point here. I'll try one more time and then leave it alone.

I do not believe it was Miami's strategery to "let Pitt beat itself". I do not think our DBs were hanging back, just letting the Pitt players drop balls.

I realize Pitt dropping the ball so much makes them a "middle of the road" ACC team. But we shouldn't play to the level of our opponents. We should defend the pass in a way that creates incompletions, not that allows Pitt to drop easy catches.

That is all.

Remember, "on any given Saturday". Who thought F$U was suddenly going to become competent for a half and smash UNC (at least in the first half)?

Yes, Pitt is not great. But Miami needs to defend the pass better. I've made it clear on other responses, I am not saying "oh, if Pickett had played, Miami would have lost". I also cannot ignore those wide-open Pitt drops that looked even more horrific because the Miami coverage was so poor.
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No I didn't miss your point at all. Miami played sloppy, I agree with you. Too many mental lapses all over the field.

My point was just that Miami didn't "get lucky" beating Pitt.

You want to talk about middle of the road, average ACC teams.... well the price of admission for being an average ACC team is you have to have at least a dozen bonehead plays every game. You have to drop some wide open passes, blow a few assignments, run some routes wrong.... you get the picture. It's like we're an exclusive club of ****heads.

We do it. They do it. It's how we roll in the middle of the ACC.
 
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I agree with Chise overall but am still a little surprised how down on the team he is.

Not hating at all - I share 99% of the same concerns but I still think there are few legs to this team yet, esp if a young WR steps up/LB play gets better/King stops being so erratic.

Nah, I'm probably just a homer.
 
If you want to play the "woulda coulda" game if Pickett had played, then bear in mind the stats I posted in another thread today.

In 54 games with Diaz as DC or HC, the defense has given up more than 31 points 8 times. (rank based on final AP standing)

2016 - #16 VT
2017- #1 Clemson, #6 Wisconsin
2018- #6 LSU, #9 Wisconsin
2019- VT
2020- Louisville, #1 Clemson

In 4 years, a Diaz defense has only given up 31 or more up to team ranked lower than 16 twice. Would Pitt have scored more with Pickett? Maybe. But it is exceedingly unlikely (3% chance) that they would have scored more than 31 according to the stats.
 
RightSaidFred said:
No I didn't miss your point at all. Miami played sloppy, I agree with you. Too many mental lapses all over the field.

My point was just that Miami didn't "get lucky" beating Pitt.

You want to talk about middle of the road, average ACC teams.... well the price of admission for being an average ACC team is you have to have at least a dozen bonehead plays every game. You have to drop some wide open passes, blow a few assignments, run some routes wrong.... you get the picture. It's like we're an exclusive club of ****heads.

We do it. They do it. It's how we roll in the middle of the ACC.
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I never said we got lucky to beat Pitt.

I clearly said we still have a lot of work to do in pass defense. A better team will make us pay a higher price for those coverage lapses.

I think we are a Top 4 team in the ACC this year (yes, including ND). But the gap between teams 4 and 5, or 3 and 6, is not huge.
 
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If we lucked out because Pitt’s QBs missed passes and their wideouts dropped balls, I’d say Pitt lucked out at least as much if not more because our qb missed passes and receivers dropped balls too. Considering their only touchdown came off a turnover where they got the ball at the one yard line and Miami took a knee when they could have piled on more points, I’d say Pitt was lucky the game was that close.
 
DMoney said:
Phillips reminds me of Olivier Vernon. He is all tools and motor right now. Like Vernon, Phillips has had a lot of stops and starts in his career which hindered his development.

Vernon ended up signing the biggest DE contract ever at the time and has 54.5 career sacks. I think Phillips is better and will have a better career as a Miami Hurricane.
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You think he stays another year?
 
TheOriginalCane said:
I never said we got lucky to beat Pitt.

I clearly said we still have a lot of work to do in pass defense. A better team will make us pay a higher price for those coverage lapses.

I think we are a Top 4 team in the ACC this year (yes, including ND). But the gap between teams 4 and 5, or 3 and 6, is not huge.
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You didn't but someone else did.

Gun to my head, I think we're top 2. We're better than Pitt. We were the better team on Saturday. I think we're better than Notre Dame and UNC. But yeah, I agree with the gist of what you're saying. It's Clemson and then everyone else.

We'll see if it stays that way next year when they lose Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne. I think Miami can get there quicker than most believe.
 
423Hurricane said:
Shoulda, woulda, coulda as far as who Pitt's QB was this past Sat. I thought the kid looked poised and didn't get too rattled when things didn't go his way.

Anyway, the fact of the matter is we got the W when in previous years, this may have been an L. The Canes showed up, played hard, and didn't tank when some things didn't go well. To me, that's a good sign and hopefully carries over to the rest of the season.
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I'm on your side on this, but "the kid looked poised and didn't get too rattled" is what I had a problem with.
Especially in the second half.
We needed to rattle him.
 
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Here’s my honest assessment on our fans & fellow brothers & sisters here:

Most here have seen our glory years, and it’s undeniable that we wrecked CFB during that time, and we wrecked the NFL during that period. When you’ve been to the mountain top, and you’ve stayed at the mountain top, you’ll become spoiled by it (see Yankees, Lakers, Celtics, Bama, and Patriot fans).

With our fan base, we’re clamoring to be back there, to the point we get defensive of anyone (fans & non-fans) critical of the team. We’re still trying to hold on to NFLU so bad that ppl r now starting to include and argue for players who finished their schooling elsewhere (btw, from my experience, no other fan base does that).

We’re so desperate that we’ll deceive what our eyes see, just as long as the record looks good.

I recall having arguments on BR about the 2013 team, how ppl were saying we were back after the 7-0 start, crowning Golden. Yet, anyone w/ a set of unbiased eyes would see that 7-0 start was fool’s gold. It wound up being that way.

What @The Franchise is simply stating is the fact that we struggled against a Pitt team w a backup QB who, if he chose to run, his WRs catch wide open passes, or he actually threw to open receivers, might have been a L, is still alarming. That makes us an average team. Therefore, if we are an average team, teams like GT, UNC, VT, or even UVA have a great shot at beating us.

He’s right; but b/c we see the AP poll (which is hella skewed due to PAC 12 & BIG teams not playing as of yet) and the 4-1 record, we’re allowing emotions dictate what’s actually being seen. This is y I rewatch all of the games so I can take my emotions out & really evaluate what we are.

I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t know what we are. One moment we look explosive & one moment we look like dog chit on O.
One moment we look dominant, and the next we look like Swiss cheese on D.

The 4-1 is uneven, but I’m hopeful we’ll become a more even team moving forward.
 
The Franchise said:
LOL. Tell us again how we were going to get after Clemson. Fact is we're average right now. And your 2nd tier, if it includes us, is a glut of about 60 teams once the Big Pvssy starts playing.
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Find a post of mine picking Miami to beat Clemson. Won't happen.

You said you "watched a lot of college football and we are an average team." I asked you for an example of an above-average team and you went mute.

There can't be three elite teams and sixty "average" teams. That's not how it works. If we really are average, list some teams above us. Or maybe use a different word that you can defend.
 
Number of times the Miami defense has given up more than 31 points:

2016 - #16 VT
2017- #1 Clemson, #6 Wisconsin
2018- #6 LSU, #9 Wisconsin
2019- VT
2020- Louisville, #1 Clemson

By way of comparison, let's look at UGA, who most posters would consider to be an "elite" defense.

2016- #11 Tennessee, #23 Ole Miss
2017- #10 Auburn, #2 Oklahoma
2018- #13 LSU, #1 Bama
2019- #2 LSU
2020- #2 Bama
 
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hiphopanimal said:
I agree with Chise overall but am still a little surprised how down on the team he is.

Not hating at all - I share 99% of the same concerns but I still think there are few legs to this team yet, esp if a young WR steps up/LB play gets better/King stops being so erratic.

Nah, I'm probably just a homer.
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People are more down on this team than they should be because of the Clemson loss. Took the wind out of the sails.

But Clemson isn't just the best team in the ACC this year, they're the best team in America.

If Clemson plays Alabama, they beat them by two touchdowns. It's not even a ballgame IMO.

People were saying this Clemson team has taken a step back.... bull ******* ****. That's your national champion.

Miami is probably exactly what our ranking says we are. Somewhere in the top 15.
 
RightSaidFred said:
You didn't but someone else did.

Gun to my head, I think we're top 2. We're better than Pitt. We were the better team on Saturday. I think we're better than Notre Dame and UNC. But yeah, I agree with the gist of what you're saying. It's Clemson and then everyone else.

We'll see if it stays that way next year when they lose Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne. I think Miami can get there quicker than most believe.
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The hierarchy of the ACC is Clemson and than a mishmash of good but flawed teams. Miami, Notre Dame, VT and UNC could all be slotted anywhere between 2-5. All are capable of beating anyone in the conference not named Clemson. And all are capable of losing to a bad team if they sleepwalk. See: FSU Vs UNC.
 
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DTP said:
The hierarchy of the ACC is Clemson and than a mishmash of good but flawed teams. Miami, Notre Dame, VT and UNC could all be slotted anywhere between 2-5. All are capable of beating anyone in the conference not named Clemson. And all are capable of losing to a bad team if they sleepwalk. See: FSU Vs UNC.
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I agree with this.

The frustrating this is that if we had good coaching/scheming, we could pull away from ND, VT and UNC.

I am just sick of sub-par coaching, penalties, WRs running free...
 
Rellyrell said:
Here’s my honest assessment on our fans & fellow brothers & sisters here:

Most here have seen our glory years, and it’s undeniable that we wrecked CFB during that time, and we wrecked the NFL during that period. When you’ve been to the mountain top, and you’ve stayed at the mountain top, you’ll become spoiled by it (see Yankees, Lakers, Celtics, Bama, and Patriot fans).

With our fan base, we’re clamoring to be back there, to the point we get defensive of anyone (fans & non-fans) critical of the team. We’re still trying to hold on to NFLU so bad that ppl r now starting to include and argue for players who finished their schooling elsewhere (btw, from my experience, no other fan base does that).

We’re so desperate that we’ll deceive what our eyes see, just as long as the record looks good.

I recall having arguments on BR about the 2013 team, how ppl were saying we were back after the 7-0 start, crowning Golden. Yet, anyone w/ a set of unbiased eyes would see that 7-0 start was fool’s gold. It wound up being that way.

What @The Franchise is simply stating is the fact that we struggled against a Pitt team w a backup QB who, if he chose to run, his WRs catch wide open passes, or he actually threw to open receivers, might have been a L, is still alarming. That makes us an average team. Therefore, if we are an average team, teams like GT, UNC, VT, or even UVA have a great shot at beating us.

He’s right; but b/c we see the AP poll (which is hella skewed due to PAC 12 & BIG teams not playing as of yet) and the 4-1 record, we’re allowing emotions dictate what’s actually being seen. This is y I rewatch all of the games so I can take my emotions out & really evaluate what we are.

I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t know what we are. One moment we look explosive & one moment we look like dog chit on O.
One moment we look dominant, and the next we look like Swiss cheese on D.

The 4-1 is uneven, but I’m hopeful we’ll become a more even team moving forward.
Click to expand...


FYI, Big 10 and Pac 12 teams are IN the polls now.
 
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