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.
