Fireside Chat with your Dear Legend

[ajkreider]

Teams with great front 7s are a bad matchup for EVERYONE, not just us. It comes down to play calling and QB play. Get good play calling and QB play, and you should be able to handle Pitt when you have the material we do.

I hear but it's just not that simple. No offense has a playbook with all possible plays. Ours is predicated on running, as it should be, given our wr room. Maybe Clemson can scheme around every defense they see. Again, see the ND game. Are you telling me Book and Cunningham just had a bad day throwing for a combined 238 yards?

 

[423Hurricane]

You understand that being a fan is all about talking about what could have happened, and part of the reason Yellen looked good is because he was throwing to wide open receivers. In previous years, we might have lost, and in previous years we might have won. Now you're playing woulda coulda shoulda when you talk about what might have happened in previous years.

In the years previous to this one, we beat Pitt and got humiliated by Clemson. Same as this year.

Not surprised you picked up on the possible contradiction in viewing the present versus the past. I think it’s a fair assessment on my part due to both circumstances being mutually exclusive.

Whoever the QB was, we would have possibly lost that game in the past. Pickett beating us in 2017 as a freshman is a good example.

Would Pitt have beat us with Pickett? We’ll never know. It’s pure speculation as far as I’m concerned. One can speculate until the cows come home. Part of being a fan is looking back at what coulda, shoulda, woulda both in the present and the past.

 

[DTP]

Posters forgetting about Ohio st like they aren't elite. UNC has a much better offense than we do. Dont know if we will slow them down at all. We won't win a shoot out. They have better odds of putting up 35+ on our D than our O does on there D.

You must have missed our game against a common opponent. Miami dropped 52 on FSU and emptied their bench. UNC could only muster 28 points against that same defense and lost.

 

[hiphopanimal]

A realistic goal is the Clemson teams from 2011-2014.

Those teams won double-digits every year but were 7-9 against ranked teams. Some of those losses were every bit as discouraging as our loss in Death Valley. They steadily improved their recruiting and jumped to Bama's level in 2015 after four years as a "very good not great" team.

That's attainable. The first step is consistently beating the bad teams.

How did they jump thought D$?

 

[RightSaidFred]

Ehh, we’re still working with average to below average talent on the offensive line, linebacker and wide receiver positions. You can try to scheme around talent deficiencies but you can only hide so much. If you have a below average offensive line and you’re up against a top tier defensive line, no coach, scheme or play calling is going to even that advantage out. The good news is, Miami doesn’t play another top tier D line for the remainder of the regular season. Clemson and Pitt back to back is no joke.

Oh yeah, this for sure. I don't remember our offensive line coach's name, but that man is a god**** magician. We have NO talent on the offensive line. At all. Not one of those boys will sniff the NFL. Our best prospect is on the sidelines on the Jenny Craig redshirt plan. Yet he has them looking serviceable.

Imagine being D'Eriq King. You transfer from Conference USA to ******* storied MIAMI.... only to find out that you had better receivers in Houston. And Miami's best offensive lineman is the dude that...oh yes... transferred from ******* Houston. And he wasn't even the best lineman they had at there either.

I'm beating a dead horse because it's been said so many times before, but we have elite RB's, TE's, and QB, but our line and receivers are just putrid. We're scoring points because Lashlee is outcoaching people, and his staff is doing a **** of a job covering up a **** line.

 

[Handsome Squidbum]

Miami's best offensive lineman is the dude that...oh yes... transferred from ******* Houston

Imagine being D'Eriq King. You transfer from Conference USA to ******* storied MIAMI.... only to find out that you had better receivers in Houston. And Miami's best offensive lineman is the dude that...oh yes... transferred from ******* Houston. And he wasn't even the best lineman they had at there either.

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I think most would agree Nelson has been the best this year. But also imagine King looking at Miami and saying, all I have to do is score 31 points and we likely end the season with just 1 loss. In his 20 games at the Houston starter, the team gave up 31 or more points 10 times.

 

[RightSaidFred]

I think most would agree Nelson has been the best this year.

You could make an argument, but then Nelson hasn't even been a full time starter this year. So maybe not. But if he's improved that much, which I agree he has, then it goes to show that offensive line coach is earning his paychecks. Because Nelson last year was dog****.

 

[DMoney]

How did they jump thought D$?

First, they signed Deshaun Watson. By that point, Clemson had three straight years of double-digit wins and had the 12th highest scoring offense in the country. But were not on the championship level. In fact, the true title contender in the conference (FSU) beat them 51-14 at home. It was Clemson's upward trajectory that helped them land the player that would vault them over the top.

Second, they just signed better players at every position. Between the 2011-2014 seasons, they had 5 guys drafted in the first or second round. Over the next four years, they had 10 (including 4 first round DL).

When you win double-digits and play exciting football, you can recruit even more impact guys to put you over the top.

 

[nvlahos]

You aren't answering the question. They can't all be average teams if the word has any meaning. Some teams will consistently beat the bad teams and lose to the great teams. That's the next tier.

Miami has the talent to fit in that second tier, and that's how the team has performed thus far. I hope they keep beating average teams by two scores, because that will mean Miami is a good team.

The goal, in my eyes, is pre-Watson Clemson. Still a ton of football left.

Tier 1 -

Bama
Clemson
Ohio St
UGA

Tier 2 -

Oklahoma (Tier 1 before this year)
Penn St
Oregon
Wisconsin


We’re not in the same tier as these teams, at least not yet.. all 8 would beat us, prob pretty good too

 

[RightSaidFred]

First, they signed Deshaun Watson. By that point, Clemson had three straight years of double-digit wins and had the 12th highest scoring offense in the country. But were not on the championship level. In fact, the true title contender in the conference (FSU) beat them 51-14 at home. It was Clemson's upward trajectory that helped them land the player that would vault them over the top.

Second, they just signed better players at every position. Between the 2011-2014 seasons, they had 5 guys drafted in the first or second round. Over the next four years, they had 10 (including 4 first round DL).

When you win double-digits and play exciting football, you can recruit even more impact guys to put you over the top.

All of that.... and BAGS.

 

[DMoney]

Tier 2 -

Oklahoma (Tier 1 before this year)
Penn St
Oregon
Wisconsin

We haven't seen three of those teams play, but Oklahoma has already lost twice and barely avoided a third loss in OT.

 

[nvlahos]

We haven't seen three of those teams play, but Oklahoma has already lost twice and barely avoided a third loss in OT.

True it’s been too small of a sample size so far with the Big 10 and PAC 12 yet to play. Teams like Minn and Michigan could end up looking better than us as well

Either way I think we’re a top 12-15 team right now and hopefully to your point, we beat the teams we should this year and next and get to the Top 8 consistently after recruiting better

But Manny really can’t have a let down loss to UVA, NC ST, GT or Wake and we need to look good against UNC and VT

 

[Hoyacane1620]

I just can’t wrap my mind around that. I don’t see Perry throwing for 277 with 1 TD and ZERO INTs against our defense with the amount of pressure we were getting (And I even have a misguided affinity for Perry). Yellen’s jersey looked like he was a linebacker.

I think Yellen did a heck of a job for Pitt... better than a lot of team’s starters.

Would Pickett have done better? Almost certainly so. But I’m not sure it’s clear how much better he would have done. And I DEFINITELY think there’s less difference between Pickett and Yellen than King and Perry based upon the little we’ve seen this season.

Perry folded under Clemson’s pressure. Yelled didn’t fold, and we got plenty of pressure.

Agree. Yellen may be a red shirt freshmen but he played for ASU last year against USC. Kid had a solid game. He isn't the "newbie" everyone thinks he is.

 

[CaneLife93]

A realistic goal is the Clemson teams from 2011-2014.

Those teams won double-digits every year but were 7-9 against ranked teams. Some of those losses were every bit as discouraging as our loss in Death Valley. They steadily improved their recruiting and jumped to Bama's level in 2015 after four years as a "very good not great" team.

That's attainable. The first step is consistently beating the bad teams.

We’re going to need Watson like QB then. Anybody on the roster or any recruits we’re after in the upcoming classes has that kind of talent?

 

[DMoney]

Either way I think we’re a top 12-15 team right now and hopefully to your point, we beat the teams we should this year and next and get to the Top 8 consistently after recruiting better

But Manny really can’t have a let down loss to UVA, NC ST, GT or Wake and we need to look good against UNC and VT

I agree with all that.

It remains to be seen whether Manny can keep the team focused through November, and there are serious holes on the team. But through five games we have gotten the improvement we've been asking for.

 

[The Sphinx]

You're my guy Franchise, but I think your expectations may be a bit too high for this squad. You are 100% correct in that we still have some glaring holes to fill. We are farrrrrrr from a finished product. We are NOT an elite team and we both know this.

That said, I was never expecting elite play this year coming off a horribly ****** 6-7 season that was a total embarassment. I was looking for the basics as a reset year: no quit attitude, opened up offense, consistent QB play, stouter OL, more disciplined defense, etc. We are resetting the foundation.

We need better players and better coaches to take that next step. King is good, but we know he's not our savior. But he can get us back to respectability which is a huge step not to be underappreciated. Our OL, LB, WR and CB units are average. You can't compete with Bama and Clemson with that many deficiencies.

For now, I'll take the improvement I'm seeing so far. Pitt would have been a very convenient L for us the past two years. We didn't play well and still put up 31 on those guys and that's not easy to do against Pitt. Let's finish the season a Top 15 team with the roster we have (which would be a huge achievement) and sign a Top 10 2021 class to upgrade our talent.

 

[DMoney]

Anybody on the roster or any recruits we’re after in the upcoming classes has that kind of talent?

The 2020 class looks like a good one, and the 2021 class looks better. The names to know there are DT Leonard Taylor and ATH James Williams. Both are five stars who could've signed anywhere.

 

[NJshoreCane]

Tier 1 -

Bama
Clemson
Ohio St
UGA

Tier 2 -

Oklahoma (Tier 1 before this year)
Penn St
Oregon
Wisconsin


We’re not in the same tier as these teams, at least not yet.. all 8 would beat us, prob pretty good too

That tier 2 is a combined 2-2 on the season.

 

[Poptimus]

I watched every Pitt game this season as well, and a lot of CFB in general. Pickett is not the 2nd best QB in the ACC. He is a one-read guy on a poorly designed (Whipple) offense. If his first read isn't there, he immediately tucks it and takes off.

TLaw and Howell are clearly better. I'd take King over Pickett in a heartbeat. Pickett might get drafted late, but the kid at BC looks just as good in a small sample size (and beat him head to head).

Being that Pickett is a 4-year starter, I will give him the nod, but talent-wise I don't see him as that much of an upgrade over Cunningham, Leary or Hooker.

The WRs on the outside are worse than ours. Addision in the slot has some talent. But the total lack of a running game makes them totally one-dimensional, and that simply doesn't work in the P5 with average talent.

That is all to say that IMO Pickett wouldn't have made much of a difference. The Pitt run game got stuffed, and Addison threw for 270 (?). Pickett averages 2.6/per on 46 carries (King 5.2/per on 53 carries for reference). He hurt us with his legs in 2017, but he isn't a running threat on a weekly basis.

The line moved from -10.5 to -13.5 when Pickett went out. The game ended Miami by 12. I think that tells you all you need to know about what Pickett was worth... about 2 points (which is in line with a starting QB of his caliber IMO, will turn to @Poptimus for thoughts on this).

Last, I said all this same stuff about Pickett's limitations in multiple posts during gameweek. I am not saying it in hindsight. He isn't that good.

Good post. I think oddsmakers gave Pickett 3 points in an adjustment in the line. Sounds reasonable if you’re only really familiar with the starter and not the backup (and your starter isn’t exceptional like Trevor Lawrence).

 

[CaneLife93]

The 2020 class looks like a good one, and the 2021 class looks better. The names to know there are DT Leonard Taylor and ATH James Williams. Both are five stars who could've signed anywhere.

What about QB? Not just this year but maybe the next year, that’s Watson (HS) like? I don’t know how good Van Dyke is to make a comparison to freshman Watson when he split time that year.