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Golden not satisfied with defensive performance
By Christy Cabrera Chirinos, Sun Sentinel
6:39 pm, November 17, 2013
In what is starting to seem like a recurring nightmare, the Miami Hurricanes find themselves in the middle of another late-season free-fall.
After winning seven straight to open the season, Miami has lost three in a row. For three consecutive weeks and for the fourth time in five games, the Hurricanes' defense has allowed opponents to generate at least 500 yards of total offense. And for the third straight game, Miami coach Al Golden and his players have bemoaned a lack of execution when the stakes have been at their highest.
Before Saturday's 48-30 loss at Duke, Miami found itself improbably in control again of its Coastal Division destiny after the Virginia Tech team which beat the Hurricanes a week earlier lost to Maryland.
But the Hurricanes, who dropped out of both the coaches poll and AP Top 25 Sunday, couldn't capitalize. Instead, the Blue Devils gashed Miami's defense for 543 yards, including 358 yards on the ground. Now it's Duke — not Miami — that seemingly has the inside track to play for the ACC title.
And again, the Hurricanes (7-3, 3-3 ACC) find themselves having to figure out a way to shore up a defense that earlier this year seemed to show signs of improvement after finishing 2012 ranked No. 116 out of 120 teams.
To that end, Golden said Sunday he had players come in for team meetings a day earlier than normal.
"We're playing for a lot of things. I have complete faith that it will [get turned around]," he said.
"That's why we moved our meetings up to [Sunday]. We wanted to make sure we went play by play with everybody, make sure everybody was on the same page and we're absolutely clear on everything … on defense, if you don't play collectively well, you get exposed and we didn't play collectively well."
While Golden said he was pleased with the play of certain individuals including defensive end Anthony Chickillo, safeties A.J. Highsmith and Deon Bush, linebacker Denzel Perryman and defensive back Tracy Howard among others, he says it's crucial Miami try to get back to some of the things they did earlier this season when they held three of their first four opponents to under 300 yards of offense, forced turnovers and had better pressure on quarterbacks.
Since, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Duke have all gained more than 400 yards against Miami with the Tar Heels, Seminoles, Hokies and Blue Devils all topping the 500-yard mark. Two of those opponents (Georgia Tech and Duke) totaled more than 330 rushing yards.
The hope is that Miami can find some kind of solution Saturday when the Hurricanes host Virginia (2-8, 0-6) in their regular-season home finale.
"You know I'm not," Golden said when asked Sunday if he was satisfied with how the defense has played recently.
"Nobody is. The players aren't either. We're constantly evaluating, we're constantly evolving and we're trying to do things that we feel puts our players in the best position to be successful … all that matters is this Saturday and preparing and working hard and finding a way to win and then continuing to do that. That's the same as it was when we were 7-0. That hasn't changed. Perception may have changed, bur our approach to it hasn't changed. As I said at that point, we're not back. We have a long way to go, we're building and we're going to continue to build and fight through this
By Christy Cabrera Chirinos, Sun Sentinel
6:39 pm, November 17, 2013
In what is starting to seem like a recurring nightmare, the Miami Hurricanes find themselves in the middle of another late-season free-fall.
After winning seven straight to open the season, Miami has lost three in a row. For three consecutive weeks and for the fourth time in five games, the Hurricanes' defense has allowed opponents to generate at least 500 yards of total offense. And for the third straight game, Miami coach Al Golden and his players have bemoaned a lack of execution when the stakes have been at their highest.
Before Saturday's 48-30 loss at Duke, Miami found itself improbably in control again of its Coastal Division destiny after the Virginia Tech team which beat the Hurricanes a week earlier lost to Maryland.
But the Hurricanes, who dropped out of both the coaches poll and AP Top 25 Sunday, couldn't capitalize. Instead, the Blue Devils gashed Miami's defense for 543 yards, including 358 yards on the ground. Now it's Duke — not Miami — that seemingly has the inside track to play for the ACC title.
And again, the Hurricanes (7-3, 3-3 ACC) find themselves having to figure out a way to shore up a defense that earlier this year seemed to show signs of improvement after finishing 2012 ranked No. 116 out of 120 teams.
To that end, Golden said Sunday he had players come in for team meetings a day earlier than normal.
"We're playing for a lot of things. I have complete faith that it will [get turned around]," he said.
"That's why we moved our meetings up to [Sunday]. We wanted to make sure we went play by play with everybody, make sure everybody was on the same page and we're absolutely clear on everything … on defense, if you don't play collectively well, you get exposed and we didn't play collectively well."
While Golden said he was pleased with the play of certain individuals including defensive end Anthony Chickillo, safeties A.J. Highsmith and Deon Bush, linebacker Denzel Perryman and defensive back Tracy Howard among others, he says it's crucial Miami try to get back to some of the things they did earlier this season when they held three of their first four opponents to under 300 yards of offense, forced turnovers and had better pressure on quarterbacks.
Since, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Duke have all gained more than 400 yards against Miami with the Tar Heels, Seminoles, Hokies and Blue Devils all topping the 500-yard mark. Two of those opponents (Georgia Tech and Duke) totaled more than 330 rushing yards.
The hope is that Miami can find some kind of solution Saturday when the Hurricanes host Virginia (2-8, 0-6) in their regular-season home finale.
"You know I'm not," Golden said when asked Sunday if he was satisfied with how the defense has played recently.
"Nobody is. The players aren't either. We're constantly evaluating, we're constantly evolving and we're trying to do things that we feel puts our players in the best position to be successful … all that matters is this Saturday and preparing and working hard and finding a way to win and then continuing to do that. That's the same as it was when we were 7-0. That hasn't changed. Perception may have changed, bur our approach to it hasn't changed. As I said at that point, we're not back. We have a long way to go, we're building and we're going to continue to build and fight through this
