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Got in late from Hard Rock last night, some thoughts..

k9cane

k9cane

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Alright, I got in late from Hard Rock Stadium on early Sunday morning. Some thoughts on Miami's 26-7 win over the Florida Gators...

- If I was a headline writer, I'd put 'Miami's Defense' Towels off Florida'. I dont want to crown Cory Hetherman just yet, but after this performance on Saturday night I'd not only like to nominate him for the Broyles Award, but the Nobel Peace Prize. His unit was incredibly good. Yeah, this wasn't exactly the 'Fun n' Gun with Danny Wuerfell, I get that. But on a night when Beck looked like the '24 version at times and scuffled, the defense was stout and downright dominant.


They allowed 32 yards total at the half, IIRC. And 141 total yards, with the bulk coming on their one TD drive that cut the UM lead to 13-7.

I know some will ask if this is about a coaching change or an upgrade in talent (especially on the back end), as I like to say, ''It's never just about one thing, but a little bit of everything." Miami's defense is not just more sound, but collectively just running to the ball and swarming

- This was a game that reminded me of George Benton's advice to boxers who had tough fights -- win tonight, look good tomorrow. This game was one where I felt Miami was leading 13-0 at the half, and it felt like it should've been 31-0. Something like this may have been costly vs an offense and quarterback who isn't so broken. Right now, the staff and DJ Lagway are deathly afraid of themselves. It's getting to a point where you think he has the yips

I give the Gators defense credit, they played hard. Even with their injuries upfront, they battled and will be one of the better units UM will face this season.

Elite teams can win when they don't have their best stuff, and other units can pick up the others that are struggling. I don't think Miami could win a game of this nature last season

- Speaking of the yips, the Miami Oline is considered among the very elite, but they have now had 8 pre-snap infractions the last two games. In the immortal words of Vince Lombardi, "WHAT IN THE **** IS GOING ON OUT THERE??!?!"

- Be honest, when it was 13-7 and Cormani McClain picked off Beck, did you get that sinking feeling it was one of those games where Miami was going to let one slip away? Instead the defense bowed up and made some key stops and eventually took control of the last 10 games

- To be blunt, Beck was poor tonight. Even some of his completions were off the mark, and I got the sense that Shannon Dawson's play-calling was impacted by that. For Miami to do anything truly significant this season, this has to be the worst game he plays this season

- Based on what I've seen thus far, Ruben Bain may have a season that rivals Warren Sapp in 1994 and Dan Morgan in 2000 for being the most decorated defender in UM program history. The impact he makes each play/drive can not be understated. Not only does he make plays, but he makes those around him better on a consistent basis

- Finally, I loved the white towels they gave out. The fans were really into it, and it was reminiscent of the Miami Dolphins in the early 70's. Before the 'Terrible Towel', the Dolphins were doing this. My only critique is that they should've been orange or green. Hopefully they give these out on a regular basis. The crowd was really into it and to see the waves of towels being swung around looked great.

As for the DJ, not bad, but there wee a couple of songs that seem out of place at a Miami game. I think I need to be like Norm Chow and coordinate a play list for these guys

- So Miami is 4-0 going to a bye week and prepare to go up to Tallahassee and play a hot FSU squad on October 4th. It should be a battle of two top 5 teams. It will seem like old times.
 
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jakeman1 said:
Whatever Florida did on defense, the DC's for the rest of the season will try to duplicate it, the same way the GT game did for TVD.
Click to expand...
Yes but most of our opponents don’t have the athletes UF has. And keeping 2 safeties deep against us all game will just result in a consistent pounding from the running game. Eventually this will tilt in UM’s favor just as it did last night.

What GTech showed everyone was the TVD could not pass against zone defenses. That was obvious. There is no obvious takeaway from last night if you are an opposing DC. Big difference between a QB not playing his best in the rain, and a QB who literally can’t read a zone defense
 
jakeman1 said:
Whatever Florida did on defense, the DC's for the rest of the season will try to duplicate it, the same way the GT game did for TVD.
Click to expand...

Not sure if anyone caught what Saban said in his breakdown on where Beck struggled historically and what they did at Bama to get him off schedule… well that’s exactly what UF did last night.

He has to get better when the pocket isn’t clean. Thankfully we have a defense and we don’t need him to win us games, just don’t lose them.
 
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jakeman1 said:
Whatever Florida did on defense, the DC's for the rest of the season will try to duplicate it, the same way the GT game did for TVD.
Click to expand...
No one, including FSU, will have the front 7 talent for that strategy to consistently work against us. Two deep safeties is always a green light to run the football, especially when you’re able to dominate up front.
 
jakeman1 said:
Whatever Florida did on defense, the DC's for the rest of the season will try to duplicate it, the same way the GT game did for TVD.
Click to expand...
There is years and years of tape on Beck. I guarantee you there isnt a defense that Carson hasn't seen. These lazy *** takes have to stop no **** DCs will try to copy they've been trying to copy it for years.

The guy has lost twice as a starter in his career. Beck deserves the benefit of the doubt imo.

Its also worth pointing out that Florida's strategy back fired. Miami had 13 mins more time of possession basically an entire quarter. They limited their oppurtunities so much and basically were praying miami melted down. Its the equivalent of parking the bus in soccer.
 
k9cane said:
- If I was a headline writer, I'd put 'Miami's Defense' Towels off Florida'. I dont want to crown Cory Hetherman just yet, but after this performance on Saturday night I'd not only like to nominate him for the Broyles Award, but the Nobel Peace Prize. His unit was incredibly good. Yeah, this wasn't exactly the 'Fun n' Gun with Danny Wuerfell, I get that. But on a night when Beck looked like the '24 version at times and scuffled, the defense was stout and downright dominant.
Click to expand...



I too like what I see from Hetherman's defense but also have concerns. His approach is to focus on letting the kids play fast and aggressive. He accomplishes this by taking away much of the thinking component, primarily pre-snap. The approach seems to be working well because we have a squad filled with fast, athletic, aggressive defenders.

The concern I see and UF exposed it to a degree, is that by using multiple pre-snap motions, UF created imbalances where they could run the ball to areas of the field where we did not have numbers. We saw it consistently on their lone TD drive. On two of their best plays, I literally said out loud, "If they run right here, we're in trouble," and they did. If DJ Layaway was even decent, we'd have struggled even more.

I suspect we're going to see if my concerns are legitimate in two weeks. I guarantee you Gus Malzahn will have a bunch of pre-snap motions trying to find a place for Castellanos to get rippage with QB runs.
 
jakeman1 said:
Whatever Florida did on defense, the DC's for the rest of the season will try to duplicate it, the same way the GT game did for TVD.
Click to expand...
1. (Hopefully) it won't be raining the remainder of our games. That definitely has an effect on your passing game.

2. The rest of the teams on our schedule don't have the athletes that UF does on defense. There's a lot of NFL talent on that team, especially in their Secondary.
 
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op deserves yet another medal

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a couple more points, if the SEC official don't botch that call on Marty Mar Brown's long TD, it's 20-0 -- and the blowout is on and Bain probably ends up with 5 sacks this game. That call was incredibly pivotal in how that game played out

- Also, good to see Elija Lofton get more involved. I hope to see an even more expanded role for him in the offense going forward. He is a very unique match-up problem for a lot of defenses. Had some key 3rd down grabs last night
 
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