Don’t feel like you need to read mine, I just needed to stretch my fingers.
Ahh, well this sucked, didn’t it? I said it in the game day thread but I expected this type of outcome, still, seeing it unfold was excruciating. It’s like the friend you know keeps going back to the same relationship or vice over and over again, and you’re still there for him, but buddy is going to **** his life away no matter what you do. This game was a bad idea and I’m glad it’s over.
There are only two tiers of college football right now:
1. Bama/Clemson
2. Everyone Else
OU, OSU, UGA, might cycle through Tier 1 every few years, but they don’t have the same fine print in their deal with the devil. They will always be so, so, so close, but rarely ever achieve excellence. Trust me, those programs do the exact same soul searching we all do, they just do it once a year instead of 3 times (or 5 on occasion).
Now, onto why I’m relatively upbeat, because I am, dammit. (I’m also not upset with anyone who wants to burn all their new merch and/or wants Diaz fired even more than they did before kickoff. I just hope you all have the balls to quit following the team for a few months.
But you don’t.)
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MENIAL FORTITUDE - As much as I hate the celebrating after a play being down 30, I think this team actually has a chance to not get mentally throttled down after this loss. That’s good, and it showed in the late game drives.
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THE BALL CATCHERS AIGHT - I think we have 4 solid WRs who will score a lot of points this year, which is an amazing turnaround from last season. Unthinkable, really. If King doesn’t average 250 ypg something is wrong (and something may be wrong), because the players are there and they are more than good enough, imo. Key Smiff had to be subbed out multiple times because Josh Jobe was crying so loudly the refs threatened to suspend the game. That’s not a knock on Jobe, Key Smiff just steals your game and treats it like a voodoo doll.
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OH **** NO, OL YES - The OL is fine. I don’t think it’s amazing, but it was just flat out overmatched against the strongest unit in the country. I think we should abandon anything like a dive up the middle, however, because it makes the game of football sad and me very angry.
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DEFENSIVE FINE? The DL was better than I thought. Young was on the move all night, which only seems to give him a force multiplier. In an normal game against regular humans, it will not be that way. The DTs in particular, and Harvey, looked solid and very well conditioned. I expect to be pleasantly surprised by the results of this unit over the course of the season. Bama averaged 3.9 YPC, which doesn’t even make sense to me.
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FAIR CONDITIONING - Conditioning in general seemed improved. Especially for a D that got drug around all game and often had Enos-era breaks between series, they held up well and that speaks to their mental as well as physical conditioning.
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THE DON, p1 - The Man needs to be the lead back. I love Cam, glad he’s a Cane, but sometimes it’s like he looks for ways to get tackled. I know it’s almost impossible to improve an RB’s vision, so it’s unfair to think he’s going to suddenly bloom into Christian Okoye. He is what he is and works through traffic like a semi. Don is game ready, he's punishing and sound in every aspect of the game. Plus he’s just a complete back.
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THE DON, p2 (The Man Who Sent Toto to Kansas) - I will henceforth only refer to Don as The Man. He broke To’o’to’s shoulder, even though Toto had a clean kill shot ****ed and loaded like he was Dr. Disrespect with the only sniper rifle on the map. Instead his lame a** got recoiled to the moon, and from my couch I wept at the sight. I cannot and will not legally marry that otherwise insignificant play, but I will carry its legacy in my bosom like an unborn child.
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LASH IS TRASH? Guy is a genuine WTF for me. I do not understand what he’s trying to do, or when he’s trying to do it. The marriage between him and King is like that awkward couple who “should work” but just can’t get over the fact that the love each other without liking each other. I don’t get understand their chemistry at all, but I’ve only had a few relationships and they were all super short until I found THE ONE and we’ve been together ever since. Both the dudes running the O act like kissing cousins in these games and it slows everything down dramatically. Can’t run tempo when your flow is mud.
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SOME DUMB SUMMARY - Manny Diaz is who Miami DESERVES at this point, for better or for worse. For every on-field reason we couldn’t compete with Alabama tonight, there are 3-5 reasons off the field we couldn’t. Diaz is trying as hard as humanly possible to figure this out, and he’s probably going to be in over his head in games like this for the next several years. He's never going to win more than the ACC, but right now Miami could not do more than that with Nick Saban himself, I kid you not. We are in the morass of Tier 2, like it or not, until I die. Unless we molt this skin and become a beautiful butterfly.
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SMS, p2 - I think Alabama probably scores 40 points on 95% of the teams in America tonight. That’s not a cover for the defense, it’s just worth considering. If app state scores 40 then ok yeah the D has covid. I just don’t know yet, and somehow I’m more concerned about the performance of the O than I am the D.
REMEMBER:
GOODNIGHT, GO CANES!
![Miami[]_[]Smoke](https://data.canesinsight.com/avatars/m/16/16959.jpg?1664075159){kind=avatar}
