I know that I will get killed for writing this today but

And I downvoted your comment because you don't have to be a jerk to get your point across. And while you assessment seems feasable on the surface level it leaves alot to be desired once you delve in to what you wrote.

I'll explain further in a later post tomorrow why I disagree on the points you bring up. Not near a computer right now for me to type on.

Sounds good. Look forward to hearing your counterpoints.
 
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But the sky is not falling and the Miami football program as a whole is in pretty good shape. Lets break this down into two parts. This years recruiting (and future years) and next years schedule and roster. (sorry for the length of the post but I'm so tired of reading that the sky is falling because it's not!)

Recruiting:

There is no way to spin this...We have taken our lumps in this years recruiting class and it's because our Coaching staff and team did not perform well against a really average schedule. Our verbal commits noticed that and were quick to abandon ship. However, we still have 14 commits and while the majority of them are defensive commits, the staff is out trying to recover from the defections that have happened. I absolutely love how some of you are so quick to question why the staff did not have a back up plan in place for all these de-commitments. It's not that easy. These targets they had were all hurricanes (and were saying all the right things) until the last couple of months. If we go out and offer kids while we have other kids (who were still verbally committed to us) that were still in play it will have negative factors in both scholarship limits and it pretty much tells those verbal commitments that we don't think your coming. Did that happen? Yes but the staff is out trying to recover from those defections. ESD is nice but it's not the tell all of recruiting and I firmly believe (and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one) that the staff will salvage this class. Richt and his staff are experienced and are working their butts off trying to make up for what has happened. Unless we sign everyone that we think we will, we won't get in the top 15 but we can finish in the top 25 which isn't bad considering a 7-5 record and how stupid we looked on offense the whole year.

So we finish in the top 25 and with our last two classes (12th nationally in 2017 and 8th nationally in 2018) we will still be able to put one **** of a product on the field in 2019. And Surge 2020 recruiting class is still intact and with a schedule that sets up nicely for us in 2019, Richt and his staff could close that class out in the top 10 which will be big in helping us to recover in key skill positions going forward.

So why will we be "better" in 2019? There are several reasons but I will stick to the top ones

1. Our offense will be better because we will have a "true" QB and not a running back acting like a QB. No matter if it's Perry or Williams, they will be an upgrade because they both "look" like QB's. We saw at the end of the year that Perry (while not great) made enough plays with his legs and arms to win games. The critical thing is that he did not turn over the ball. If we don't turn the ball over teams that we play in the ACC don't have a great shot to beat us. Look at the games in which we lost and turnovers were a major reason why. ****, Perry can go 6-20 and not turn the ball over and we still beat Pitt by 20 points.

2. Lingard, Davis and Dallas are the real deal. All we need is the threat of a passer to be our QB and it allows these running backs to be more effective. We had success running the ball against teams at the end of the year and some of it was because spread defenses out. But I also surmise that the offense was better because teams had to respect Perry's arm. He may not always make the right read (and has cold streaks that last for way too long) but he has legitimate arm strength and is pretty accurate. Defenses have to account for that.

3. I like the idea of a OL with a nasty edge. While I thought the line improved in the last two games I truly expect that a OL line made up of Scaife, Donaldson, Gaynor, Reed has a ton of potential going into next year and attitude to boot. We need to see who our LT is but it's not like Darling was great. He was average with some of you calling him a turnstile. Let's see who we get but I'm confident in that front four being able to handle the DL's of any ACC coastal team.

4. Jordan, Mallory are true impact TE who gained a ton of experience this year and will have a full off season to really bulk up/condition. With Irvins and Polendy back (and at least 1 TE we should get in recruiting) we will have depth for next year. The possibility of putting both those guys out at the same time is a nightmare for D coordinators to have to deal with. Combine that with a receiving core that also will have an offseason to bulk up/condition and the possibility is there for a dynamic offense.

5. Last but not least, the defense led by Manny Diaz is going to make life a living **** on ACC teams. Miami's D even if it takes a slight step back will still be able to handle the the offenses that UNC, Pitt, Duke, GT, etc. throw at it. Again, the offense just needs to not turn over the ball and no team that we face next year will be favored to beat us.

Richt needs to hire an O.C. Will he do it is the question. However, even if he doesn't a record of 9-1 or even 10-0 in the regular season is very realistic. UNC, Louisville and GT all have new coaching staffs and will need to rebuild/retool. Pitt can't throw the ball period. Duke loses Jones and a ton of Sr on their defense. Virginia loses 3/4 of their experience secondary and can't throw the ball either. Our only real challenges next year are Florida and Fla St. and if that's the case, I have to give us the edge even if we are running "30 year old plays" from a 6 play playbook.

Do me a favor, if you do down vote me please tell me what you don't agree with. I'm truly interested in where I'm off base with what I wrote.

GO CANES!!!!
I love your optimism and excellent ideas. The problem is a 7-5 season while losing to far inferior teams is the sky falling to Miami fans. Richt took these solid classes that you mentioned and greatly underperformed on the offensive side of the ball. So much so that our #2 rated defense nationally couldn't result in more wins. The current recruiting problems will magnify if we have another season like this. We might end up with recruiting classes ranked in the 30s...great if you are Duke or Wake Forest.

It is clear Richt needs to change the offensive scheme. If he doesn't do it, then we shouldn't expect much in the way of wins.
 
I agree we are in good position as a a program and could definitely win the Coastal in 2019 and have top 10 recruiting class 2020... IF .... Richt is willing to make staff changes. OL Coach and OC are a must!! I would like a QB coach too but I don't think that will happen
 
I will bring it soft nuts. We can continue this debate tomorrow. Bye for now.

Yeah, go run off to your own "favorable schedule" Tinkerbell.

Heck, you may not last to next year on CIS if your mancrush gets crushed by the Badgers...Again
 
Yeah, go run off to your own "favorable schedule" Tinkerbell.

Heck, you may not last to next year on CIS if your mancrush gets crushed by the Badgers...Again

Whatever. Your opinion is wothless so run along little hater See me next year when the canes do exactly what I say and beat up on a pathetic schedule.
 
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Never said they were but the future is not as bad as some are making it out to be. Everything you said is true but not one thing on your list can't be corrected. The team winning the last two games vs VT and Pitt shows that they haven't quit on this coaching staff. We need real changes in the coaching staff to take us to the next level but here is a fact that no one can refute.

2017- We went 10-1 in the regular season because we won the turnover margin in most every game and we did not kill ourselves in the punting game.

2018- We went 7-5 with all 5 losses having multiple turnovers being committed by us. We also were terrible at flipping field position with our punting game.

These two teams were not that far away from each other. One did not turn over the ball and the other did. We correct that and with the schedule (and talent) that I stated in my first post, we go back to 11-1, 10-2, 12-0.

You make some very valid points, and I honestly applaud your optimism. It takes a lot to be an optimistic Canes fan these days.

You are correct that we are poised to have a much better showing in 2019 for several reasons as you have pointed out. I guess I'm just not ready to absolve Richt for the ****show performance that was 2018. Yeah we had some holes and deficiencies that should get addressed in 2019, but damnit there was absolutely no excuse for the way this season played out.

Richt proved to me this season that he is not the head coach he professes to be. He needs a lot of staff help to cover for his inadequacies - especially on Offense and Special Teams. The team was unprepared, poorly coached and then completely lost motivation and focus. The 4 game losing skid was simply coaching incompetence. He looked clueless and lost out there.

So while 2019 will be better just due to talent maturity, the sting of 2018 still sits with me and I've lost a ton of faith in Richt's capabilities along the way. We should be a guaranteed 10-2 annually given the conference and division we are in, but Richt will find a way to lose a couple of games that should be sure wins...

Bottom line, it's very hard for me to get excited about our prospects with Richt at the helm unless he makes some significant staff changes and turns over the reigns of the offense to a true OC who knows what the **** he's doing.
 
We loss five games and counting in year three and the reqruciting class has headed to the border trying to get INTO Mexico. I don’t know about the rest of you, but my yard is full of pieces of the sky and the lake is flooding over from even more. No chickens in sight. I think this might be the real thing.
 
Whatever. Your opinion is wothless so run along little hater See me next year when the canes do exactly what I say and beat up on a pathetic schedule.

Responding like a 13 year old girl, nice. Did you graduate from Mars Hill University by chance?
 
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First let me clarify that I am not in love with the job CMR did this year. All of the rats jumping ship may be proven correct but why as a fan would anyone want to spend their time obsessing/*****ing about potentially failing, especially when CMR has one of the best winning percentages of any active coaches out there.

1) Top 5 talent? We've had one maybe two top 10 recruiting class in the last decade (last year was one).
2) He was close to winning at least two nattys and as much as I hate the SEC ... pre-BCS it was much harder for the SEC to win.
3) Pretty obvious but we got ****ed by Kayaa leaving early and Allison transferring leaving us with only immature freshman and Malik.
4) What is your definition of elite? Winning a national title? Only Satan, Swinney, Meyer, Jimbo, and now Miles coming back have won nattys. What winning percentage is considered elite? What coaches outside of Satan, Swinney, Jimbo do you consider elite?

So this is a canes football board... so when the team struggles then that’ll be the topic. Especially when the staff is apparently refusing to do what needs to be done to get better. That’s just the way it goes.


1) I was referring to his talent at uga when I said elite. But here, while not stacked, he’s had more talent than the teams he loses to.
2) In the last decade 2012 was the only time he was close to a ship. He’s had better talent than the record indicates, and the problem he had then is the same as now.... his O always underperforms. His offenses have not evolved with the times.
3) The QB situation ain’t good. Kaaya shouldn’t have left, rosier isn’t the guy, development hasn’t happened w the other 2, and the game planning has NOT in any way done anything to help a struggling QB. This has been harped on, so no need to go on, but this is the crux of the teams issues now.
4) You’re right, elite is a difficult term to define. What I look for in a coach is a history of beating teams w less talent.... I guess elite would be the coach who can also threaten to beat teams w more talent. As a ceo richt is great, but as an offensive mind he is lacking. He’s the guy who wants to beat yours with his, but in today’s game that doesn’t work. He is lacking in the X and O category in today’s game. That’s not debatable. This is the 3rd season of underachieving, and nothing’s being done to reverse that.

Richt needs to get outta the offenses way or we will always have an underperforming team. Neither he nor his disciples, like bobo, are good enough to field a modern offense. It ain’t 2003 anymore.
 
Down-voted and here’s why:

Re: recruiting. Your entire statement is based on a lot of hopefully/maybe/possibly/trying real hard. We never close strong and I don’t expect us too given the current state of things.

Re: our offense being better in 19. If Richt is still calling plays, it doesn’t matter who’s at QB, RB or any other position. I mean JT had 1 catch in 4 different games....

Lastly, how can you think we’ll be 9-1 or 10-0 in the ACC next year? Our schedule this year was as easy as it gets. We lost to facking DUKE at home and scored 12 points!!!!

Did you just wake up from a coma that started after the ND game last year? In case you did, here’s what just happened: we had the #2 defense in the country and rushed for 200 yards a game...and finished 7-5. The gauntlet that took us down...UVA, BC, Duke and GT.

But don’t worry, we’re killing it with recruiting right now so there’s plenty of help on the way...

So I said I would get back to you this morning on your points. Here are my counter points:

-You say that my entire statement is based on a lot of hopefully/maybe/possibly/trying real hard and we don't close well.
*I actually don't have a problem with this statement except that really isn't my stance. I base my outlook on recruiting on what Richt has done in the past and not just this year. While we have missed on some top end talent in the past, we have still finished with some top names that are currently on our roster and will be making an impact next year. I will agree that our coaches don't close well but that has not been Richt's M.O. when he was at Georgia. I know everyone is mad at him and for good reason but if we look at it objectively, he has shown himself to be a decent coach with a long history of adequate football. I don't expect that to change.

-Our offense being better in 2019.
*This last year Richt screwed the pooch with is mismanagement of the offense and the QB position. However, in 2016 and 2017, he ran an adequate offense built around the strengths of the QB's at that time. And before people lose their mind on me, I'm not saying that he lit the world on fire but if we just get stability at the QB position and just average play on the offensive line, Perry (and I'm sure Williams) can and will make enough plays to beat the teams on our 2019 schedule. ****, Perry went 6-24 against Pitt and we won by 20+ points. The keys is spread the defense out and run the **** ball with our talented backs. Don't turn the ball over and just keep the chains moving. In 2017, Rosier and the offense did not turn the ball over and I expect that we will get back to that type of football next year. It's really up to whomever our QB is to just manage the game because no team on our schedule can beat us talent for talent...we have to help them with miscues and stupid mistakes for them to earn a W vs us. That's my opinion and it's backed up by facts.

-Did I wake up in a coma after the ND game last year?
*No but I did enjoy the fairy tale of 2017 until it ended. Now to be serious....While you are correct that we had the #2 defense in the country and rushed for 200 yards a game that's not the whole story. We turned the ball over and lost the turnover and/or field position battle in every loss. Watch the games and you will see that we beat Virginia if we don't commit 3 turnovers to match their 3 turnovers AND if we actually could punt that game. We gave them short fields to play on to get their 16 points and if we just had an AVERAGE offense (like we did vs Pitt and VT) we win this game by 20. We win against Duke if not for the two costly turnovers by Dallas which gave Duke short fields to navigate to get scores. We also beat GT if we could hold on to the **** ball and flip field position in that game. Our only two losses came against BC and LSU and those are only losses because our offense stunk. Rosier was horrible vs LSU and was not much better vs BC. Richt needs to hire an OC and if he does, we win by 20 each game in 2019. The teams we face are horrible next year.

-We are "killing it" in recruiting:
*obviously, Richt and his staff have had set backs. But lets see how it ends before we pass judgement. I believe he will rebound and still get in the top 20 when it's said and done. Couple that with two very good classes before that and we are still sitting okay going into 2020 and beyond. This team is not starving for talent. We just need better coaching to get the most out of the talent we have and I think we both agree on that front.
 
You make some very valid points, and I honestly applaud your optimism. It takes a lot to be an optimistic Canes fan these days.

You are correct that we are poised to have a much better showing in 2019 for several reasons as you have pointed out. I guess I'm just not ready to absolve Richt for the ****show performance that was 2018. Yeah we had some holes and deficiencies that should get addressed in 2019, but damnit there was absolutely no excuse for the way this season played out.

Richt proved to me this season that he is not the head coach he professes to be. He needs a lot of staff help to cover for his inadequacies - especially on Offense and Special Teams. The team was unprepared, poorly coached and then completely lost motivation and focus. The 4 game losing skid was simply coaching incompetence. He looked clueless and lost out there.

So while 2019 will be better just due to talent maturity, the sting of 2018 still sits with me and I've lost a ton of faith in Richt's capabilities along the way. We should be a guaranteed 10-2 annually given the conference and division we are in, but Richt will find a way to lose a couple of games that should be sure wins...

Bottom line, it's very hard for me to get excited about our prospects with Richt at the helm unless he makes some significant staff changes and turns over the reigns of the offense to a true OC who knows what the **** he's doing.

I get it Sphinx and your are correct that Richt needs to earn back the trust of this fanbase. Having a 4 game losing streaks and making the mental and sometime unexplained decision he made (especially on offense) this last year is unforgivable against the teams we played. However, lets see if he makes any changes and if he does not and we have a weak showing against a pathetic schedule then I will be leading the charge to replace Richt. Until then, I have quit optimism that he will navigate a weak schedule and not play QB patsy with Perry/Williams/Weldon. Settle on a QB, spread out the defense and run the **** ball. Keep the chains moving and don't turn the ball over. Improve the punting game and we take the coastal again next year and maybe even give Clemson a game in the ACCCG game for once. We will see.
 
The schedule next year should be easy (though I will note that this year’s schedule was supposed to be really easy as well.) and he should beat those teams. But this is already the bare minimum of what he should be doing. This year he failed at even the absolute minimum. But if he continues to refuse to make changes, next year could play more like 2017.

This program has serious issues and they will not be solved by an easy schedule. Eventually, you have to play a real team and you will simply get exposed for the fraud that you are. When faced with real competition Richt will simply lose again. The offense will still be predictable and easy for opponents to counter. All we would have done is delay the inevitable.

I know you think your assessment is based on facts but it really is not. I won't counter every one of your points but most of it is based on you simply thinking things will get better just because a season has gone by and things should get better with time. But if changes are not made then we will simply be doing the same things with slightly more experienced players.

We should be beating and winning the Coastal every year. There is no excuse for losing to these teams so beating them next year and getting to the championship game is not any indication that Richt has corrected the issues and all is well. First he has to prove he can actually beat these teams consistently and not just every other year.

We are still caught in this Groundhog day loop. The indications all here to see if you do not simply ignore them. Sure we may win a few more game than last year but this is trap. It will probably take two more years for people to figure it out like it always seems to do. People kept thinking that Coker, Shannon and Golden would all turn it around because of this and that. But the real problem is the coach and real change is not going to happen until he changes or there is a coaching change. The three prior coaches couldn't and refused to change and Richt seems to be going down that same path.

So while you may be hopeful and there is nothing wrong with that...but there are real indications that things will not be any better next year or the years after that.
 
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So I said I would get back to you this morning on your points. Here are my counter points:

-You say that my entire statement is based on a lot of hopefully/maybe/possibly/trying real hard and we don't close well.
*I actually don't have a problem with this statement except that really isn't my stance. I base my outlook on recruiting on what Richt has done in the past and not just this year. While we have missed on some top end talent in the past, we have still finished with some top names that are currently on our roster and will be making an impact next year. I will agree that our coaches don't close well but that has not been Richt's M.O. when he was at Georgia. I know everyone is mad at him and for good reason but if we look at it objectively, he has shown himself to be a decent coach with a long history of adequate football. I don't expect that to change.

-Our offense being better in 2019.
*This last year Richt screwed the pooch with is mismanagement of the offense and the QB position. However, in 2016 and 2017, he ran an adequate offense built around the strengths of the QB's at that time. And before people lose their mind on me, I'm not saying that he lit the world on fire but if we just get stability at the QB position and just average play on the offensive line, Perry (and I'm sure Williams) can and will make enough plays to beat the teams on our 2019 schedule. ****, Perry went 6-24 against Pitt and we won by 20+ points. The keys is spread the defense out and run the **** ball with our talented backs. Don't turn the ball over and just keep the chains moving. In 2017, Rosier and the offense did not turn the ball over and I expect that we will get back to that type of football next year. It's really up to whomever our QB is to just manage the game because no team on our schedule can beat us talent for talent...we have to help them with miscues and stupid mistakes for them to earn a W vs us. That's my opinion and it's backed up by facts.

-Did I wake up in a coma after the ND game last year?
*No but I did enjoy the fairy tale of 2017 until it ended. Now to be serious....While you are correct that we had the #2 defense in the country and rushed for 200 yards a game that's not the whole story. We turned the ball over and lost the turnover and/or field position battle in every loss. Watch the games and you will see that we beat Virginia if we don't commit 3 turnovers to match their 3 turnovers AND if we actually could punt that game. We gave them short fields to play on to get their 16 points and if we just had an AVERAGE offense (like we did vs Pitt and VT) we win this game by 20. We win against Duke if not for the two costly turnovers by Dallas which gave Duke short fields to navigate to get scores. We also beat GT if we could hold on to the **** ball and flip field position in that game. Our only two losses came against BC and LSU and those are only losses because our offense stunk. Rosier was horrible vs LSU and was not much better vs BC. Richt needs to hire an OC and if he does, we win by 20 each game in 2019. The teams we face are horrible next year.

-We are "killing it" in recruiting:
*obviously, Richt and his staff have had set backs. But lets see how it ends before we pass judgement. I believe he will rebound and still get in the top 20 when it's said and done. Couple that with two very good classes before that and we are still sitting okay going into 2020 and beyond. This team is not starving for talent. We just need better coaching to get the most out of the talent we have and I think we both agree on that front.

Logical points. However, here’s my issue with your stance.

You’re basically saying, if we do x, y, and z better, we’ll win more games. Obviously, if the kids are coached up better, we maximize their talent, don’t turn the ball over, have decent special times and so on, yes we should be better.

My question is HOW are we going to do that? The offense has been steadily declining year over year. I have no reason to believe that things will improve when you are planning on having the same staff, with the same offensive philosophy and playbook, and the same players (because there are no immediate impact players being brought in) in 2019. You get what I’m saying? Why should the same thing produce a different result?

I’ll give you a perfect example of why I feel this way:

First offensive possession of the season vs LSU. 1st down, pistol formation, Homer motions to Malik’s left. I’m thinking “nice, show them our typical look and run something different”. Nope. Inside zone run for no gain. 2nd down, Malik keeps for loss of 1. 3rd down, screen pass in the dirt. 4th down, 25 yard punt.

Right there, I had a sinking feeling. You’re telling me that after 8 months to prepare, huge game vs and SEC opponent, prime time, 25k Cane fans in Dallas, THAT is what Richt came out with? Literally the same exact **** plays that weren’t working the year before. Was there even a game plan? How could the punting still be an issue? It’s almost like the end of 2017 was paused then started back up again.

So tell me, why should I believe that 2019 will produce any different results when all indications are that nothing will change?
 
But the sky is not falling and the Miami football program as a whole is in pretty good shape. Lets break this down into two parts. This years recruiting (and future years) and next years schedule and roster. (sorry for the length of the post but I'm so tired of reading that the sky is falling because it's not!)

Recruiting:

There is no way to spin this...We have taken our lumps in this years recruiting class and it's because our Coaching staff and team did not perform well against a really average schedule. Our verbal commits noticed that and were quick to abandon ship. However, we still have 14 commits and while the majority of them are defensive commits, the staff is out trying to recover from the defections that have happened. I absolutely love how some of you are so quick to question why the staff did not have a back up plan in place for all these de-commitments. It's not that easy. These targets they had were all hurricanes (and were saying all the right things) until the last couple of months. If we go out and offer kids while we have other kids (who were still verbally committed to us) that were still in play it will have negative factors in both scholarship limits and it pretty much tells those verbal commitments that we don't think your coming. Did that happen? Yes but the staff is out trying to recover from those defections. ESD is nice but it's not the tell all of recruiting and I firmly believe (and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one) that the staff will salvage this class. Richt and his staff are experienced and are working their butts off trying to make up for what has happened. Unless we sign everyone that we think we will, we won't get in the top 15 but we can finish in the top 25 which isn't bad considering a 7-5 record and how stupid we looked on offense the whole year.

So we finish in the top 25 and with our last two classes (12th nationally in 2017 and 8th nationally in 2018) we will still be able to put one **** of a product on the field in 2019. And Surge 2020 recruiting class is still intact and with a schedule that sets up nicely for us in 2019, Richt and his staff could close that class out in the top 10 which will be big in helping us to recover in key skill positions going forward.

So why will we be "better" in 2019? There are several reasons but I will stick to the top ones

1. Our offense will be better because we will have a "true" QB and not a running back acting like a QB. No matter if it's Perry or Williams, they will be an upgrade because they both "look" like QB's. We saw at the end of the year that Perry (while not great) made enough plays with his legs and arms to win games. The critical thing is that he did not turn over the ball. If we don't turn the ball over teams that we play in the ACC don't have a great shot to beat us. Look at the games in which we lost and turnovers were a major reason why. ****, Perry can go 6-20 and not turn the ball over and we still beat Pitt by 20 points.

2. Lingard, Davis and Dallas are the real deal. All we need is the threat of a passer to be our QB and it allows these running backs to be more effective. We had success running the ball against teams at the end of the year and some of it was because spread defenses out. But I also surmise that the offense was better because teams had to respect Perry's arm. He may not always make the right read (and has cold streaks that last for way too long) but he has legitimate arm strength and is pretty accurate. Defenses have to account for that.

3. I like the idea of a OL with a nasty edge. While I thought the line improved in the last two games I truly expect that a OL line made up of Scaife, Donaldson, Gaynor, Reed has a ton of potential going into next year and attitude to boot. We need to see who our LT is but it's not like Darling was great. He was average with some of you calling him a turnstile. Let's see who we get but I'm confident in that front four being able to handle the DL's of any ACC coastal team.

4. Jordan, Mallory are true impact TE who gained a ton of experience this year and will have a full off season to really bulk up/condition. With Irvins and Polendy back (and at least 1 TE we should get in recruiting) we will have depth for next year. The possibility of putting both those guys out at the same time is a nightmare for D coordinators to have to deal with. Combine that with a receiving core that also will have an offseason to bulk up/condition and the possibility is there for a dynamic offense.

5. Last but not least, the defense led by Manny Diaz is going to make life a living **** on ACC teams. Miami's D even if it takes a slight step back will still be able to handle the the offenses that UNC, Pitt, Duke, GT, etc. throw at it. Again, the offense just needs to not turn over the ball and no team that we face next year will be favored to beat us.

Richt needs to hire an O.C. Will he do it is the question. However, even if he doesn't a record of 9-1 or even 10-0 in the regular season is very realistic. UNC, Louisville and GT all have new coaching staffs and will need to rebuild/retool. Pitt can't throw the ball period. Duke loses Jones and a ton of Sr on their defense. Virginia loses 3/4 of their experience secondary and can't throw the ball either. Our only real challenges next year are Florida and Fla St. and if that's the case, I have to give us the edge even if we are running "30 year old plays" from a 6 play playbook.

Do me a favor, if you do down vote me please tell me what you don't agree with. I'm truly interested in where I'm off base with what I wrote.

GO CANES!!!!
 
I stopped reading at "backup plan". This staff doesn't even have a good enough plan to score 20 points a game. To **** with any other kind of plans. Nothing they plan works, but let's just have blind faith that one day they will.

In addition, recruiting has become BIG business. This notion that we can't offer other kids because we have non binding verbals and we don't want to scare them off is a loser mentality.

The kids don't operate that way, and neither do the winners on the recruiting trail.
 
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But the sky is not falling and the Miami football program as a whole is in pretty good shape. Lets break this down into two parts. This years recruiting (and future years) and next years schedule and roster. (sorry for the length of the post but I'm so tired of reading that the sky is falling because it's not!)

Recruiting:

There is no way to spin this...We have taken our lumps in this years recruiting class and it's because our Coaching staff and team did not perform well against a really average schedule. Our verbal commits noticed that and were quick to abandon ship. However, we still have 14 commits and while the majority of them are defensive commits, the staff is out trying to recover from the defections that have happened. I absolutely love how some of you are so quick to question why the staff did not have a back up plan in place for all these de-commitments. It's not that easy. These targets they had were all hurricanes (and were saying all the right things) until the last couple of months. If we go out and offer kids while we have other kids (who were still verbally committed to us) that were still in play it will have negative factors in both scholarship limits and it pretty much tells those verbal commitments that we don't think your coming. Did that happen? Yes but the staff is out trying to recover from those defections. ESD is nice but it's not the tell all of recruiting and I firmly believe (and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one) that the staff will salvage this class. Richt and his staff are experienced and are working their butts off trying to make up for what has happened. Unless we sign everyone that we think we will, we won't get in the top 15 but we can finish in the top 25 which isn't bad considering a 7-5 record and how stupid we looked on offense the whole year.

So we finish in the top 25 and with our last two classes (12th nationally in 2017 and 8th nationally in 2018) we will still be able to put one **** of a product on the field in 2019. And Surge 2020 recruiting class is still intact and with a schedule that sets up nicely for us in 2019, Richt and his staff could close that class out in the top 10 which will be big in helping us to recover in key skill positions going forward.

So why will we be "better" in 2019? There are several reasons but I will stick to the top ones

1. Our offense will be better because we will have a "true" QB and not a running back acting like a QB. No matter if it's Perry or Williams, they will be an upgrade because they both "look" like QB's. We saw at the end of the year that Perry (while not great) made enough plays with his legs and arms to win games. The critical thing is that he did not turn over the ball. If we don't turn the ball over teams that we play in the ACC don't have a great shot to beat us. Look at the games in which we lost and turnovers were a major reason why. ****, Perry can go 6-20 and not turn the ball over and we still beat Pitt by 20 points.

2. Lingard, Davis and Dallas are the real deal. All we need is the threat of a passer to be our QB and it allows these running backs to be more effective. We had success running the ball against teams at the end of the year and some of it was because spread defenses out. But I also surmise that the offense was better because teams had to respect Perry's arm. He may not always make the right read (and has cold streaks that last for way too long) but he has legitimate arm strength and is pretty accurate. Defenses have to account for that.

3. I like the idea of a OL with a nasty edge. While I thought the line improved in the last two games I truly expect that a OL line made up of Scaife, Donaldson, Gaynor, Reed has a ton of potential going into next year and attitude to boot. We need to see who our LT is but it's not like Darling was great. He was average with some of you calling him a turnstile. Let's see who we get but I'm confident in that front four being able to handle the DL's of any ACC coastal team.

4. Jordan, Mallory are true impact TE who gained a ton of experience this year and will have a full off season to really bulk up/condition. With Irvins and Polendy back (and at least 1 TE we should get in recruiting) we will have depth for next year. The possibility of putting both those guys out at the same time is a nightmare for D coordinators to have to deal with. Combine that with a receiving core that also will have an offseason to bulk up/condition and the possibility is there for a dynamic offense.

5. Last but not least, the defense led by Manny Diaz is going to make life a living **** on ACC teams. Miami's D even if it takes a slight step back will still be able to handle the the offenses that UNC, Pitt, Duke, GT, etc. throw at it. Again, the offense just needs to not turn over the ball and no team that we face next year will be favored to beat us.

Richt needs to hire an O.C. Will he do it is the question. However, even if he doesn't a record of 9-1 or even 10-0 in the regular season is very realistic. UNC, Louisville and GT all have new coaching staffs and will need to rebuild/retool. Pitt can't throw the ball period. Duke loses Jones and a ton of Sr on their defense. Virginia loses 3/4 of their experience secondary and can't throw the ball either. Our only real challenges next year are Florida and Fla St. and if that's the case, I have to give us the edge even if we are running "30 year old plays" from a 6 play playbook.

Do me a favor, if you do down vote me please tell me what you don't agree with. I'm truly interested in where I'm off base with what I wrote.

GO CANES!!!!

I like the optimism. Its realistic and thought out. I agree with just about everything. Here's the missing part: The team attitude has to improve. The coaching staff needs to figure out how to make that happen. JJ was a psychology major and he used that to get people to perform at their best. As long as we keep seeing dropped passes and watching the receivers act like they dont care, we wont reach full potential. The biggest single problem with this team us motivation.
 
Logical points. However, here’s my issue with your stance.

You’re basically saying, if we do x, y, and z better, we’ll win more games. Obviously, if the kids are coached up better, we maximize their talent, don’t turn the ball over, have decent special times and so on, yes we should be better.

My question is HOW are we going to do that? The offense has been steadily declining year over year. I have no reason to believe that things will improve when you are planning on having the same staff, with the same offensive philosophy and playbook, and the same players (because there are no immediate impact players being brought in) in 2019. You get what I’m saying? Why should the same thing produce a different result?

I’ll give you a perfect example of why I feel this way:

First offensive possession of the season vs LSU. 1st down, pistol formation, Homer motions to Malik’s left. I’m thinking “nice, show them our typical look and run something different”. Nope. Inside zone run for no gain. 2nd down, Malik keeps for loss of 1. 3rd down, screen pass in the dirt. 4th down, 25 yard punt.

Right there, I had a sinking feeling. You’re telling me that after 8 months to prepare, huge game vs and SEC opponent, prime time, 25k Cane fans in Dallas, THAT is what Richt came out with? Literally the same exact **** plays that weren’t working the year before. Was there even a game plan? How could the punting still be an issue? It’s almost like the end of 2017 was paused then started back up again.

So tell me, why should I believe that 2019 will produce any different results when all indications are that nothing will change?

Man, I truly get where your coming from. I said in an earlier reply in a different thread that fans all year long could guess what Richt was calling before he even called the **** play. It got so bad that people who attended the game where calling out the play from the stands to Richt and they were more right than wrong.

So let me say this. I'm optimistic because I feel we will have a ton of athletes (that played this year) and they will have an offseason to bulk up, continue to gain experience and hopefully be more conditioned to play more downs in every game. Guys like Jordan, Mallory, Pope, Hightower, Wiggins, Davis and even Lingard (to a certain extent) if they all stay should be better prepared for what it takes to play at the college level. Our offense last year started so many young guys and while I'm not using that as a excuse (I'm really not) I have faith they will be better in 2019. And while I don't agree with Richt's philosphy on offense which seems to be "whip the person across from you" we do have the better talent than 95% of the teams we face in 2019. The same can be said of this year but young inexperienced guys need time to grow up and 95% of those guys are not going to be Patrick Surtain and be productive right away in their true freshman season.

Let's see how things progress from 2018 when a little less than half our offense at times was full of true and redshirt freshman. 2016 Richt centered his offense around Kaaya. It took him way to long to do it but he finally did it to go to 9-4. In 2017, he played to Rosier Strengths and not his weaknesses and while Rosier did not set the world on fire, he did enough to win games. In 2018, Richt lost his way, became very stubborn about starting Rosier (not that Perry didn't do bone headed things to make Richt do that) and really centered his offense on plays that were designed to not make the "big" mistake. Inside zone run, QB draw and then a screen pass into the dirt as you were saying in your example. I want to say this also, I don't think people realize how much Herndon and Berrios bailed out Rosier in 2017. While I believe that Thomas and Jordan did very well this season, they could not make the repeated clutch plays that Herndon and Berrios did to keep drives alive. Jordan and Mallory are going to be phenomenal in the coming years but we really need someone to be clutch like Berrios....My questions is who will it be? My money is on Pope if he stays. But I like Hightower and Mallory the most of all our offensive weapons. Guess we will see

One thing we can agree on I think, if we could get a O.C. who uses a spread offense (like Riley) we would be blowing ACC coastal teams out by 20+ every game. With Richt, it's going to be closer in these games then it should be. I hope he makes the right decision in the offseason.
 
I like the optimism. Its realistic and thought out. I agree with just about everything. Here's the missing part: The team attitude has to improve. The coaching staff needs to figure out how to make that happen. JJ was a psychology major and he used that to get people to perform at their best. As long as we keep seeing dropped passes and watching the receivers act like they dont care, we wont reach full potential. The biggest single problem with this team us motivation.

Manny and his d staff motivate his dudes on defense and he had leaders this year that made sure everyone played up to their level. We need that on the offensive side of things. Until we get that, it does temper my enthusiasm a little. I have faith that DJ Dallas, Al Blades, and Trajan Bandy will be those leaders but we need one of our QB's, our starting center (which I think Gaynor will do just fine) and our MLB to be those leaders also. Set the tone and enforce it daily. Once we get that, we will go places.
 
Responding like a 13 year old girl, nice. Did you graduate from Mars Hill University by chance?

Your trying to pick a fight and I bought into it. Not anymore. I'm interested in an open dialog in which ideas can be exchanged and view points can be enhanced like Acento is doing. Your doing none of that so I'm done responding to you. Take care, friend.
 
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