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I Rewatched the Five Straight 3-and-outs

CanesAreAble said:
I tried to figure out how and why our offense just died after looking unstoppable.

The offensive line had a few bad reps, but they weren't the main culprit.

The two biggest issues I saw:

1. Playcalling/personnel grouping

I don't understand why Lofton was getting so much burn in obvious passing sets. For example, on the possession that began at our 14-yard line at 8:51 in the 4th quarter, it was 3rd & 6. We're in a 2x2 set with Lofton flexed to the slot like he's Kyle Pitts or something. Wake brings a 5-man pressure, but Mensah has time to get rid of the ball. On the broadcast, Jordan Rodgers said Mensah should've looked for Toney on the other side. I don't think the slot go-ball was a bad decision, IF you have a WR in the game. If that's Upshaw/Spafford/Wingo/Jacobs, it's probably a touchdown. Instead he slightly overshoots Lofton.

On top of that, Dawson ran cold with the playcalling. Bunch sets to the boundary instead of getting guys in space. We ran a couple mesh concepts (one against man, one against zone), but neither worked. As dialed as he was in the 1st half and the beginning of the 3rd quarter, he was just off.

If you're gonna insist on Lofton in the game, maybe run some pistol w/ some boot action. Maybe run a counter off the TE wheel we hit for a TD in the 2nd quarter.

I've seen some say Dawson got conservative, but that's not really what I saw. Only 3 of the 15 plays called in that stretch were runs. And yes I know you can still call passes and be conservative, but that just wasn't the case, IMO.

He was simply not good. Bad time for Dawson to get cold.


2. Mensah having an uncharacteristically poor stretch

Mensah has been better than advertised, and **** near perfect. But this was a bit of a rough stretch for him. I thought his eyes were in the wrong place a couple times. I thought he didn't pull the trigger on one play that was there. That was when Dawson went over to talk to him. He looked ****ed after the game. I think he knows he could've played better and we should've choked them out when it was 31-13.


I know I said the OL wasn't the main culprit, but they weren't a strength, either. The IOL simply has to get better. That would alleviate some of the pressure on Mensah to be nearly flawless. Being able to run for 4 or 5 yards consistently would open up so much. That was the underrated strength of the 2024 offense with Cam Ward. We were 5th in the nation in ypc. We dropped to 82nd last year.

Right now, we're much closer to 2025 than 2024, but we don't have the elite pass-blocking and short-yardage running to compensate.

Mario and Mirabal are really gonna have to earn their money this season.
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Good points and fair. We would have learned nothing from a 45-14 win. I don’t like the sloppiness and hate the injuries but this will help us get better.
 
KingB02 said:
Why are you blaming Lofton for Mensah overshooting him on a pass? It doesn’t matter how fast he is, Mensah had no pressure he just misfired. Had he connected it’s a TD. Lofton played great yesterday. The fade route was an obvious PI that was not called. Defender got there early and didn’t look back. No one makes that play. The ball was thrown 100 yards in the air and Lofton who beat his man had to turn around and wait for the ball. Which caused the clear PI. That play call itself is trash because it was on the short side of the field as you mentioned. The play calling was atrocious, but Dawson has consistently done that. He doesn’t use the entire field of play. Whoever is lined up on the wide side (single wide) won’t get looked at 90 percent of the time. Idk what it is with him and that but he just doesn’t throw to that guy! Cooper had 3 targets and two were on screens out of 3 wide. Only once did he look to that side and throw him a slant. The play you said Mali was wide open, guess where he was lined up? Flanked out wide. Never even looked there! **** is crazy that we handcuff our offense and not make the other team have to defend the entire field!
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I’m not blaming Lofton. I’m blaming the coaches for having him in, not because he’s a bad player, but because I think 3rd & long is not his strength.

Also, we have thrown to the iso side on those formations. We did it multiple times against Stanford and FAMU. We did it in the Wake game. But we didn’t during the three-and-out debacle.
 
CanesAreAble said:
I tried to figure out how and why our offense just died after looking unstoppable.

The offensive line had a few bad reps, but they weren't the main culprit.

The two biggest issues I saw:

1. Playcalling/personnel grouping

I don't understand why Lofton was getting so much burn in obvious passing sets. For example, on the possession that began at our 14-yard line at 8:51 in the 4th quarter, it was 3rd & 6. We're in a 2x2 set with Lofton flexed to the slot like he's Kyle Pitts or something. Wake brings a 5-man pressure, but Mensah has time to get rid of the ball. On the broadcast, Jordan Rodgers said Mensah should've looked for Toney on the other side. I don't think the slot go-ball was a bad decision, IF you have a WR in the game. If that's Upshaw/Spafford/Wingo/Jacobs, it's probably a touchdown. Instead he slightly overshoots Lofton.

On top of that, Dawson ran cold with the playcalling. Bunch sets to the boundary instead of getting guys in space. We ran a couple mesh concepts (one against man, one against zone), but neither worked. As dialed as he was in the 1st half and the beginning of the 3rd quarter, he was just off.

If you're gonna insist on Lofton in the game, maybe run some pistol w/ some boot action. Maybe run a counter off the TE wheel we hit for a TD in the 2nd quarter.

I've seen some say Dawson got conservative, but that's not really what I saw. Only 3 of the 15 plays called in that stretch were runs. And yes I know you can still call passes and be conservative, but that just wasn't the case, IMO.

He was simply not good. Bad time for Dawson to get cold.


2. Mensah having an uncharacteristically poor stretch

Mensah has been better than advertised, and **** near perfect. But this was a bit of a rough stretch for him. I thought his eyes were in the wrong place a couple times. I thought he didn't pull the trigger on one play that was there. That was when Dawson went over to talk to him. He looked ****ed after the game. I think he knows he could've played better and we should've choked them out when it was 31-13.


I know I said the OL wasn't the main culprit, but they weren't a strength, either. The IOL simply has to get better. That would alleviate some of the pressure on Mensah to be nearly flawless. Being able to run for 4 or 5 yards consistently would open up so much. That was the underrated strength of the 2024 offense with Cam Ward. We were 5th in the nation in ypc. We dropped to 82nd last year.

Right now, we're much closer to 2025 than 2024, but we don't have the elite pass-blocking and short-yardage running to compensate.

Mario and Mirabal are really gonna have to earn their money this season.
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Good post. I will say this. Dawson seems to have stretches with very good playcalling and other stretches where you scratch your head and say what is he doing!? When Mensah got hit the one time he seemed gun shy a little after that. Our OL needs to be better no doubt. Maybe move McCoy to guard to replace SJ and put Congdon at tackle or Cantwell.

Too bad we missed out on getting OT Seaton who went to LSU instead.
 
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LuCane said:
Think there’s a contradiction in your post you tried to avoid, but did not. Conservative as ‘run vs pass’ is awfully superficial. You tried to skate over this with a quick mention, but it’s the core issue.

We got tight and risk averse by formation and approach whether or not it was run or pass. Sure, it could be because of injuries, OL protection, etc. We still did it. Repeatedly. One drive? Ok. A few drives when you have the opponent on the ropes? Now we’re having the same convo as the worst parts of last season.

I haven’t done the deep dive from last season, but I’d love to see our numbers when we spread by formation (Lofton at slot undercuts this) and break tendency on 1st down.
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I just didn’t see it that way on the rewatch. I don’t think tightness was the problem.

If anything, a conservative “run-run-pass” approach might’ve gotten us into more manageable 3rd downs, especially with Mali off the field.
 
The entire offense fell asleep at the wheel and didn’t make any adjustments to how Wake changed up and flat out couldn’t get execute.

Yes we had injuries but that doesn’t affect the OL which had none and suddenly they couldn’t grasp what Wake tossed at them and that’s not shocking being that the 3 guys in the middle don’t communicate and turn into amateur roller skaters get spun around.

Mirabal isn’t looking like the OL guru that he is portrayed to be and Dawson went into a shell trying to protect the lead and his QB.
 
With all the players that got banged up, it definitely seemed like they went into, “let’s just survive the game, get the W, and roll out” mode.
 
Elmer Leghorn said:
Dawson is Jekyll and Hyde. Sometimes good, sometimes terrible. I'm assuming guys being dinged up changed the game and play calling, but is was really just typical Dawson. He's never out schemed anybody. Never. Doesn't matter who the opponent is, same play calling. Very easy to figure out for opposing coaches.
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Dawson may not be flawless for entire game stretches but hes occasionally pressed the right buttons and put DCs in a blender. The OSU TD pass to Fletch comes to mind.
 
OBLIVION said:
The entire offense fell asleep at the wheel and didn’t make any adjustments to how Wake changed up and flat out couldn’t get execute.

Yes we had injuries but that doesn’t affect the OL which had none and suddenly they couldn’t grasp what Wake tossed at them and that’s not shocking being that the 3 guys in the middle don’t communicate and turn into amateur roller skaters get spun around.

Mirabal isn’t looking like the OL guru that he is portrayed to be and Dawson went into a shell trying to protect the lead and his QB.
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Also, Barkate was advertised as essentially "plug and play" for Mali.

This was supposed to be a defense killing strength of the Canes O.

What happened?
 
CanesAreAble said:
I just didn’t see it that way on the rewatch. I don’t think tightness was the problem.

If anything, a conservative “run-run-pass” approach might’ve gotten us into more manageable 3rd downs, especially with Mali off the field.
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Some of those dink LOS throws are worse than runs. We weren't fooling them at all.
 
2024 offensive line was really good. As good as 25? No but still miles ahead of what we got now. Rivers/bell at tackle and Francis on the right side. Cooper and McCoy at guard had power and by then some experience. And then carpenter at center was experienced and had power. And his snapping was good. It’s amazing that snapping the football is somehow a skill we don’t possess
 
Empirical Cane said:
Also, Barkate was advertised as essentially "plug and play" for Mali.

This was supposed to be a defense killing strength of the Canes O.

What happened?
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When the all 22 OL breakdown comes out I hope it shows how bad Wake worked the OL in the 2nd half. It wasn’t fair and the 3 guys in the middle started making Samson look bad.

We couldn’t do anything because wake just blew up the line and Dawson just got the ball out of there quickly to protect his QB and backs.
 
The really strange thing is the media couldn't have watched the 2nd half. They are so caught up in Mensahs 24 straight completions. No talk of injuries at all. No talk of 78 yards in the second half. Not sure they even watched the game. Interested to see if we get jumped by ole miss. I imagine we will.
 
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