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I Rewatched the Five Straight 3-and-outs

CanesAreAble

CanesAreAble

All-ACC
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Nov 2, 2011
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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.
 
Conference win.
Friday night win.
Starting off season with 2 road games, 1 on the west coast and a chump team on a Thursday night at home.
Horrible ACC Schedule,

Did you watch CFB today.?
Nobody looked impressive!
Upsets, last minute comebacks etc....

You still mad?

And btw, get yo *** back to the #Wez!!
 
twes.305 said:
I’m not a believer in Lofton at TE. He doesn’t create that much separation, he’s slow, and he’s not that good of a blocker. He’s very mid at everything. Should be playing FB.
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Mario has done a lot of good but we're not TEU when hes coach, at least with Dawson as the OC. Lofton is one of the most overhyped players ive ever seem at Miam.
 
FromDeeeeep said:
What I kept coming back too during the second half was why wasn’t Barkate being targeted more. He obviously has history and the trust of Mensah. With Toney limited and Fletcher out, Dawson should have been scheming plays to Barkate.
Click to expand...

Barkate should be an excellent #2 and the lack of targets for him is puzzling, especially given his history with Mensah.
 
bathtubgin said:
Barkate should be an excellent #2 and the lack of targets for him is puzzling, especially given his history with Mensah.
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This is the adjustment I think we will see made over the coming weeks. It seems to take Dawson a few games to truly understand how to best use all of the weapons he has.
 
FromDeeeeep said:
What I kept coming back too during the second half was why wasn’t Barkate being targeted more. He obviously has history and the trust of Mensah. With Toney limited and Fletcher out, Dawson should have been scheming plays to Barkate.
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Hard to say on tv but I have not seen him win consistently on his routes. Hopefully we can scheme some more openings
 
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.
 
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.
Click to expand...
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!
 
I think injuries changed the dynamic, and it spooked Dawson.

He has his QB dinged, top 2 backs out, and his top WR basically acting as a decoy.

On top of that WF was at home got the momemtum, and was playing with alot of confidence.
 
I’m very uneasy with the team right now, but that’s my nature when it comes to Miami football, Ian to see the injury report and how they work around it.
I think the most unsettling part for myself, and a lot of other people, is we felt like this offense was an absolute machine. Let’s see where it goes from here.
 
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.
 
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.
Click to expand...



A few things.

1. By the time we went cold, both Mensah and Toney were banged up. Obviously not bad enough to pull them, but it certainly impacted the quality of their play. You could see both of them stretching and working on impacted body parts while the defense was on the field.

2. The overthrow to Lofton was hurried, and while Mensah has hit that pass before (notably, the first TD to Toney against Stanford), the earlier pain and the desire not to be hurt more at this point in the game may have caused him to throw it a bit harder than he should have.

3. Don't listen to the announcers, they have no idea who was hurting at that time in the game.

I will say the same thing that I have said in other threads related to the mishandling of the clock at the end of the first half and the decision to kick a 54 yard FG, we should have been trying to score more points to take the fight out of Wake. Their players were pushing our guys to fight, they were going for 2 points when down 24, and they were calling timeouts while down 2 scores with 5 minutes to go. They were doing everything possible to fight as hard as possible, and we needed knockout blows earlier. NOT FOR POINT SPREAD, but to end the game and allow us to play the backups and nurse our injuries.

In one game, we took hits to:

1. Possible first-round DL
2. Our top-2 RBs
3. Our All-American QB
4. Our All-World WR
5. At least one somewhat-needed DB

Now, some of those injuries may be minor, but if Wake was a more physical team that could hit harder, that would be SIX brutal injuries in one game. That is a game where you need to administer the knockout as quickly as possible to get your best players off the field.
 
DREW! said:
Conference win.
Friday night win.
Starting off season with 2 road games, 1 on the west coast and a chump team on a Thursday night at home.
Horrible ACC Schedule,

Did you watch CFB today.?
Nobody looked impressive!
Upsets, last minute comebacks etc....

You still mad?

And btw, get yo *** back to the #Wez!!
Click to expand...
This didn’t seem like a mad post just his analysis a couple days after the game lol
 
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