Miami at Louisville: Diary of Bullets
By Vishnu Parasuraman @VRP2003 · On September 2, 2014
Pregame
The first game is always best summed up by Jesse Spano. We’ve spent all offseason convincing ourselves that this is THE YEAR. Now it’s time to overreact to whatever happens in this game.
Oh boy, Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, and David Pollack on the call. Look out for two things: (1) Palmer telling us a team “needs to” do something they obviously need to do (like converting a 4th down late in the game with no timeouts left) and (2) Pollack telling us the weight of the offensive and defensive lines.
87 degrees, no rain, so no excuses?
I really wish Bobby Petrino had ridden in on a motorcycle.
The good news is if Miami stinks, we can blame it on the weird team in the green helmets, which for some reason doesn’t match the green on the rest of the uniforms.
1st Quarter
Both teams look nervous, but the Canes win big on the punt exchange. If the defense can get stops, field position matters.
Boy, our trio of friends in the booth are really playing up the “redemption” angle for Petrino. Palmer just said you can’t blame him for leaving to the NFL. He was a scumbag at Louisville the first go-around, he flatly lied to the Falcons repeatedly before bailing on them, and then he went on his motorcycle ride at Arkansas. ESPN just went out of the way to defend someone who is indefensible. Ridiculous.
Well, I can’t believe I mentioned getting a stop. 93 yards, no problem. One point to notice early on in those plays is Petrino has easily isolated linemen and bigger linebackers on receivers, as the defense got picked apart. They’re going to need an adjustment. Will Manso said it so I don’t have to:
Miami is somewhat driving as the first quarter ends. Total Yards: 96 to 12. Kaaya’s first quarter as a starter: 2-for-4 passing with -1 yards. And yet, Justin Vogel has unloaded two punts for an average of 52 yards and they’re down 7-0 with the ball in Cardinals territory. Not bad, all things considered.
2nd Quarter
And out of nowhere, here’s two throws to Clive Walford with one being a touchdown. Of course, Palmer calls Walford the best tight end in the conference for absolutely no reason.
They are interviewing Louisville’s AD, and there hasn’t been this much BS strewn across ESPN outside of First Take, ever. Apparently, they didn’t care about the “football aspects” when they hired him.
An exchange of fumbles by both teams, as Rece Davis blows both calls while Jesse Palmer will probably realize sometime Tuesday that they blew the play dead.
This game has no rhythm, but the Canes take the lead. A really nice drive ends with a field goal after Miami inexplicably subbed in third-string running back Gus Edwards, running him on 3rd and 3 inside the 10-yard line. And all of it gets blown up on a kick return for a touchdown. 14-10 Louisville.
Halftime
That was just a completely disjointed half. Louisville has outgained Miami, but the Canes had opportunities. The return game is part of the difference, but the 4-point Louisville lead feels fair. Total Yards: Louisville 165, Miami 130. All other stats are pretty even.
3rd down conversions: Louisville 3-8, Miami 0-6.
The defense has held up reasonably well, but there are plays to be made for Louisville. They are still getting wide open over the middle of the field. The run defense for Miami has been stout, and much better than last year.
Already, the vultures are circling….
3rd Quarter
Miami’s D is making all the plays to win this game and the O is ruining it. James Coley just made six awful play calls in a row, sandwiched between a great defensive play to force a fumble as Louisville leads 14-13. They won’t let Kaaya throw. If they didn’t trust him to throw, they should have just played Heaps. Inside the 10 four times and 13 points to show for it. That’s no good.
The D is really holding up and playing well. Perryman has three tackles for loss and he just blew up a 3rd and short. It also looks like Petrino pulled back a little on that drive after Gardner fumbled twice.
Louisville has like 800 people in the box and Miami is running right at it.
An easy touchdown drive for Louisville, and the lead is now eight.
It’s a critical time here, and they have to let Kaaya throw. And they do. He converts Miami’s first 3rd down against Louisville since 2006 (Miami didn’t convert any in the bowl game), and then short-arms an interception. This might turn into a rout.
4th Quarter
Miami’s still hanging in the game, thanks to the defense. Yes, that sentence is accurate. A lot of that has to do with shaky QB play from Louisville, though. Gardner is missing a lot of easy throws.
Kaaya is now auditioning for Happy Feet 3 in the pocket. All the hits early seem to have gotten to him.
A huge play is negated by an idiotic penalty. That’s discipline, and has to fall on the coaches. Golden inexplicably doesn’t kick a field goal to pull the Canes within one score, and misses the 4th down. It’s going to take a major turnaround now. On the replay, Dorsett was wide open and might have scored. Kaaya didn’t see him. Big miss.
Jesse Palmer criticizes Louisville’s running back for going out of bounds. Of course, the clock winds, so it doesn’t really matter. He didn’t have a point, but I believe he thinks he did have a point. Rece Davis points out the clock winds, and of course, Palmer says nothing.
Louisville ends the game with a 14-play, 67-yard touchdown drive eating up 7:47. That was a drive where, down 11, a team that believes fights until the end. This team did not and it tells you something.
Kaaya’s insignificant interception ends the game. Final: 31-13
Postgame
The Canes managed to not even meet our mediocre expectations.
The positive, of sorts, is the defense. They held up okay — 24 points allowed with 336 total yards. That’s much better than last year. It’s not good considering they’re playing a team without their best back and receiver, and it’s their quarterback’s first career start. The two forced fumbles were huge and the offense wasted them. All in all, the D played well enough to win. But, I can’t shake this feeling…
The offensive line in particular was a disaster. They got whipped. Coley’s play calling didn’t help. Kaaya gets an incomplete because he was not put in a position to succeed. Calling for sideways passes until the team is down eight late in the 3rd quarter before finally opening it up is not fair to any quarterback.
Two final thoughts. First, Golden actually said this after the game:
And there’s this:
This wasn’t a problem that manifested overnight. It’s serious deficiencies that the coaching staff has repeatedly ignored in an attempt to excuse their own lack of performance. It was always a player not doing his job, or the “cloud,” a catch-all excuse for every mistake. Well, that’s done now. The season is nowhere near over, but if this team gets blown out by Nebraska in three weeks, it’s going to be hard to justify the program that Golden is allegedly building. The only thing “renewed” tonight was our doubts in Golden’s competence.
Follow Vishnu on Twitter @VRP2003
By Vishnu Parasuraman @VRP2003 · On September 2, 2014
Pregame
The first game is always best summed up by Jesse Spano. We’ve spent all offseason convincing ourselves that this is THE YEAR. Now it’s time to overreact to whatever happens in this game.Oh boy, Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, and David Pollack on the call. Look out for two things: (1) Palmer telling us a team “needs to” do something they obviously need to do (like converting a 4th down late in the game with no timeouts left) and (2) Pollack telling us the weight of the offensive and defensive lines.87 degrees, no rain, so no excuses?I really wish Bobby Petrino had ridden in on a motorcycle.The good news is if Miami stinks, we can blame it on the weird team in the green helmets, which for some reason doesn’t match the green on the rest of the uniforms.1st Quarter
Both teams look nervous, but the Canes win big on the punt exchange. If the defense can get stops, field position matters.Boy, our trio of friends in the booth are really playing up the “redemption” angle for Petrino. Palmer just said you can’t blame him for leaving to the NFL. He was a scumbag at Louisville the first go-around, he flatly lied to the Falcons repeatedly before bailing on them, and then he went on his motorcycle ride at Arkansas. ESPN just went out of the way to defend someone who is indefensible. Ridiculous.Well, I can’t believe I mentioned getting a stop. 93 yards, no problem. One point to notice early on in those plays is Petrino has easily isolated linemen and bigger linebackers on receivers, as the defense got picked apart. They’re going to need an adjustment. Will Manso said it so I don’t have to:Miami is somewhat driving as the first quarter ends. Total Yards: 96 to 12. Kaaya’s first quarter as a starter: 2-for-4 passing with -1 yards. And yet, Justin Vogel has unloaded two punts for an average of 52 yards and they’re down 7-0 with the ball in Cardinals territory. Not bad, all things considered.2nd Quarter
And out of nowhere, here’s two throws to Clive Walford with one being a touchdown. Of course, Palmer calls Walford the best tight end in the conference for absolutely no reason.They are interviewing Louisville’s AD, and there hasn’t been this much BS strewn across ESPN outside of First Take, ever. Apparently, they didn’t care about the “football aspects” when they hired him.An exchange of fumbles by both teams, as Rece Davis blows both calls while Jesse Palmer will probably realize sometime Tuesday that they blew the play dead.This game has no rhythm, but the Canes take the lead. A really nice drive ends with a field goal after Miami inexplicably subbed in third-string running back Gus Edwards, running him on 3rd and 3 inside the 10-yard line. And all of it gets blown up on a kick return for a touchdown. 14-10 Louisville.Halftime
That was just a completely disjointed half. Louisville has outgained Miami, but the Canes had opportunities. The return game is part of the difference, but the 4-point Louisville lead feels fair. Total Yards: Louisville 165, Miami 130. All other stats are pretty even.3rd down conversions: Louisville 3-8, Miami 0-6.The defense has held up reasonably well, but there are plays to be made for Louisville. They are still getting wide open over the middle of the field. The run defense for Miami has been stout, and much better than last year.Already, the vultures are circling….3rd Quarter
Miami’s D is making all the plays to win this game and the O is ruining it. James Coley just made six awful play calls in a row, sandwiched between a great defensive play to force a fumble as Louisville leads 14-13. They won’t let Kaaya throw. If they didn’t trust him to throw, they should have just played Heaps. Inside the 10 four times and 13 points to show for it. That’s no good.The D is really holding up and playing well. Perryman has three tackles for loss and he just blew up a 3rd and short. It also looks like Petrino pulled back a little on that drive after Gardner fumbled twice.Louisville has like 800 people in the box and Miami is running right at it.An easy touchdown drive for Louisville, and the lead is now eight.It’s a critical time here, and they have to let Kaaya throw. And they do. He converts Miami’s first 3rd down against Louisville since 2006 (Miami didn’t convert any in the bowl game), and then short-arms an interception. This might turn into a rout.4th Quarter
Miami’s still hanging in the game, thanks to the defense. Yes, that sentence is accurate. A lot of that has to do with shaky QB play from Louisville, though. Gardner is missing a lot of easy throws.Kaaya is now auditioning for Happy Feet 3 in the pocket. All the hits early seem to have gotten to him.A huge play is negated by an idiotic penalty. That’s discipline, and has to fall on the coaches. Golden inexplicably doesn’t kick a field goal to pull the Canes within one score, and misses the 4th down. It’s going to take a major turnaround now. On the replay, Dorsett was wide open and might have scored. Kaaya didn’t see him. Big miss.Jesse Palmer criticizes Louisville’s running back for going out of bounds. Of course, the clock winds, so it doesn’t really matter. He didn’t have a point, but I believe he thinks he did have a point. Rece Davis points out the clock winds, and of course, Palmer says nothing.Louisville ends the game with a 14-play, 67-yard touchdown drive eating up 7:47. That was a drive where, down 11, a team that believes fights until the end. This team did not and it tells you something.Kaaya’s insignificant interception ends the game. Final: 31-13Postgame
The Canes managed to not even meet our mediocre expectations.The positive, of sorts, is the defense. They held up okay — 24 points allowed with 336 total yards. That’s much better than last year. It’s not good considering they’re playing a team without their best back and receiver, and it’s their quarterback’s first career start. The two forced fumbles were huge and the offense wasted them. All in all, the D played well enough to win. But, I can’t shake this feeling…The offensive line in particular was a disaster. They got whipped. Coley’s play calling didn’t help. Kaaya gets an incomplete because he was not put in a position to succeed. Calling for sideways passes until the team is down eight late in the 3rd quarter before finally opening it up is not fair to any quarterback.Two final thoughts. First, Golden actually said this after the game:And there’s this:This wasn’t a problem that manifested overnight. It’s serious deficiencies that the coaching staff has repeatedly ignored in an attempt to excuse their own lack of performance. It was always a player not doing his job, or the “cloud,” a catch-all excuse for every mistake. Well, that’s done now. The season is nowhere near over, but if this team gets blown out by Nebraska in three weeks, it’s going to be hard to justify the program that Golden is allegedly building. The only thing “renewed” tonight was our doubts in Golden’s competence.Follow Vishnu on Twitter @VRP2003
