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- May 14, 2016
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- 33,380
Offense:
D'Eriq King - 16/24 248yds 3TD's at 66.7%cmp & 11att 46yds & 1TD rushing.
Cam'ron Harris - 15att 96yds & 2TD's at 6.4ypc
Don Chaney Jr - 9att 62yds & 4rec 81yds
Brevin Jordan - 4rec 75yds 1TD
Mike Harley - 2rec 105yds 1TD
Dee Wiggins - 3rec 14yds 1TD
Offense gained 524yds of total yards (304 passing & 220 rushing) off 68 plays at 7.7 yards per play, 24 1st downs & 4/10 on 3rd down, with 27:38 in time of possession.
You could see the rust in the first two drives, but on the 3rd possession was a well orchestrated 88 yard drive with good runs from King, Chaney & Cam. Great pass & play call to Brevin Jordan on the post route for a TD.
Getting Brevin back fully healthy is noticeable, his impact in the passing game makes us an even more formidable passing attack because we can work the intermediate routes in the middle of field & can exploit the mismatches against Defense without top notch Safety & LB play.
Good run by Cam Harris on the TD, & had a very good cutback run to break one open for another big gain. Cam has had good performances his last 3 games, he's had his best Yards per carry since the Louisville game, he's bounced back after having some struggles in the middle of the season. He's always a game breaker threat when he gets in space in the 2nd level of the defense, once he bounces outside he's gone for a big gain.
Chaney played great! He had some nice tough runs like he always does & a great catch & run in the 4th quarter on a pass from Perry. He's tough & has a high motor as a runner, his contact balance is A+ & is a kid that the more reps he gets the more impactful he'll be. I remember when people swore it would take him 5 & half years (exaggeration lol) to pickup a college offense because he played in a Wing-T High school, but a few of us tried to tell yall that was ridiculous & this kid was gonna be baller from the start. Hate to say I told you so, but you know the rest...
Great series of play calls by Lashlee on the TD drive in the 3rd quarter after getting the ball back off the forced fumble by Roche. Quick screen Wiggins, deep seam route to Brevin, QB counter sweep, PA swing pass to Mallory out of the backfield & then another quick screen to Wiggins for the TD, 3 plays in a row to the short side of the field towards the boundary & worked the matchup perfectly. For those who complain & nitpick about Lashlee, go rewatch that drive & play sequences & realize you're just simply off base. He's by far our best coordinator since Chud.
Mike Harley continued to elevate himself as the best WR on the team, on the 89yds TD it was actually the same play & formation he scored on vs Pitt out of the Wide Trip stack formation slipping out from the field side & forcing a busted coverage because the Defense in a Single high zone simply doesn't know which route to pickup, another great play call to dial it up backed deep in our own Red zone.
That was a **** of a run by King on his TD, he lowered his shoulder & dove into the end zone initiating contact with the defender, it was a tough run that you usually don't see QB's make, but is indicative of what kind of player he is, a tough relentless competitor & great leader.
If I'm Lashlee I'd offer this kid half my salary to come back for one more year. King is among the top 3 best players in the ACC, he's a competitive force of nature that carries this team on his back to victories. King+Lashlee= W's!
Defense:
Bubba Bolden - 9tcks 1FF
Amari Carter - 7tcks 1FR
Quincy Roche - 6tcks 3TFL's 1.5 sack 1FF 1FR
Keontra Smith - 6tcks 2TFL's
Waymon Steed - 5tcks 1FF
Corey Flagg Jr - 5tcks 1FR
Jaelan Phillips - 4tcks 3.5TFL's 2.5 sacks
Gurvan Hall - 4tcks 1TFL
Bradley Jennings - 4tcks
Gilbert Frierson - 4tcks
Tirek Austin-Cave - 3tcks
Marcus Clarke - 3tcks 0.5TFL's 1INT
Nesta Silvera - 2tcks 1TFL 1FF
Jahfari Harvey - 2tcks 1TFL
Te'Cory Couch - 1tck 1PBU
Defense played stout, only allowing 81yds total offense in the 1st half & just 7yds rushing in the first half, they finished only allowing 177yds total & held them to just 56yds rushing all game! Plus had 13 TFL's, 3 sacks & forced 5 turnovers!
Phillips didn't miss a beat with the time off, he was disruptive & caused havoc for Duke's OL all game long. That was a great job of keeping contain on the 4th down reverse play, he read the ball & immediately zeroed in the runner to get the big 4th down stop. On his sack in the 3rd quarter he absolutely embarrassed the OL with an inside over the top swim move.
He's our best player on Defense by far, he absolutely better be 1st team All-ACC at the end of the season. He's playing himself into a high 2nd round pick, he's a man on a mission. Man, just imagine how Ungodly our pass rush would've been with Rousseau, Phillips, Roche, Nesta & JHH this season... **** what coulda been.
Quincy Roche played very good as well, he was NASCARing his OT matchup all night, heavy speed rushes & was getting around the corner & getting hurries on the QB on nearly every snap, speeding up his processing. He was one of the the highest graded Defenders by PFF on the season coming into this game & it's clear why, his active hands & speed rush ability are extremely difficult to deal with, especially when OL's have to account for Phillips & Nesta collapsing the pocket too. Roche played a heck of a game!
Nesta was incredibly disruptive as well, he was bull rushing the shît out of their interior lineman & forced some busted plays at the line of scrimmage due to him completely overpowering his man, he's really stepped up big time in his play this year.
Corey Flagg played well getting sideline to sideline on Bubble screens & a doing a good job slowing down the runner & keeping them from getting excess gains.
Bubba Bolden looked much better this game than he has in the last 4 games, his tackling was much more sure & he played smart reading his keys. Amari Carter, Keontra Smith, Gurvan Hall & Frierson all played very well tonight too, they were fast & physical & didn't allow too many big break runs to take place after the catch.
Defensive tackling as whole looked much better this game, several guys made open field tackles to stop preceding gains. Amari Carter, Keontra Smith, Bubba Bolden, Gilbert Frierson, Quicy Roche, Jaelan Phillips & Gurvan Hall all had some really sound technique textbook open field wrap up tackles & got their man down without much struggle.
That was a terrific pick by Marcus Clarke! He did a good job of leveraging towards the boundary & reading the QB while tracking the ball on the overthrow & pushing up field off the outside shoulder to make the catch. Hopefully, he gets more opportunities to play for the rest of the season & next year, he & Couch can make for 2 good active Ballhawks in the secondary. they also add a much needed speed infusion into the CB group.
Defense played their best game since FSU, 13 TFL's from the DLine & held Duke to just 56 yards rushing at a stifling 1.7 yards per carry! We also forced them to just 5-15 on 3rd downs, literally 30% conversion. Obviously, we were the superior team with much better talent, but we still handled business & that speaks volumes to the type of team these guys have maturated into when teams all over the country are getting upset vs weaker opponents on a weakly basis. It shows the guys in this locker room are hungry for success & are willing to fight for it, we could've easily came out sluggish & not played well, but they came out with a fire lit under their asses & put the game away from the start, which is exactly how it's done when you're a good team.
S/O to Borregales on the 52yd FG, he's been a huge addition for us this year & a valuable asset. I really hope he comes back next year, I'm sure he'd get signed as an UDFA & could possibly be a 7th rounder as a Kicker, but he would be a great piece to return for next year.
Overall, this was a great win. We did exactly what we were supposed to do playing against a team that is significantly worse than us & dominated them. Miami despite missing 15 players out due to C19 (11 of them were at least 2nd team rotational depth) still was able to not have much rust at all from the time off after the postponement of the supposed to be GTech game. This was the perfect game to get back into a rhythm & get back in stride to be playing our best team ball for the final stretch of the season in these last 3 games.
DO NOT TAKE WINS FOR GRANTED. Look no further than yalls Wet dream Jesus in Wario Cristobal, losing @ home to an 0-3 Cal team when Oregon has the significant talent advantage. Wins vs D1 (P5 & G5) opponents are precious Gold in college football, they all count & they should all be celebrated, do not let any mopey fahget tell you any different. Don't believe me, just ask Michigan & LSU.
No it hasn't been perfect & we haven't played pristine every game, but as I said numerous times this year, good teams win ugly or pretty, the bottom line they win. Miami is not the bad team that mopes wish we were, aside from Clemson, we've found a way to win every game we've been in & have placed ourselves firmly within the top 3 of the ACC.
We're gearing up for a OK Corral style showdown with UNC, but as long as we continue to cause havoc upfront with DL & force turnovers we'll give UNC the rightful send off they deserve & put another pelt on the wall in the 2020 Revenge tour. Just keep trekking & keep winning, when it's all said & done we'll be looking at a 10-1 season with more recruiting momentum than we've had in a decade!
Go Canes!
