Canegrad89
Recruit
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2017
- Messages
- 1,197
With the talent we have on our roster, we should be running a team like the Chippewas off the field! This performance was inexcusable. Our best talent is still not being used properly. The coaches need to identify their best assets & use them properly.
The Manny Diaz era will be defined by:
1) Recruiting
2) Play of the OL
3) Placekicker & special teams
4) Playcalling of the OC
Coach Diaz will not succeed unless the play of the OL improves significantly. Major emphasis needs to be placed on OL recruiting by all of the coaches. Coach Diaz will only succeed if there is significant improvement in the quality of the OL play.
I root for every Cane to succeed but Baxa is clearly struggling mentally in addition to never really having been an accurate kicker. His stats in HS were not good. At some point (especially having seen the body of work this season -- which includes a terrible % of FGs made), you have to say enough is enough. At minimum, use Baxa on the longer kicks (35+ yards) but use the back-up Kicker or even Heds on kicks shorter than that. Baxa routinely missing 25-27 yard kicks by a wide margin is a serious problem. You actually have to try to miss from that range. Different kickers need to be tried on the shorter kicks. Find walk-ons that play soccer for goodness sake! They can make 25 yard FG. This is now ridiculous.
Special teams: coverage units are still terrible. The Chippewhoos almost scored a TD on a kick return that could have won them the game. Who knew they had elite speedsters as return men. Patke is seriously on the hot seat. With the athletes available to him on our roster, he should be ashamed to cash a paycheck. Make it a major point of emphasis & get it fixed!!!
The Defense is not playing close to the standard of last year. The DL should be absolutely wreaking havoc. I feel Baker is not as effective as Manny as a DC and his D is looking way less aggressive than Manny's. Patchan is ok but Rousseau should be starting in his spot. Hill should also be playing more. We need more nastiness from the DL and they should be absolutely wreaking havoc. Instead, the coaches are trotting out the Vanilla version of our defense....because it's safe. Let's get after it and play Miami ball!!!! That being said the Defense limited CMU's points to a very low number until the fourth quarter. They are not the reason we almost lost the game (which is unthinkable). Is this the Franchise that won 58 straight games at home while routinely defeating Top-5 ranked teams & running the tables on murderous schedules that would have us 2-9 these days?
On Offense, we should be destroying opponents with major weapons like:
This team should be destroying lesser opponents. We need to stop playing so conservative on Offense and air it out a little. Absolutely start Jarren but bring in N'Kosi for a series or two & let him throw some deep passes. Hand the ball to Wiggins & let him use his elite speed to destroy teams like CMU. On Offense, we should be taking it to lesser opponents & keeping the pressure on at every turn hitting them with elite speed at every position. Instead, we're playing Deejay (a great Cane who absolutely should be part of the rotation but doesn't have elite speed) over Lingard. We're playing Patch over Rousseau. We're not exploiting the serious advantages we have & maximizing the use of our best assets.
There are also way too many dumb penalties. We used to have players with high Football IQs. Now we just make dumb penalty after dumb penalty. Patchan gets a penalty for a late hit & then lines up offside on the next play. It's not surprising they scored on that drive as it was one penalty after the next. This team isn't talented enough to play like we're in the infamous Cotton Bowl game against UT. They need to play disciplined football.
The team is way underperforming given its talent level....and that is on the coaches. They need to completely re-assess:
1) Everything they are doing on OL
2) Everything they are doing on Special Teams (except Punting -- thanks God for Heds)
3) Playcalling on Offense
4) Each & every asset available to them on Offense & how to maximize their use of that asset
4) Whose getting PT on offense. Only the absolute best players should play. We need Lingard to play now (he's healthy & will bring elite speed back to the RB position -- which could result in more explosive plays & really open the whole offense up)
The Manny Diaz era will be defined by:
1) Recruiting
2) Play of the OL
3) Placekicker & special teams
4) Playcalling of the OC
Coach Diaz will not succeed unless the play of the OL improves significantly. Major emphasis needs to be placed on OL recruiting by all of the coaches. Coach Diaz will only succeed if there is significant improvement in the quality of the OL play.
I root for every Cane to succeed but Baxa is clearly struggling mentally in addition to never really having been an accurate kicker. His stats in HS were not good. At some point (especially having seen the body of work this season -- which includes a terrible % of FGs made), you have to say enough is enough. At minimum, use Baxa on the longer kicks (35+ yards) but use the back-up Kicker or even Heds on kicks shorter than that. Baxa routinely missing 25-27 yard kicks by a wide margin is a serious problem. You actually have to try to miss from that range. Different kickers need to be tried on the shorter kicks. Find walk-ons that play soccer for goodness sake! They can make 25 yard FG. This is now ridiculous.
Special teams: coverage units are still terrible. The Chippewhoos almost scored a TD on a kick return that could have won them the game. Who knew they had elite speedsters as return men. Patke is seriously on the hot seat. With the athletes available to him on our roster, he should be ashamed to cash a paycheck. Make it a major point of emphasis & get it fixed!!!
The Defense is not playing close to the standard of last year. The DL should be absolutely wreaking havoc. I feel Baker is not as effective as Manny as a DC and his D is looking way less aggressive than Manny's. Patchan is ok but Rousseau should be starting in his spot. Hill should also be playing more. We need more nastiness from the DL and they should be absolutely wreaking havoc. Instead, the coaches are trotting out the Vanilla version of our defense....because it's safe. Let's get after it and play Miami ball!!!! That being said the Defense limited CMU's points to a very low number until the fourth quarter. They are not the reason we almost lost the game (which is unthinkable). Is this the Franchise that won 58 straight games at home while routinely defeating Top-5 ranked teams & running the tables on murderous schedules that would have us 2-9 these days?
On Offense, we should be destroying opponents with major weapons like:
- Lingard (should be playing now)
- Brevin (one of the top pass catching TEs in the country)
- JT4 (they don't have an answer for his speed)
- Mallory (major mismatch for guys like CMU)
- Osborn (very reliable)
- Harley
- Jarren
This team should be destroying lesser opponents. We need to stop playing so conservative on Offense and air it out a little. Absolutely start Jarren but bring in N'Kosi for a series or two & let him throw some deep passes. Hand the ball to Wiggins & let him use his elite speed to destroy teams like CMU. On Offense, we should be taking it to lesser opponents & keeping the pressure on at every turn hitting them with elite speed at every position. Instead, we're playing Deejay (a great Cane who absolutely should be part of the rotation but doesn't have elite speed) over Lingard. We're playing Patch over Rousseau. We're not exploiting the serious advantages we have & maximizing the use of our best assets.
There are also way too many dumb penalties. We used to have players with high Football IQs. Now we just make dumb penalty after dumb penalty. Patchan gets a penalty for a late hit & then lines up offside on the next play. It's not surprising they scored on that drive as it was one penalty after the next. This team isn't talented enough to play like we're in the infamous Cotton Bowl game against UT. They need to play disciplined football.
The team is way underperforming given its talent level....and that is on the coaches. They need to completely re-assess:
1) Everything they are doing on OL
2) Everything they are doing on Special Teams (except Punting -- thanks God for Heds)
3) Playcalling on Offense
4) Each & every asset available to them on Offense & how to maximize their use of that asset
4) Whose getting PT on offense. Only the absolute best players should play. We need Lingard to play now (he's healthy & will bring elite speed back to the RB position -- which could result in more explosive plays & really open the whole offense up)
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