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- Feb 14, 2012
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There were signs of this in our three “big wins.” But tonight’s game is the epitome of what a Mario Cristobal team is — stacked with talent, yet every game is closer than it should be. We should’ve beaten FSU and Notre Dame by 2–3 touchdowns and Florida by 3–4. Instead, we don’t finish games with aggression and dominance, play down to the competition, or lose games we shouldn’t.
You can point fingers at other factors (Beck, Dawson, etc.), but the main issue is Mario’s conservative approach and how often he gets outcoached once the game starts.
Defense
Why do scheme and coaching matter so much? Because Jeff Brohm just neutralized one of the most dominant players in the country, Rueben Bain.
Quick passes, tempo, off-tackle runs away from Bain, spreading the field — that’s preparation and coaching. Brohm made Bain a non-factor.
Our defense eventually adjusted and played okay overall (Scott and Poyser came to play), but schematically, it’s night and day between what Brohm does on offense and what Miami does.
PS: I don’t want to hear another word about OJ being a first-round talent. He went up against a real first-rounder in Chris Bell and got absolutely torched all night — and Bell was playing on a bum hamstring.
Offense
How is it that our massive offensive line still struggles to open holes?
Our offense — Dawson included — is severely handicapped by Mario and Mirabal’s OL/run game scheme. It’s predictable, boring, and lacks creativity. I said it in the game thread: we supposedly have the “best OL in the country,” but we rarely see the kind of running lanes other teams get (like Louisville did against us).
Our run schemes are too conservative, and that’s on Mario — because that’s how he wants the OL to operate.
This trickles down and makes both the OC and QB look bad. We become one-dimensional and predictable, which leads to the endless screens and conservative play-calling we see from Dawson.
And this makes Beck feel like he has to be Superman (which Cam Ward was last year). But a couple great pics by the defense because of the QB trying to do too much, all of a sudden has him looking like a dear in headlights, with no run game to fall back on
The Core Problem
What needs to change — though it likely never will — is Mario’s philosophy on the run game. We play “ground and pound” football, hoping to get 3–4 yards a play, rugby style.
But once teams get enough film on us, the good, well-coached ones figure us out.
And don’t get me started on Mario’s in-game management. Didn’t he hire people to help here. The timeout management was horrendous again tonight, especially in crunch time. Why didn’t we call our first timeout with 1:50 left when we got a first down near the 45-yard line? It was like Mario was content settling for a field goal
Once again — just too conservative. And I’m not sure that will ever change.
The Reality
Here’s where we’re at with Mario: there’s plenty of evidence now in year 4
He’s a great program builder — elite recruiter, culture guy — but a poor in-game and game-planning coach. And that matters. A lot.
He gets outcoached often.
For better or worse, we’re stuck with him. He’ll keep stacking enough talent to win 9–10 games a year, but will he ever get us to the promised land? It’s hard to see it. Over the course of a full season, Mario needs a lot to go his way to overcome his in-game shortcomings. We’ll have some nice wins, with spurts of dominance but will lack consistency to do it all season, not because of talent but because of our head coaches philosophy
Sorry, but it feels like we’re stuck in purgatory.
PS: Malachi Toney might be the only reason we have three of our wins right now. He’s special — legitimately one of the top five players in the country.
You can point fingers at other factors (Beck, Dawson, etc.), but the main issue is Mario’s conservative approach and how often he gets outcoached once the game starts.
Defense
Why do scheme and coaching matter so much? Because Jeff Brohm just neutralized one of the most dominant players in the country, Rueben Bain.
Quick passes, tempo, off-tackle runs away from Bain, spreading the field — that’s preparation and coaching. Brohm made Bain a non-factor.
Our defense eventually adjusted and played okay overall (Scott and Poyser came to play), but schematically, it’s night and day between what Brohm does on offense and what Miami does.
PS: I don’t want to hear another word about OJ being a first-round talent. He went up against a real first-rounder in Chris Bell and got absolutely torched all night — and Bell was playing on a bum hamstring.
Offense
How is it that our massive offensive line still struggles to open holes?
Our offense — Dawson included — is severely handicapped by Mario and Mirabal’s OL/run game scheme. It’s predictable, boring, and lacks creativity. I said it in the game thread: we supposedly have the “best OL in the country,” but we rarely see the kind of running lanes other teams get (like Louisville did against us).
Our run schemes are too conservative, and that’s on Mario — because that’s how he wants the OL to operate.
This trickles down and makes both the OC and QB look bad. We become one-dimensional and predictable, which leads to the endless screens and conservative play-calling we see from Dawson.
And this makes Beck feel like he has to be Superman (which Cam Ward was last year). But a couple great pics by the defense because of the QB trying to do too much, all of a sudden has him looking like a dear in headlights, with no run game to fall back on
The Core Problem
What needs to change — though it likely never will — is Mario’s philosophy on the run game. We play “ground and pound” football, hoping to get 3–4 yards a play, rugby style.
But once teams get enough film on us, the good, well-coached ones figure us out.
And don’t get me started on Mario’s in-game management. Didn’t he hire people to help here. The timeout management was horrendous again tonight, especially in crunch time. Why didn’t we call our first timeout with 1:50 left when we got a first down near the 45-yard line? It was like Mario was content settling for a field goal
Once again — just too conservative. And I’m not sure that will ever change.
The Reality
Here’s where we’re at with Mario: there’s plenty of evidence now in year 4
He’s a great program builder — elite recruiter, culture guy — but a poor in-game and game-planning coach. And that matters. A lot.
He gets outcoached often.
For better or worse, we’re stuck with him. He’ll keep stacking enough talent to win 9–10 games a year, but will he ever get us to the promised land? It’s hard to see it. Over the course of a full season, Mario needs a lot to go his way to overcome his in-game shortcomings. We’ll have some nice wins, with spurts of dominance but will lack consistency to do it all season, not because of talent but because of our head coaches philosophy
Sorry, but it feels like we’re stuck in purgatory.
PS: Malachi Toney might be the only reason we have three of our wins right now. He’s special — legitimately one of the top five players in the country.
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