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- May 14, 2016
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Offense:
Cam Ward - 26/35 385yds 3TD's & 1INT, 3car 33yds
Damien Martinez - 15car 65yds
Mark Fletcher - 7car 23yds 2TD's
Xavier Restrepo - 7rec 112yds 1TD
Elijah Arroyo - 4rec 89yds
Isaiah Horton - 4rec 70yds
Samuel Brown - 3rec 19yds
Jacolby George - 2rec 25yds 1TD
Cam McCormick - 1rec 9yds 1TD
Elija Lofton - 2rec 38yds
Offense gained 529 yards of total offense (385 passing, 144 rushing); off 69 plays, at 7.7 yards per play. Getting 24 1st downs, whole going 5/10 on 3rd downs, with 34:30 in time of possession.
The debut of Killa Cam!!!
It's been a long time coming for Miami to have a QB of this caliber, but now we finally got one... The most naturally gifted pure passer that we've had since the 80's-90's era. His ability to change different arm angle slots as a multiplatform thrower is what sets him apart. Waaay back when he first stepped on the scene at Incarnate Word just watching him make these off script improvisational throws immediately reminded me of Mahomes & he's maintained that ability throughout his career.
That's the effect of the Texas Baseball culture that bleeds over into Football, especially for QB's. That's the display of the Gunslinger mentality that gets cultivated from youth Football, to High school & College, that you see from so many QB's from that region.
In this new era of QBing', ARM TALENT reigns Supreme. The ability to improv while under duress & make throws to all 4 corners of the field while contorting your body & STILL hit the receiver in stride is the new measure of a great QB. It separates QB's & places the pure arm power throwers in an upper-echelon, from the rest of the Super Safe Captain Checkdowns, who always statistically look great to the untrained eye, but are really just limited QB's who don't take risks because they can't.
Cam is in the mold of the Pat Mahomes, Jordan Love, Jalen Hurts-esque style QB's that you see thriving in the NFL. I put him in my personal top 5 QB's in college & think he's going to do very well in the league regardless of which round he's drafted. He's a special special player & is primed to do big things this year for Miami.
Early on in the first drive. Ward showed great pocket presence, evading rushers & picking up yards with his feet. An added element to his game, something that he's always had the ability to do, but didn't do much of it at Wash ST in particular, due to how porous his OL was.
S/O to the old man Cam McCormick! Scoring the first TD of the season! It probably doesn't compare to the 4TD game he had back in 78 his Sophomore year, but I'm sure he'll remember this one at his sweet 65th AARP retirement party next year! Way to go Cam!
The pick was an ill-advised throw by Cam in that situation. But, when you're as talented of a QB as he is, sometimes you'll take a risk & sometimes mistakes will happen. However, you live with it when it comes to Cam because you know the payoff is well worth it in the end.
Damien Martinez is a STRONG runner with quick & agile feet. Classic battering ram that will get tough yards in this system. He absolutely planted Jordan Castell for UF.
Cam had a nice 30yd frozen rope to Horton to get us in the Red Zone.
Then a solid Block by Brown & run by Fletcher to put us up by 14.
With the TD, I thought Fletcher looked pretty much exactly as he did last year. Not much wiggle, not very fast, but can be a locomotive once he gets going downhill. Don't think he's the 2nd best back on the team, but I also don't think it will really matter much as long as Martinez stays healthy. The run game is going to steadily increase throughout the year as more DC's gameplan out of fear to stop Cam & slow down our passing attack.
Cam had a another precise 29yd dart to Elijah Arroyo. To set up for the TD to Restrepo right before the half, to go up 24-10.
That was the drive right after the 71yd run by UF to put them within 7. That was a terrific series of playcalling by Dawson. He stayed aggressive & didn't settle for a bunch of aimless runs, he saw the momentum beginning to shift as UF had finally scored & was maybe looking to have some fight. Then Dawson-Cam decided nah, ain't gonna happen. They took the life right out of'em & drove down the field in 8 plays for 75yds. IMO, this TD is what put the game away. UF had no answer for our Offense & simply didn't have enough firepower to keep up score for score. Once we took a 2TD lead, that was it. Game Over.
The Offensive line played well. They gave Cam all day to surgically pick UF's Secondary apart. He's never had this much time to throw in his life & I'm sure he was shocked himself & took time to get used to having at least 8 seconds per play to get the ball out. There was much discussion about Rodriguez being the starter at LG & I guess he did, but if my memory serves me correctly, I'm sure I saw McCoy at LG quite a bit as well. Tbh, I pay very little attention to the OL in general, so I could be wrong, but I believe 78 played the majority of the snaps at LG? Either way, it didn't really matter. The OL was stout & did a really great job in pass protection.
The WR's were as advertised. Restrepo was Restrepo, doing what he does. Making plays & gaining YAC. Completely shook Asa Turner's knees out of joint!
Horton played very well. He's a tall Flanker WR that can win the jump ball on deep passes down the field. He'll be a valuable asset in this Offense & adds, yet another weapon for Cam.
Elijah Arroyo is FINALLY healthy! And he lived up to the billing of his recruiting ranking & scouting report coming out of HS. A big pass catching TE, who runs smooth routes & has great hands. He always reminded me of Noah Fant, a fast TE who's more of a big bodied WR than pure TE. In this system, with Cam as his QB, he's gonna do well this year in his money season. He can be a big time chain-mover for us getting big chunk yard plays in the middle of the field.
This was a masterful gameplan by Dawson. As pointed out in the Gators depth chart thread, they have a young & inexperienced Secondary. And while many wanted us to B1G them to Death & pound it, the real matchup advantage was our WR's vs their Corners. Just like last year vs TAMU, their Secondary is big & slow. So spread'em out & make'em run. Styles make fights & this fight was a first round KO, because we played to our strengths & stayed AGGRESSIVE. Aggression wins the day. Conservative Offense is for losers.
Defense:
Jaden Harris - 7tks 1TFL 1INT 1PD & 0.5sacks
Francisco Mauigoa - 6tks 1PD 1sack & 1.5TFL's
Jadais Richard - 5tks
Wesley Bissainthe - 4tks 1TFL
Tyler Baron - 3tks 2TFL's & 1sack
Elijah Alston - 3tks 1.5TFL 1PD & 0.5sacks
Mishael Powell - 2tks & 1INT
Ahmad Moten - 2tks 0.5TFL's
Markeith Williams - 2tks 1PD
Defense held Florida to just 261 yards total & a staggering 122 yards passing. To go with 8TFL's, 3 sacks & 2 turnovers. Holding UF to just 1/9 on 3rd downs.
The new & an improved DLine showed up & showed out. Tyler Baron, Elijah Alston & Simeon Barrow were all worth the NIL investment. They were absolutely stout & completely stifled UF's run game, until Montrell broke one for 71yds. But aside from that, UF couldn't get their run game going at all.
Tyler Baron was a man on a mission! You could tell he took this game personal as a revenge from the Tennessee game last year. He was incredibly disruptive & wreaked havoc all game. It culminated in him body bagging Mertzy on the Powell pick, but even before that he was getting after it abusing UF's OL.
(Using bull rush+press & spin technique)
Bissainthe played well. Early on he had a nice play getting a TFL on UF's first drive cleaning up Alston's initial pressure getting to Montrell on the outside. He also got pinned pretty well by UF's OL on the 71yd run. They walled him up with a double team on the C/D gap & the Defense just never shifted over. They just caught us slipping on that play.
Chase Smith sighting! He had a nice batted ball on a Blitz coming off the edge.
Kiko Mauigoa played like his typical self, an absolute torpedo. He's a really good pass rushing LB & is a heat-seeking missle when collapsing the pocket attacking the QB. He's likely going to be among the nation leaders in TFL's this season.
Damari Brown was solid in coverage. He got backshouldered for a 19yder by Elijah Badger, but had some good plays in slowing down his WR on a couple deep pass plays. Part of it, was Mertzy is a really sh*tty deep ball thrower, but, he still stepped up & did his job. So he gets credit. Good job.
Jaden Harris had himself a day! He was all over the field with a well timed Safety Blitz from the weak-side to get the partial sack on Mertz. Made a great break on the ball reading the QB's eyes on 4th & 5 for a near INT. Then finally got his pick later. But played the best game of his career today.
Terrific coverage by Markeith Williams to get the PD on 3rd & 10 at the end of the 1st quarter. Keeping UF from getting a 1st down right after the turnover & more importantly, keeping them from getting in the End zone.
The Secondary overall, especially Safety play was outstanding. UF's passing attack was shutdown & a Dink Dunk merchant Captain Checkdown Mertzy was bottled up all game. He had nowhere to throw the ball & when he did, those wobbly ducks weren't making their migration. The Secondary was a big question mark coming into the season & technically they very well still could be. But for now, they answered those questions & played a great game. Trending in the right direction.
The Defense collectively played LIGHTS OUT! Guidreaux put together a fantastic gameplan that completely threw Mertzy off his game, neutralized UF's WR's & stifled their run game (for the most part). Guidreaux is quickly rising his profile Nationally & internally entering into one of the best DC's we've had at Miami in decades. Maybe he has aspirations to be a HC one day, but in the meantime, we should enjoy him while we have him because he's going to be a hot commodity on the Coaching market this offseason. A lot of teams will come calling, both College & the NFL. He's moving into top 20 DC category. Absolutely stellar play calling from him this game.
Overall, this was a game we needed & just like last year, we stepped up & beat the **** out of an SEC team to start the season. UF was totally outmatched. Player for player, Coach for Coach, they had no answer whatsoever for anything we did on the field. That was an old-fashioned asswhoopin' of epic proportions! They flat out couldn't handle us from the coin-flip til there was triple zeros on the clock. We took them behind the woodshed & BEAT THE DOGSH*T outta the Crocodiles.
Beating a hated rival is ALWAYS a necessary win, but doing it in dominant fashion is exactly how you want these games to go. Fck all that close game bs, just kick *** & take names, no mercy, no punches pulled, just straight knockout haymakers to put the game away.
Much like last year, we beat an extremely overrated SEC team that will likely not be Bowl eligible this season, that however doesn't take away from the overall tenor of the victory. The biggest difference between the potential aftereffects of this game & last year's TAMU game, is that our QB isn't going to go braindead in the middle of the season & forget how to throw a football. And most importantly, the Defense looks to be much better this year than last year.
For the first time in 2 decades we finally a complete team, with all 3 phases of the game being high level. We have a TON of depth at RB, WR & DL. We have the firepower to hang with any team in the country & the Defense front 7 to keep us in games. Obviously, it's just game 1, so this could be an overreaction, but we look like one of the 12 best teams in the Nation.
Which in today's game, mean playoffs...
But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Another long season ahead & have to always take everything one game at a time, but so far so good. Couldn't ask for a better start to the season than this. We put the Nation on notice & now everybody is watching.
Historic game that will go down in the history books for Miami vs UF rivalry.
**** of a game & major props to Mario.
Go Canes!
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