View attachment 254544
Tyler Van Dyke - 17/22 - 201yds 1TD & 1INT
Henry Parrish Jr - 9car 90yds & 1TD
Mark Fletcher Jr - 9car 76yds & 1TD
Ajay Allen - 8car 47yds
Donald Chaney Jr - 8car 38yds & 1TD
Colbie Young - 4rec 79yds & 1TD
Xavier Restrepo - 5rec 68yds
Jacolby George - 6rec 56yds
Riley Williams - 1rec 18yds
Tyler Harrell - 1rec 14yds
Offense gained 493yds total (243 passing, 250 rushing) with 61 plays at 8.1 yards per play, getting 26 1st downs, going 3/7 on 3rd down, with 32:52 in time of possession.
Offense set the tone out the gate with a 3 play 56yd opening drive that resulted in Colbie Young getting the first TD of the season off a nice barrel screen. Restrepo with the very good downfield sealing block that gave Young the lane to get to the end zone.
TVD started off hot & in rhythm completing his first 8 passes, but then simmered down as the game progressed. Obviously, the finger injury might have affected his Deep ball, but we really didn’t take too many shots down field to begin with & wasn’t necessary for an opponent of this caliber. The INT was not his fault. As much as I know many of you are foaming at the mouth to put that on him, that was simply a good coverage pick where the Rover did a good job disguising his depth in his coverage shell & made a good read on the ball. It was a well drawn up play & JG was wide open, it was just good counter-coverage by the Redhawks.
Not worried about TVD one bit; the reads are all there in this Offense & when they need to throw the ball & stretch the field they can. However, it is clear that running the ball will be the primary foundation of our Offensive identity, for better or for worse.
The RB’s looked good, running behind this OL will make their jobs a lot easier but considering the circumstances they ran very well & helped control the flow of the game. Oh btw, who started the game as the 1st RB? What’s his name, Henry something??? Oh yeah, that guy.
The much maligned back was once again the most productive while sharing the same sample size as the rest of the group but lets not say that too loud because “hE sUcKs!”.
For the WR’s it was clear that Colbie is the best among the starters, he plays with fire, twitch & has a high motor. He definitely will be playing on Sundays next year. Big long-stride runner with good hands & can run routes very well. Great find by MariZO.
Restrepo as always is Mr. Consistent; gets open, makes tough contested catches & gives 100% maximum effort. It’s too obvious to compare him to Berrios, but that’s pretty much exactly who he plays like lol.
Isiah Horton ain’t ready yet IMO. I know it’s early being just 1 game against a significantly lesser opponent, but he just doens’t have the “juice” so to speak. On that play early in the 1st quarter (on the 2nd drive actually) where TVD had him in the end zone for what would’ve been a TD but he fell down after running into Miami OH’s Safety, he just looked overwhelmed or as if he was trying to compose himself finally getting a chance to play in a game. Maybe the lights will come on as the season progresses & he gets more comfortable, but to me he didn’t look like he be playing significant snaps, JMO.
The OL is definitely revamped. Anez Cooper aside from 2 false start penalties is an absolute locomotive when’s he’s pulling & getting up the field looking for defenders to clear. Between him, McCoy, Okunlola, Lee, Mauigoa, Cohen & McCormick we have a 7-8 man OL group that is big, mean & can move. Obviously, it was against a Miami of Ohio who sucks, so we’ll see how they do against TAMU, but so far so good.
Defense:
Francisco Mauigoa - 5tcks 0.5TFL’s
Te’Cory Couch - 4tcks
Jaden Davis - 3tcks & 1PD
James Williams - 3tcks & 1PD
Kamren Kinchens - 3tcks
KJ Cloyd - 3tcks & 1TFL
Jahfari Harvey - 2tcks 1 sack & 1TFL
Wesley Bissainthe - 2tcks 1 sack & 1TFL
Jared Harrison-Hunte - 2tcks
Akheem Mesidor - 2tcks
Davonte Brown - 2tcks
Bobby Washington Jr - 2tcks 0.5 sacks & 0.5TFL’s
Branson Deen - 2tcks & 1TFL
Nyjalik Kelly - 1tck 0.5TFL & 1PD
Defense held Miami of Ohio to just 215 total yards & just 51yds rushing. Only gave up 9 1st downs the whole game & forced them to 2-12 on 3rd down, at 4.4ypc, with 2.5 sacks & 5.5TFL’s all while not giving up a TD.
The Defense in general looked night & day from last year, overall team speed on the front 7 has been the biggest improvement. The DL was hyperactive & was forcing pressure against the pocket all game. Gabblert (yes I spelled it incorrectly on purpose) was flushed out of the pocket on numerous occasions & did not have time to process his reads, their OL simply were physically & athletically outmatched.
The biggest difference from last year & really any year you wanna count going back to 2017, was LB play. WE. FINALLY. HAVE. LB’S. AGAIN!. The LB depth of Mauigoa, Cloyd, Bissainthe, JW, Bobby Wash Jr & even Keontra Smith has made the Defense just that much more efficient in terms of covering the middle of the field, in both the run game & pass game. Throughout the Miaz era the middle of the field was completely neglected, but with Guidry you can see he places an emphasis on his coverage Zones with the LB group & does not give free releases to the seam; Dear God, our prayers have been answered
.
Bissainthe is coming into his own, many were ready to throw in the towel on this kid with the addition of Cloyd, but Bissainthe showed what all the hype can be about with him. Speed, instincts & tackling, he’s got it. Expect more from Wes, he’s legit.
The DB group had a pretty easy day, Miami of Ohio lost their best WR to the NFL, so it’s not like they had any world-beaters in that group & none were any kind of speed demons, so all they really needed to do was keep everything in front of’em.
Kam, Markeith & JW, played well for the Safety group, they were all over the field & you can see that Guidry likes to mix it up with his coverage calls. He did the same thing at Marshall where he essentially had a 4-man Safety group & all of them were used in multifaceted ways. His version of the 4-2-5 differs so much from Miaz’s because he actually allows the Safety’s to roam & play their shells. In Miaz’s scheme the Safety’s have to do EVERYTHING, because he completely undervalued LB’s, which put the responsibility of the run game on the Backend instead of the LB group who were merely used for Blitzing. It’s why our Safety’s would always lead the team Tackles under him, because they essentially had to do the job of 2 different position groups.
Among the Corners, Darryl Porter Jr played very well in coverage. He looked like he did his Sophomore year at West VA, which is why I liked the transfer when it first happened. He can cover & plays with good physicality at the top of routes, he figured out how to get his head around & play the ball, which kept him from getting penalized on that one play early in the game in the Red zone.
Jaden Davis had a nice PBU on a deep ball to the end zone. He played it with textbook coverage, stayed in the hip pocket, read the WR off his break to the fade, pressed against the chest to close the distance, got his head around to track the ball & then got his hands active to disrupt the catching-point of the WR. Good coverage on his part.
The CB group is interesting; between the Brown brothers, Davis & Porter Jr I think we have a solid 4 that can hold up for most of the season, the question will be how do they handle more Speedy WR’s? TAMU & UNC will be big tests for this group, if they can survive those games, until we see Clemson they really won’t have too much to worry about.
Overall the Defense did what they were supposed to do, which was beat a really really bad Offense. I can’t stress this enough to yall, Miami of Ohio’s Offense is terrible, like really really sh*tty. Now considering how bad we’ve performed in the past against really sh*tty Offenses they still deserve credit for handling their business & not letting these bums score.
Guidry is a real DC, he understands the multiplicity of disguised looks pre-snap & how to use angles to create free rushing lanes when sending LB’s on Zone-Dog or Overload Blitzes. He doesn’t just send everybody through the A & B gaps & call Cover 0 lol. He forces the QB to make quick decisions before the pocket is collapsed & the coverage Shells he designates on the backend give the LB enough time to get home to disrupt throwing lanes. That’s not an observation just off yesterday’s game, he did the same thing at SELA & Marshall, he’s the exact kind of DC this team has needed after the year of Miaz & Steele’s complete asleep at the wheel act last year.
This Defense will reflect Guidry’s personality & leadership qualities, fast & aggressive, but also smart & cognizant, as opposed to the years of recklessness & dis-concern for whole parts of the field. He will undoubtedly be the best DC we’ve had here in years... It’s imperative we don’t let him get away after this season, if/when LSU & other SEC teams come calling, we’re gonna have to give him a nice extension.
As far as Special Teams, I get having Restrepo back there because he’s reliable & will catch it most of the time, but I really would like to one of the speedsters we have on the roster get a chance. Having a dynamic return man changes the flow of a game & forces teams to have another element to worry about when strategizing during game week. Doubt it will happen, but just put some explosive speed back there & see how it goes...
Overall, it was a good team win against a bad. We did exactly what we should’ve been doing. This is why you don’t need to make excuses for bad losses, because they’re inexcusable. Miami is not a talent devoid D3 school, we have had plenty of talent to not lose so many games against teams we were head & shoulders better than in every aspect of the game. Winning games against teams like this is WHAT. WE’RE. SUPPOSED. DO. But with the that said, getting a W is always nice & should be celebrated.
A big season defining game is next week; you may think not, but ask yourself, what’s a better way to show that we’re not the same ol’ Miami of the last 2 decades than beating an overrated TAMU team? It’s not like they went 10-2 last year or have had a lot of immediate success in the Jumbo Fisher era, dude has not won more than 8 games since he’s been at TAMU & despite having great recruiting classes & an on-paper highly talented roster, his Corching leaves a lot to be desired, especially on Offense.
Guidry is going to earn his keep for this game because even though they brought in the Motorcycle-Man himself Philanderer Bobby P, I wouldn’t expect too much of an overhaul of TAMU’s offensive scheme. They’re going to stay true to Jumbo’s 1994 Terry Bowden Auburn Offense, their passing game might have a few new wrinkles, but the core of the concepts of the Offense will remain the same; Run the ball, work the seams with the TE & Play Action passes on the Deep ball to get it in the red zone. TAMU is not going to do anything too exotic or off the cuff from what they always do, it will come down to 2 things; 1) FILM STUDY & 2) COMPETITIVE WILL. How well prepared will be to get ahead of their run game & shooting the gap against those cutback lanes & how bad does the team want to beat TAMU?
They’re not an invincible juggernaut; this ain’t Bama, UGA, Clemson or even LSU, they are probably the most beatable team in the SEC not named Florida. So instead of making a million excuses as to why we can’t, why not just beat them & join the club of everybody else who has done it? Winners win & losers make excuses for why they can’t win, so which one are we?
Go Canes
