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Proof and specifics of our improvement

Mr. Dynasty1 said:
It’s weird how some of you act like the “negative posters” want to be the “negative poster.” Nothing could be further from the truth. We would love to be posting positively all day and shouting about all the great things going on with the program but that just isn’t the case.

Mario was billled as a top HC and paid like one too. Yet he’s performing like a first time coach. Objectively, he has improved a few areas mostly OL. On the other, the QB room situation of egregious.

Some of us just choose not to let Mario lower the bar to losing close games, “not giving up,” or “competing until the end” versus actually winning games.
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So how have you guys' efforts been rewarded? You guys making good headway?
 
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There is truth in what is being said here on both sides. We are on the right general trajectory for rebuilding the program while there are some legitimate reasons to question if Mario will get us over the line.

Some people seem strangely oblivious to the state of the program that Mario inherited despite having witnessed it unraveling for 20+ years. They're looking only at the tip of the iceberg. For a long time we have been miles away from the Alabama's and OSU's of the world in every possible respect. Not even close. Our program infrastructure was ostensibly a joke compared to what is occurring at big time programs.

On top of that the roster was horrid. Again, miles away from any relevant program in terms of experienced depth and playmakers at important positions across the depth chart. Just look at the NFL draft--the proof is right there. Manny was using smoke and mirrors to piece together slightly better than .500 seasons. But the program was continuing to slide. Everyone knows that.

It's hasn't been perfect, but Mario is making important progress in the areas of primary importance right now. He knows what it is supposed to look like. He's not building a facade. This is a serious reclamation project. In that context, it is mostly irrelevant whether we win 7 or 8 or 9 games this year.

Certainly the coaching matters as well and I don't think anyone would dispute that growth is needed there. There are some spots he seems to have difficulty recruiting. His coordinator hires, especially on offense, have not been great. The lone bright spot has been Guidry. The tight formations at times are not concerning to me personally, but the designs and concepts and rhythm of the offense leave a lot to be desired. Neither Gattis nor Dawson call good games, it's that simple. There are some good things too, but certainly Mario need to do better to get us where he and the rest of us want to be.
 
Ryanmilli said:
There is truth in what is being said here on both sides. We are on the right general trajectory for rebuilding the program while there are some legitimate reasons to question if Mario will get us over the line.

Some people seem strangely oblivious to the state of the program that Mario inherited despite having witnessed it unraveling for 20+ years. They're looking only at the tip of the iceberg. For a long time we have been miles away from the Alabama's and OSU's of the world in every possible respect. Not even close. Our program infrastructure was ostensibly a joke compared to what is occurring at big time programs.

On top of that the roster was horrid. Again, miles away from any relevant program in terms of experienced depth and playmakers at important positions across the depth chart. Just look at the NFL draft--the proof is right there. Manny was using smoke and mirrors to piece together slightly better than .500 seasons. But the program was continuing to slide. Everyone knows that.

It's hasn't been perfect, but Mario is making important progress in the areas of primary importance right now. He knows what it is supposed to look like. He's not building a facade. This is a serious reclamation project. In that context, it is mostly irrelevant whether we win 7 or 8 or 9 games this year.

Certainly the coaching matters as well and I don't think anyone would dispute that growth is needed there. There are some spots he seems to have difficulty recruiting. His coordinator hires, especially on offense, have not been great. The lone bright spot has been Guidry. The tight formations at times are not concerning to me personally, but the designs and concepts and rhythm of the offense leave a lot to be desired. Neither Gattis nor Dawson call good games, it's that simple. There are some good things too, but certainly Mario need to do better to get us where he and the rest of us want to be.
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All I read in your garble is you trying to be likable and seem reasonable supporting Mario.

If Mario wins as many ACC games next year as he did in 22&23 combined he'll be .500 in conference play.

That's taking over for Manny who was a breath away from 10-2 in 21. All of these Mario accounts trying to sway public opinion. Attempting to change history and make it look like he took over a 1-11 team.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
I don't care if the self-loathing Miami haters want to complain about only six wins this year, against five wins last year.

I collated all our 2022 and 2023 games from largest victory to worst defeat, and I put them side-by-side.

Here it is.

1. More wins
2. More wins at home
3. No blowouts by more than 2 TDs in 2023 (like, NONE)
4. More competitive games against ranked teams
5. 11 point swing in average margin across all games


View attachment 267164
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100%.
Those are facts, and we are better at almost every position minus TE. That’s encouraging.

However, it’s almost impossible to look worse than we did last year, and results this year are nowhere good enough, especially on offense.
You are not going to win many games in today’s game averaging 25pts per game.

I want to see Mario get a decent QB, stay away from the offense, except put pressure on the OC to fix the **** offense and put up some points.
Next season is going to be critical for this program. Need to show some **** progress in the win/losses next year.
 
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Thanks for the effort OP. Mopes will be mopes. We need to send some of the fanbase to the portal.

The thing is that context matters, which you have provided. It's obvious the team has improved. We see it with our eyes. Even just as important is that the culture has changed.

As far as W's/L's, the team has a chance to get to 8 wins which would be significant. They need to finish the season on a positive heading into Spring ball. Finishing with 8 wins would set the bar at 10 wins next year and serious contention for an ACC title.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
Completely correct, on every point.

Dumb penalties were bad. The INTs were bad. The failure to spot WRs running wide open was bad.

You fix three those three on-field things and you win every game in 2023.

Agreed on the ongoing culture/discipline improvement. Getting there, not all the way there yet.
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And get #5 and #31 to stop being so frickin undisciplined and play within the DEF scheme.

5 and 31 cost us the UNC and LVille games (5 even arguably the GT game as well, but Mario takes the cake in that one as 5 should’ve never been in that situation).

#5 for jumping routes trying to make the splash plays instead of making the simple plays that keep TDs off the board. And then vs Louisville, he realizes that he can STILL get INTs while playing within the framework of the DEF…proud of him but gosh darn, if he takes those risks in the NFL and gives up big play after big play, he will be sitting on the bench.

#31……we must’ve given up 100+ TE receiving yards vs LVille because of “bad eyes”….TOC I know you already know this as ur a football head, but for those that don’t know, in Guidry’s presser this week, he was talking about #31. LVille could barely move the ball against us and time after time after time they moved the chains passing to the TEs using motion and play-action because they knew 31 would bite and place himself out of position vs the TE he was responsible for covering.

And to all…yes I know their names, I’m just ticked right now because @TheOriginalCane is right…our team did it improve and substantially imo…if 5 and 31 just made the simple plays of trusting the DEF scheme, we beat two top 10 teams in UNC and LVille with a chance for win number 9 on Friday and a bowl game 10th win. It is the little things that matter most in football and
 
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Mr. Dynasty1 said:
It’s weird how some of you act like the “negative posters” want to be the “negative poster.” Nothing could be further from the truth. We would love to be posting positively all day and shouting about all the great things going on with the program but that just isn’t the case.

Mario was billled as a top HC and paid like one too. Yet he’s performing like a first time coach. Objectively, he has improved a few areas mostly OL. On the other, the QB room situation of egregious.

Some of us just choose not to let Mario lower the bar to losing close games, “not giving up,” or “competing until the end” versus actually winning games.
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So in this thread:

Mopes: Mario's biggest problem is he micromanages, can't get out of his own way and needs to adapt ASAP...

Mario's Biggest Supporter who wants us all to be graceful with Mario: Mario's biggest problem is he micromanages, can't get out of his own way and needs to adapt.

Seems like we are on the same page, other than the Miami fans aren't going to stop being critical, we are going to turn the heat up until he adapts or dies.... just like Mario fans did with Manny Diaz....

Tune into the latest episode of We Learned it From Watching You....
 
Brooklyndee said:
Well Mario's biggest thing is he constantly falls back into micro management. He needs to learn FAR more how to let go and trust his hires to do the jobs they were brought here for. 80% of the time he's got that down. But in that other 20% he has a vision in his head and when it doesn't fit EXACTLY on that checklist it's like he has a meltdown at times. Knowing the day to day a lil better than most id certainly say he's gotten noticeably better about it. But in those moments he's got plenty of work to do. It's the ocd side of him that gets lost. I just wish as a fan base we'd all use a lil bit of time not focusing on each and every possible negative and spend some of those moments on actually voicing and acknowledging where we have made HUGE strides... You can as a sensible person, acknowledge a lil bit of both.
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I hope this board appreciates the nugget you just dropped.
 
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mcnaire2004 said:
All I read in your garble is you trying to be likable and seem reasonable supporting Mario.

If Mario wins as many ACC games next year as he did in 22&23 combined he'll be .500 in conference play.

That's taking over for Manny who was a breath away from 10-2 in 21. All of these Mario accounts trying to sway public opinion. Attempting to change history and make it look like he took over a 1-11 team.
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I’m not trying to be or seem anything. We’ve been hovering around .500 since 2006 and were 7-5 in 2021. The program has fallen way behind the good P5 programs in every respect.

In that context, I don’t really care that we’re continuing to hover around .500 right now. I’m more concerned in the short run with whether we’re closing the gap with real football programs so we have the foundation to actually sustain long-term competitiveness (playoff picture) starting in a couple years.

You can disagree and obviously do. But Manny was going nowhere and I’m not convinced that the other candidates would have been able to change the football operation the way Mario is. That’s important. Obviously he needs to win ultimately.
 
Ryanmilli said:
I’m not trying to be or seem anything. We’ve been hovering around .500 since 2006 and were 7-5 in 2021. The program has fallen way behind the good P5 programs in every respect.

In that context, I don’t really care that we’re continuing to hover around .500 right now. I’m more concerned in the short run with whether we’re closing the gap with real football programs so we have the foundation to actually sustain long-term competitiveness (playoff picture) starting in a couple years.

You can disagree and obviously do. But Manny was going nowhere and I’m not convinced that the other candidates would have been able to change the football operation the way Mario is. That’s important. Obviously he needs to win ultimately.
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look if the other candidates (there werent any bc they zeroed in on mario) got the same level of resources and support, we could possibly be see better results. the issue is the boosters went after mario and only supported mario with their moeny. this would not have been the support for a non columbus grad.
 
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StevoBevo said:
For what it’s worth now Nc state and Clemson are Top 25 opponents according to the CFP. Clemson likely finishes in the top 20 this year which makes it a solid victory, Miami Ohio will finish with 10 wins and A&M is top 5 in talent acquisition.

Every game has been close (especially the losses) there isn’t a loss where you never felt we had a chance. Rather most of the losses you feel WE let it slip from us.

Louisville
FSU
GT

Those 3 games alone were 1-3 plays away from being wins. Last year our losses were abysmal. Our competitiveness is showing. Now We need to turn the close losses into close wins.
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I think that’s the part that sticks out to me is we’ve had a lot of close games with very mixed results from the coaches

It’s hard to instill a winning culture if the coaches get a deer in headlights look when games get really tight

We are definitely an improved team, which cmon, last year was the worst team I’ve ever seen here, but I had hoped to see better coaching in the critical moments than we’ve seen here

It’s one thing to play and lose when being out-executed but it has felt too often like those leaders have dropped the ball to me
 
JHallCanes said:
I think that’s the part that sticks out to me is we’ve had a lot of close games with very mixed results from the coaches

It’s hard to instill a winning culture if the coaches get a deer in headlights look when games get really tight

We are definitely an improved team, which cmon, last year was the worst team I’ve ever seen here, but I had hoped to see better coaching in the critical moments than we’ve seen here

It’s one thing to play and lose when being out-executed but it has felt too often like those leaders have dropped the ball to me
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The close wins and losses were because of terrible coaching. I don't find comfort in that.
 
Lots of valid points from various posters, to the point of death by analysis. I don't think many would argue with there being upgraded talent overall. However, the issues at QB the last 2 seasons, as well as whether Mario can find, develop, and empower a good one should be of the utmost concern. Clearly the upgrades in resources and talent, at OL for example, have not translated to more W's. Strangely less, in fact. And then there's the game day blunders that have become commonplace. The glaring and obvious concerns make it difficult, at least for me, to look on the bright side. And there's a very real possibility that a lot of talent will be walking out the door this off-season. Many of which to his credit Mario brought into the program, while yielding pedestrian results.

This week has been a concerted effort to push the PROGRESS agenda. From Mario's presser the other day, to the coach's show with Zagacki and Bailey, and even to this thread. I know Mario's promoting his program and needs to do so, but highlighting 'progress' can be equated to highlighting moral victories and could be why we're hearing some blowback from the fanbase. It's undeniable, imo, that Cristobal's tenure thus far from a results standpoint has been disappointing, and from a game day coaching standpoint has been disturbing.
 
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