Random Observations- Ball State

[ageezy]

Regarding OL depth..Kinsler and Samson aren’t developing as fast as I think they thought they would. Both should be sure fire starters next year and both look like they still need major work.

in fairness ... and its still early ... but i didn't see mccoy become a starter and he's been fairly solid thus far

 

[GirthQuake]

This is Me being extra critical to a fantastic performance. Wasn’t a fan of punt/punt return first quarter. On one punt return one of the returners didn’t really have awareness of the punt rolling and almost touched it which would be catastrophic against good teams. Positive note? happy ray ray didn’t force any punt returns and made good poison calls (or whatever term Miami uses for letting a punt roll).

Loved the energy on kick off coverage.

The other Dylan Joyce bailed out the long snapper he had a low snap. I noticed the snapper also had a a few slow snaps against Rutgers that lead to a block punt.

Just food for thought and observations as a specialist in college. Some things to address from the special teams coach that makes big differences in quality opponents that can go overlooked.

 

[JamesQuall]

TBH I like Martinez, but he simply was outplayed by ALL of the backups. Martinez just didn’t appear to have it, but my guess is that he has a great game against USF

I like him too, but can you really say he was outplayed when he only touched the rock 3 times and got a total of like 8 snaps? I don't think so.

 

[Combo]

For me yesterday it was Ajay then Lyle then Fletch.

I agree - Ajay looked the best.

 

[hotshot]

I have a kid who works for me that’s a rb in Hs. Physical , down hill angry runner with great vision. His HS team went to more of a spread offense and lining up next to the qb rather than an I form or pistol. Which hurts him. It’s harder to get downhill and pick holes especially with the tight splits. I actually told him to ask the coaches to use more pistol and I form. They did and he had his best game. He just feels more comfortable with that with his running style.

I think the same thing is going on with Martinez. He wants to chose his hole , get pads squared and get downhill. A lot of our best runs are off bouncing outside. This is night and day from what he did at OSU. I actually had concerns about this.

That's what I like to see Fletcher doing -- bouncing runs outside where he can. Not sure he has the quickness to be really consistently productive with just the up-the-gut game against a good front seven.

 

[ageezy]

Is it a scheme issue? I don’t know what Oregon St ran but Miami literally just runs dive plays

Maybe that doesn’t fit his skillset?

Would like to see some tosses, jet sweeps, stretch zone runs but I’m not sure how much of that is in the playbook. Miami likes to run straight into the teeth of the defense over and over and over again. I hate it

i personally think we'd be better fit running him out of the pistol some

 

[BigWindyCane1]

We can complain about the status and development of any of our position groups, but I have my full trust in Cristobol and Mirabal when it comes to the recruitment and development of the OL. The coaches know what to look for and how to develop young players into potential NFL prospects. They know what they are doing

 

[CreativeCane]

I’m way okay with Martinez only getting 3 carries yesterday. I was worried about the state of the field; super patchy between rain and Dolphins flip. Between that and the long delay, don’t need him twisting or pulling something unnecessarily. We have depth there and it was Ball State, so why risk it? I was glad we pulled Cam after the opening 2nd half drive for the same reason.

Also a great opportunity to get guys reps and keep them happy. CJJ, Allen, and Lyle all scored and none are our top two backs. Keeping guys involved, engaged, and happy is important in the portal era.

 

[Odysseus]

Bell was the most disappointing O-lineman that game. He was constantly getting pushed into the backfield by much smaller defensive players. Yeah, that play where he got the penalty was obviously one of his worst plays, but he didn't look good all night. That edge player from Ball St was one of their linebackers that weighs 250 lbs. Bell is listed at 340.

Yea I been thinking Bell needs to redshirt. He has 3 years to play 2

 

[WestGA'Cane]

-not that Fletcher hasn't already impressed, but now looking like the guy I say in HS playoffs breaking tackles and bouncing outside with pretty good speed. Deceptive in space when catching it with slow down/acceleration to turn the corner and get up the sideline

-the receivers BLOCKING - dear Lord, as a unit they were awesome in this under-the-radar aspect.

-the-O-line depth with McCoy/Columbus kid (injured) as 5&6 is there. Bell, Samson, Kinsler essentially getting 1st reps at D-1. And what else can you say about Mario & OL coach evals of Franciavelli (?) and Tinilau. 3-stario? I'll take it. Frederique another one at cb. And the big DL 93, Campbell, belongs.
-allow the rb's, except maybe 1, deserve more reps. Good problem to have

-do we think the running game early in games is having difficulty with stacked boxes, or are we just going to be a 'pass to open up the run' kind of offense?

 

[grover]

The best part of yesterday's game to me was the relentlessness. On offense, when our ball carrier would break through to the second level, there were wide receivers, tight ends, **** even OL running 10, 20, 30 yards downfield lead blocking. On defense, for the first time in 2 decades I actually respected the cliché "flying to the ball". Our dudes were like a velociraptor hoard, gang tackling and coming downhill with purpose.

 

[JHallCanes]

This is Me being extra critical to a fantastic performance. Wasn’t a fan of punt/punt return first quarter. On one punt return one of the returners didn’t really have awareness of the punt rolling and almost touched it which would be catastrophic against good teams. Positive note? happy ray ray didn’t force any punt returns and made good poison calls (or whatever term Miami uses for letting a punt roll).

Loved the energy on kick off coverage.

The other Dylan Joyce bailed out the long snapper he had a low snap. I noticed the snapper also had a a few slow snaps against Rutgers that lead to a block punt.

Just food for thought and observations as a specialist in college. Some things to address from the special teams coach that makes big differences in quality opponents that can go overlooked.

Nah this is good stuff. I don’t know anything about special teams really so people that know the nuances it’s good to hear

 

[JHallCanes]

That's what I like to see Fletcher doing -- bouncing runs outside where he can. Not sure he has the quickness to be really consistently productive with just the up-the-gut game against a good front seven.

Some of Martinez big runs this year have also been to the outside. There are plays to be made but we just aren’t smooth with it yet but it seems like it’s getting better and better

Granted the competition and the OL injuries make it tough to judge

 

[grover]

Some of Martinez big runs this year have also been to the outside. There are plays to be made but we just aren’t smooth with it yet but it seems like it’s getting better and better

Granted the competition and the OL injuries make it tough to judge

I definitely didn't like how we started off with our run game. To be fair, those inside runs set up the bounces. But we also missed some holes and cutback opportunities.

 

[JHallCanes]

I definitely didn't like how we started off with our run game. To be fair, those inside runs set up the bounces. But we also missed some holes and cutback opportunities.

No doubt. Per the usual I see a lot of fans blaming one thing when it’s clearly multiple things

But also our pass game is just so good right now it’s hard to really know. I also think Martinez is a running back that gets better with reps…and our philosophy is the opposite with rotating backs all the time

Not saying anything is good or bad, it’s just not smooth yet

 

[PSU Cane]

Sucks for him it’s going to kill his draft stock if this keeps up. Dawson/Mario need to adjust.

Top RB aren’t going to want to come play here and just up the centers *** 15 times a game

I had the same conversation with a buddy of mine last night while watching other games. Why go after a kid in the portal, a proven commodity, only to ask him to be different than what made him successful before now? Especially when the issue appears to be scheme and not the player? There's a very delicate balance bringing in highly sought portal kids bc if you don't use them correctly or allow them to maximize talent, others will point to that in future portal battles to recruit against you. What makes coaches the best coaches is adapting the scheme/system to maximize the players best talents, not the other way around.

As for Martinez, he looked like the best back week 1, patient and picking the little holes that did open and using his power to get yards. I couldn't watch this game but 3 for 3 is underwhelming, both from a play call and execution standpoint against BG. Coaches need to get the run game going bc what i have seen to this point has been underwhelming.....very few holes, not a ton of push, mostly between the guards. I get that there's RPO principles in play with linemen not firing out and simply pass blocking but even some other true run concepts have been less than impressive. With this OL, running the ball should not be a problem.

 

[caneworld]

It's a long season... the preseason games have just gotten done... 12 games to the 'ship left.
We will need Martinez and all the other weapons we have. We are going to get hit hard especially as we get to the playoffs.. we need fresh legs ready on the sidelines

 

[JHallCanes]

This is Me being extra critical to a fantastic performance. Wasn’t a fan of punt/punt return first quarter. On one punt return one of the returners didn’t really have awareness of the punt rolling and almost touched it which would be catastrophic against good teams. Positive note? happy ray ray didn’t force any punt returns and made good poison calls (or whatever term Miami uses for letting a punt roll).

Loved the energy on kick off coverage.

The other Dylan Joyce bailed out the long snapper he had a low snap. I noticed the snapper also had a a few slow snaps against Rutgers that lead to a block punt.

Just food for thought and observations as a specialist in college. Some things to address from the special teams coach that makes big differences in quality opponents that can go overlooked.

Also on topic and off topic but watching some NFL games sometimes I wonder if these special teams guys can actually be helped

Like no matter the coaching I swear some guys brains just turn off

 

[Groz73Cane]

Missed parts of the game so not complete

- Pure speculation but they are pacing Martinez and some others since they think this could be a 15-16 game season. Martinez and most of CFB have never played a long season like this can be.
- This will be a big theme as the season plays out. Look at NFL rookies and how they slide as the year goes on.
- This is completely different than 2017. 2017 was a lot of lucky bounces. This is a supremely talented team.
- How many talented young freshman and sophmores do we have. I couldn't stop watching the end of the game when we had a team that played in high school last year balling out.
- This is hands down Mario's most explosive team. Both offensively and defensively. Lots of fast twitch guys on both sides.
- This is not the Mario I saw at Oregon. He had Justin Herbert but they never let it loose like this. He is showing incredible growth. In the past he never would have let his OC sling the ball like he did during the time when the game was being decided. The stats made us looked balanced but we threw it when it counted.
- The Chris Johnson TD made me think we have a lot left that we haven't shown and that we're just starting to tap into our potential.
- Cam Ward is a much looser, more confident QB than Justin Herbert was in college. Herbert is great and has unbelievable tools but he did get tense at times and over thought situations.
- How good are Aroyo and Lofton. It's not Bowers and Delp but it's pretty scary.
- Not sure how much rope we should give Sam Brown. He has some explosion so maybe we should look at this like preseason where he's getting acclimated.
- Surprisingly I'm a little disappointed in the Oline depth.
- Alston is a stud but I have PTSD seeing the #11 and thinking of Cory Flagg a step too slow.

Anyway will have more when I watch the game again.

Agree on Sam Brown. I see that talent, but just not feeling it yet with this guy. Obviously neither is Sam, hopefully he’s still acclimating to the O.But at some point we gotta Fish or cut bait.

 

[RozayCane]