Some thoughts on Miami-Stanford from 'the Farm'...

Look, I think Dabo is a learner. He'll do his best to cover, but last year he really only had to worry about Barkate more than anyone else. Now he has to worry about Barkate as the Straight Man for Malachi.

They'll put the Clemson game on Upset Alert because it's at Death Valley and we want to bind up all the seams we saw tonight, but I think we'll pull away from Clemson because the Tigers just don't have the personnel to cover this WR Room. I just think that the line coaches figure things out by Week 5.

Yeah, Clemson is better than Stanford, but an argument can be made that we faced a better QB tonight, so there's that.
That said, all eyes should be on Tigers vs. Tigers tonight to see what the new Clemson QB looks like.
 
Goal is probably to lean on the passing game early until the OL clicks and then run the ball more. I'm sure it's killing Mario but not much you can do when you are replacing 4 starters with all in house guys.
I don't think Cristobal is that stubborn anymore.

He's not going to put the breaks on Mensah / Toney / Upshaw / Moore et al because he's an OLineman that likes to run. He'll be happy with the run being used to close out games / convert first downs.

Dude just wants to win - he got out of the way of Ward, he'll do the same here.
 
Our passing game should help open up our run game. If teams try and stop the run, Mensah and these WR are going to EAT. Need OL to improve, which i expect. I'm ready for big Ben and Cantwell to start. SJ is just too small.
 
Samson at LT was the right call. But I’m hoping all four other spots are still in open competition. I think moving McCoy to RG could raise the ceiling of the line. Hoping center position gets better with more experience.

I know we will get better, but I’m still not confident our starting five is our best 5 - for now or for later in the season.
 
The Canes put up E-45 vs the Stanford Cardinal in the season opener and moved to 1-0. They ended up winning 45-6, but I really think they could have put up 60-plus if they pressed things. Some early Saturday morning thoughts on this game..

- Darian Mensah is as advertised. His touch, accuracy and command is elite. He was in control from the beginning, at times it looked like a 7-on-7 out there at times. The first throw/completion of the game to Malachi Toney was symbolic of the night for the Miami offense. And it was an explosive play off a corner route. Then the TD he had a free hitter coming right in his face and he lead Toney into the endzone. That was football art.

- Alright so I stated that perhaps Toney would have less catches this season but for more yards. Well, I was wrong. It looks like he'll have more catches for a whole lot more miles this season. He is almost unguardable from the slot. To see him live you really see the technician he is. I read where he broke the record for most receiving yards in a game that was held for years by Eddie Brown. Toney could have easily had over 300 yards in this game.

-- This is going to be a fun and explosive Miami offense. Like I said, if you are a college football team in a non-college town setting (like Los Angeles or Miami) you have to understand that you are in the entertainment business. It's not just enough to win(which is obviously a prerequisite in this racket) you must also be exciting and fun. That's exactly what they were on this night, and yeah, I get it, but this needs to be the template moving forward for UM football. Be the Showtime Lakers of the 80's, I say.

I loved seeing the four and five-wide sets, the double stacked WR's, with some usage of tempo. BTW, great to see both Moore and Upshaw play and produce.

- Despite the score, and whatever his stats were, I thought Davis Warren actually played pretty well. He made some real throws out there.

- OK, now it was far from perfect (which it's not supposed to be in game 1), both the offensive and defensive line had some issues. They need to be better. The Oline simply couldn't get a good push in the inside run game. Most of Fletcher's yards in the first half were about him making people miss and burrowing forward. I still don't understand why outside-zone isn't utilized a bit more. Center snaps were a bit erratic at times, too.

On the other side of the ball, despite playing a banged up Stanford front, they had some issues creating pressure. Replacing Bain and Mesidor (who were both at the game) will not just be plug-and-play. To be fair, they drew a few holding calls. (Hey, how 'bout dem ACC officials!!) Now with that said, unlike the UM sieve-like defense of 2024, I think these issues are fixable within the season.

This team is a work in progress with a really high ceiling.

- great to see young guys like Javion Mallory, Samourian WIngo, Luke Fickel and JJ Dunigan get in late and make some plays. Jackson Cantwell and Ben Congdon played a lot from the beginning. And a host of other young Hurricanes got to see their first snaps. This is exactly what Miami needs to have a few times this season as they develop depth on the fly

- A bit concerned about OJ Fredrique, he got banged up early and never returned. Damari Brown ended up playing a lot of snaps.

- The Miami fan-base turned out in droves. Honestly, it felt like we had more fans in attendance than Stanford. I met some fans who aren't from Florida who came in for the game, both from other parts of California and nationwide. I think the Miami contingent actually caused Stanford to have a couple of pre-snap penalties on a drive in the second quarter

- In summation, Miami did 'the Chris Rock' -- they did what they were supposed to. But I was still entertained (as Maximus asked in 'Gladiator'). And hey, this is the entertainment business, right?





How was the E-40 performance???
 
Goal is probably to lean on the passing game early until the OL clicks and then run the ball more. I'm sure it's killing Mario but not much you can do when you are replacing 4 starters with all in house guys.

I have no doubts in my mind this Miami offense -- at least early on-- should be a throw-to-eventually-run type of unit
 
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I don't think Cristobal is that stubborn anymore.

He's not going to put the breaks on Mensah / Toney / Upshaw / Moore et al because he's an OLineman that likes to run. He'll be happy with the run being used to close out games / convert first downs.

Dude just wants to win - he got out of the way of Ward, he'll do the same here.

running as much 4-and-5-wide sets and letting Mensah toss it around everywhere, that didn't look like a coach with a dogmatic approach to football
 
There are a ton of weapons on offense to deal with...when you have Josh Moore isolated backside at 6'3 220 with speed...good luck.

You are 100 percent right it looked like 7 on 7 at times..**** it looked like an old Pac 12 game at points with this offense.

i think defense will settle in with pt.

STANFORD QB is a gamer to me....and actually played well...i believe other qbs ***uld make more mistakes against us. Dude would be a starter at most acc schools
 
I saw you and threw up the U at you moments before you were accosted for a selfie from some fan. I thought about shouting BANZA! but didn’t want to embarrass my kids. Please excuse me for that moment of weakness.


Dammit, man, where were you?!

I was in the row behind K9!!!
 
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The Canes put up E-45 vs the Stanford Cardinal in the season opener and moved to 1-0. They ended up winning 45-6, but I really think they could have put up 60-plus if they pressed things. Some early Saturday morning thoughts on this game..

- Darian Mensah is as advertised. His touch, accuracy and command is elite. He was in control from the beginning, at times it looked like a 7-on-7 out there at times. The first throw/completion of the game to Malachi Toney was symbolic of the night for the Miami offense. And it was an explosive play off a corner route. Then the TD he had a free hitter coming right in his face and he lead Toney into the endzone. That was football art.

- Alright so I stated that perhaps Toney would have less catches this season but for more yards. Well, I was wrong. It looks like he'll have more catches for a whole lot more miles this season. He is almost unguardable from the slot. To see him live you really see the technician he is. I read where he broke the record for most receiving yards in a game that was held for years by Eddie Brown. Toney could have easily had over 300 yards in this game.

-- This is going to be a fun and explosive Miami offense. Like I said, if you are a college football team in a non-college town setting (like Los Angeles or Miami) you have to understand that you are in the entertainment business. It's not just enough to win(which is obviously a prerequisite in this racket) you must also be exciting and fun. That's exactly what they were on this night, and yeah, I get it, but this needs to be the template moving forward for UM football. Be the Showtime Lakers of the 80's, I say.

I loved seeing the four and five-wide sets, the double stacked WR's, with some usage of tempo. BTW, great to see both Moore and Upshaw play and produce.

- Despite the score, and whatever his stats were, I thought Davis Warren actually played pretty well. He made some real throws out there.

- OK, now it was far from perfect (which it's not supposed to be in game 1), both the offensive and defensive line had some issues. They need to be better. The Oline simply couldn't get a good push in the inside run game. Most of Fletcher's yards in the first half were about him making people miss and burrowing forward. I still don't understand why outside-zone isn't utilized a bit more. Center snaps were a bit erratic at times, too.

On the other side of the ball, despite playing a banged up Stanford front, they had some issues creating pressure. Replacing Bain and Mesidor (who were both at the game) will not just be plug-and-play. To be fair, they drew a few holding calls. (Hey, how 'bout dem ACC officials!!) Now with that said, unlike the UM sieve-like defense of 2024, I think these issues are fixable within the season.

This team is a work in progress with a really high ceiling.

- great to see young guys like Javion Mallory, Samourian WIngo, Luke Fickel and JJ Dunigan get in late and make some plays. Jackson Cantwell and Ben Congdon played a lot from the beginning. And a host of other young Hurricanes got to see their first snaps. This is exactly what Miami needs to have a few times this season as they develop depth on the fly

- A bit concerned about OJ Fredrique, he got banged up early and never returned. Damari Brown ended up playing a lot of snaps.

- The Miami fan-base turned out in droves. Honestly, it felt like we had more fans in attendance than Stanford. I met some fans who aren't from Florida who came in for the game, both from other parts of California and nationwide. I think the Miami contingent actually caused Stanford to have a couple of pre-snap penalties on a drive in the second quarter

- In summation, Miami did 'the Chris Rock' -- they did what they were supposed to. But I was still entertained (as Maximus asked in 'Gladiator'). And hey, this is the entertainment business, right?







Sir, it was great to see you last night (with a cameo by the great @RVACane too).

One thing that I noticed was that you were cool as a cucumber all night long. Hopefully the Canes’ cardiac events arelargely a thing of the past.

Hope to see you at Wake in a couple!
 
The Canes put up E-45 vs the Stanford Cardinal in the season opener and moved to 1-0. They ended up winning 45-6, but I really think they could have put up 60-plus if they pressed things. Some early Saturday morning thoughts on this game..

- Darian Mensah is as advertised. His touch, accuracy and command is elite. He was in control from the beginning, at times it looked like a 7-on-7 out there at times. The first throw/completion of the game to Malachi Toney was symbolic of the night for the Miami offense. And it was an explosive play off a corner route. Then the TD he had a free hitter coming right in his face and he lead Toney into the endzone. That was football art.

- Alright so I stated that perhaps Toney would have less catches this season but for more yards. Well, I was wrong. It looks like he'll have more catches for a whole lot more miles this season. He is almost unguardable from the slot. To see him live you really see the technician he is. I read where he broke the record for most receiving yards in a game that was held for years by Eddie Brown. Toney could have easily had over 300 yards in this game.

-- This is going to be a fun and explosive Miami offense. Like I said, if you are a college football team in a non-college town setting (like Los Angeles or Miami) you have to understand that you are in the entertainment business. It's not just enough to win(which is obviously a prerequisite in this racket) you must also be exciting and fun. That's exactly what they were on this night, and yeah, I get it, but this needs to be the template moving forward for UM football. Be the Showtime Lakers of the 80's, I say.

I loved seeing the four and five-wide sets, the double stacked WR's, with some usage of tempo. BTW, great to see both Moore and Upshaw play and produce.

- Despite the score, and whatever his stats were, I thought Davis Warren actually played pretty well. He made some real throws out there.

- OK, now it was far from perfect (which it's not supposed to be in game 1), both the offensive and defensive line had some issues. They need to be better. The Oline simply couldn't get a good push in the inside run game. Most of Fletcher's yards in the first half were about him making people miss and burrowing forward. I still don't understand why outside-zone isn't utilized a bit more. Center snaps were a bit erratic at times, too.

On the other side of the ball, despite playing a banged up Stanford front, they had some issues creating pressure. Replacing Bain and Mesidor (who were both at the game) will not just be plug-and-play. To be fair, they drew a few holding calls. (Hey, how 'bout dem ACC officials!!) Now with that said, unlike the UM sieve-like defense of 2024, I think these issues are fixable within the season.

This team is a work in progress with a really high ceiling.

- great to see young guys like Javion Mallory, Samourian WIngo, Luke Fickel and JJ Dunigan get in late and make some plays. Jackson Cantwell and Ben Congdon played a lot from the beginning. And a host of other young Hurricanes got to see their first snaps. This is exactly what Miami needs to have a few times this season as they develop depth on the fly

- A bit concerned about OJ Fredrique, he got banged up early and never returned. Damari Brown ended up playing a lot of snaps.

- The Miami fan-base turned out in droves. Honestly, it felt like we had more fans in attendance than Stanford. I met some fans who aren't from Florida who came in for the game, both from other parts of California and nationwide. I think the Miami contingent actually caused Stanford to have a couple of pre-snap penalties on a drive in the second quarter

- In summation, Miami did 'the Chris Rock' -- they did what they were supposed to. But I was still entertained (as Maximus asked in 'Gladiator'). And hey, this is the entertainment business, right?





What was your overall opinion of the secondary play with new coaching there from last year? It's still early.
 
I have no doubts in my mind this Miami offense -- at least early on-- should be a throw-to-eventually-run type of unit
Animation Flag GIF by Patrick Smith
 
There are a ton of weapons on offense to deal with...when you have Josh Moore isolated backside at 6'3 220 with speed...good luck.

You are 100 percent right it looked like 7 on 7 at times..**** it looked like an old Pac 12 game at points with this offense.

i think defense will settle in with pt.

STANFORD QB is a gamer to me....and actually played well...i believe other qbs ***uld make more mistakes against us. Dude would be a starter at most acc schools
What was your opinion of secondary play with change from coaches from last year. I know we promoted there but still not the same. I am hoping we improve as year goes on.
 
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