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Takeaways from Our Disgraceful Loss to UNC (As Calm an Analysis as Possible)

jmccomber5 said:
The roster won’t be better than it is now. Manny isn’t a Jimbo, Saban or Dabo level recruiter. He’s not even a Mullen level recruiter.
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Completely agree. We'll be consistently stuck playing underclassmen and players who shouldn't see the field due to our **** poor recruiting.
 
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FriedSalmon said:
Completely agree. We'll be consistently stuck playing underclassmen and players who shouldn't see the field due to our **** poor recruiting.
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Yep and those average recruits will leave unexpectedly when they are juniors and be undrafted and never heard from again. Rinse and repeat.

Meanwhile Clemson gets guaranteed first round dline to stay another year. Very frustrating. If we can't turn this around, this will cement our mediocre status since we won't get elite recruits.
 
The results we are getting are the combination of haveing ****** coaching staffs and South florida sellouts for 15 years
 
Diaz sold us on changing our losing mentality and finding ways to win. We lose 2 winnable games ...His defense gives up too many points and our offense stutters..
We needed to use the t/o’s to get to the middle of the field, for a better chance at the field goal. That’s on Manny.
 
So we are 3 years away? Pretty sure ive heard that every year since becoming a fan in 2007. LOL at this ****** program
 
I would add that our WR’s played better and our OL was serviceable when we were in a spread formation and shotgun. A number of drives stalled when Enos went back to putting Jarren under center and tried to force a power running game or called slow developing play action passes. The tempo was too slow for most of the game as well. I legitimately think this offense with these same players would be absolutely fine in an uptempo spread offense but Enos seems **** bent on establishing a power run game.
 
I wish I was wrong, but this coaching staff looks like it’s way in over its head. How’s Manny any different on the sidelines than Shannon? Perhaps, as the season goes, this improves, but then again, we’ve said this of every coach last 15 years or so. He’ll Willy the Billy Taggart looks more active and coach-like on the sidelines. Man, oh, man, do I hurt for my Canes players and fellow fans!
 
FL Cane said:
Let me be the first to say that prior to this game I was as optimistic as possible on the outcome. I even posted a long thread with ten predictions on us performing exceptionally. I was dead wrong, and am eating more crow than ever before. I won't duck it, nor will I pump sunshine for this team again this season. Despite this disgraceful excuse of a performance, there are some takeaway's we can make from today's game.
  1. Special teams cost Miami another game. I said before this season that our special teams would likely cost us at least 1-2 games this season. I never could've imagined it would've been the first two games of the season, but this is where we find ourselves. Much like Feagles, Bubba Baxa isn't it. Miami needs to recruit its next kicker and move on from Baxa next year. Three missed field goals on the season two weeks in is inexcusable. If Baxa makes those field goals, Miami is 2-0. Louis Hedley had some nice punts and should be commended. Miami's XP blocking was atrocious. Even with our terrible defense, execution on special teams gets Miami to 2-0.

  2. The defense has regressed. The fact that we gave up the game on 4th and 17 is inexcusable. Blake Baker has a lot of questions to answer, and Miami squandered a fourth-quarter lead for the second week in a row. Trajan Bandy looked lost at times in the first half, and the secondary was swiss cheese all night. The fact that a true freshman QB passed for more than 300 yards on this defense is pathetic. Our LB's are to slow and constantly out of position.

  3. The secondary was terrible. No other way to say it. We let a true freshman QB shred us. No excuse for that performance.

  4. The run defense wasn't much better. We lost contain constantly in this game, and Miami looked like the slower team. This defense has regressed and can't be relied on going forward.

  5. Jarren Williams did all he could. Like in the UF game, Williams played exceptionally well tonight and put Miami in position to win this game multiple times. Two nice TD passes, a decent completion percentage, and no turnovers. It's about all you could ask from a young QB. Williams is going to be a good one for Miami, he has the accuracy and intangibles to be great. He reminds me a lot of Chris Leak in 2003. Leak was an extremely young player on an average UF team and had some rough growing pains. He ultimately turned into a great QB. Jarren has that potential.

  6. Deejay Dallas and Cam Harris played well. Unfortunately, like in the UF game, a huge Cam Harris game-changing run got called back on a holding call. Despite that, both played well despite shaky offensive line play. Both players are far better than the team they're on, and it's a shame.

  7. Penalties, penalties. Much like week 1, Miami shot itself in the foot time after time. Of course, some of the flags were horrendous and uncalled for. That's the nature of the game, especially on Tobacco road. The targeting call on Carter was bogus. The fact that UNC had 1 penalty called on them all game is incredible. You've got to play at a level where the refs become irrelevant.

  8. A Jeff Thomas and Will Mallory redemption of sorts. Mallory finally did something by catching a crucial passing TD but dropped a catchable ball on the next play. Jeff Thomas made some crucial catches and big plays too.

  9. KJ Osborn will continue to excel. Osborn is another highlight on the offense and has proven himself to be Miami's #1 receiver. He made an NFL touchdown catch tonight, and his leadership will be needed to turn this season around.

  10. The defensive line has regressed. Miami's DL seemed to be a second late to getting Sam Howell. Jonathan Garvin is struggling, and the DL isn't getting anywhere close to the chaos or push it had last year.
Going Forward
  • Miami is 0-2 for the first time since 1978, and 7-11 in its last 18 games. It's simply inexcusable, and Manny Diaz must stop the bleeding. The staff has a tough task ahead, and Miami is in the worst situation possible at the moment. Manny Diaz must be a better HC. Leaving timeouts on the board at the end of the game with an iffy kicker is bizarre at best and downright dumb at worst. Not to mention Miami could've used two of those timeouts on second and third down. Kicking the chip shot on 4th & 3 was also a big what if. Baxa has problems but has been able to hit from that distance before. Same what if FG situation happened against UF too.

  • Blake Baker and Dan Enos have a lot to prove. Enos' playcalling was slightly better this week, and Miami didn't have an issue moving the ball most of the game. The struggle was in the Red Zone where Miami just couldn't punch it. Miami has a QB, and the OL played better tonight. The offense should only get better. On defense, Blake Baker has to prove he isn't a step back at DC. Baker's defenses have blown two fourth-quarter leads in consecutive weeks.

  • Is the season salvageable? Absolutely. We could be sitting here three months from now and be a 9-3 or 10-2, with a great comeback story on the year. Will that happen? Probably not. This team has the makings of having an at best 9-3 campaign. Reasonably, we'll probably go 7-5 or 8-4. This team just doesn't currently have the mentality, players, or coaching to get to be anything better than average. Recruiting can solve the player issues, and this staff will need to iron out their issues to pull this season out.

  • On Manny Diaz, it's too early to tell what he'll do. We've only got two close losses to analyze. After this season, we'll be in a better position to see what he does moving forward. For what it's worth, Saban, Dabo, Jimbo, and many other top coaches struggled at their current schools during their first season. Manny talked about a disease pervading this team, and it's still there. Only consistency, solid recruiting, and winning will rid us of this 15-year stench. Were it not for a few terrible plays, Miami is 2-0 and Diaz is likely getting coach of the year talk.

  • Personally, until this team can win a football game and show consistency, we should retire the chain and those touchdown rings. When this team is respectable, they'll get the honor of wearing those again. Till then, lock it down.

  • Every game this season will be a dogfight, Miami will not blow out any team except maybe Bethune and Central Michigan.

  • The most important game of the season for us now is our matchup against Virginia Tech. Whatever little hope left that we have in winning the coastal relies on us winning that game. UNC won't win out, and will likely drop a few games to coastal opponents. Miami needs to beat UVA and VT. We likely won't win the coastal but any hopes of doing so rely on that.

  • Like I said after the UF game, this is a 3-4 year rebuild. Clemson didn't get to where it is without going through growing pains for 3-4 seasons. LSU is just getting there now after years of stagnation. We're just not in a position to win immediately. Solid recruiting, a winning culture, and consistency are the only ways forward.
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Good post.

Cam should play more. Deejay is a great Cane & absolutely should play significant snaps (wildcat, 3rd downs, RB etc) but we need elite production out of the RB spot. I'd like to see Lingard playing. He has elite speed. We need to have more long runs. Cam had one (called back for holding). Lingard is a threat to house one every time he touches the ball. We need more pop at the RB position. Lingard, Cam & Deejay is a nice group. I personally think Cam & Lingard should get the bulk of the carries.

Enos is being too conservative with his playcalls. Jarren has shown he's highly accurate & will protect the football. Enos needs to play to win (instead of playing to protect a young QB & keep it close). This offense has some great playmakers. It should be wreaking havoc on opponents when all the best assets are used properly & the playcalling gets more aggressive. More deep balls would open up the running game & prevent the defense from sitting on the short & intermediate routes. The playcalling was unimaginative in the red zone tonight. We had quite a few trips to the red zone that either produced no points or 3 points. We have to do better than that with guys like Brevin, Mallory, Osborn, JT4, Njoku (who should be a major mismatch from smaller DBs) & others. We have guys with a major height advantage over most DBs. Let's take advantage of that in the red zone.

Also, let's not waste downs throwing to players that don't consistently catch the ball. Hightower had a tough drop last night that hit him in the numbers. I'd love to see Hightower succeed but if you can't catch consistently, you should ride the pine. We cannot afford to waste a single down on offense. The margin between victory & defeat in CFB is way too small. Make every offensive down count & play to win. We need to have a more aggressive mindset on offense (attack) and use our speed to our advantage.

While I'm still rooting for him to succeed, Baxa needs to be more decisive and get his kicks off faster (the ball has to get up faster to prevent blocks & deflections). He's probably feeling tremendous pressure to be accurate at this point. Tonight he shuffled his feet & was slow getting kicks off (which is why one was deflected). He needs to plant & kick faster & more decisively. I hope some of our former great PK will help him settle down & get his kicks off faster. Patke needs to step it up on the coaching of Special Teams before we lose more games this way.

Jarren played well & will continue to improve as a game manager & winner as he gets more experience. He needs to be protected well.

I'm really thinking we should have scrimmaged more as we likely would have executed much cleaner against UF (and won) and we would probably have beaten UNC too. Saban does it Bama. We should have done it with a first year OC, first time starter at QB, new HC etc. I think it would have paid significant dividends. Tackling likely would have improved significantly too (and that remained a problem last night). Wrap up!

Looking at it objectively, we had the more talented roster last night but lost. We certainly had more explosive players. We aren't using our best assets enough (other than Brevin, Osborn & JT on offense) and the playcalling is too conservative. Cam should have played more against UF and Lingard should have played sooner. UNC was less talented but they executed much better & played smarter.
 
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