The Sky isn't falling, thoughts on the game and predictions on the future

filmcane

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THE SKY ISN'T FALLING
We got whooped by a superior team. The truth is, as of tonight, Clemson actually does deserve the #1 team in the nation title. So far, it looks like the best teams that have actually played games and are playing on an elite level (2020 version) is Clemson, UGA and BAMA. I strongly suspect that we will be able to add OSU to that list when they start playing.

Obviously, we aren't on that list. All of those teams, would almost certainly beat us as of right now. We have a new offensive system with new coaches and some news players. We have improved DRAMATICALLY on the offensive side of the ball. If those coaches stick around for year two, and as of tonight, I'm guessing that's likely, we will take another step forward systemically.

We got beat by probably the best team in the country and yet, if our OL could have done anything and if our OC had prepared and called a better game plan, we actually would've been right in it. Don't pay attention to the 42 points put on our team. Pay attention to our D and ST's keeping us in the game into the 3rd quarter. When we got the Trevor fumble, if we could've scored, it would've been 17-21 and a real game and that would've been in the 2nd half when we were supposed to not have any chance according to the pundits.

We need time to curate these players and have these O coaches further train and inculcate our players. If certain players come back and certain coaches come back, and assuming Trevor doesn't come back and Etienne doesn't come back (technically he could and I guess he just loves him some SC cooking or something like that), we will take another large step forward and if not playoff worthy, then we will be getting darn close.

So cheer up. We have lots to fix, but big picture-wise, I still feel good about our team and our program moving forward.

THOUGHTS ON THE GAME
Like I mentioned earlier, forget the number 42. Our D and ST's had us in that game well into the 3rd quarter and if we had a modicum of offensive success, that game could've gotten very very interesting.

OL sucked tonight, no question. It would not be unfair to say that they cost us the game. They clearly did. Do I think they'll play like that again for the rest of the regular season? No chance. Not with these coaches and those players. We vastly improved our OL play this season and that came from a combination of better OL play and mechanics and the system that we run now. But, they got totally exposed playing against an elite D and the best DC in CFB. This does not mean they are now total trash and that they won't regroup and play far better for the rest of the season.

It turns out, Trevor Lawrence is sort of a jerk. But, he's also a college football god. Sorry Burrow, TL, as much as he was unnecessarily irritating tonight, doesn't take away from the fact that as a program, we probably played against the best QB in the history of our team. That's a subjective statement and you may very well come up with another QB who was better, but I've been watching the Canes for a looooooonnggg time and IMHO he is the best we've ever played against.

The only other RB that I feel was legitimately on Etienne's level that we've faced is Dalvin Cook. It's a coin toss between those two. So, this All-World RB was actually contained quite a bit relatively speaking, but he did his thing as well. Not sorry to see him finally graduate and leave for the NFL.

As I mentioned earlier, because of our D and ST's we were actually still in this game well into the 3rd quarter. If we had a well trained and talented OL, we could've altered the DNA of the game and legitimately threaten to pull the upset.

I'm glad we have Lashlee!! He has transformed us for the better and we are finally fun to watch offensively. He prepped/called a horrible game. Why he kept having King drop back and wait for the front 7 to clean his clock is beyond me. Why we didn't do every single screen and slant in the football encyclopedia is beyond me. Why he didn't have a rolling pocket and target our TE's and backs for modest gains, when it's clear that our WR's were totally overmatched, is beyond me.

Rhett could have had such a better game plan, and instead, Venables absolutely cleaned his clock. Hey, it happens. Venables is the best DC in all of CFB and has cleaned the clocks of many an OC. Nonetheless, we still should have come in with an entirely different game plan that focused on rolling pockets and waggles, quick release, screen, slants and a focus on our TE's and backs. Why he didn't do this is beyond me. But, I'm glad we have him and I expect him to learn from tonight. You cannot call plays for the reality that you want, you have to call plays for the reality you're currently in or you get what happened to our O tonight.

King truly has the heart of a lion and fought the whole way. Very proud of him! But, his decision making was outted tonight. You saw what a true Heisman caliber QB looks like tonight and it was not him. Even down to sticking long fly patterns and not taking the underneath routes.

We have great ST's except for PR. I'm totally shocked that we are 4 games in and still haven't trained our returners as to when they should and should not try and return a punt. It's truly baffling.

Our WR's...my my my...at this point, we can continue to start, play and give many targets to our inept starters, or we can start and target our youth. Perhaps I'm missing something, but it seems to me that our WR starters are nearly useless against a defense with a pulse and we've been pushing smoke and mirrors with our TE/RBs to hide this terrible fact. Lashlee decided to primarily use these WR's instead of our TE's, but I digress.

The experiment should be over at this point. We need to give oxygen to our young WR corps. We literally have nothing to lose at this point. Literally. Nothing. If nothing else, at least Lash could hide beyond the old, "Please understand, we're playing these frosh for our future." Whatever helps you get to sleep, just pretty please have a youth movement in the WR room, so we have a chance against the PITT's and UNC's of the world.

Ivey actually played well, which was a huge relief.

I mentioned last week that I thought Bubba was our best overall D player and tonight did nothing to change that opinion. If there's any justice in the world, Bubba will be a first string AA for most of the services. Who's playing better at safety than Bubba? Watching him it becomes very clear that he is a top shelf, elite talent. Also, 2 blocked punts against the best team in the country? The kid isn't human.

Speaking of elite talent, Jaelean Phillips truly lived up to his elite background. A couple of plays where he didn't even make the tackle, but he was hauling *** after Trevor, was truly jaw dropping. I could see his elite athleticism. The encouraging thing is, he is actually improving every week and getting closer and closer to playing up to his potential.

PREDICTIONS OF THE FUTURE
Lashlee - I was really becoming concerned that he would be one and done. Fortunately (or unfortunately), we were exposed tonight, so he won't be the OC of the ACC Champs or anything like that he was exposed tonight. I love the guy and want him as our OC, but I also believe he needs to grow and learn still. He would be wise to stick around for at least one more year and really improve the players and the team, thus putting him in a place to trampoline to greater heights career-wise. Prediction - he's with us for at least one more season to build his resume.

King - It's clear that he is not ready NFL yet. He still needs more tape and to shore things up as a player. Since 2020 comes with unique rules regarding this season not counting, I actually think it would behoove him and his career to take advantage of the extra year. I think comes back one more year instead of rolling the dice on the draft. Also, if he comes back, and with Trevor and Etienne out of the way, he may want to come back with the hopes of a conference championship and shot at the playoffs.

Diaz - This will be an unpopular opinion, but assuming we don't implode moving forward, I think Manny is the coach for us at least for now. I think he is with us for at least 3 more seasons.

Jaelean - Depends on how many stats he racks up over the 8 or so games. If he feels he could go top 10 in the draft by staying on more year, then we will be in a really good position.

Bubba - I'm really hoping he gives us one more year, but the truth is, if he keeps this up, he'll go high in this year's draft. I'm hoping he wants to come back and win a championship.

The Rest of 2020 - I predict the team rallies and we don't drop another game with the possible exception of UNC, but for the record, I do think we beat the Heels as well. I think we go 10-1 regular season. Regarding playing Clemson again.... here's the thing, I'm not "afraid to play them" whatever that actually means, but I am thinking of recruiting and national perception.

For instance, if ND only loses to CU in the regular season and we do the same, I actually would prefer to preserve the Win Loss record and let ND take their 2nd beating from the Tigers, while play our bowl game and end the season potentially at 11-1. That number would be huge for recruiting!!

2021 - I think Rhett and his O staff comes back and I think we win the ACC in 21'. This assumes a decent amount of players and coaches come back, but if they do, this could really happen.
 
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Bama is going to steam roll us. We know that’s coming. I don’t think it’s a lot to ask these corch coach’s to beat inferior, unranked coastal teams. They are corches though. Don’t get your hopes up
 
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WE HAVE 3 LB CORCHES AND THE WORST LB ROOM IN THE COUNTRY.
How dare you talk about our LB’s like that. They are great young men, they work hard, they fight every play and they’ve been through the wars. Mccloud and Jennings are men out there. True Miami caliber players. Waymon steed is the best back up LB in the country. And Ragone needs more snaps. We need his maturity y
 
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Bama is going to steam roll us. We know that’s coming. I don’t think it’s a lot to ask these corch coach’s to beat inferior, unranked coastal teams. They are corches though. Don’t get your hopes up

Probably, but you have to believe that if King comes back, that Miami has a good chance of being undefeated in the acc coastal and playing a Clemson team without Etienne and TL. If Miami can finally get over the hump and beat Clemson, then a 1 loss Miami is still making it to the playoffs.
 
Probably, but you have to believe that if King comes back, that Miami has a good chance of being undefeated in the acc coastal and playing a Clemson team without Etienne and TL. If Miami can finally get over the hump and beat Clemson, then a 1 loss Miami is still making it to the playoffs.
We are a playoff caliber team. We blew out 3 unranked teams. We almost beat Clemson tonight. They only blew us out by 20 plus points. But if we can just win out with the unbelievable coaches we have, we will be in the playoffs
 
We are a playoff caliber team. We blew out 3 unranked teams. We almost beat Clemson tonight. They only blew us out by 20 plus points. But if we can just win out with the unbelievable coaches we have, we will be in the playoffs

So I take it you disagree. I'm giving Lashlee another chance to prove this was a fluke. Miami is running a spread offense for the first time so I will cut him a tinry bit of slack.

I am not cutting the defensive staff any slack because I saw far too many boneheaded plays on that side of the ball.
 
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Moral Victory U!
All I got from the OP; and LOFINGL on Diaz being our coach for the next 3 yrs. He’s already been here for 5 yrs. If we implode against Pitt, I can almost guarantee based on the fragile makeup on this team, we will win no more than 6 games.

I will agree; the sky is not falling, but we’ve heard & read these types of OPs for far too long. My caution for optimism was Lashlee, but he looked like the Lashlee that Gus had to take away play calling duties from tonight. Hopefully this was a fluke. Hopefully.
 
All I got from the OP; and LOFINGL on Diaz being our coach for the next 3 yrs. He’s already been here for 5 yrs. If we implode against Pitt, I can almost guarantee based on the fragile makeup on this team, we will win no more than 6 games.

I will agree; the sky is not falling, but we’ve heard & read these types of OPs for far too long. My caution for optimism was Lashlee, but he looked like the Lashlee that Gus had to take away play calling duties from tonight. Hopefully this was a fluke. Hopefully.

Way too long. I was on the fire Manny Diaz train mid-season last year. Saw he made some changes, I liked that, But the jury is still out on him.

If bruh don’t overhaul the defensive staff after this offseason I’m definitely done with him.

Our scoring defense is horrible. I’m hopeful and optimistic as I think we are more the team prior to the Clemson game than we are the team that showed up last night.

Let’s see if this offense bounced back. The defense been a problem all season lol.
 
If you didn't see this L coming, you're not paying attention. Pitt game will show us if this team has actually gotten better.

Shocked no one is talking about how atrocious we are off bye weeks. We looked unprepared and sloppy with two weeks to prep, yet again.

The receivers are among the worst corps I've seen in 30 years of watching 'Canes football. Bench everyone and let the young guys get reps.

Miscues at PR are laughable at this point.

OL is still bad. If you didn't see that coming...

Been saying all offseason Carter would have a bad targeting penalty at a bad time and ***** us. Bench him too.

Bolden is a beast and definitely gone.

King is not an NFL QB. He shows arm strength to the sidelines but underthrows everything deep down the field. And did I mention the receivers are really, really bad?
 
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Bama is going to steam roll us. We know that’s coming. I don’t think it’s a lot to ask these corch coach’s to beat inferior, unranked coastal teams. They are corches though. Don’t get your hopes up
It's a foregone conclusion that Alabama is going to destroy us. To be perfectly honest at this point I really don't give a ****. What I want for next year is to win 10+ win the coastal and play in the ACCCG. With TL and Etienne gone we have a shot. Bottom line is that this team needs to be 100% focused on winning the games they are supposed to win thereby significantly improving our recruiting classes which in turn increase the depth and quality of talent. While we are doing this we must continue to upgrade the coaching staff(defense).
 
Defense - stupid penalties kept giving Clemson more chances and shorter fields to work with.
King - underthrows EVERYTHING longer than 20 yards
WR - can’t get any separation at all, and when the do they drop 30% of the passes. Their lack of separation makes the O-line look terrible
O-line - run blocking was horrible. Stupid penalties put the already struggling offense in long yardage situations all night.
Clemson, Bama, Georgia, and probably osu are head and shoulders above the rest of the country. We are still a couple years away from that level.
 
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