forums

Thoughts from seeing the game live

KrazyCane said:
Don Chaney is our best running back on the team... he is like a combination of Robert Burns in terms of power and Jaylon Knighton in terms of speed. I maybe off but he looks like he has more lateral quickness / agility than Knighton. He has the potential to be the best UM running back since McGahee.
Click to expand...
He was the only RB that bounced outside to get yards. UVA knew when/what we were running and clogged all gaps. Chaney saw that and bounced it to the curved where they had to deal with his speed. Smart move.
 
Advertisement
TLOC said:
To be honest I could care less about the stats and all that bullchit. To me, the most important is the eye test.. and we look like a bad team. I’m no expert but I watch plenty of college football and I can firmly say we are one of the most undisciplined and poorly coached teams in the country.
Click to expand...

I’ll ask you the same question @The Franchise couldn’t answer: who are these complete, consistent teams?

There are four elite teams. Wisconsin looked **** good but it’s just one game. Beyond that? Oklahoma has lost twice. Penn State just lost to Indiana. Florida has one of the worst defenses in America. North Carolina lost to FSU.

Average means in the middle of everyone. It doesn’t mean “every team outside the Top 5.” I’m confident we aren’t a Top 5 team. I’m confident we‘re a Top 25 team. The next few weeks will sort out where we fit in that range.
 
UVA players were wayyyyyyy bigger than us watching it live and it was frustrating to nor use our speed to our advantage by using the edge both offensively and defensively.
 
Advertisement
Pope moving in the right direction
K Lol GIF by Rodney Dangerfield
 
UVA players were wayyyyyyy bigger than us watching it live and it was frustrating to nor use our speed to our advantage by using the edge both offensively and defensively.
 
My takeaway from the game completely based on eye test:

Pros:
- A game in the pouring rain, against a gimmicky offense with multiple mobile qbs? We've lost this game every time for the last 10 years
- King was nails yesterday. Big-time throw after big-time throw. It's a blessing to have that type of qb
- Receivers finally showed up a bit. We still had some drops and ineffective play, but they made plenty of plays yesterday, which honestly should be the expectation given that it seems receivers all across the nation are making big plays and tough catches
- Nice to see players finally develop a bit. Frierson, Chaney, Mallory, showing up on a consistent basis now, nice change from previous years

Cons:
- Why is our defense always so **** easy to play against? Backup qbs always seem to pick us apart, mobile qbs always find a way to get yards on the ground against us. Opposing running games seemingly have easier times running against us than vice versa every single week. Other teams have receivers that make tough, contested catches, they have players that break tackles. Its felt this way for the last 10 years. What is it about our defense that makes it seem this way?
- It feels like our d-line wilts when they face a mobile qb. Their aggression gets used against them, they rush upfield, run past the qb, and then the qb is free to run for 10 yards. Whereas teams with elite d-lines, they seem to collapse the pocket from the interior and right into the face of the qb. And then our d-line starts to play passive after they've gotten gouged a few times which is just as bad
- At some point we have to find an o-line group that can effectively run the ball when everyone in the stadium knows we're going to run the ball, right? Lack of creativity is hurting for sure, but we're not even getting 2 or 3 yards, its stopped dead at the line time and time again.
- Something is up with King for sure. There are a few times a game where its clear as day that King pulling it will at LEAST gain 5 yards, and likely MUCH more. Then you have the indirect threat of King pulling the ball consistently, which makes the defense hesitate for that split second which i feel like is a pretty big deal for this offense
- Going back to the defense, Blake Baker may end up being the thing that costs Manny the job here. I don't think Manny is great by any means, but if he had above average coordinators on both sides, we could win 10 games a bunch of times under Manny given our crappy schedules and be that team that's always RIGHT there and therefore we can't fire Manny. Kind of like Richt at UGA, always a game away from doing something big. And maybe you sneak into a playoff or two if things break right. But Baker is in over his head, and IDK if Manny has the balls to fire him.

My Completely unanalytical take on things, and its very likely I let alcohol and 15 years of frustration leak into my perception of the game
 
Advertisement
D$ I saw King last Sunday morning right after the Pitt game at First Watch near the airport after he had breakfast. He was walking with a noticeable limp. I asked if he was ok but brushed it off as nothing but I figured it was the day after....I remember always being sore af after a slugfest.
 
DMoney said:
I’ll ask you the same question @The Franchise couldn’t answer: who are these complete, consistent teams?

There are four elite teams. Wisconsin looked **** good but it’s just one game. Beyond that? Oklahoma has lost twice. Penn State just lost to Indiana. Florida has one of the worst defenses in America. North Carolina lost to FSU.

Average means in the middle of everyone. It doesn’t mean “every team outside the Top 5.” I’m confident we aren’t a Top 5 team. I’m confident we‘re a Top 25 team. The next few weeks will sort out where we fit in that range.
Click to expand...
Also the whole COVID thing. I know we are what, 6-7 weeks in to the season, but a lot of teams are still feeling the residual effects of not having a full summer camp.

this entire season has been weird, inconsistent football. It’s been great!
 
Last night was the first time I got a Club Coker vibe, and it sent a chill down my spine.

Manny slip-n-sliding like we just won the ACC, and after the game, Harley said the WRs had just been going through the motions until the coaches challenged them by opening up the WR competition.

Why did it take five weeks to correct that.

I get that Manny is more of a rah-rah guy. You can win like that (e.g. Pete Carroll).

But sometimes you need to have guys on edge. We laugh at Nick Saban growling when his team us up 45 in the 4th quarter. It would be fake and hollow if Manny did that, but it's okay to get in the team's *** when they fall asleep and let a 94-yard drive happen in 2 ******* minutes.

We seemingly ALWAYS play our worst after the scores. It's like we lose focus and edge. "We got this ****. U already know." Then we give up a 40 yard kickoff return and get a targeting penalty and blow a coverage and jump offsides and we give up a cheap TD. Now we're back in a dogfight.

**** needs to stop.

And Blake Baker seems to have "smartest guy in the room" syndrome.

Whenever we simplified and played tighter man coverage, UVA could barely move the ball.

Then we revert to "complex" zone schemes where we pray guys drop the ball on 3rd & 8.

We're at a crossroads in the season.

NC State is not a very good team, especially with their backup QB in there.

If that game turns into yet another death struggle/loss, yikes...
 
Advertisement
DMoney said:
I’ll ask you the same question @The Franchise couldn’t answer: who are these complete, consistent teams?

There are four elite teams. Wisconsin looked **** good but it’s just one game. Beyond that? Oklahoma has lost twice. Penn State just lost to Indiana. Florida has one of the worst defenses in America. North Carolina lost to FSU.

Average means in the middle of everyone. It doesn’t mean “every team outside the Top 5.” I’m confident we aren’t a Top 5 team. I’m confident we‘re a Top 25 team. The next few weeks will sort out where we fit in that range.
Click to expand...
I understand what you’re saying but all those teams you named would beat us pretty handily other than maybe UNC. We can’t hang with the elite teams (Clemson proved it) and the second tier are much better than us. Penn state is still miles better than us, I would bet if we played Indiana away we would lose as well. Oklahoma vs Baker LOL, UF would beat us, we have proven we can’t hang with Wisconsin. We are not in the second tier I’m sorry D$. We are a middle of the pack team with the likes of VT, GT and Louisville as far as I’m concerned. And the biggest thing of all is other than maybe VT all those teams I listed have better head coaches and staffs then us.
 
I think we have a serious Delvelopment issue with this defense line and WR position players... it’s like we are not teaching technique or something these players are not developing.. it’s just seems that these players are just going in the game and doing what they want
 
Lance Roffers said:
You're not wrong and that's why he pointed to it as a chance to see if anything has changed.

If the goal is to have Dabo or Saban as your head coach, I am > 95% confidence level Manny is not that. Also, keep in mind you are talking two guys who will go down on the Mt. Rushmore of college football. Most likely, due to the nature of the school, program, alumni base, Miami will NEVER have one of those guys as the HC, or at least for very long.

For me, the goal is to have a guy who doesn't lose you games and continues to grow into his role. I hold onto the fact that Manny has grown from year one to year two. If he shows some signs of growth and the team goes 9-2, I don't see how we couldn't be happy with that. Then it resets in year three and you want to see growth in areas again. Isn't that what you would expect from any employee in any walk of life? I tell my analysts at their review that if they are the same person at this point next year, their review will be worse, not the same. The expectation is continued growth.

I see no reason why it would be different for Manny. He's learning and improving. Gotta see if he has the key aspect, which is the ability to make people better than they believe their best is. It is a rare skill, believe me. Outliers are outliers for a reason and Dabo and Saban and Urban are outliers, not the norms.
Click to expand...
I haven’t seen anything to show that he has grown at all. We are still note talented than 90% of our schedule and we have a QB with a pulse. King is the sole reason we are 5-1 and not 2-4
 
Advertisement
My number one complaint for the defense is our dumb I mean absolutely dumb 3rd down play calling how do u rush 3 guys when first of all u haven't gotten pressure with 4 most of the game and second of all Uvas qb doesnt have an arm that scares u and he has been murdering u running the ball. Rush 4 1 spy and drop the rest in coverage. And we have done this versus everyone and they constantly have all the time to throw the ball or find an easy qb run for 5-6 yards
 
Lance Roffers said:
Then it resets in year three and you want to see growth in areas again. Isn't that what you would expect from any employee in any walk of life? I tell my analysts at their review that if they are the same person at this point next year, their review will be worse, not the same. The expectation is continued growth.
Click to expand...

Very well said. I'm stealing this for my own employees...
 
Advertisement
Back
Top