BoxingRobes
Junior
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2013
- Messages
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I'm going to chop some this up and respond to a few parts.
I’ll take 5-1. Most teams would. Am I saying Manny’s the guy? Of course not. Last year was one of the worst seasons in Canes history. There’s a lot of ground to make up. But we asked for a modern offense and consistent wins against inferior ACC teams. So far, we’ve gotten what we’ve asked for.
The real test is November. That's where Miami seasons go to die. The first step is beating the bye week. That's been one of Manny's toughest opponents.
I've been saying this for weeks...but 5-1 is nice, but you can't tell much of anything from this team. We basically had the best of our 2019 season all front loaded in 2020 (same wins in 2020 v. 2019) and the results, even with a better offense, seem awfully similar.
I think there is one positive to take here...that Miami, despite this being some gimmes, didn't blow it. Previous incarnations of Miami football lose at least one of these previous two games...some of them would have lost both and the season would have unraveled. But, I am on high alert for the rest of the season. It could go south quickly...Manny Diaz needs to have the best two weeks of coaching in his life. Bye Week v. an NC State team we should beat with an emerging QB? I've seen this story before. All on Manny to give it a different ending. You're a corch until you are not.
- Happy to see Harley step up. This is what I expected out of camp. He's nowhere near a #1 but he is the best receiver on this team. Pope is still not there but is moving in the right direction. Wiggins has no confidence and is a liability right now.
I feel we are about to see Mike Harley officially breakout. He was our second best receiver last year and was all set to breakout before that miserable start. It seems he is back on track and is one score away from being an official breakout candidate.
Currently has a 23% marketshare of catches, 24% marketshare of yards (dingdingding), and 17% marketshare of receiving touchdowns.
Starting to think Dee Wiggins just won't get it and he should be ceding most of his snaps to Redding and Smith once they return.
After so much ballyhoo, I think I'm slotting Payton in the Mark Pope bin of overrated and not as good as everyone thought.
- Jaelen Phillips lacks a plan as a rusher. He is all effort and explosive power, like a young Olivier Vernon. The pass rush has been an overall disappointment and needs to get going down the stretch. We miss those Rousseau-at-DT alignments that everyone complained about. The team's sack percentage has dropped from 11.03% (2nd in nation) to 6.10%.
Great comparison.
I made the same point last week. We are missing Rousseau far more than anyone wants to admit. We're still getting in the backfield, but we aren't finishing with sacks. Disruption is production, and we're disrupting, but we're not finishing.
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Overall, I am not sure what to make of this team. Offense and special teams are clearly exponentially better than a year before...and the defense has taken a step back, but not dramatically so...we're still a Top 25 defense...but the results on the field aren't reflective of those improvements and this season so far feels a lot like some of the same 'ol. NC State game should be very telling about this team.