Thoughts on the Cincinnati loss

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DMoney

D-Moni
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If anybody is looking for a Cliff's Notes version of the last five years, watch the game last night. This loss highlighted every weakness of the Golden era.

Poor special teams- We've had NFL special teams talent and FCS special teams performance throughout Golden's tenure. Last night, the kick out of bounds and the long kickoff return got Cincinnati in the game early. Against an inferior team, that's the last thing you want to do.

Baffling personnel decisions- Where was Deon Bush, our best defensive player, in the fourth quarter? Why does Dallas Crawford play so much? Why is Alex Gall playing over Kc McDermott? Why did it take so long to get Corn Elder on returns? Golden and D'Onofrio's favorite player of all-time is Jaiqwuan Jarrett, a journeyman from Temple. That tells me everything.

Lack of dynamic players- Many of us have criticized this staff for ignoring, or failing to land, dynamic players who can change the scoreboard on special teams and on offense. Aside from Duke and Dorsett, who the staff basically inherited, they have struggled to add Miami caliber playmakers. Stacey Coley has been injured or ineffective since 2013, and he's the only electric guy we have. This is almost unfathomable when you consider our location on the map. We looked lumbering.

Inability to run short yardage- We first saw this against an undersized Maryland front in 2011. It hasn't been fixed. Nick Linder is going to be a good player but he got eaten alive yesterday.

Slow, soft defense- Once again, a mid-major defense looked faster and more physical than a Miami defense. HS All-American defensive linemen were ineffective against no-star offensive linemen. There was no gang-tackling, as evidenced by the embarrassing touchdown run in the first quarter. The safeties looked slow, due in large part to the staff's decision to start a safety running a 5.0. A young quarterback looked completely comfortable facing our defense, which has become a tradition. Nothing has changed.

The biggest problem is that the defense is built for eleven D'Onofrio's. It is too complex and is not conducive to fast, physical, Miami football. I'm no coach, so this is an honest question for the football guys on the board: Have you ever seen a DC with three play sheets?

Inexplicable game management- I drank last night, so I pulled up the calculator on my phone to make sure my math was right. The failure to kick a field goal down 11 was unthinkable. The ironic thing is that Golden shows complete faith in the defense during the week, and rarely gets involved with their preparations. But then his in-game decisions show that he has no faith in them at all.

Third down struggles- This was a bad third-down team with Stephen Morris and it's the worst third down team with Brad Kaaya. These are talented quarterbacks who would start for many of the teams ranked ahead of us. The focus on money downs has not generated results.

No adjustments on offense- We saw this several times last year. James Coley's offenses come out on point only to go limp in the second half. They looked panicked, struggled with the play clock and failed to respond to any adversity.

Unprepared for tempo- The first half was the FAU game with better players on the other side. We had ten days to prepare, yet looked surprised by Cincinnati's tempo. Guys caught standing up mid-shift and looked confused. It goes to preparation.

Penalties- Twice in the Golden era, the team has finished in the 110s in penalty yards. We're ranked 101st this year. The team gave up only 50 yards last night, which is average, but the timing and the senselessness of the operational penalties killed momentum.

I wouldn't be surprised if this team plays much better against FSU. The Noles are mediocre this year, and that's college football. But this loss confirms that certain problems that have festered for years haven't been corrected. And that's sobering to anybody who had any hope left.
 
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The "mediocre" Noles will still beat us and probably even by a lot.

Agree with everything else you said, though.
 
Dallas Crawford is a ST player at most. He should not be playing safety, let J. Johnson get his feet wet if you're **** bent on rotating players so **** much.
 
"Baffling personnel decisions- Where was Deon Bush, our best defensive player, in the fourth quarter? Why does Dallas Crawford play so much? Why is Alex Gall playing over Kc McDermott? Why did it take so long to get Corn Elder on returns? Golden and D'Onofrio's favorite player of all-time is Jaiqwuan Jarrett, a journeyman from Temple. That tells me everything."

This!!!
 
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The "mediocre" Noles will still beat us and probably even by a lot.

Agree with everything else you said, though.

Cook and their OL is going to eat our lunch. I predict the defense quits again and Al blames having back-back road games in hostile environments.
 
Funny...

You could have copied and pasted this summary for about 40-45 games that Golden has coached @ UM... Verbatim!!!!

Sad Sad Sad...

A Change must be made somewhere....

JC
 
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what was ever wrong with running the ball out of an I formation or having some sort of lead blocker. Could the pistol runs be anymore predictable? sheesh
 
I was THIS close to posting something in one of the threads that asked what would it take for Golden to get off your bad side...Some of the posters in there were saying even if he led us to the MNC they would want him gone and I almost lost it! But now I know why and im glad I didnt type the post.

Last night was just embarassing if anything. You touched on alot of great points.

How the **** does a Cincy Dline look better then ours?
How the **** do we not use the TE more when its a CLEAR advantage for us?
Why the **** do we keep recruiting big, tall, but slow WRs TRYING to find the next Kelvin Benjamin but we end up with Greg Carr?
Why the **** is Alex Gall even playing anymore? (The FSU Dline is going to embarass him to the point where he might quit football after the game)
What the **** is wrong with KC to where he cant even get playing time?
WHY THE **** IS DALLAS CRAWFORD STILL GETTING PLAYING TIME?

I agree that we will play an inspired game against FSU for 3 quarters based solely off adrenaline and its a rivalry game. But when the 4th qtr rolls around and all that "rah rah" **** wears off, we will collapse just like last year.

Time to close up shop and start throwing out feelers...The Golden Era ended last night. And I think he knows it.
 
I'm pretty sure Cincy used Marylands gameplan from this staffs very first game. Spread us out and hit the perimeters. If you don't try and get too greedy you could dink and dunk us for 4-6 on every play!!

Penalties killed some drives as well. Our O is a ****img joke. Coley has no idea how to make any adjustments. He also doesn't know how to get an offense in rhythm. After his 15 scripted plays he pulls plays out of a hat and its evident bc we look completely lost and unprepared to get yards when we desparetely need them.

There is absolutely no way this staff can be retained. Ice and Beard will probably be the only ones retained.
 
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You basically just described the worst head coach in college football.




If anybody is looking for a Cliff's Notes version of the last five years, watch the game last night. This loss highlighted every weakness of the Golden era.

Poor special teams- We've had NFL special teams talent and FCS special teams performance throughout Golden's tenure. Last night, the kick out of bounds and the long kickoff return got Cincinnati in the game early. Against an inferior team, that's the last thing you want to do.

Baffling personnel decisions- Where was Deon Bush, our best defensive player, in the fourth quarter? Why does Dallas Crawford play so much? Why is Alex Gall playing over Kc McDermott? Why did it take so long to get Corn Elder on returns? Golden and D'Onofrio's favorite player of all-time is Jaiqwuan Jarrett, a journeyman from Temple. That tells me everything.

Lack of dynamic players- Many of us have criticized this staff for ignoring, or failing to land, dynamic players who can change the scoreboard on special teams and on offense. Aside from Duke and Dorsett, who the staff basically inherited, they have struggled to add Miami caliber playmakers. Stacey Coley has been injured or ineffective since 2013, and he's the only electric guy we have. This is almost unfathomable when you consider our location on the map. We looked lumbering.

Inability to run short yardage- We first saw this against an undersized Maryland front in 2011. It hasn't been fixed. Nick Linder is going to be a good player but he got eaten alive yesterday.

Slow, soft defense- Once again, a mid-major defense looked faster and more physical than a Miami defense. HS All-American defensive linemen were ineffective against no-star offensive linemen. There was no gang-tackling, as evidenced by the embarrassing touchdown run in the first quarter. The safeties looked slow, due in large part to the staff's decision to start a safety running a 5.0. A young quarterback looked completely comfortable facing our defense, which has become a tradition. Nothing has changed.

The biggest problem is that the defense is built for eleven D'Onofrio's. It is too complex and is not conducive to fast, physical, Miami football. I'm no coach, so this is an honest question for the football guys on the board: Have you ever seen a DC with three play sheets?

0


Inexplicable game management- I drank last night, so I pulled up the calculator on my phone to make sure my math was right. The failure to kick a field goal down 11 was unthinkable. The ironic thing is that Golden shows complete faith in the defense during the week, and rarely gets involved with their preparations. But then his in-game decisions show that he has no faith in them at all.

Third down struggles- This was a bad third-down team with Stephen Morris and it's the worst third down team with Brad Kaaya. These are talented quarterbacks who would start for many of the teams ranked ahead of us. The focus on money downs has not generated results.

No adjustments on offense- We saw this several times last year. James Coley's offenses come out on point only to go limp in the second half. They looked panicked, struggled with the play clock and failed to respond to any adversity.

Unprepared for tempo- The first half was the FAU game with better players on the other side. We had ten days to prepare, yet looked surprised by Cincinnati's tempo. Guys caught standing up mid-shift and looked confused. It goes to preparation.

Penalties- Twice in the Golden era, the team has finished in the 110s in penalty yards. We're ranked 101st this year. The team gave up only 50 yards last night, which is average, but the timing and the senselessness of the operational penalties killed momentum.

I wouldn't be surprised if this team plays much better against FSU. The Noles are mediocre this year, and that's college football. But this loss confirms that certain problems that have festered for years haven't been corrected. And that's sobering to anybody who had any hope left.
 
No adjustments on offense- We saw this several times last year. James Coley's offenses come out on point only to go limp in the second half. They looked panicked, struggled with the play clock and failed to respond to any adversity.


We run a no huddle offense and still run out of play clock. That is the best part of this.
 
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When is the last time Miami had a pass rush? I know im beating a dead horse but ****. Shannon's teams were so much better which is sad.
 
The bootom line is that this staff has no ability to prepare a game plan or adjust during a game.

We have an inferior coaching staff and it has nothing to do woith money.

Coley is one of the highest paid OC's in the country at $750k.

He makes more than Mario Cristobal.
 
Anyone notice Taylor Mays running straight out of bounds past the punt returner on the long return? You just can't make some of this stuff up.
 
Good take, Danny. the only things I'll add are:

- Punt coverage unit. I said it last night but what coach thinks it's a good idea to have 3 lumbering OL/DTs as your upbacks? that means you have 5 guys that are essentially in there for blocking and getting the punt off (the 3 heavy upbacks, the snapper and punter). 6 guys to cover a punt and if your gunners whiff (as they did last night), a long return is guaranteed. Minimal margin for error on that and it;s easily correctable. This is the 3rd or 4th type of alignment that Ghoulden has tried here - he's a failure as a STs coach.

As for the talent, I maintain that there are a lot of future pros on this team, especially on defense. think about it - Burns, Elder, Bush, Carter, Grace, AQM, McCord, Harris, Thomas, Owens, and maybe Heurt are all future pros, imo. That's a lot of talent for a defense yet we look soft and slow. Something's amiss and it's all on the scheme.
 
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