THIS ^^^^^So many Canes fans are focused on the defense that they aren't seeing they key to winning football games today. Saban outright told everyone before the season started and Devonte Smith winning the Heisman put an exclamation point on it. Offense wins championships. The idea of shutting down a high powered offense is an anachronism. A good defense doesn't keep a top offense off the scoreboard, it stops the bleeding enough that your own high powered offense can keep the lead. The bigger problem in the Clemson game wasn't that Miami's defense gave up 42 points to Clemson. The problem was that Miami didn't score 43 points. I didn't expect Miami to beat UNC 27-10. I expected us to win 47-42. How did UF come within one bad clock management decision of beating Bama in the SEC championship game? You can't say UF caught Bama by surprise like Ole Miss might have. Offense. Pitts and Toney are unbelievable weapons and then they got contributions other WRs as well. Miami has one reliable WR. ONE. Mike Harley is a solid #2 WR but he isn't a game breaker. This is the school that produced Michael Irvin, Andre Johnson, and Santana Moss. What happened to our WR room? This year Miami had two good TEs (including the #1 TE in the country out of HS), but they weren't utilized effectively in tandem. When Jordan was out, Mallory got the ball. When Jordan was back, Mallory didn't get the ball. It doesn't matter if Miami gets Venables as DC next year, we still don't have any WRs and Lashlee isn't as inventive an OC as I expected. That's going to be responsible for more wins/losses than the defense.
our fanbase complains endlessly about baker and the defense but when you watch clemson and ohio state give up 600 yards in playoff games it becomes clear that the key to winning in today's game is to have the most unstoppable offense you can possibly put together. the defense was not great vs clemson and was an abomination vs UNC but the offense didn't step up to the plate either and that's the bigger problem.
we need better play calling, better QB play, better line play, better WR play. the constant, endless discussion about our linebackers is focusing on the wrong thing. the good news is that from a hiring and recruiting perspective we appear to be headed in the right direction offensively.