In their season opener on Sunday, the Canes fell to the LSU Tigers, 33-17. After a day off on Monday and a practice today, head coach Mark Richt let it be known that Malik Rosier is still his starting QB, despite a 15/35 outing against the Tigers.
“I know what we’re telling him, teaching him, what he’s seeing and dealing with,” Richt said. “The common fan doesn’t really know what we’re asking him to do on this play or that play or why you do this or that. They just look at the numbers: did he complete so many? Throw an interception or not? We grade him for his job, his technique, for a decision he makes, for his accuracy. No quarterback has ever been perfect. We understand that, so all those things together along with who he is competing against, what those guys do in practice, in meetings.
“There was some good and bad and it was true of every position across the board. [Quarterback] is a position that is going to be and should be talked about because it’s the leadership position. That guy has to play a certain way. But when everyone plays well around the quarterback his job’s a lot easier. We had too much QB run game tied into it where if a defender does this we hand it, a defender does that and we pull and run it. We had too many carries for Malik, need to do a better job of making sure the backs carry the ball more often. We don’t want the QB running the ball that often, quite frankly. It shouldn’t be where he has 16 carries. That’s a coaching thing we’re going to change. He made some beautiful throws, some that missed, sometimes people were in his face. Just a little bit of everything. That’s enough to get you beat and that’s what happened."
It would seem after a poor performance at QB in the opener, this would be the perfect time for UM to see what they have in some of their backups against FCS Savannah State this week.
“All those guys are getting better,” Richt said on his backup QB's. “I’m not going to say who is going to play, not play in this game. The guys that deserve to play will play. The guys that we trust... They are at the point where you give them some playing time and see what happens, I think they’re ready for that.
“That group was a little immature. To their credit I think they’re growing up, getting closer to be man enough to be that guy. That is a tough job, a tough job because of the scrutiny of the position as much as anything. But competition is good and we’ll always be competing.”
Richt was non-committal when asked about a potential QB rotation in the future.
“We’ll treat it that way at every position, want to play as many guys as we can,” Richt said. “We’re going to find a way to have a game plan to get those guys playing time, they need playing time. The game against LSU is probably not the best way to break guys in from high school into that situation. … The goal at every position is to give everyone an opportunity to show what they can do, see how they handle a true game situation.”
N'Kosi Perry was suspended for the LSU game for an incident that happened six months ago in the spring and Richt elaborated on the situation, while saying his status on the team is still favorable.
"Certain things happen, you discipline … a lot of different things you use as discipline," Richt said. "One is playing time. … But since that time he has done a great job and I’m pleased. I’m sorry that he couldn’t be there and possibly play or be ready to play or miss the experience of going to Dallas. Discipline is designed to change behavior for the better.”
In breaking down the loss against LSU, Richt made sure to look at both sides of the coin when he watched the tape.
“I think that, as always, there’s the good and the bad," Richt said. "When you watch tape after a victory or a loss when you lose suddenly everything sticks out that was bad, you tend to not look at the positives. But there were positives, guys played their hearts out. We didn’t take the punch that they had in the beginning very well, the thing got away from us on the scoreboard obviously. And as we’re trying to battle our way back we found some life and got us in position where we had a chance to score one more time and go for two and make it a one touchdown game with five minutes. … We were not able to finish.”
Even with Miami down three scores at halftime and four scores early in the fourth quarter, Richt said he never considered switching to a backup QB.
“No, we definitely had a chance to win it, scored a couple of touchdowns, got ourselves within 16,” Richt said. “We were scoring, finally got it going. Even the last drive or two - the one got inside the 50 and then we’re not able to score that touchdown. We score at the end, get an onside kick you never know. Miracles do happen
sometimes in those kind of situations. But I did not consider making a change, no.”
Richt thought Miami's offensive line played good, but not at the level that is needed to pull out a victory against a big time opponent like LSU.
“Overall they played like the rest of the team, not good enough to win,” Richt said. “But there were still a lot of positives throughout the ball game we’re going to build on.”
Miami had 11 penalties for 86 yards and continually missed assignments both on offense and defense.
“We were doing the most basic stuff, day 1 teaching, (wrong),” Richt said.
Of the defense: "The most disappointing thing was having opportunities at turnovers," Richt said. "The ball on the ground and we don’t get on it. That was the same play they called Trajan (Bandy) for the hit that put him out of the game. But the ball’s coming out, on the ground, we have two guys there they bend down to grab it instead of go to the ground. It’s unbelievable how hard we teach that. [LSU] recovers it. We had a ball hit our hands that could have been picked, but that would have been called back too because of a late hit on the quarterback.”
Richt did not agree with Bandy's ejection for targeting.
“He didn’t dive and torpedo the guy or anything,” Richt said.
Junior WR Ahmmon Richards did not return to the second half of the game after injuring his knee and spent today's practice on the exercise bike.
“I’d say day-to-day,” Richt said on Richards. “He landed on his knee. We don’t think it’s that severe, certainly not enough to keep him from playing. We don’t think it’s a season-ending type of thing, a prolonged thing. We’re still trying to gather information.”
On special teams and punter Zach Feagles: “The first punt of the day we had a missed assignment and the guy comes clean right up the gut, absolutely should have blocked it," Richt said. "He didn’t. That shook [Feagles] up for a minute, then he struggled. He punted beautifully all camp. Then he started to get in shape again.”
Feagles recorded a lowly 36.4 yards per punt against LSU, but Richt said he bounced back today in practice.
“He was booming them,” Richt said on Feagles. “He had a 5.09 hang time, ball’s probably 60 yards. … He has to get back on track.”
Here's a stat: with 6 kicks made against them vs. LSU, Miami has now had 57 straight kicks, including extra points, made against them.
“That’s incredible,” Richt said. “Have to be leading the nation in that category.”
Ultimately, the season will be judged, not on the LSU game alone, but how the team responds to this adversity and finishes the year.
“Well you have to get right back to work, focus on your job,” Richt said. “The bottom line is everybody wants to play the blame game … loyalty equals unity. The guys that are in the battle, they know. Everybody has an opinion, God bless them, they have a right to have an opinion. We want our fans to be passionate, to care. But not everybody knows exactly what it takes, what the plan is, if things went well and didn’t go well. They see we got beat pretty well and are not happy and I don’t blame them. The bottom line is we have to get back to work.”
The Canes are putting a rough season opener in the past and will spend this week preparing for their home opener at Hard Rock Stadium against Savannah State.
“Playing at Hard Rock for the first time this year looking forward to seeing our students, band, fans, see the City of Miami come support us,” Richt said. “The guys are excited about it. Looking forward to playing at home for the first time this year and hopefully getting a victory.”
According to Richt, Jeff Thomas, Travis Homer (offense), Gerald Willis III (defense) and Mike Smith (special teams), will be the captains for Savannah State.
**Canes offensive coordinator Thomas Brown stuck up for his starting QB today when asked about Malik Rosier's struggles against LSU.
“We all struggled. It wasn’t just him," Brown said. "It’s natural, like I’ve said before, ‘when things go well, it’s always the media trying to find one person to pinpoint, to say this is this guy.’ When we lose, it is the same thought process. Like, ‘who can we blame?’ Blame all of us. We all play together. And yeah, he did struggle at times, other guys struggled at times. Some of the inaccuracy can be obviously put on him at times. But also we had too many issues when it came to pressure. And when you get down by that kind of deficit, they [LSU] understand that you have to pass the ball to get back into the game. So those guys are going to pin their ears back and rush the quarterback. It kind of changes our game plan, changes theirs some, too. We just have to get better. Time to move on.”
How will he try to build Rosier back up after a poor performance, as well as fan backlash?
“That’s part of the game. Fans are kind of what make this sport what it is," Brown said. "When you do well, they congratulate you. When you don’t do well, they say you suck. It’s just part of the territory and if you can’t handle it, then you probably shouldn’t be in this profession. I guarantee you nobody is more upset than the people who are out here every day practicing and I know the feeling to get upset about stuff, but we’re going to fix it, we will get better and we started that today.”
On freshman TE Brevin Jordan, who was making his first career start: “I thought he played pretty well," Brown said. "Played a ton; I think he played 71 snaps and he had limited [missed assignments], which is huge for a kid in that type of moment. That is why he came here, for that type of moment, that opportunity and I thought he played his butt off.”
On the team's 4 straight losses: "We are just not executing, being ourselves," Brown said. "Got too many guys making turns, ******** stuff up. And also, guys not being prepared for the moment. And I told the guys... ‘We’ve got too many guys who execute when the pressure is not on.’ And obviously there is mental added pressure, because we think it is a different deal because it is a crowded environment; it’s on primetime television. And we had too many guys that didn’t show up and play the way they should be playing. And we will fix that by one, either getting them better or finding someone who will do a better job.”
Both Travis Homer and Ahmmon Richards weren't as involved against LSU as they may have been in past games, and Brown talked about why that was.
“From a Travis standpoint, when you get down big, it is hard to run the ball a whole lot," Brown said. "So, that sort of takes Travis out of the game, besides being able to pass protect. That does change the game plan a little bit. We just got down too big, too fast. Missed some opportunities. Obviously, Ahmmon got banged up a little bit, so that kind of took him out of the game for a little bit, as well. But he will be fine."
“I know what we’re telling him, teaching him, what he’s seeing and dealing with,” Richt said. “The common fan doesn’t really know what we’re asking him to do on this play or that play or why you do this or that. They just look at the numbers: did he complete so many? Throw an interception or not? We grade him for his job, his technique, for a decision he makes, for his accuracy. No quarterback has ever been perfect. We understand that, so all those things together along with who he is competing against, what those guys do in practice, in meetings.
“There was some good and bad and it was true of every position across the board. [Quarterback] is a position that is going to be and should be talked about because it’s the leadership position. That guy has to play a certain way. But when everyone plays well around the quarterback his job’s a lot easier. We had too much QB run game tied into it where if a defender does this we hand it, a defender does that and we pull and run it. We had too many carries for Malik, need to do a better job of making sure the backs carry the ball more often. We don’t want the QB running the ball that often, quite frankly. It shouldn’t be where he has 16 carries. That’s a coaching thing we’re going to change. He made some beautiful throws, some that missed, sometimes people were in his face. Just a little bit of everything. That’s enough to get you beat and that’s what happened."
It would seem after a poor performance at QB in the opener, this would be the perfect time for UM to see what they have in some of their backups against FCS Savannah State this week.
“All those guys are getting better,” Richt said on his backup QB's. “I’m not going to say who is going to play, not play in this game. The guys that deserve to play will play. The guys that we trust... They are at the point where you give them some playing time and see what happens, I think they’re ready for that.
“That group was a little immature. To their credit I think they’re growing up, getting closer to be man enough to be that guy. That is a tough job, a tough job because of the scrutiny of the position as much as anything. But competition is good and we’ll always be competing.”
Richt was non-committal when asked about a potential QB rotation in the future.
“We’ll treat it that way at every position, want to play as many guys as we can,” Richt said. “We’re going to find a way to have a game plan to get those guys playing time, they need playing time. The game against LSU is probably not the best way to break guys in from high school into that situation. … The goal at every position is to give everyone an opportunity to show what they can do, see how they handle a true game situation.”
N'Kosi Perry was suspended for the LSU game for an incident that happened six months ago in the spring and Richt elaborated on the situation, while saying his status on the team is still favorable.
"Certain things happen, you discipline … a lot of different things you use as discipline," Richt said. "One is playing time. … But since that time he has done a great job and I’m pleased. I’m sorry that he couldn’t be there and possibly play or be ready to play or miss the experience of going to Dallas. Discipline is designed to change behavior for the better.”
In breaking down the loss against LSU, Richt made sure to look at both sides of the coin when he watched the tape.
“I think that, as always, there’s the good and the bad," Richt said. "When you watch tape after a victory or a loss when you lose suddenly everything sticks out that was bad, you tend to not look at the positives. But there were positives, guys played their hearts out. We didn’t take the punch that they had in the beginning very well, the thing got away from us on the scoreboard obviously. And as we’re trying to battle our way back we found some life and got us in position where we had a chance to score one more time and go for two and make it a one touchdown game with five minutes. … We were not able to finish.”
Even with Miami down three scores at halftime and four scores early in the fourth quarter, Richt said he never considered switching to a backup QB.
“No, we definitely had a chance to win it, scored a couple of touchdowns, got ourselves within 16,” Richt said. “We were scoring, finally got it going. Even the last drive or two - the one got inside the 50 and then we’re not able to score that touchdown. We score at the end, get an onside kick you never know. Miracles do happen
sometimes in those kind of situations. But I did not consider making a change, no.”
Richt thought Miami's offensive line played good, but not at the level that is needed to pull out a victory against a big time opponent like LSU.
“Overall they played like the rest of the team, not good enough to win,” Richt said. “But there were still a lot of positives throughout the ball game we’re going to build on.”
Miami had 11 penalties for 86 yards and continually missed assignments both on offense and defense.
“We were doing the most basic stuff, day 1 teaching, (wrong),” Richt said.
Of the defense: "The most disappointing thing was having opportunities at turnovers," Richt said. "The ball on the ground and we don’t get on it. That was the same play they called Trajan (Bandy) for the hit that put him out of the game. But the ball’s coming out, on the ground, we have two guys there they bend down to grab it instead of go to the ground. It’s unbelievable how hard we teach that. [LSU] recovers it. We had a ball hit our hands that could have been picked, but that would have been called back too because of a late hit on the quarterback.”
Richt did not agree with Bandy's ejection for targeting.
“He didn’t dive and torpedo the guy or anything,” Richt said.
Junior WR Ahmmon Richards did not return to the second half of the game after injuring his knee and spent today's practice on the exercise bike.
“I’d say day-to-day,” Richt said on Richards. “He landed on his knee. We don’t think it’s that severe, certainly not enough to keep him from playing. We don’t think it’s a season-ending type of thing, a prolonged thing. We’re still trying to gather information.”
On special teams and punter Zach Feagles: “The first punt of the day we had a missed assignment and the guy comes clean right up the gut, absolutely should have blocked it," Richt said. "He didn’t. That shook [Feagles] up for a minute, then he struggled. He punted beautifully all camp. Then he started to get in shape again.”
Feagles recorded a lowly 36.4 yards per punt against LSU, but Richt said he bounced back today in practice.
“He was booming them,” Richt said on Feagles. “He had a 5.09 hang time, ball’s probably 60 yards. … He has to get back on track.”
Here's a stat: with 6 kicks made against them vs. LSU, Miami has now had 57 straight kicks, including extra points, made against them.
“That’s incredible,” Richt said. “Have to be leading the nation in that category.”
Ultimately, the season will be judged, not on the LSU game alone, but how the team responds to this adversity and finishes the year.
“Well you have to get right back to work, focus on your job,” Richt said. “The bottom line is everybody wants to play the blame game … loyalty equals unity. The guys that are in the battle, they know. Everybody has an opinion, God bless them, they have a right to have an opinion. We want our fans to be passionate, to care. But not everybody knows exactly what it takes, what the plan is, if things went well and didn’t go well. They see we got beat pretty well and are not happy and I don’t blame them. The bottom line is we have to get back to work.”
The Canes are putting a rough season opener in the past and will spend this week preparing for their home opener at Hard Rock Stadium against Savannah State.
“Playing at Hard Rock for the first time this year looking forward to seeing our students, band, fans, see the City of Miami come support us,” Richt said. “The guys are excited about it. Looking forward to playing at home for the first time this year and hopefully getting a victory.”
According to Richt, Jeff Thomas, Travis Homer (offense), Gerald Willis III (defense) and Mike Smith (special teams), will be the captains for Savannah State.
**Canes offensive coordinator Thomas Brown stuck up for his starting QB today when asked about Malik Rosier's struggles against LSU.
“We all struggled. It wasn’t just him," Brown said. "It’s natural, like I’ve said before, ‘when things go well, it’s always the media trying to find one person to pinpoint, to say this is this guy.’ When we lose, it is the same thought process. Like, ‘who can we blame?’ Blame all of us. We all play together. And yeah, he did struggle at times, other guys struggled at times. Some of the inaccuracy can be obviously put on him at times. But also we had too many issues when it came to pressure. And when you get down by that kind of deficit, they [LSU] understand that you have to pass the ball to get back into the game. So those guys are going to pin their ears back and rush the quarterback. It kind of changes our game plan, changes theirs some, too. We just have to get better. Time to move on.”
How will he try to build Rosier back up after a poor performance, as well as fan backlash?
“That’s part of the game. Fans are kind of what make this sport what it is," Brown said. "When you do well, they congratulate you. When you don’t do well, they say you suck. It’s just part of the territory and if you can’t handle it, then you probably shouldn’t be in this profession. I guarantee you nobody is more upset than the people who are out here every day practicing and I know the feeling to get upset about stuff, but we’re going to fix it, we will get better and we started that today.”
On freshman TE Brevin Jordan, who was making his first career start: “I thought he played pretty well," Brown said. "Played a ton; I think he played 71 snaps and he had limited [missed assignments], which is huge for a kid in that type of moment. That is why he came here, for that type of moment, that opportunity and I thought he played his butt off.”
On the team's 4 straight losses: "We are just not executing, being ourselves," Brown said. "Got too many guys making turns, ******** stuff up. And also, guys not being prepared for the moment. And I told the guys... ‘We’ve got too many guys who execute when the pressure is not on.’ And obviously there is mental added pressure, because we think it is a different deal because it is a crowded environment; it’s on primetime television. And we had too many guys that didn’t show up and play the way they should be playing. And we will fix that by one, either getting them better or finding someone who will do a better job.”
Both Travis Homer and Ahmmon Richards weren't as involved against LSU as they may have been in past games, and Brown talked about why that was.
“From a Travis standpoint, when you get down big, it is hard to run the ball a whole lot," Brown said. "So, that sort of takes Travis out of the game, besides being able to pass protect. That does change the game plan a little bit. We just got down too big, too fast. Missed some opportunities. Obviously, Ahmmon got banged up a little bit, so that kind of took him out of the game for a little bit, as well. But he will be fine."
