The same finish

DMoney

Sunday at 12:05 AM 3 min read

We've finished the season the same way for 20 years. Our coaches change, but this part stays the same. Another year of blowing it in November and losing December bowl games. Some thoughts from Orlando:

- Cam Ward is a legend in my book. He spotted us 31 points in a half and we still couldn't win. It was symbolic of the whole season, really.

- On Mario, my realistic expectations were a repeat of Oregon- the good and the bad. We're currently running behind that pace. We still haven't made a conference title, and we just missed a golden opportunity with an elite quarterback. Year 4 is critical and there is a ton of work that needs to be done.

- We have some smart players, but we aren't a smart team. One simple example- we're 121st in penalty yards. Iowa State is 1st.

- Not much more to say about the defense. In person, it's jarring how frantic we look pre-snap. This is Game 13. The unit is full of veterans - fourth, fifth and sixth-year players. Something isn't connecting. I'd be shocked if there aren't significant changes on that side of the ball.

- We threw for 1.9 yards per attempt in the second half. This is why I've pushed so hard for a Portal QB. My concern with Emory Williams dating back to high school is athleticism. Nothing looks fluid and easy. I continue to expect us to add a Portal QB and fast-track Luke Nickel.

- Damien Martinez is a horse. Over 1,000 yards, 10 TDs, 6+ yards per carry. It feels like forever ago when people were saying he was the 3rd best back on the team. Sometimes it's important to trust track record.

- It's hard to lose when you run for over 300 yards as a team. The running game is the one area where I feel the floor has been raised significantly.

- We should be further along at linebacker after three years. That group has been average. Forget the elite guys like Vilma and DJ - a Quarterman/Pickney duo would improve our defense significantly. It's worth investing Portal money to land an impactful player here.

- JoJo Trader and Elija Lofton gave us a glimpse of what they've been doing on Greentree. I hope both are featured players in 2025. We're losing a lot of production, but a good chunk of that production can be replaced from within.

- We've been decimated by injury at corner and we were already bad there. OJ Frederique looked OK on the sideline, but when he went left the game we were forced to play Markeith Williams on an island. It's hard to oversign there- we need a lot of help.

- The silver lining for me is that there were no injuries. Thank you to all the players who have put their bodies on the line for the Canes.

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Allabouttheu95

Sunday at 12:30 AM

2026 Mario will be gone

ssvir

Sunday at 12:31 AM

Cylo said:
Were about to find out if Dawson is a good OC

Everywhere he's been he's done well with mostly limited resources.

T
TheShredder

Sunday at 12:32 AM

hcanes100 said:
I hope we don't get bogged down in this is impossible to fix, because that would be impossible to fix.

You have problems in front of you, are you willing to solve them. You do the immediate the best you can, move on to the next and so on.

1. DC. That is the most immediate problem.
2. QB.
3. DBs and LBs
4. Keeping the OC

If you solve all those, to the best of your ability, does that mean we win more games next year? Absolutely not. Cam Ward 2.0 is not walking through those doors. But to D$ point, you don't need to have Cam 2.0 to improve on what we did here, because the D caused us to NEED Cam Ward.

I'm not putting rosey sunshine here, I don't think we get 10 wins next year, but I think we can improve on our position in we get better at where we are horrible at and make improvements we can build on.

2024 had the real opportunity to be special that doesn't come around often, but we blew it. We need to move past that and let it go. Getting rid of Mario would be stupid, as it would be 4 steps back instead of 2. But Mario has to take steps forward.

Dawson is trash. Can Ward making that bum look good. Dude thinks Judd and Emory are those dudes. Nah.

Wish we could rid of the whole staff

ssvir

Sunday at 12:32 AM

MiamisMoperiestMopes said:
There seems to have been a coordinated disinformation campaign regarding Emory. I base this on Dmoney and other insiders saying for a while that he has a lot of fans within the program (staff and players) who think he could be the guy. Reportedly one of Mirabals relatives posts on Ferman’s site and said he’s looked really good.

It’s clear from the first drive they don’t believe this, so why is this messaging been pushed most of the season?

Mike Ryan was pumping sunshine that Dawson loves Emory.

S
skyman

Sunday at 12:33 AM

Cylo said:
Purge that whole DB room. We need a lot more guys in that room. Get 2-3 more safeties

Been saying for awhile we need a whole DB depth chart. For some reason position is undervalued and neglected. I dont understand how they see these guys everyday and were fine going into season with this

ssvir

Sunday at 12:33 AM

TheShredder said:
Dawson is trash. Can Ward making that bum look good. Dude thinks Judd and Emory are those dudes. Nah.

Wish we could rid of the whole staff

You really can't be this dumb right?

He had Houston humming with Clayton Tune and a top 25 offense with broken TVD.

T
TheShredder

Sunday at 12:35 AM

ssvir said:
You really can't be this dumb right?

He had Houston humming with Clayton Tune and a top 25 offense with broken TVD.

The drunk HC did, he just was a guy.

Cylo

Sunday at 12:36 AM

ssvir said:
Everywhere he's been he's done well with mostly limited resources.

He wasn't that good in 2023. I'm pro Dawson but were about to find out how good he is next season

Sunday at 12:36 AM

hcanes100 said:
Not to say the team currently doesn't have issues, but this team was far worse discipline wise under Manny. That isn't a measuring stick I should or want to use, but this team has been undisciplined under many coaches and I'm not sure that isn't culture at this point here.

It wasn’t worse under Manny, it just never got better under Mario.

Miami is always ranked in the 100’s for this decade.

T
TheATLCane

Sunday at 12:36 AM

No way Guidry is here next year. That plus portal QB have to be the focus

S
STG

Sunday at 12:38 AM

hcanes100 said:
Not to say the team currently doesn't have issues, but this team was far worse discipline wise under Manny. That isn't a measuring stick I should or want to use, but this team has been undisciplined under many coaches and I'm not sure that isn't culture at this point here.

What? Worse under Manny? Marios teams are on par with Manny's. And under Mario, it's gotten worse by each year as he has gotten all his own players and had time to change the "culture."

Difference is Manny never tried to be a fake tough guy. Mario's fake discipline and so called culture is a joke.

PENALTY YARDS PER GAME

2022: 103rd
2024: 106th
2024: 119th

NosniknoT

Sunday at 12:39 AM

Which coaches are gonna be told they should look for new opportunities into mid February?

MiamisMoperiestMopes

Sunday at 12:39 AM

ssvir said:
Mike Ryan was pumping sunshine that Dawson loves Emory.

TriStarCane

Sunday at 12:39 AM

Allabouttheu95 said:
2026 Mario will be gone

Lol only in your dynasty mode

TriStarCane

Sunday at 12:40 AM

ssvir said:
You really can't be this dumb right?

He had Houston humming with Clayton Tune and a top 25 offense with broken TVD.

100% he can. If the question on CIS is “you aren’t that dumb..” you have 99/100 chance of it being true

N
NC_Canes_11

Sunday at 12:40 AM

Just say the team sucks.

S
STG

Sunday at 12:41 AM

MiamisMoperiestMopes said:
There seems to have been a coordinated disinformation campaign regarding Emory. I base this on Dmoney and other insiders saying for a while that he has a lot of fans within the program (staff and players) who think he could be the guy. Reportedly one of Mirabals relatives posts on Ferman’s site and said he’s looked really good.

It’s clear from the first drive they don’t believe this, so why is this messaging been pushed most of the season?

Bingo. And he is not the only one fake info is being pushed out on.

All UM "reporters" are fully controlled and in bed with Mario to push out what he wants out.

1983cane

Sunday at 12:45 AM

Our team still is not complete and simply does not nut up.

We bumble second half, and hope for a few miracle plays to win. THIS year Cam could bail us out..

What a change from the first game this year.

I will keep saying this until it's figured out somewhere in the UM program.

Go get thumping Linebackers!!

Then get a mauler of a DE.

Then play a whole **** season like your on **** fire. I could go on. I did play organized bball. Our coach would ish down our throats, If we Loss. Ball was being smeared the quered at us literally.

Part of why we only lost like 3-4 games over 2 years.

Canes got to maintain intensity, we need fire breathers for a full season.

BS85

Sunday at 12:46 AM

What's up with Damari? Is he hurt or portaling? We needed ******* corners and when he's finally (allegedly) ready to help, he disappears.

MiamisMoperiestMopes

Sunday at 12:46 AM

STG said:
Bingo. And he is not the only one fake info is being pushed out on.

All UM "reporters" are fully controlled and in bed with Mario to push out what he wants out.

Yeah I get that and I’m not wanting to get into a bashing of sources. They do what they do for the access. Dmoney has been very clear and distinct about his personal thoughts on the future QB situation vs what he’s hearing. I’m just wondering why they (the program) felt it necessary to push this narrative.