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Do we play bend-don't-break on defense again this year?

DeadPoets

DeadPoets

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Golden has made it clear that he wants to be a man press type defense but we haven't had the players for that.
So will D'Onofrio and Golden do the same this year and play bend-don't-break in an effort to keep us in every game?

I remember how aggressive Schiano was in Butch's early years and often it costs us some games (Penn St '99 comes to mind).
But those mistakes and "aggressive play" losses seem to be more beneficial in the long run than sitting back and watching mediocre ACC QBs go 24-28 with 0 INTs.
 

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I agree. Never been a big fan of the "bend but don't break" philosophy. Would prefer to put pressure on the opposing offense and force mistakes, but with our secondary last year I can understand why coach D was reluctant to go in that direction.
 
I thought the defense made huge gains last year with no depth. Throw in depth at DT and Coach D will be able to bring heat this year. Loved that Temple Defense he was running. That D was just downright nasty. If Miami has Temple's D last year they win at least 3 more games.
 
I really don't think they had much of a choice last season.

I think we will see more aggression and an attacking style as the talent improves, especially in the secondary.
 
I think the Defense will at least be more aggressive than last year. Last year Miami had the weakest (strength-wise) secondary I have ever seen - no way Miami could afford to press at the line or even blitz that often. They were weak talent-wise as well. With players' skill-sets such as McCord, Cornelius, Eddie Johnson, etc. I expect to see a lot more (attempted) pressure on the QB off the edges.

I have high expectations for the Defense for a few reasons:

1) Strength/size gains
2) DT depth: no longer will Miami be playing 260lbs DT. Even the true Freshmen coming in will be an improvement over last year in terms of size and strength.
3) Addition by subtraction in the Secondary: I'll take Tracy Howard all day every day (and I'm aware he hasn't played a snap) over Mike Williams. Lee Chambers did nothing, and RRA was a liability in coverage. Not possible to be any worse than last, especially at CB.
4) Improved tackling: it was obvious in the Spring game.
5) Staff/scheme continuity
 
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The personnel, or lack thereof, dictated a lot of what we did on defense last year. Our secondary as a whole was a major liability last year--this year it might be a strength.
 
Southpawcane,

What'd he run at Temple that has you excited?

The few games I watched of Temple under Golden looked the same as us last year (CBs 7 yards off the ball... LBs making NO contact with TEs in route, etc)
I think ultimately they want to rush 4 and get pressure (who wouldn't)... but what are we doing with the back 7? Zone? Bump and run?

I agree last year was a makeshift defense and props to D'Onofrio because it did work (top 20 scoring D).
I guess we'll find out a lot at BC if it's same story different year or D'Onofrio has more confidence in the defense.
 
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DeadPoets said:
Southpawcane,

What'd he run at Temple that has you excited?

The few games I watched of Temple under Golden looked the same as us last year (CBs 7 yards off the ball... LBs making NO contact with TEs in route, etc)
I think ultimately they want to rush 4 and get pressure (who wouldn't)... but what are we doing with the back 7? Zone? Bump and run?

I agree last year was a makeshift defense and props to D'Onofrio because it did work (top 20 scoring D).
I guess we'll find out a lot at BC if it's same story different year or D'Onofrio has more confidence in the defense.
Click to expand...

Golden/D'Onofrio probably had similar talent on those Temple teams compared to last year's team in the Secondary, so that would explain the similarities.

This CB group is probably the best they have ever had to work with overall since they've been at Temple.

Miami running the same D as Temple is more a sad commentary on the state of Miami talent-wise in the secondary last year.
 
DeadPoets said:
Southpawcane,

What'd he run at Temple that has you excited?

The few games I watched of Temple under Golden looked the same as us last year (CBs 7 yards off the ball... LBs making NO contact with TEs in route, etc)
I think ultimately they want to rush 4 and get pressure (who wouldn't)... but what are we doing with the back 7? Zone? Bump and run?

I agree last year was a makeshift defense and props to D'Onofrio because it did work (top 20 scoring D).
I guess we'll find out a lot at BC if it's same story different year or D'Onofrio has more confidence in the defense.
Click to expand...

He brings heat from all over the field. The D-line is good about getting their hands up and batting passes down. The secondary will run zone and man to confuse the QB. I love that he will incorporate 3-4 into the mix. Coach D is good about coaching the defense down and distance. Football IQ is their focus. Multiple sets with lots of pressure. The defense all around was technically sound and always trying to strip the ball or cause havoc. Also keep in mind that they did it with no 4 stars "0" a handful of 3 stars and most of the roster was 2 stars or players who nobody knew about or wanted.

If coach D put a top 10 defense on the field with Temple talent I expect big things with ballers that everybody recruited. I expect the defense to be very good this year.
 
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without turnovers we are doomed....we dont have the offense to score at will. I think we go back to more of the early 2000 teams of getting to the QB with the front 3 or 4 leaving 8-9 guys back to get turnovers...and when we do blitz make it count. we cant do what we did last year and win 6 games.
 
Gamineal said:
without turnovers we are doomed....we dont have the offense to score at will. I think we go back to more of the early 2000 teams of getting to the QB with the front 3 or 4 leaving 8-9 guys back to get turnovers...and when we do blitz make it count. we cant do what we did last year and win 6 games.
Click to expand...

TE play will open up the entire playbook this year. Not having the TE outlet killed the offense last year. Championship defense with ball control offense to win field position will be the formula for success. Ask Bama...
 
Just roll the corners up and let's all pray we find ways to create pressure. In addition, we have got to tackle better as a unit.
 
Dynasty said:
Just roll the corners up and let's all pray we find ways to create pressure. In addition, we have got to tackle better as a unit.
Click to expand...

I mean sure if the pass rush and CBs are good enough, otherwise that is a recipe for disaster.
 
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SouthpawCane said:
TE play will open up the entire playbook this year. Not having the TE outlet killed the offense last year. Championship defense with ball control offense to win field position will be the formula for success. Ask Bama...
Click to expand...

We keep saying that but we had the same tight ends last year. I hope someone steps up because last time we had a decent year Jimmy Graham was a threat at te.
 
honestly the whole team will be improved in my opinion. getting rid the cancers and early departures will pave the way for the 42 freshman/redshirt freshman to develop and play. the whole work ethic has changed it appears. you don't work out you don't put in the time you don't play. heck even the big guy 77 lost weight and got in shape. the defense last season was a bandaid of players assembled from what randy left this team with.

It scares me to think what the recruiting class would have looked like had randy not been fired and what he would have fielded for a team last season.
 
pcitycane said:
SouthpawCane said:
TE play will open up the entire playbook this year. Not having the TE outlet killed the offense last year. Championship defense with ball control offense to win field position will be the formula for success. Ask Bama...
Click to expand...

We keep saying that but we had the same tight ends last year. I hope someone steps up because last time we had a decent year Jimmy Graham was a threat at te.
Click to expand...

Yes, we had the same TE's last year. A Sophomore coming off injury who hadn't even begun to be developed and a RS Freshman who was just beginning to be developed as your number ones and DE's who were just converted to TE. Year #2 will be completely different and this position will open up the playbook and add an extra dimension to the offense.
 
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Probably. If not I don't really understand why not. We don't have one single unit that we can rely upon. Do we really have the secondary to send seven guys? Do we really have a defensive line that we can expect to pressure with four? If we cannot do these things I suspect we will be trying to get teams to one critical third-down and get off of the field. That was very much the plan last season. I do think that we will be more athletic but I'm not sure that we will be all that much better
 
Don't most coaches play whatever scheme fits their personnel?

Honestly, I dont think UM was in a position to be all Buddy Ryan and 46 last season
 
Would you guys have felt confident leaving Mike Williams, Lee Chambers and Brandon McGee on an island last year?

Yeah, me neither.
 
Bend-don't-break was our only choice last year, and it worked. The defense tightened up in the red zone, and we finished top 20 in scoring defense.

Considering how horrific we were, that's pretty **** miraculous.
 
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