I despise empty sets. We have no business being in empty sets. That's my take from this game. The defense is a given. I don't think there were many Canes fans who didn't know what to expect once we punted down 38-30.
The defense isn't Read and React. R&R is on a monopoly board. We are S&S -- Stand and Surrender
To steal this game we had to take full advantage of the bogus 17-7 lead, and make it 24-7. That's the same situation Georgia Tech was in against us a month ago, and they failed. Today it was our turn, and James Coley failed. Empty sets are only for premier quarterbacks who can instantly scan the field and make the correct choice. Guys like Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees make it look simple out of empty looks, and every moronic coach with a less than terrific quarterback fails to make the distinction. I've ranted about this on a Dolphin site for years. Sorry if it's been limited here but the masochism hadn't presented itself. Coley actually stole the North Carolina game by avoiding empty finesse looks in the 4th quarter, while Fisch almost certainly would have succumbed.
Every meaningful possession that failed today ended in an empty set, with the exception of 1st and goal at the 8 in the second quarter. I was going out of my mind. There were acres of ground available in that Duke defense yet we forfeited advantage by succumbing to empty idiocy. Somehow fans like it, because occasionally the empty looks produce a burst play, like the one to Waters. Big deal. Empty allows the defense to rotate forward and attack the frailty. Duke did that late second quarter when we had the ball after they score to lead 21-20. We had plenty of time yet went to empty on third down and were stuffed by a blitz up the middle.
The key possession was earlier, as I mentioned, at 17-7. You could already see the defense couldn't stop a play unless Duke imploded. We had to get 2 or 3 possessions clear and then try to hold on. James Coley somehow decided that empty was the ticket on third and short, even when we were in 4 down territory near midfield. One play barely worked, as Malcolm Lewis struggled to get the first down. When we went empty and five wide again on the next set of downs on third and short I was more furious than any point of the season. This wasn't a top 5 defense like Florida State or Virginia Tech. Line up and run a power play, or at least a play out of a power look. When you surrender all the permutations and rely on Stephen Morris making the correct read and execute perfectly out of an empty set, you are volunteering to cut your expectancy in half.
One poster started a thread ranting about the red zone offense. We ran the ball down the field at 17-14 and then resorted to sideways passes inside the 10. That was predictable, given our ongoing reliance on empty sets and the attached finesse approach. Coley overreacted to Duke Johnson's absence against this opponent and didn't properly value the need to make it a physical game and keep the opponent's offense off the field as much as possible. It should have been a basic sensible game plan. IMO we were giddy at all the open spaces compared to the two previous games and thought any plays and any approach would work. Hence the reliance on the empty set, which too often accomplishes nothing other than energizing the opponent, making them feel like the stronger tougher team. Ironically, my only hope in the second half was that Duke would switch to empty sets and/or throw the ball. They actually did on one play, before the caroomed field goal. Otherwise they weren't dense.
The 3rd and 1 stuff on Crawford was the only time we were stopped with a basic look. But even that was senseless, since we got greedy on 2nd and 1 with a deep ball.
