Hoping For a Miraculous Turnaround on D in 2014

[dookie blaylock]

I think this might be the best year in a long time - in terms of star ratings - that we'll avg at least a 4 star at starting every pos on DEF... except DT.

Encouraging .. I guess

JC

problem here is that dt is where the 3-4 defense starts. we need an elite nose tackle.

 

[DuffleBagYoda]

Armbrister is only a Jr. next season, digest that for a minute.

He's not THAT bad

 

[DaU83]

Can it happen? Keep your fingers crossed because its the only hope for this program. Bow down and pray that the likes of Highsmith, Rodgers, Gaines, Cornileus, Green, etc were the true cause for our Disgraceful defense. I know its unlikely, but ya gotta hold onto something right?

I lost all hope after the RAB.

Not seeing it, would love to be wrong though.

i was actually encouraged by how the defense performed early, even with the same "not that good" players we've been trotting out there all season.. granted they didn't hold up for 4 quarters, and they got 0 help from the offense..

We didn't play anyone worth a **** early, smoke and mirrors.

early in the bowl game..

 

[Miami82]

Baby steps... Play bump and run on the WR's, some disguised blitz packages, hold teams to less than 40% conversion rate on 3rd and 5 and longer. 100% improvement on TFL, as well as 100% on sacks. Get there and we should be decent...

 

[Hurracanes]

Can it happen? Keep your fingers crossed because its the only hope for this program. Bow down and pray that the likes of Highsmith, Rodgers, Gaines, Cornileus, Green, etc were the true cause for our Disgraceful defense. I know its unlikely, but ya gotta hold onto something right?

I lost all hope after the RAB.

Not seeing it, would love to be wrong though.

i was actually encouraged by how the defense performed early, even with the same "not that good" players we've been trotting out there all season.. granted they didn't hold up for 4 quarters, and they got 0 help from the offense..

We didn't play anyone worth a **** early, smoke and mirrors.

early in the bowl game..

My mistake. I agree, in the bowl game we played good enough to possibly win holding them to field goals; however, we knew that was only going to last so long.

 

[ball915]

addition by subtraction. we will be better from that alone

 

[Gatorhater]

I don't like to blame players. These are Canes and family. Coaches get paid and part of getting paid is taking the blame. If certain players are not so good, then coaches should, at some point, have players to beat them out. If not then coaches need to adjust to the players they have. We saw none to that the last two years. I refuse to laid blame on kids who worked hard and were proud to wear orange and green. I would like to see those who blame these player, strap on a cup and pads and get out there to put up or shut up. I am as unhappy about this year as anyone, but just once I would like those who crap all over Highsmith to walk up to his daddy and say, "your son sucks!" Please get video of the beating that follows. Stop trashing our players. Coaches and administrators are fare game.

 

[Heals85]

There is no question the players on the 2 deep on D in 14' will be the most athletic and talented the U has had since about 2006 but still young. What is really sad to think about is if our D was just average and in the 40's or 50's we would have won 10-11 games. SMDH

 

[hoover437]

My hope is that Valid you are correct. If we go by history of what occurred at Temple, they made the jump to being a good defense in year 4, as it is for us.

Couple of things, some of which is from my own conclusion based on my experiences and understanding and historical perspective, as well as from people who actually played the game, people who actually played it for some time at the highest level, not fools like myself and the rest here included who are wannabe gm's and coaches and don't have the actual experience of the variables and knowledge of schemes or playing or coaching at the highest level,

First off, I preface this by saying all college coaches are used car salesmen, all college coaches BS, college recruiting is dirty, I know for a fact of college recruiting is dirty, and no I will not name names, due to the fact that it potentially hurts the players I know of and more importantly, shine the light on one school and the others, including ones we love or like can get caught up. It's a dirty game and money flies around. Secondly after hearing from so many great coaches, yes put me in the corner of talent makes great coaches first, talent trumps all, 9 times out of 10 the more talented team wins.

Finally, yes I do believe we have a good coach in Golden, I do believe he can restock this team with talent and produce a consistent top level program, and I did give him plenty of "slack" these last 3 years for a variety of factual and logical reasons. But those facts and logic gave him until this year, now those things are gone, this roster is totally his for the most part now, and now is when my demand of improved quality of play and judgement on the philosophy on defense is valid and fair.

Their is room for fair critique of the defense, the philosophy and bend don't break style, first, I believe Golden to be a good not great coach, great coaches adjust their scheme to the talent at their disposal, whereas Golden does not. Doesn't make him bad, doesn't make him great either. But what he is attempting to do is to turnover this team until the roster is built and fostered so that the players develop into his scheme. It is a long process, and yes I get how tiring it is to hear it, but this aspect is true. In the meantime what you get is 3 years of the crap we have seen, that has only been exacerbated by the fact of the NCAA fiasco and the horrific recruiting of Radio. It is why we have also played this bend don't break style, which I have seen other of the so called "genius" coaches play when the talent is not up to par. I am not a fan of it, but I understand, but if this what we will continue to see next year, then this is not an issue of play calling just to play it safe because the talent is not there, this is then the Tom Olivadotti mentality, for those who remember, where regardless of the talent, like a lot of coaches who know and understand the game, but when the heat is on coaches "scared not to lose" instead of "trying to win" mentality, and if that is the case, WHICH NOBODY HERE KNOWS, then yes dump them all.

As for this the develop players into this scheme, I have heard from former players, that this system Golden is implementing works, but it takes years for it to work in the college game, it's an upperclassmen defense, because of the mental and experience aspect once they grasp that is when they play faster and less thinking, due to mental recognition being faster. No this is not from Golden slurping, this I have heard from former NFL players who played defense, including former gayturd Channing Crowder here locally, say the same thing.

So now it is year 4, the underclassmen, who we all have seen are better and more talented than what was here before, have been groomed and have gained experience, we have two full classes that are sophomores and Juniors, sprinkled in with some solid to good Seniors on defense in DP, Chick, Pierre & Gunter from the first class which was a cluster frick to get together his first year, and yes I know Gunter was part of his 2nd class. This year there is no excuses, this year there should be improvement, and more importantly a change in philosophy as far as aggression in the playcalling and scheme. If not, I will be very disappointed, sadly eat crow, and ride shotgun on the bandwagon to dump them. Hopefully history repeats itself statistically as it did for him in Temple, if it does here we can expect very good things

As I said earlier in the post about duke and dorsett, I don't see Tracy Howard, Jenkins or Perryman putting up with people not making plays like some of the older guys did do last year. some of the chance the guys had at making plays and not were ridiculous. Now lets hope the DT situation is cleared up by next week, at least partially.

 

[caneaddict]

we just went to 2 str8 years where the coaches decided to run a fast tempo offense to try and outscore people knowing that the D was not very good. Unfortunately that philosophy led to either a 2 minute score or a :50, 3 and out, and more of the latter as we played better teams. Something is gonna have to change offensively, we already know about the personnel on D changing, which may be a positive, but the offense has to be better on 3rd down and red zone

 

[Miami82]

we just went to 2 str8 years where the coaches decided to run a fast tempo offense to try and outscore people knowing that the D was not very good. Unfortunately that philosophy led to either a 2 minute score or a :50, 3 and out, and more of the latter as we played better teams. Something is gonna have to change offensively, we already know about the personnel on D changing, which may be a positive, but the offense has to be better on 3rd down and red zone

Agreed, but when the staff you have is playing checkers when we are playing Chess players, you are screwed.

 

[OBLIVION]

I hoping this up and coming season. We can play 10 yards OTLS on 3rd and long. Instead of our usual 20.

 

[DaU83]

I don't like to blame players. These are Canes and family. Coaches get paid and part of getting paid is taking the blame. If certain players are not so good, then coaches should, at some point, have players to beat them out. If not then coaches need to adjust to the players they have. We saw none to that the last two years. I refuse to laid blame on kids who worked hard and were proud to wear orange and green. I would like to see those who blame these player, strap on a cup and pads and get out there to put up or shut up. I am as unhappy about this year as anyone, but just once I would like those who crap all over Highsmith to walk up to his daddy and say, "your son sucks!" Please get video of the beating that follows. Stop trashing our players. Coaches and administrators are fare game.

while this is true, you're normally not going to have good players "to beat them out" after 2 real recruiting classes... and honestly, how do you know our scheme didn't adjust to the players we have?

 

[Cane Dynasty]

We are all hoping for a miracle turnaround on D because that's what it will take to make the playoffs. If we aren't top 20 in scoring D we don't have a chance.

From where we were last season to top 20 indeed would be a miracle.

Offense is stacked and will hold up their end of the deal. Special teams as well.

Have to shut Winston down to beat FSU. Have to beat FSU 2 times most likely to make it to the playoffs. Not making the playoffs from now on should be considered a losing season at The U.

 

[theEMPIRE]

Addition by subtraction, yea, I think so. I also think sustaining drives on Offense is more relevant than most seem to want to acknowledge.

MIRACULOUS though?... gotta up the ante. Be less predicatble w/ zone + blitz more often. @Least.

"extremis malis extrema remedia" Desperate times... Desperate measures.

 

[Dingaan1828]

we just went to 2 str8 years where the coaches decided to run a fast tempo offense to try and outscore people knowing that the D was not very good. Unfortunately that philosophy led to either a 2 minute score or a :50, 3 and out, and more of the latter as we played better teams. Something is gonna have to change offensively, we already know about the personnel on D changing, which may be a positive, but the offense has to be better on 3rd down and red zone

With Williams at QB, the offense has to be vastly different from last year. You can't replay the 2013 UM offense with Williams at QB.

I think it will be better. But, one think for sure - it will be different from last year.

 

[dolpterry]

Can't get much worse. Our starting DE Green had 1 sack in 4 years, just how is that possible.

 

[LUcanesfan]

I posted this in another thread, but I believe we can be more optimistic about next year's defense due to having more athletes on the field. AQM is replacing Green at WLB; McCord and Figs will hopefully unseat Armbrister at SLB; and Hester and Gayot replace Highsmith and K. Rodgers in the secondary. NT is the only position that I'm concerned about. If Wyche and some other players can contribute there, we SHOULD be better.

 

[SigEp77]

Ever hear the saying wish in one hand and **** in the other and see which gets filled first? Well, it fits appropriately here.

 

[JackOAT]

My hope is that Valid you are correct. If we go by history of what occurred at Temple, they made the jump to being a good defense in year 4, as it is for us.

Couple of things, some of which is from my own conclusion based on my experiences and understanding and historical perspective, as well as from people who actually played the game, people who actually played it for some time at the highest level, not fools like myself and the rest here included who are wannabe gm's and coaches and don't have the actual experience of the variables and knowledge of schemes or playing or coaching at the highest level,

First off, I preface this by saying all college coaches are used car salesmen, all college coaches BS, college recruiting is dirty, I know for a fact of college recruiting is dirty, and no I will not name names, due to the fact that it potentially hurts the players I know of and more importantly, shine the light on one school and the others, including ones we love or like can get caught up. It's a dirty game and money flies around. Secondly after hearing from so many great coaches, yes put me in the corner of talent makes great coaches first, talent trumps all, 9 times out of 10 the more talented team wins.

Finally, yes I do believe we have a good coach in Golden, I do believe he can restock this team with talent and produce a consistent top level program, and I did give him plenty of "slack" these last 3 years for a variety of factual and logical reasons. But those facts and logic gave him until this year, now those things are gone, this roster is totally his for the most part now, and now is when my demand of improved quality of play and judgement on the philosophy on defense is valid and fair.

Their is room for fair critique of the defense, the philosophy and bend don't break style, first, I believe Golden to be a good not great coach, great coaches adjust their scheme to the talent at their disposal, whereas Golden does not. Doesn't make him bad, doesn't make him great either. But what he is attempting to do is to turnover this team until the roster is built and fostered so that the players develop into his scheme. It is a long process, and yes I get how tiring it is to hear it, but this aspect is true. In the meantime what you get is 3 years of the crap we have seen, that has only been exacerbated by the fact of the NCAA fiasco and the horrific recruiting of Radio. It is why we have also played this bend don't break style, which I have seen other of the so called "genius" coaches play when the talent is not up to par. I am not a fan of it, but I understand, but if this what we will continue to see next year, then this is not an issue of play calling just to play it safe because the talent is not there, this is then the Tom Olivadotti mentality, for those who remember, where regardless of the talent, like a lot of coaches who know and understand the game, but when the heat is on coaches "scared not to lose" instead of "trying to win" mentality, and if that is the case, WHICH NOBODY HERE KNOWS, then yes dump them all.

As for this the develop players into this scheme, I have heard from former players, that this system Golden is implementing works, but it takes years for it to work in the college game, it's an upperclassmen defense, because of the mental and experience aspect once they grasp that is when they play faster and less thinking, due to mental recognition being faster. No this is not from Golden slurping, this I have heard from former NFL players who played defense, including former gayturd Channing Crowder here locally, say the same thing.

So now it is year 4, the underclassmen, who we all have seen are better and more talented than what was here before, have been groomed and have gained experience, we have two full classes that are sophomores and Juniors, sprinkled in with some solid to good Seniors on defense in DP, Chick, Pierre & Gunter from the first class which was a cluster frick to get together his first year, and yes I know Gunter was part of his 2nd class. This year there is no excuses, this year there should be improvement, and more importantly a change in philosophy as far as aggression in the playcalling and scheme. If not, I will be very disappointed, sadly eat crow, and ride shotgun on the bandwagon to dump them. Hopefully history repeats itself statistically as it did for him in Temple, if it does here we can expect very good things

Off topic but just out of curiosity, how many punches to the face do you usually take before you realize you're in a fight?