Looking at BC a little more...

[BWCD]

I have been trying to find a few tidbits from their scrimmages and find out what they've got to offer come 9/1. In the course of doing that, I came across some bulletin board material put out there by their starting MLB, Sean Duggan:

Duggan smiled when the topic of Miami was mentioned. He wants to prove that last year's win on the Hurricanes' home turf wasn't just luck.

"I love our schedule," he said. "I love that we open up with a hard team, because every team we play at this level is going to be good. But the fact that it's Miami, they're going to be hungry and they're going to want to play us. We're just as excited to prove that the game last year wasn't a fluke and we rightfully beat them. We were the better team."

From what I can tell from their scrimmage notes and other articles here & there, here's a few more tidbits:

- Rettig is their guy (of course). They're going to rely on him to spread the ball around to the WR's and simply pick out the open man and get it to him. They don't really have a go-to/big-play WR, just a bunch of consistent guys.

- Andre Williams will likely be their starting RB. Kid was a 3* back out of Allentown, PA in the 2010 class, and was originally a Georgia kid. Rolandan Finch was likely going to start against us in the opener as he did last season (22 rushes, 96 yards), but he got hurt in BC's last scrimmage. Williams played against us last season and had 13 rushes for 52 yards.

- Another possibility at RB is Tahj Kimble from Fernandina Beach, FL. He's the shiftier/faster back while Williams is the power back.

- Defensively, the LB corps is again pretty solid, even minus Luke Kuechly. Kevin Pierre-Louis and the aforementioned Duggan will be 2/3rds of the LB corps and both got burn against us last year. Duggan had one of the INT's of Jacory. Steele DiVitto should be the other LB in the rotation.

- The secondary, particularly the CB's, are terrible for them. They're fighting injuries and likely will only have 2-3 CB's total available for their game against us.

- Nate Freese is a solid kicker, one of the better ones in the ACC. He's a weapon on special teams for them.

 

[3FW]

Devitto is going to be a very good player for them. We better bring some toughness or we'll get smacked around. You know that will be their strategy. Hit us in the face until we quit.

 

[riceman]

They were what, 4-8 last year? They may have been the better team that day, but it certainly wasn't because they're prepared to compete at this level. Not really. We were already our own worst enemy, self-imposed a bowl ban that day, and had some of the most uninspired players I've ever seen don a Miami uniform.

 

[umhurricane2511]

Great post, but not really sure how thats bulletin board material. What he said is just football.

 

[CaneShades]

Good stuff

 

[freespirted305]

That game could be summed up by a lack of an ability to stop the run leading to a large disadvantage in time of possession and Jacory losing his poise that he played with most of last yr. I believe he had 4 Ints (including a pick 6) in the 2nd half in 17 attempts after only throwing 2 Ints all season up to that point. He seemed to not show the same patience that Fisch had coached him up with last season and reverted back to bad habits.

 

[jevoasis]

BC is a dog**** team. We need to not just win, but with a good score to get snaps for the second team.

 

[BWCD]

You're my boy, Blue.

What's their defensive line stituation look like? I ask because if they can't get pressure with the front 3/4 and have to blitz 'backers, I like our chances throwing it against a depleted secondary. Just have to hope it's not one of those godawful windy, rainy days up there that makes it miserable to be a QB.

Their DL could be pretty good if they get Dom Appiah (DE) and Kaleb Ramsey (DT) back by our game, as both are injured at the moment, but are day-to-day. Kasim Edebali was a starter for them last season, and returns at one of the DE spots, and Dillon Quinn returns as a starter at DT. If they get Appiah/Ramsey back, their starting DL from 2012 will be intact.

In their latest scrimmage however, Edebali was the only starter who played with the 1st Team D. The other guys were Medhi Abdesmad (DE, RS Sophomore), Bryan Murray (DT, Senior), and Jarryd Rudolph (DT, Junior). So--they seem to be pretty deep as well, as from the sounds of their scrimmage reports--they were stout against the run. Of course, that could be a function of how bad BC's OL is likely to be, in addition to their injury problems at RB.

In the latest scrimmage, Abdesmad/Quinn/Edebali each had a sack. Murray had 2 sacks.

BC's OL returns both tackles, but all of the interior guys are new. By all reports, they've gotten pushed around quite a bit in the scrimmages so far. I think our OL/their DL and vice-versa may cancel each other out against BC.

 

[DaU83]

LoL.. jacory harris has these guys thinking they were the "better" team?

 

[Gamineal]

This is MD 2.0....no reason not to whip some *** in Chestnut Hill.......Golden last year at times did not have this team ready to play...you can blame tons of outside interference

MD game suspensions with less than 10 practices to go...Still had more talent then MD did they won one more game after us to Furman???

OSU game played great for 4 qrts...should have beaten them worse

KSU guys game out very flat...D game plan was ripped apart made great half time adjustments..should have won..the D and O failed.

BCU...came out flat again...d gave up 300+ yards...solid half time adjustments..

VT...again 1st half was shaky came out played best 1/2 to date...should have won...THE D failed us

UNC game...almost perfect game..IMO coaches played 2nd half not to lose..almost did....

GT..best game all year..well coached/Well played

UVA....poor coaching period..came out flat for ESPN Thursday night game..O and D sucked we were out played & coached

DUKE...its DUKE

FSU...very prepared came out hot, INT in Endzone hurt us, special teams killed us....still had a chance to win....good game plan poor execution at the end..

USF....I know we won..but the team on 3rd down sucked all day...players were not ready for this game..I remember a tweet from Philip Dorsett...the BUS IS COLD GONNA be hard to play and get loose....LMAO....

BC we all know this game by heart....I thought Goldens team would have played lights out, bowl game for seniors etc....game plan was nice..but no energy at all...

was goldens heart with his new contract?? Was his heart with get this season over and get me some players that want to play??

Sorry for the long post but I see Golden having some game day issues last year...granted he had issues with players NCAA etc..you still have to COACH..

I think BC will be an absolute BLOW UP for the CANES...I think he has the KIDS that GET IT...kids that want to PLAY and WIN.....No reason I can see BC has a chance to beat us....NO CHANCE

 

[Shogungts]

- The secondary, particularly the CB's, are terrible for them. They're fighting injuries and likely will only have 2-3 CB's total available for their game against us.

Question, is their secondary 'terrible' b/c the CBs are not good, they only have 2-3 players available, or a combination of both?

 

[BWCD]

- The secondary, particularly the CB's, are terrible for them. They're fighting injuries and likely will only have 2-3 CB's total available for their game against us.

Question, is their secondary 'terrible' b/c the CBs are not good, they only have 2-3 players available, or a combination of both?

Well...one of the guys is a returning starter from last year (Fletcher), and he, like 3 other of his teammates had a pick on Jacory
Fletcher, Louis-Jean, and CJ Brown were supposed to be their best 3 corners coming back. Louis-Jean will be be out, CJ Brown is still trying to come back from a knee injury...so its Fletcher and a bunch of younger guys, basically.

 

[UM58]

- The secondary, particularly the CB's, are terrible for them. They're fighting injuries and likely will only have 2-3 CB's total available for their game against us.

Question, is their secondary 'terrible' b/c the CBs are not good, they only have 2-3 players available, or a combination of both?

Well...one of the guys is a returning starter from last year (Fletcher), and he, like 3 other of his teammates had a pick on Jacory
Fletcher, Louis-Jean, and CJ Brown were supposed to be their best 3 corners coming back. Louis-Jean will be be out, CJ Brown is still trying to come back from a knee injury...so its Fletcher and a bunch of younger guys, basically.

I want to see a lot of quick-hitting passes and some bombs. I'm sure they're going to be dropping linebackers into coverage to make up for the lack of db's. I just don't want to see Miami get out-coached.

 

[BWCD]

Update on a few things from BC Head Coach Frank Spaziani's press conference this morning:

- It looks like their DL will be intact for this game--all the guys that were nicked up (Kaleb Ramsey, Dom Appiah) will be playing. They didn't really pressure Jacory that much last year, but other than Lamar Miller going for 114 yards on 12 carries (one of those being a 79 yarder for a TD), they were stout against the run. It's important for us to establish the run and win the time of possession battle that we lost by 17'ish minutes last season.

- Swigert and Pantale are huge losses for BC's passing game. Also, Harrison Jackson, a freshman WR who had shown some promise is out for this game. They still have some pretty decent WR's who will step up and try to pick up the slack, but at TE, they're looking at a converted G in Dave Bowen, an inexperienced Junior in Jarrett Darmstatter, and an inexperienced Sophomore in CJ Parsons. They're short on experience, but have enough numbers to rotate what they need to at TE, I think...but it will still be a weakness with Pantale out. I'm much more concerned about their WR's than TE's killing us in the passing game at this point.

- Spaziani said that he expects starting RB Rolandan Finch to play. It was said earlier in camp that he would likely miss the opener, but it looks like he'll be back. Tajh Kimble was reported as injured, but it looks like he'll be ready to play as well. Andre Williams, who I projected to be their starter will still likely get the bulk of the carries as he'll be the freshest/least-injured back that BC can put out there. So, BC's 3 leading rushers from last season will play, albeit with a few injuries mixed in.

 

[stat1124]

VT...again 1st half was shaky came out played best 1/2 to date...should have won...THE D failed us

No!! V.Telmaque failed us by playing out of position on the last play that cost us that game!!

 

[Shogungts]

VT...again 1st half was shaky came out played best 1/2 to date...should have won...THE D failed us

No!! V.Telmaque failed us by playing out of position on the last play that cost us that game!!

Well, Telemaque is on the defense, but I thought the consensus was that Spence blew that play?

 

[immars]

Spence on the last play, Armstrong blew the whole game. In fact in the last drive, if I recall, it was a long 3rd down and they completed it - the camera pans out and you see Armstrong pointing to himself, as to say "my bad."

 

[BWCD]

VT...again 1st half was shaky came out played best 1/2 to date...should have won...THE D failed us

No!! V.Telmaque failed us by playing out of position on the last play that cost us that game!!

Well, Telemaque is on the defense, but I thought the consensus was that Spence blew that play?

If you actually look at the play, it was Jimmy Gaines' fault. Had he not shot the weakside gap trying to blow up the play (he got blocked), and read/reacted instead--he would have filled the hole that Spence was trying to get to, but got there late when Thomas had already ran thru untouched. Gaines' blitzing weakside left Spence with 2 gaps to take care of, and Spence guessed wrong...which is what the success of a read option like that is built off of.

I will say that the blitz may have been D'Onofrio's call and that Gaines did his job, and it was just a bad playcall--that's entirely possible. However, if that's the case--we're up 35-31 with 1 minute to go, VT has the ball on our 19. Why blitz on 4th and 1? Play the percentages. A FG doesn't win it for VT, and they only had 1 timeout left. Who's to say that had we given up a 1st down instead of a TD in that situation that we couldn't have held them out of the endzone in that last minute that was left? Play read/react against that read option (that everyone in the stadium knew was coming), and try to make the tackle short of the 1st down marker. If not--1st down VT at around the 15 or so, with less than a minute to play, and you're still up 4.

Gutsy call and could have ended the game right then and there if we caught VT in the right play...but one I didn't agree with.

 

[Shogungts]

VT...again 1st half was shaky came out played best 1/2 to date...should have won...THE D failed us

No!! V.Telmaque failed us by playing out of position on the last play that cost us that game!!

Well, Telemaque is on the defense, but I thought the consensus was that Spence blew that play?

If you actually look at the play, it was Jimmy Gaines' fault. Had he not shot the weakside gap trying to blow up the play (he got blocked), and read/reacted instead--he would have filled the hole that Spence was trying to get to, but got there late when Thomas had already ran thru untouched. Gaines' blitzing weakside left Spence with 2 gaps to take care of, and Spence guessed wrong...which is what the success of a read option like that is built off of.

I will say that the blitz may have been D'Onofrio's call and that Gaines did his job, and it was just a bad playcall--that's entirely possible. However, if that's the case--we're up 35-31 with 1 minute to go, VT has the ball on our 19. Why blitz on 4th and 1? Play the percentages. A FG doesn't win it for VT, and they only had 1 timeout left. Who's to say that had we given up a 1st down instead of a TD in that situation that we couldn't have held them out of the endzone in that last minute that was left? Play read/react against that read option (that everyone in the stadium knew was coming), and try to make the tackle short of the 1st down marker. If not--1st down VT at around the 15 or so, with less than a minute to play, and you're still up 4.

Gutsy call and could have ended the game right then and there if we caught VT in the right play...but one I didn't agree with.

BWCD - I appreciate your analysis; it seems pretty evident to me that you have a good base of football knowledge. I am just a fan that went to Miami, but never played a down of football past 3rd grade flag football. I always appreciate when posters more knowledgeable than me post in a way that helps me to understand. Do you mind me asking what your background is in regards to football?

 

[BWCD]

BWCD - I appreciate your analysis; it seems pretty evident to me that you have a good base of football knowledge. I am just a fan that went to Miami, but never played a down of football past 3rd grade flag football. I always appreciate when posters more knowledgeable than me post in a way that helps me to understand. Do you mind me asking what your background is in regards to football?

I played sparingly in small-level Virginia HS football--and that's honestly the extent of my playing days. Nothing to brag about at all. I played QB/WR and some CB/S. I was not a good HS player.

However--I was around a lot of really good football minds growing up, I backed up a guy who went on scholarship to Marshall as a QB in HS. Dude was dumb as a coal bucket, but could read a defense like a book--he never did much at Marshall--got homesick and left the school. I played in HS against a few guys who made it to the NFL, which is something pretty big for Single A football in Virginia. Guys like Thomas Jones, Julius Jones, Justin Hamilton, and I never went up against him--but Heath Miller played locally around the time I was in school.

Other than that--I talk to coaches A LOT. Every coach I meet, old school/new school, no matter what they run, where they're from, or what level they coach on...I pick their brain and talk about the sport. I've been lucky enough to see all kinds of offenses and defenses around where I'm from, and have coaches explain the nuances of each to me as they teach it/understand it. I've even been lucky enough to have a few coaches show me film and explain concepts that I've asked them about, just because I asked about them as a fan and wanted to understand.

Due to that, I can post the way I do on here about the game and in particular, about the Canes...which is cool as **** for me to do. Thanks for the appreciation of it.