Post Game Recap: USF

Their QB and WR are solid... Been a long time since GT slang the ball like they have been...

QB: Haynes King ranks #6 among all QBs statistically: 102/138, 73.9%, 1274 yards, 9.2 avg, 164 rating

Haynes King


WR: Milk Rutherford (hometown MIAMI) is tops in the ACC: 29/398, 2tds, 13.7 avg

~ Announcers said he was the second quickest Yellow Jacket to get to 1000 yards receiving. While they aren't necessarily known for receivers, they have put out some studs in Calvin Johnson and Demaryius Thomas... Definitely a player I'm keeping an eye on.

Mailk Rutherford


Nonetheless, we roll. Mario will have us UP for that game, especially after last year's fiasco.
I was going to mention King and Rutherford…both are very talented and smart players. The rest of the team is pretty mediocre compared to us, but I like what Brent Key is doing up here (I live in Atlanta), and the team is gelling. They are beating the teams they are supposedly to beat. I have confidence that with Cam’s leadership we will win.

And there will be lots of us there - I’ve got three rolling! 🙌🏻
 
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Good writeup.

Let's get the rock filled (except 306-308, of course, because VT won't return their unsolds in time).
 
I was going to mention King and Rutherford…both are very talented and smart players. The rest of the team is pretty mediocre compared to us, but I like what Brent Key is doing up here (I live in Atlanta), and the team is gelling. They are beating the teams they are supposedly to beat. I have confidence that with Cam’s leadership we will win.

And there will be lots of us there - I’ve got three rolling! 🙌🏻

Yeah they definitely look like a different team than in years past. He's doing a good job with that program; it's not good enough to beat us, though. LOL
 
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@Memnon thanks for the write up. Agree with your points, especially calling out Fletcher. I love his heart, but aside from being big, I haven’t seen much special from him running the ball, especially the missing wiggle component. That said, I got another one for you - Pancake Honcho. He got some action in the 2nd Q I believe. I know he’s coming off a knee injury from last year, but man he’s been pretty disappointing. If he’s not in the starting five next year, he’s portaging out IMO. He was a five star.
I didn't even notice Okunlola even played.

He had a total of 14 snaps & his Run blocking was not good.

He may just be the kind of OL that it takes a few years for the lights to come on, but his biggest issue IMO is it might take him a long time to see the field because he can only really play one side, LT.

Mirabal places a premium on having the OL cross-train & be able to move all along the line, because our OL will always have injuries due to how much they're moving on a frequent basis. And it appears that Samson can't really play Guard either Left or Right & doesn't seem to be able to play Right Tackle either.

Markel Bell, McCoy & Cooper have all played both sides of the line at Guard & Tackle, and it's why they're in the top 6 rotation.
 
He’s had a couple of missteps but Jaden Harris has been a revelation

Talking about guys like Horton and Wes developing, Harris has got to be at the top of that list
I was skeptical whether to believe the I. Horton smoke coming out of Greentree. He's made me a believer. Actually becoming concerned that with his ability/measurables he could EE to the NFL.
 
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I didn't even notice Okunlola even played.

He had a total of 14 snaps & his Run blocking was not good.

He may just be the kind of OL that it takes a few years for the lights to come on, but his biggest issue IMO is it might take him a long time to see the field because he can only really play one side, LT.

Mirabal places a premium on having the OL cross-train & be able to move all along the line, because our OL will always have injuries due to how much they're moving on a frequent basis. And it appears that Samson can't really play Guard either Left or Right & doesn't seem to be able to play Right Tackle either.

Markel Bell, McCoy & Cooper have all played both sides of the line at Guard & Tackle, and it's why they're in the top 6 rotation.
Yeah I watched him a few plays last night and it just looks to my untrained eye that he’s thinking too much

He doesn’t look comfortable. He certainly has the physical traits but the light isn’t on yet. I noticed Bell had a few moments against FAMU that were the same but he seems to be getting better week to week

It’s like there’s a slight delay in his brain to his feet so I’m hopeful that it’s just something that will get better with reps
 
Great stuff as always.

I like the change of pace that Allen brings as opposed to just the hammers Martinez and Fletcher. Might want to get him and Lyle involved a little earlier and then punish defenders in the second half with the big dudes.


What’s with the Epusode II avatar? The best thing about Attack of the Clones was when Talib Qweli used it in a verse.
I'm an Episode II truther.

I think it's much better than most are willing to give it credit for.
 
On paper no.

But it's a road game & historically GTech on the road has always been an issue for us, so it's just something to monitor.

They're not that good of a team, but they're the exact kind of team that can wreck your season if you sleepwalk by them.
So true. GT usually gives Georgia all kind of scares at home. So they aren’t to be taken lightly in Atlanta. But I think Miami will come out and perform cause we have the great equalizer and that’s, how you eloquently put it, Killa Cam
 
He’s had a couple of missteps but Jaden Harris has been a revelation

Talking about guys like Horton and Wes developing, Harris has got to be at the top of that list
Harris, Horton, Bissainthe, Riley Williams & even Francis Mauigoa have all been very good development players.

Mauigoa (the OT), I felt actually had a lot more struggles his TF season last year that went unnoticed by most because he was a starter. But he didn't deal with Speed rushers well at all last year & had quite a bit of Holding penalties that kept coming up in critical moments (TAMU, UNC, GTech etc). But he's on a trajectory to be a high draft pick, he's completely locked that right side down.
 
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Harris, Horton, Bissainthe, Riley Williams & even Francis Mauigoa have all been very good development players.

Mauigoa (the OT), I felt actually had a lot more struggles his TF season last year that went unnoticed by most because he was a starter. But he didn't deal with Speed rushers well at all last year & had quite a bit of Holding penalties that kept coming up in critical moments (TAMU, UNC, GTech etc). But he's on a trajectory to be a high draft pick, he's completely locked that right side down.
Couldn’t agree more with Mauigoa. I broached the moving him to left guard thing and it was met with a lot of criticism

I only saw one miss on a speed rush last night but Cam easily escaped

Honestly if fans want to watch someone play football almost abusively, just go rewatch him on the first drive against Florida. Was some Alvin Mack level stuff
 
He was in the Redskins (Commanders) scouting department when they drafted Sean Taylor & played a part in why Joe Gibbs ended up picking him #5.

He once said at a NFL career scouting conference, that when he was with the Skins for that draft, he absolutely stood on the table for Sean Taylor. He said he was the most talented player he had ever seen on film in his life & in every single Front office team meeting they had pre-draft any time they would discuss the possibility of any other player getting picked at that spot he would immediately speak up even if he had to interrupt someone & say no way... Sean Taylor is THEE pick.
Constantly talks about on his affinity for ST26 on Get Up, First Take, NFL live; to anyone that’ll listen when that subject comes up. He LUVs ST26 as he should.
 
I'm an Episode II truther.

I think it's much better than most are willing to give it credit for.
Don't even get me started on the prequel trilogy. Besides the Jar Jar Binks stuff Episode II is really good and I could explain why... Let's not derail this thread but I agree with you.

A lot of people are concerned with the run game and while I don't agree entirely, I can see where they're coming from. What's your opinion on why? I think Cam is just taking what he wants and what the defense gives him. Do you think it's overblown?
 
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Don't even get me started on the prequel trilogy. Besides the Jar Jar Binks stuff Episode II is really good and I could explain why... Let's not derail this thread but I agree with you.

A lot of people are concerned with the run game and while I don't agree entirely, I can see where they're coming from. What's your opinion on why? I think Cam is just taking what he wants and what the defense gives him. Do you think it's overblown?
I don't think the run game really is all that bad because we're not really a running team.

We have the capability to run when necessary, but we don't live & die by the run, so it doesn't actually affect the overall outcome of the game.

Now, if we were a sh*tty B1G or SEC team whose life depended on having a strong run game, then it could be a bit of a concern. But when you actually have a great QB, it's not that important.

What a lot people fail to realize about those teams who are so run heavy, is that they HAVE to play that way because their QB's stink & their Offense in general is never really that good.

The teams who build everything around running & playing ball control do so out of necessity, because otherwise they would just have to Punt the ball on 1st down every series. If those teams could throw the ball & have a high octane Offense, they would.
 
@Memnon I love your analysis and look forward to them every Sunday.

I think the only thing missing on this team is a dynamic returner. I’m sure there are a lot of contributing factors.

Thank you again.
 
I didn't even notice Okunlola even played.

He had a total of 14 snaps & his Run blocking was not good.

He may just be the kind of OL that it takes a few years for the lights to come on, but his biggest issue IMO is it might take him a long time to see the field because he can only really play one side, LT.

Mirabal places a premium on having the OL cross-train & be able to move all along the line, because our OL will always have injuries due to how much they're moving on a frequent basis. And it appears that Samson can't really play Guard either Left or Right & doesn't seem to be able to play Right Tackle either.

Markel Bell, McCoy & Cooper have all played both sides of the line at Guard & Tackle, and it's why they're in the top 6 rotation.
I didn’t key on Bell yesterday, but have in other games. I’m not overly impressed with him at this stage, which makes Okunlola’s lack of PT that much more disappointing. Not saying Bell is bad - he’s not. Simply saying that Bell isn’t Cici so it’s disappointing that Samson hasn’t grabbed that spot.

As for the guards/RT thing, I don’t know. I haven’t seen him take reps at those spots. My inner OL thinks it’s not that big of a leap to switch from LT to RT or play some guard. Yes, they’re different positions with some differing techniques and responsibility, but it’s not asking him to play safety. I hope what you said about him maybe being one of these guys who needs a few years to get it is true. I want him to succeed.
 
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Offense:

Cam Ward - 24/34 404yds 3TD's 1INT, 4car 25yds rushing
Jordan Lyle - 6car 104yds 1TD
Damien Martinez - 11car 31yds 3TD's, 2rec 50yds
Isaiah Horton - 8rec 108yds 2TD's
Xavier Restrepo - 6rec 99yds 1TD
Samuel Brown - 2rec 75yds 1TD
Elijah Arroyo - 2rec 25yds

Offense gained 574yds total (404 passing & 170yds rushing), off 62 plays at 9.3 yards per play. Gaining 26st 1st downs, going 7/10 on 3rd down, with 31:22 in time of possession.


The first drive had 2 very well designed 3rd down conversions by Restrepo & a dump off to Martinez. Aided by 2 penalties we got down to the Red Zone & punched it in with Martinez.

On the INT, George has to bring that ball in, catch it. And everybody's favorite RB Fletcher has to maintain composure & keep his cool. That penalty essentially put them right in the Red Zone, making it that much easier for them to score.

Really nice slip & evade by Cam Ward on the dump off to Martinez for the after the fake reverse that wound up a 36yd gain. If he doesn't sidestep & slide up before throwing it to Martinez, he probably gets sacked for an 8yd loss.

Then Cam throws a frozen rope for 22yds to Horton on an Inside Post route. The drive culminates into a TD for Horton.

Horton plays with a ton of Juice. He's a high energy guy & has really maturated into his role at Flanker. Very good upside & development by this kid. @Golsen82 you said Horton was going to play a lot this season & I didn't believe it, I was wrong. His releases are next level.

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Jacolby George looks like he has some kinda Calf/ankle injury. After every play he pretty much gets up limping off to the sideline.

Fletcher has no fkin wiggle. None. Stop with this narrative that he's the 2nd best RB on the team, or anything more than just a serviceable short yardage back. I get it, he's a big RB, congratulations. But that doesn't actually mean anything. If yall are going to judge Fletch by the same standards yall judge every other player, then it simply doesn't add up for all the high praise while simultaneously not really doing that much. It's Chaney syndrome all over again, the High School hype far exceeds the actual ability & productivity. And do not say sh*t about injury, because he's played every game this season.

The Ajay Allen first down gain on 3rd & 2 with 10:20 left in the 3rd is a prime example of what I mean. He got that 1st down on 100% feet & vision. He made the initial LB gap-shooting miss & then cut again to get back up field past the LOS to get the 1st down. It was just a 2½yd gain but the difference between a runner like Allen & Fletch, is Fletch would've just tried to bulldoze straight forward on that play, no jump-cut, no shifting, just straight ahead. Maybe he would've got it, but probably not.

Jordan Lyle had a good bounce outside run for the 91yd TD. The longest run from scrimmage TD in Miami history. Crazy.


Kill Cam is a fkin Warlock!

Sam Brown with the nice 9 route against Cover 2 for the 76yd TD. Impossible that it was Sam Brown who caught it & ran in for the TD, but somehow it happened.

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Cam had another terrific slide & evade in the 3rd quarter on the dump off to Ajay Allen that went for 16yds. Again, Cam's footwork in the pocket being able to slip & slide past over-pursuing rushers to buy more time is stuff you simply can't teach. It will show up frequently on his film for scouts & will be a huge plus to his overall draft status.

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Really nice call back on the Switch route to Restrepo in the 3rd quarter with 3:48 left for a 28yd gain. They had ran that route earlier in the game on the first drive but Cam overthrew it a little. Great play call by Dawson's Creek to go back to it later in the game in order to get a big chunk yardage play to help pull away & take a large lead.


Like I said, De'Shawn Rucker is the mark.


What does that mean? That means, in film study OC's identify the weakest DB in coverage & will catalog how often they're out of position in both inside/outside leverage & who is the most susceptible to being beat on certain routes. We attacked Rucker (Tallahassee kid), because Dawson saw it on film that he was the most exploitable matchup. Why? Because he's slow & has real trouble with ball location while transitioning in phase. The majority of the routes that were thrown at him were Slants & Back-shoulder fades. Those routes are Kryptonite for Corners like that.
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OL also had a really good game in pass protection. With Rivers being out, you would've assumed we struggled in that area, but they gave up 0 sacks. Markell Bell looked pretty good at LT & Matt McCoy did an excellent job at LG by my view.

Lofton had a nice seal Block on Martinez’s 2nd TD run. Riley Williams & Cam McCormick blocked pretty good as well also.

Elijah Arroyo is such a gifted weapon at TE. Just think, Dawson really hasn't gotten into the bag of tricks in the Red Zone he could use with 2 TE's like Arroyo & RWill, running TE waggle option routes & leak out motion plays etc..

Killa Cam completed passes to 9 different targets this game. This is an explosive high octane Offense that spreads the ball around & attacks every crevice on the field. This is who MIAMI is. I know hurts that we're not a slow ball control Offense that tries to HB dive Defenses to Death, but this is the most advantageous & effective way WE win. This is our identity... The Airstrike Hurricanes, letting it fly!






Defense:

Francisco Mauigoa - 11tks 1 sack & 1TFL
Mishael Powell - 9tks 1INT & 1TFL
Dyoni Hill - 7tks
Jaden Harris - 6tks 1 sack & 2TFL's
Simeon Barrow - 6tks 1 sack & 1TFL
Wesley Bissainthe - 3tks
Elijah Alston - 3tks
Tyler Baron - 3tks 0.5TFL's
Raul Aguirre - 3tks
Marley Cook - 3tks
Akheem Mesidor - 3tks 0.5sacks & 1TFL
Jaylin Alderman - 3tks


Defense held USF to just 62 yards rushing, while only giving up 1TD on the game. Kept them at just 4.9 yards per play, 7/16 on 3rd down, getting 4 sacks, 7TFL's & forcing 2 turnovers.


Miami’s Run Defense was stout in the 1st half, holding them to just 30yds rushing. For a team that's predicated on being Run first that's a huge W for Guidreaux. The key to the gameplan Defensively was to take away the run game & make BBrown a one-dimensional passer. He can't beat us from the pocket, so simply don't give him the Deep ball & collpase the pocket. We did just that.

Simeon Barrow had a really nice pressure on Bynum Brown on USF's first Offensive drive on 1st down after the late hit penalty on Mauigoa. He didn't get to BBrown, but he flushed him out of the pocket to the left hashes, which forced him to throw a dirt ball for an incomplete pass. Seems like an innocuous play, but what it does it stop USF from going Tempo, which allows for us to reset & sub in the proper Defense.

Had another good pursuit & tackle on the run play right before the end of the 1st quarter. Then had a big time Red Zone Sack on a Loop-Stunt.

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Then on the first drive of the 3rd quarter, had a HUGE tackle on the RB screen on 3rd & 14. Mauigoa got absolutely WORKED, if Barrow doesn't recognize Screen & work backside to the ball, that would've been another big gain. Great play by Barrow. He's had a quietly good season thus far, very disruptive interior lineman.

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Mesidor had a really nice inside swim rip move to get a TFL on 2nd & 10 on the 40yd line with 10:03 left in the 1st half, to force a 3rd & 12.

Marley Cook with a really tackle in 2nd & short keeping BBrown contained on the Inside QB run.

Elijah Alston had a really good game as well against the run. He does a great job setting the edge & tracking back to the inside gaps to get to the ball carrier. We didn't really get fooled once on the Pitch-option reads by USF & that was mainly because Alston never bit down & read the Mesh pretty much every time. Great job maintaining gap integrity.

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On the Philly Special TD to Byrum Brown, Francisco Mauigoa got caught looking in the backfield, he got drawn in playing what looked like a Draw/reverse & the QB leaked out past him without being seen.

Mauigoa with a great diagnosis & gap-shoot on 3rd & 2 with 6:37 left in the 2nd quarter.

He was his usual self. Mauigoa plays with his hair on fire & sometimes it'll get him exposed on a misdirection play & leaves him open to get caught on Screens, but most of the time he's such an active LB that the sum cumulation of his plays usually results in positive net gain.

Daryl Porter Jr struggled in his matchup early on vs Sean Atkins. He played him way too passively & gave him way too much cushion.

Jaden Harris on the timely delayed Blitz & got to Brown on the Sack with 4:38 left in 2nd quarter. Although it looked like Brown was breaking multiple tackles & had made it back to the LOS. But that play was huge in the fact it got Brown off the field & slowed down USF's Tempo allowing the Defense to regroup, which lead to a stuffed run on 2nd down & goal from the 15yd line & then a Sack from Simeon Barrow.

Jaden Harris also had a great TFL on 3rd goal right before the end of the half. Reads the HB toss played & immediately came shooting down to get to the Back. That drives ends in a missed FG, which killed off USF's momentum.

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Fantastic Red Zone Defense by Miami in the first half, forcing 4 Field Goal attempts, with one being missed right before the end of the 2nd quarter. Why does that matter? That was at least 3 opportunities for USF to score TD's, but instead had to settle for FG's. And when you have an explosive Offense like ours that can score at will, when you force the opposing Offense to trade FG's for TD's, it puts pressure on the opponents Coaches to start pressing in their play calling & abandon their gameplan.

Dyoni Hill had two really good route stoppages on Deep passes. The 1st being on 2nd down & 10 with 7:25 in the 3rd quarter. The 2nd, being on 3rd & 8 with 14:38 left in the 4th quarter. He also tackled well, only gave up 2 catches against 6 targets playing 50 snaps at Boundary (55 total).

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Jadais Richard had good coverage against a Sluggo route as well. Played the best game of his career thus far.

Meesh Powell read a Tunnel Screen exceptionally well on 2nd & 10 in the 3rd quarter with 6 minutes left. It ended up being a 1yd dump off to Nayquan Wright, but the play design was for a WR screen, that if Brown throws it Meesh definitely picks it off.

Then finally gets a pick in the 4th quarter in the Red Zone with 13:20 left. Which lead the Defense to yet again preventing another Red Zone TD this game.

That was the theme for the Defense tonight. No TD's & Red Zone dominance.

Who knew USF had their own DJ Uiagalelei? Their backup Bryce Archie, not only physically looks just like him, but is just as much of a trash thrower as he is too.


Overall, this game went exactly like it was supposed to go. USF had some early momentum, but simply didn't have enough firepower to keep up with Miami for a full 4 quarters of Football. We're just markedly more talented & better Coached in all 3 phases of the game. USF was a good precursor test for VA Tech, they have similar styles of team makeup, although VA Tech doesn't play with nearly as much tempo as USF does.

They do however, have a similar Offensive build in being a Run oriented Offense with a mobile QB. Their WR's are better than USF's, & their Secondary is better, but mostly they're within the same ballpark as a team.

We've gotten over the hump of the easy part of the OOC schedule & now is when the real season starts. ACC play has always killed us. So, in order to truly change the tide of the true narrative that has always been our downfall, we have to attack ACC play with the same aggressive nature we've had this first 4 games.

The biggest difference between now & the past is the leader we have at QB, Killa Cam Ward. With him at the helm, ANYTHING is possible... His Heisman campaign has started out as one for the ages. He's on pace to break several Miami school records & go down in history as one of the greatest QB's to ever step foot on campus. Just have to keep this going & keep winning when it counts the most.

We've handled hostile road environments much better this season than we did last year. If we can get through LVille & GTech without tripping on our own feet, we waltz into Charlotte as the heavy favorites to win the ACC & likely will guarantee ourselves a spot in the playoffs...

Gotta take everything one game at a time. But for right now, we're the Kings of FLA.

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Go Canes!


Great work as always, Liberty City Mamalon. 😀
Much appreciated!
 
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