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Post Game Recap: USF

DMoney said:
I hope that's not true, because the SEC/B1G teams are the ones winning championships.

Your breakdown was excellent as usual and I agree with 98% of it. But I want to address the bolded.

We're a balanced team. That doesn't mean we rush as much as we pass. Cam Ward is our best player and engine. We're 104th in rush percentage, so we're passing a ton.

But there's a reason USF put 8 in the box all night. There's a reason USF's defenders were dropping like flies. And there's a reason Golesh said we wore them down worse than Alabama. We have a physical and powerful running game.

The model isn't a one-dimensional team like Michigan. It's Alabama from 2018-2020. For a decade, Alabama dominated college football with a physical running game. Then they added three NFL QBs and a fleet of first round receivers. For that three-year run, they had the best passing offense in the nation. But they never lost the ability to physically demoralize their opponents with a powerful OL and big backs. That's the ideal for us.

As for Fletcher, we'll see how it plays out. I'd note that if we're focused on the passing game, he's our best option as a 230+ elite pass protector who can also catch the ball. He's not a special runner but I can see that part of his game developing like Brian Robinson.

ACC play will tell us how good our running game really is. We haven't shown much creativity thus far because the competition has been so bad. I'm curious to see if teams keep playing us the same way or take their chances with our RBs.
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hotshot said:
Hagen't seen the quickness and chunk runs from Martinez that had pundits saying he was gonna be a national award finalist. What was different at Oregon State? The larger workload (which he's not likely to get with our depth)? Bigger holes?
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Much better run blocking and run scheme at Oregon st
 
Memnon said:
I think the issue with Porter this year is he's been playing out of position.

He's not really a Nickel Corner & has played 139 of his snaps at NCB, when he's played Right/Leff Corner for most of his career. Even at West VA, he played primarily at Boundary.

It's an adjustment in technique because playing Outside Corner, as opposed to Inside Corner is actually pretty different in terms of mechanics, footwork & what exactly you're watching for on a play by play basis.

USF was dragging him across the field when we were playing the majority of our snaps in Man. So they're presnap motioning Atkins to check the coverage & basically pull the Nickel into whichever area of the field they didn't want him in. DP2's problem was that he was giving Atkins at least 5-6yds of cushion on any given play & all USF was doing was running him on Drags, Crossers & Digs. They would motion him left & he would run the route to the opposite hash, then flip it & do the same thing going right, but run left.

It was real easy elementary stuff. But DP2 was playing him like an Outside Corner instead of Inside. All he needed to do was do a mental check of the routes & remember each play that they ran with him. Then, next time he lines up on either side of the hashes & goes in motion, come up to the line set his feet to whichever side of leverage he's on (meaning if he's left side go inside leverage, if he's right side go outside) & just bar off the route playing it like a Slant. Get in his hip pocket & force the QB to have to throw it up & behind his head to get it to him. He was playing a lot of trail technique as if he was worried that Atkins was gonna beat him on a Sluggo or something, but film study would tell you that's not what they do with him at all. He literally runs 3 routes a game & all they do is just switch sides of the hash that he runs them on.

As for Jaden Harris, I think he’s been a huge + at Rover. His Speed & instincts have giving us an added element we didn't have at Safety last year. His biggest plus has been in run support & as a Blitzer coming in on delayed stunts & has been successful twice this year getting to the pocket with 2 sacks.

In coverage, he does give up some chunk yardage plays, particularly in the middle of the field against Post/seam patterns. But that has more to do with simply reading his keys & adjusting based on the specific coverage being called, than it has to do with talent or ability.

The difference this year, is our Safety group doesn't have the physical limitations to cover certain Shells, so there's less gambling that takes place. Because they don't have to overcompensate for lack of being able to get from one spot to the next. There's way less Boom or Bust reads in the coverages, because they can actually run from point A to point B to point C.

Last year, it's if they don't guess right on point A, oh well we're sh*t outta luck on that play lol
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I wanna see jaden get more comfortable, right now he seems like he’s just keened into his assignment which is fine but there’s been a couple plays where if he just reacts better he gets a pick. It was a play in ball st, and a play in the usf game he was the robber in cover 1 and if he just followed the qb he would’ve gotten a pick
 
JHallCanes said:
Not sure where else to really put this since it’s in almost every thread anyway but in regards to our tight splits on offense

It feels like this is the new rallying cry that is getting parroted around when critiquing our run game

I’m not saying it’s totally incorrect but watching our offense absolutely shred people from tight splits in the passing game (mesh and whatnot) I don’t see the obsession being against it

We can’t suddenly widen it just to run the ball that doesn’t make sense

The offensive line communication in the passing game is thriving from tight splits
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I only worry about it for early down purposes, I don’t want us to live with ward converting 3rd and medium/longs just because he can. And eventually teams will adjust so u have to have that extra layer u can go too
 
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E1k said:
I only worry about it for early down purposes, I don’t want us to live with ward converting 3rd and medium/longs just because he can. And eventually teams will adjust so u have to have that extra layer u can go too
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This week could be interesting. Think VT is vulnerable against the run and getting Rivers back would be great. We know Dawson wants to run the ball I think we get it figured out. Just really hasn’t been a reason to yet
 
Memnon said:
I think it's become clear that the tight splits are designed to be primarily for pass protection & give Cam time to dissect Defenses.

A large portion of our fanbase still has the weird desire for us to be a sluggish B1G team that plays 85% of our snaps from under center & try to win games 16-13.

Sure, wider splits make better running lanes, but at what cost? LG is still a work under progress right now & with Rivers being injured LT is too. So let's pull the line apart slightly so we can quench the pound the rock thirst & end up getting Cam sacked multiple times a game.

The run game is fine. We're not going to have any 28 carries 170+ yd type games out of any of these backs, because that's not our style & that's not how we win.

People just have to come to terms with the fact, we're more ACC/Big XII, than we are B1G/SEC.
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100% agree with all points. The only thing I don't understand is where you get the idea that most of the fan base has a desire to be a sluggish B1G team who plays slow grind it out football and wins games 16-13. I always thought you were being facetious but the more I read your stuff the more I understand that you are serious. What makes you think that? Is it what you hear at games? Is it comments on this board? I'll agree that there is a lot of ignorance on the part of the casual fan. That I get but I don't get the impression that most of the fan base wants to play boring slow down power football. I've always been under the impression that a large segment of UM fans would prefer a more wide open pass friendly and aggressive air attack and that they are overjoyed with what the offense has been doing this season. Am I that far off? Have I been reading the room wrong all this time?
 
Memnon said:
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.
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Exactly! I was curious about the tight splits because it was something that caught my eye and I didn't know much about that aspect of the offense. Now that my questions have been answered it's obvious we do it to provide Cam with more time to pick apart the defense in the passing game. We average 200 rush yards a game so there really is no problem. The only point worth discussing is maybe how to be a bit more effective running early in a game when we do run. It's not an issue of wanting to run more but rather of getting more yards on the runs we do attempt early in games. If we can be more efficient and potentially explosive in that area then I'm all for it but I want to be the type of passing offense that we have seen for the last 4 games!

The style we are playing now is the exact type of style I've always wanted us to play. My concerns before the season, whether they were justified or not were if Mario would ultimately allow us to run this kind of offense. I can see he trusts Cam 100% and I can see why. I'm also absolutely ecstatic about our identity on offense and this is the most fun I have had watching this team in a very very long time! Mario has evolved and I'm overjoyed to see it! Go Canes!
 
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hotshot said:
Hagen't seen the quickness and chunk runs from Martinez that had pundits saying he was gonna be a national award finalist. What was different at Oregon State? The larger workload (which he's not likely to get with our depth)? Bigger holes?
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It’s partly the Oline splints. They were wider at Oregon State and are schematically much tighter with us. Also he mostly ran out of the I-formation at Oregon State where he was able to get a running start before receiving the handoff. Here he is being given the handoff right next to the QB from a stationary position and without any prior momentum going into the run attempt.

Thats a huge difference and he is adjusting. He is used to getting a running start, that’s why he has remained effective on the goal line runs.
 
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Great write up as usual!

I love how this coaching staff makes halftime adjustments. It’s been awhile since we have seen that.
 
HarrietTubmanCane said:
It’s partly the Oline splints. They were wider at Oregon State and are schematically much tighter with us. Also he mostly ran out of the I-formation at Oregon State where he was able to get a running start before receiving the handoff. Here he is being given the handoff right next to the QB from a stationary position and without any prior momentum going into the run attempt.

Thats a huge difference and he is adjusting. He is used to getting a running start, that’s why he has remained effective on the goal line runs.
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We also have him taking the handoff east/west and off tackle a lot. Takes him to long to get going trying to get the edge. He needs to ball moving forward with some steam north/south....
 
This staff is putting our guys in position to succeed. And Dawson is trying to get CJ the ball. Which is huge.
 
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This offense so far this year is the most dynamic I’ve ever seen at Miami going to back to there first national title in 84-

It’s led by the best QB I’ve ever seen at Miami so far-I go back to the 80’s-Cam is just spectacular we have never had a QB do what he does.

It all comes together with the best OL play I’ve ever seen at Miami so far-We may have the best OL in the nation-

They just maul people-The pass protection is phenomenal-Let’s Cam do what he does.
 
Memnon said:
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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.

Memnon

Post in thread 'Canes O vs USF D'

Their Secondary is absolute garbage.

Looks like a DVD run crew. Their CB's play over 60% of their snaps in off coverage, free releases all over the field & they DO NOT cover the seams. They set their Safeties back in 2-High deep in order to protect their Corners & leave the middle of the field wide open.

Restrepo & Arroyo will EAT. Whoever gets the Boundary side matchup with De'Shawn Rucker should have at least 2TD's, he's the mark.

Dawson's Creek must be salivating watching their film this week. There's so many passing lanes wide open all over the field. Block up those delayed...
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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!
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So only the G5 get recaps?
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Reading all of these other post game thought threads is like having a bunch of substitute teachers trying to tell us what to do
 
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