Salute to the CanesInSight members we met in Berkeley. It was an amazing trip. Saturday was a marathon from 5 AM to past midnight, but everyone brought the energy.
The timing is perfect for a bye week. There's a lot to clean up. These last two weeks took a couple years off our lives, but I'll take that over what happened to Alabama, Tennessee, USC, Ole Miss and Michigan. They weren't as fortunate against unranked teams.
Six games in, I can understand the comparisons to 2013 and 2017. Those teams had a lot of NFL players, won close games, and ultimately got exposed. But they also had some unusual coaching dynamics. In 2013, D'Onofrio almost singlehandedly tanked the team. In 2017, Richt was still working with his son in a doomed situation. This 2024 team has a more professional staff. And it also has
Cam Ward.
My thoughts on rewatch are below:
OFFENSE
- They weren't perfect, but the offense remains an elite group. The best mainstream stat is Yards Per Play against FBS opponents. Miami ranks
first nationally at 8.1 yards per play. For reference, the next four teams are Alabama, Ole Miss, Ohio State and Texas. Miami is also tied with Ohio State for first in Scoring Offense against FBS opponents (46 PPG).
While much of the credit belongs to Cam, his Washington State team ranked
72nd nationally in yards per play (5.3) and
53rd in scoring (28.7). This is a complete group built around a special quarterback.
- Not much more needs to be said about Cam. He put up 452 total yards, 3 TDs and 1 TO against a solid, well-coached defense. He did have two really poor plays, with the coverage sack on the last drive of the half and the pick six. The relaxed confidence that gets him in trouble is also his greatest strength, so it's hard to coach that out of him. His heart rate is the same down 35-10 as it is on the opening kickoff.
Hopefully, Cam continues to cut down on the worst hero ball plays. Pat Mahomes is a great example of someone who matured in this area.
- The main topic with the offense is always the running game. Cal came out a little differently than prior opponents. They played the pass, dared us to run, and counted on Cam forcing a mistake. We did a good job running the ball early, especially with a relentless
Mark Fletcher. The game flow changed when Cal started hitting explosive plays and got us more into a shootout mode.
- One way to juice up the running game: more
Elija Lofton at fullback. He has a fullback body with the strength and toughness for collisions, but he can also make contested catches, run routes like a receiver, and carry the ball like a tailback. It's impossible to match up with a player like that. He's playing fullback already in short yardage, but we can add more to the package during the bye week.
Some might say that using a fullback is caveman football. But I see teams like the Ravens, Dolphins and 49ers using fullbacks consistently on Sundays, and those fullbacks aren't as versatile as Lofton. We'll be able to hit big plays off play action and get
Damien Martinez running downhill in a more familiar style.
- When the game gets tough, Cam looks for three guys:
Xavier Restrepo,
Isaiah Horton, and
Elijah Arroyo. These are the guys who worked on their bodies all offseason and consistently show up on Greentree. To me, the most underrated trait in a pass-catcher is play strength. This includes core strength, balance and strong hands. Just look at the top NFL receivers over the past couple years. All three of those guys are strong physically and mentally, and it shows up on money downs.
One play that jumped out early was the failed screen to
Sam Brown with
Jacolby George blocking. We got knocked back and took a loss. That play would look a lot different if we ran it with Restrepo and Horton. We'll need the whole group to win the ACC, and I'm hopeful we will see Brown and George come out of the bye week hungry.
JoJo Trader will also put pressure for snaps.
- I can't wait until
Jalen Rivers returns, but the internal perception on
Markel Bell is different than what I see in the boards and social media. Yes, he's been beaten for sacks in each of the past two games. He'd be redshirting in a perfect world. But on many key plays, he's engulfing guys. His combination of length and movement is pretty rare, and the coaches trust him between the ears. These reps will benefit the team in the long run.
DEFENSE
- The story of this game was Cal hitting explosives. On paper, I loved the matchup for Miami because Cal struggled to generate chunk plays. But on Saturday, Cal hit four plays of 40+ yards. That's more than they had in the previous four games combined.
Miami now ranks 101st nationally in 40+ yard plays allowed. Some of that is secondary talent, but the bigger issue is eye discipline. Whether it was
D'Yoni Hill biting on a fake tunnel screen or the entire defense losing Jaden Ott on fourth down, these are correctable mistakes. We have some very smart human beings in the secondary, and the bye week is a perfect opportunity for Guidry and the back end to tighten the screws.
- Miami hit on every item of their Portal wishlist except one: nickel back. That hole is hurting us now, especially with
Damari Brown missing extended time.
- The 3rd and 15 screen from Cal felt like a replay from the USF game. I love how fast
Jaden Harris plays, but those are two examples of him playing too fast. Both times, he flew right by the running back and allowed backbreaking plays. Harris is still relatively new to safety, and is a work in progress seeing the game from that spot.
-
Simeon Barrow has been making an impact the past few weeks. Twitchy, aware and plays hard. He's already the best DT of the Mario era.
- On one hand, we have to give credit to the opponent. Virginia Tech and Cal were both highly motivated, aggressive, and a executed at high level. They played their best games of the season. But of course, Miami's defense was part of that. It won't get any easier with a desperate Louisville team playing at home. They have the offense we've faced this season.
- I was impressed with
Fernando Mendoza. When we first wrote about him CanesInSight, he was a Yale commit with no FBS interest. I said he was a big-framed (6'5) kid that showed improved athleticism and FBS talent as a senior. He ended up at Cal, and continues to develop physically. He hit some big-boy throws in the first half against the blitz, and he even made
Kiko Mauigoa and
Rueben Bain whiff in space. We know he's a worker with an elite makup, so I expect him to continue to make meaningful gains over the next few years.
- This applies to both the offense and the defense, but there continues to be a lack of discipline with penalties. We had two brainless post-snap penalties and several big mistakes (facemask, hands to the face) before the whistle.
CONCLUSION
Through six games, we have an elite offense, an average defense, and very good special teams. Every game with a good opponent is shaping up to be a shootout. We're not going to pull Rod Woodson and Bennie Blades off the street during the bye week, but the secondary play can improve from a mental standpoint. We'll find out very early if anything has changed against Louisville. Until then, it feels good to be 6-0.
