The defense is hopeless...

[tcgrad1014]

I don't think it does either. While it has helped us win games, it has helped us lose them too. Double-edged sword.

But the fast paced offense hasn't caused us to lose any games this year. The 2 games we've lost would have been losses regardless of what kind of offense we ran.

I never said anything about causation. I said HELPED. You don't think our inability to sustain drives and keep the one of the worst defenses in CFB off the field didn't aid our demise in those two games? Okay....

Aided in our demise? If we lost those games by one possession, and our defense ran out of gas on the last drive of the 4th quarter because they were on the field too long, I could see your point. But we lost by a combined score of something like 100-20. We were steamrolled. And we couldn't run the ball against K State or ND anyway, so ball control wasn't even an option. We were headed behind the wood shed regardless of what Fisch did.

There are times when clock management and a slower style is needed. We got lucky as **** in the nc state game. With the deflected td and the final play, both were extremely lucky. We needed to use more clock in the fourth quarter specifically in that game because we were playing with a lead. Without the luck, it would have been a disaster. There is no reason Morris should have been sbnapping the ball with 28 seconds left up 7 with the ball in the 4th quarter.

Talk to me when we lose a game because of the hurry up offense.

 

[UMFarArcher]

Totally agree with you. While our offense was really boring last year, the slow pace really did help us out on defense (we never got blown out of any game if I remember correctly). No way can we afford to be putting such a ****ty defense on the field so quickly. Our offense is the definition of feast or famine. Definitely was a factor in killing us on Saturday.

My question is why haven't the coaches adjusted and changed this, especially when it worked well last year?

It is my opinion that THIS is what's wrong. Any coach, given top recruiting classes after a few years, provided with top-drawer depth at each position - can have a good defense.

We all know that once the ball is snapped, there goes most planning, as play action is fluid and constantly evolving and changing.

Tactical excellence is about half experience/knowledge, and half intuition. It's the intuition that enables one to quickly adjust whatever defense you have to most efficiently react and stop an offense. Randy Shannon had defensive intuition when he was a defensive coordinator. He wasn't ready for head coach, but he was intuitive and quick reacting when a defensive coordinator. Thus, we got good, timely adjustments to either take advantage of an opponent weakness, or to cover a weakness of ours.

Coach D has zero intuition. True, we are young, but we aren't making adjustments - we're taking our set-piece defensive lineups, and getting our asses whipped.

If you have a weak, young, or shallow defense, you use tactical excellence to confuse your opponent, force them to alter their plan/play, and compensate for your weaknesses. It's that tactical excellence in past teams that enabled us to play the option one week, power running the next, pass-crazy teams the next, etc.

We keep setting up the same old way, and getting run over the same old way.

We need an intuitive, quick-reacting, learned defensive coordinator who can plan and react in real time. The game moves too fast now to remain inflexible and staid.

Coach D shows zero intuition.

 

[McGahee2TheHouse]

But the fast paced offense hasn't caused us to lose any games this year. The 2 games we've lost would have been losses regardless of what kind of offense we ran.

I never said anything about causation. I said HELPED. You don't think our inability to sustain drives and keep the one of the worst defenses in CFB off the field didn't aid our demise in those two games? Okay....

Aided in our demise? If we lost those games by one possession, and our defense ran out of gas on the last drive of the 4th quarter because they were on the field too long, I could see your point. But we lost by a combined score of something like 100-20. We were steamrolled. And we couldn't run the ball against K State or ND anyway, so ball control wasn't even an option. We were headed behind the wood shed regardless of what Fisch did.

There are times when clock management and a slower style is needed. We got lucky as **** in the nc state game. With the deflected td and the final play, both were extremely lucky. We needed to use more clock in the fourth quarter specifically in that game because we were playing with a lead. Without the luck, it would have been a disaster. There is no reason Morris should have been sbnapping the ball with 28 seconds left up 7 with the ball in the 4th quarter.

Talk to me when we lose a game because of the hurry up offense.

I mean we almost lost against NC St because we couldn't score off of 5 turnovers. It took a very lucky play to win that game.

 

[AlexCane]

You can also play Devil's Advocate and say we need to run up-tempo to score more, since it's a virtual certainty our D will give up 30+ points.

 

[McGahee2TheHouse]

You can also play Devil's Advocate and say we need to run up-tempo to score more, since it's a virtual certainty our D will give up 30+ points.

No doubt. The defense is clearly the glaring issue here.

 

[tcgrad1014]

I don't think it does either. While it has helped us win games, it has helped us lose them too. Double-edged sword.

But the fast paced offense hasn't caused us to lose any games this year. The 2 games we've lost would have been losses regardless of what kind of offense we ran.

I never said anything about causation. I said HELPED. You don't think our inability to sustain drives and keep the one of the worst defenses in CFB off the field didn't aid our demise in those two games? Okay....

Aided in our demise? If we lost those games by one possession, and our defense ran out of gas on the last drive of the 4th quarter because they were on the field too long, I could see your point. But we lost by a combined score of something like 100-20. We were steamrolled. And we couldn't run the ball against K State or ND anyway, so ball control wasn't even an option. We were headed behind the wood shed regardless of what Fisch did.

Dude, trust me. I am the first one to realize that our problems lie largely with our defense. But to ignore the fact that our offensive style doesn't exasperate the problem is just asinine. How many times did we run the ball in those two losses?

What difference does it make how many times we ran the ball in blowouts? Nobody runs the ball when they are getting blown out. Have you thought that maybe Fisch is running the hurry up because we have a **** running game? We've had success running the ball against the dregs of college football defenses: BC, BCC and GT. That's it. Mike James is a JAG. Clements is a JAG. Duke is small and not ready for the beating that comes with being an every down back.

We also have nothing at TE. More JAGS. The only offense we can capably run is to hurry up and air it out. Take advantage of Morris' bazooka arm. At least it's entertaining.

To blame ANY of the failures on Fisch is just flat wrong.

 

[Redmen7805]

Sorry but the defense needs to help themselves by getting off the field. Not including the Bethune game, we are allowing teams to convert 48% of 3rd/4th downs. We are also giving up 40 pts/game (not including bethune).

If we slow the game up we would be 1-5. The offense needs to score 40+ points for us to have a chance of winning.

 

[canes1977]

The ONLY way we beat a decent team is if we make it a shootout. We are atop the ACC standings with the worst defense in the Country. Fisch needs to keep doing what he is doing and hope the Defense gets turnovers here and there because they arent stopping a sole regardless of how much time they are on the field.

I mostly agree with this but you have to admit that with such a young group on D, the longer they are on the field, the worse it gets. I really do worry about them wearing down as a whole as the year goes on as well, and making games like UVA, Duke, and USF much more interesting than they should.

I just don't know that we have much choice.

I agree with you, but given the choice, I'd rather our offense decide the game than our defense. I am not in favor of tweaking something that's working in the hope it fixes something that isnt. It's not as if the defense is shutting teams out in the first quarter. BC, KSU, BCC, NC State, and ND all got on the board before we did.

 

[Larry]

Sorry but the defense needs to help themselves by getting off the field. Not including the Bethune game, we are allowing teams to convert 48% of 3rd/4th downs. We are also giving up 40 pts/game (not including bethune).

If we slow the game up we would be 1-5. The offense needs to score 40+ points for us to have a chance of winning.

You need to accept the sobering reality that the defense can not help themselves. So, other, more competent units need to compensate for it. The passing game needs to become more efficient and we need to run the football a little more.

Miami ranks current 116th in Time Of Possession, my dude. 116th. Averaging a little under 25mpg.

That can not continue. It yields a very inefficient offense that makes the team rather one dimensional and adds a LOT of pressure on a defense that straight up is the drizzling ***** in the first place.

 

[bigmont80]

Sorry but the defense needs to help themselves by getting off the field. Not including the Bethune game, we are allowing teams to convert 48% of 3rd/4th downs. We are also giving up 40 pts/game (not including bethune).

If we slow the game up we would be 1-5. The offense needs to score 40+ points for us to have a chance of winning.

I would've thought that number would be much higher. Like near 65-70%. It sure does feel that way.

I think Fisch abandons the run a little too fast sometimes. Of course, that could be because we just suck at running the ball right now. That needs to get fixed, but I'm not sure if there is any way to fix it. For some reason, our O line is pretty good at pass blocking but can't run block for ****. Used to be the other way around.

 

[Larry]

You can also play Devil's Advocate and say we need to run up-tempo to score more, since it's a virtual certainty our D will give up 30+ points.

Does the D give up 30+ and 550ypg if they are on the field 5-7 minutes less...that's two scoring drives and 150 yards of offense that could be off the table by simply holding on to the football.

Perhaps if Miami's offense converts in the red zone with more efficiency, it would maintain scoring. Miami is currently 77th in red zone offense efficiency, with only 23 drives (ranks in the bottom 40% of college football in total red zone trips)...only converting 11 touchdowns in the redzone (5 from the pass, 6 from the run)...you are leaving a lot of points off the board with those numbers. An easy "15" alone in just field goal conversions...potentially 35 points in touchdowns in the redzone.

All your boy here is saying is...the defense is hopeless...and having some ideal that it will somehow get better or have to do better on its own is simply asking to fit a square peg in a round hole. There is a way to ease the burden however, and, its for the offense...a bit more capable unit...not to change, but to become more efficient, especially in the red zone and be a bit more frugal with their time of possession.

I did a half *** look-up before the Notre Dame game...after Miami scores, the defense allows the other team to score at something like 70% of drives. The number may not be accurate after this week...whatever...but Miami's average scoring drive is like 2:30 or something like that...

It just isn't sustainable and a hard fall back to the mean is bound to happen unless there is some sort of change.

 

[JimmyJohnsonsHair]

We'd be 1-5 if we "controlled the ball" more.

The main reason Jedd installed hurry-up in off-season was because he wasn't getting enough plays in per game (his words).

He wants the ball more & in better field position... but if it ain't gonna happen then he's going to run up-tempo. I got no problem with it.

Thank you. Implement a 2 yard/cloud of dust offense and watch this team sink like a stone. Face it, this o-line struggles with run blocking. That is why we pass so often -- it's the only way we move the ball.

 

[tcgrad1014]

Sorry but the defense needs to help themselves by getting off the field. Not including the Bethune game, we are allowing teams to convert 48% of 3rd/4th downs. We are also giving up 40 pts/game (not including bethune).

If we slow the game up we would be 1-5. The offense needs to score 40+ points for us to have a chance of winning.

You need to accept the sobering reality that the defense can not help themselves. So, other, more competent units need to compensate for it. The passing game needs to become more efficient and we need to run the football a little more.

Miami ranks current 116th in Time Of Possession, my dude. 116th. Averaging a little under 25mpg.

That can not continue. It yields a very inefficient offense that makes the team rather one dimensional and adds a LOT of pressure on a defense that straight up is the drizzling ***** in the first place.

We can't run the ball against decent defenses. Our team (not just offense...entire team) consists of Stephen Morris' bazooka and hoping that Duke breaks one.

 

[JimmyJohnsonsHair]

Sorry but the defense needs to help themselves by getting off the field. Not including the Bethune game, we are allowing teams to convert 48% of 3rd/4th downs. We are also giving up 40 pts/game (not including bethune).

If we slow the game up we would be 1-5. The offense needs to score 40+ points for us to have a chance of winning.

You need to accept the sobering reality that the defense can not help themselves. So, other, more competent units need to compensate for it. The passing game needs to become more efficient and we need to run the football a little more.

Miami ranks current 116th in Time Of Possession, my dude. 116th. Averaging a little under 25mpg.

That can not continue. It yields a very inefficient offense that makes the team rather one dimensional and adds a LOT of pressure on a defense that straight up is the drizzling ****s in the first place.

We can't run the ball against decent defenses. Our team (not just offense...entire team) consists of Stephen Morris' bazooka and hoping that Duke breaks one.

Yep, pretty much.

 

[GhostofVenice01]

Controlling the TOP when you have a porous defense is basic football 101. Aint noone gonna tell with me otherwise

Our offense hinges too much on momentum, its either cold and we cant convert to save our lives or its hot and were completing receptions. This is not what you run when your defense is a sieve.

 

[canes1977]

Controlling the TOP when you have a porous defense is basic football 101. Aint noone gonna tell with me otherwise

Our offense hinges too much on momentum, its either cold and we cant convert to save our lives or its hot and were completing receptions. This is not what you run when your defense is a sieve.

I thought having the offense score points is basic football 101. We may not have 2 blowout defeats, but nobody is going to convince me we would be 3-0 in the ACC if we put restraints on the offense. You want to fix the defense..work on execution, dont destroy the one thing that is working for us. Fact is, if the defense was respectable, we wouldnt have to score 40 a game. An extra 5 mins of TOP isnt going to fix anything.

 

[GhostofVenice01]

Controlling the TOP when you have a porous defense is basic football 101. Aint noone gonna tell with me otherwise

Our offense hinges too much on momentum, its either cold and we cant convert to save our lives or its hot and were completing receptions. This is not what you run when your defense is a sieve.

I thought having the offense score points is basic football 101. We may not have 2 blowout defeats, but nobody is going to convince me we would be 3-0 in the ACC if we put restraints on the offense. You want to fix the defense..work on execution, dont destroy the one thing that is working for us. Fact is, if the defense was respectable, we wouldnt have to score 40 a game. An extra 5 mins of TOP isnt going to fix anything.

Teams that run the ball dont score points??



And that is solely on the coaches shoulders to watch tapes and make adjustments...something were obvously not doing.

 

[CANE4LIFE]

Controlling the TOP when you have a porous defense is basic football 101. Aint noone gonna tell with me otherwise

Our offense hinges too much on momentum, its either cold and we cant convert to save our lives or its hot and were completing receptions. This is not what you run when your defense is a sieve.

I thought having the offense score points is basic football 101. We may not have 2 blowout defeats, but nobody is going to convince me we would be 3-0 in the ACC if we put restraints on the offense. You want to fix the defense..work on execution, dont destroy the one thing that is working for us. Fact is, if the defense was respectable, we wouldnt have to score 40 a game. An extra 5 mins of TOP isnt going to fix anything.

I think you are missing the point.

Ball Control, is not so much about limiting your offense, as it is about keeping a game close. When your defense is weak, you want to keep them off the field. If you are doing this, then the game will be close. That means, even if you blow a few drives, you are still in position to win every game you are in with a solid 4th quarter. This was what we did last year. This year, we are trying to score points in a hurry, but leaving our weak D too exposed for TOO long on the field. This is letting them get worn down, and it almost makes out offene one of feast or famine. We arent getting in any kind of rythym on offense, running, passing, sustaining long drives. Its all a fast paced attack that either works, or blows up. Thus putting most of the pressure on the defense to slow the game down for us. Exactly the OPPOSITE of what you want to do here.

Seems to me that Fisch and Donofrio are on totally different wavelengths here.

 

[GhostofVenice01]

Controlling the TOP when you have a porous defense is basic football 101. Aint noone gonna tell with me otherwise

Our offense hinges too much on momentum, its either cold and we cant convert to save our lives or its hot and were completing receptions. This is not what you run when your defense is a sieve.

I thought having the offense score points is basic football 101. We may not have 2 blowout defeats, but nobody is going to convince me we would be 3-0 in the ACC if we put restraints on the offense. You want to fix the defense..work on execution, dont destroy the one thing that is working for us. Fact is, if the defense was respectable, we wouldnt have to score 40 a game. An extra 5 mins of TOP isnt going to fix anything.

I think you are missing the point.

Ball Control, is not so much about limiting your offense, as it is about keeping a game close. When your defense is weak, you want to keep them off the field. If you are doing this, then the game will be close. That means, even if you blow a few drives, you are still in position to win every game you are in with a solid 4th quarter. This was what we did last year. This year, we are trying to score points in a hurry, but leaving our weak D too exposed for TOO long on the field. This is letting them get worn down, and it almost makes out offene one of feast or famine. We arent getting in any kind of rythym on offense, running, passing, sustaining long drives. Its all a fast paced attack that either works, or blows up. Thus putting most of the pressure on the defense to slow the game down for us. Exactly the OPPOSITE of what you want to do here.

Seems to me that Fisch and Donofrio are on totally different wavelengths here.

GUIZE YOUR WRONG THOUGH DANNYBOY SAYS WE SHOULD PASS MORE

 

[Larry]

Controlling the TOP when you have a porous defense is basic football 101. Aint noone gonna tell with me otherwise

Our offense hinges too much on momentum, its either cold and we cant convert to save our lives or its hot and were completing receptions. This is not what you run when your defense is a sieve.

This is usually some basic ****.

Game changes a bit when you have an offense like say...WVU or Oregon that is just a well oiled machine...but Miami's isn't built like those teams and can't legitimately score at will like they can either.

Miami needs to take pressure off the defense...can't tell me any different.

"Miami can't run on good teams"...maybe, but they didn't even TRY against K-State and Notre Dame.

Miami's best effort in TOP came against Georgia Tech...in Miami's 3 FBS wins, they ran the ball over 30 times. Miami's offense is pretty middling on first down, and throw it over 2:1 pass v run on first down. Perhaps try and lower that gap a little bit and establish the run a little bit on early downs. It'll help boost up that also middling 3rd down conversation efficiency and would help Miami extend drives a little bit.

Basic football ****. I'm not asking to turn into ******* Wisconsin or Stanford here with the run game...but ****, ease the burden a little bit on that defense. Run the ball a little more, especially on first down. And for Christ's sake...when you get in the ******* red zone...SCORE. TOUCHDOWNS.

This isn't reinventing the **** offense, its just simple adjustments to the already existing offense to eleviate the slightest pressure from a defense that features FCS and MAC talent through much of the ******* front seven.