Out Of Kilter

This will be an ugly game. Not merely aesthetically, although that is certainly true, but as a fan of Miami football. The team that takes the field at the Orange Bowl tonight isn’t the team that miraculously blew out VT last year. That team had proven players and it had earlier bright spots in the season.

Virginia Tech is vulnerable, make no mistake. From what I’ve seen though, it’s not in such a way that the Hurricanes can exploit. We rarely get to the quarterback, which is how you mess up Sean Glennon. We can’t hit deep passes in stride, which VT has, surprisingly, appeared to be prone to giving up.

On the other hand, we can stop the run. Even there, we have weaknesses. I’m not revealing any secrets when I say that Brandon Ore makes the VT offense go. If Frank Beamer commits to running at Tavares Gooden, he will give up a play or two by missing a tackle.

Our running game will break one every so often, but Coach Olsen is all too willing to abandon the run.

It would be great if we pulled out the tricks and actually went against tendencies this game, but at this point it seems doubtful.

Needless to say, though, if we manage to repeat last year’s blowout at Lane Stadium, I reserve the right as a fan to say this was all a jinx.

A: When the University Of Miami needs a win to save the season.

For a look at the Miami defense vs. the Yellowjackets, check here…

Just another mediocre performance against a team playing out the string.

This staff no longer even elicits shock at their missteps. (more…)

While almost none of the numbers support the idea that Georgia Tech will win this game, the prevailing sentiment on Canes fansites is that this will be a Jackets blowout.

People who expect that forget that last year, while Calvin Johnson wasn’t shut down (six catches for 89 yards, two huge, albeit dubious PI calls drawn), he didn’t destroy a secondary that frequently matched him up against Marcus Maxey. This year, the secondary has been torched occasionally, but only by receivers who we didn’t change the plan against. If we end the Brandon Meriweather to corner mistake, Glenn Sharpe and Randy Phillips proved against FSU they can get in the faces of talented WR’s and break up passes that are on target.

If the running game is able to pick up first downs, I think we’ll win a tight game. If we are again 1 for 14 on third downs, we’ll lose, and it won’t be as close. The staff needs to go away from the “Force Kyle to throw so he has somewhat legitimate numbers and avoids being the target of the fans” gameplan. Kyle will not win this game. Running Ty Moss out of the shotgun will not either. Coaches Coker and Olsen need to let Ty go upfield, and let Javarris James see the bulk of the snaps, even if he misses a blitz pickup.

Of course there was going to be an extended post on the debacle at Duke. I just was waiting for a chance to settle down. Since I still haven’t, I decided to go ahead and get on it.

The overriding mystery to me is why this coaching staff refuses to put players in positions to succeed. At this point, it appears to be either of two options, incompetence or vendettas. There are also the minor problems, like displaying big plays we’ve spent the season setting up against, say… Wake Forest last year, and UNC and Duke this year. Last year, after spending eight games throwing a play-action receiver screen, we then went over the top to the opposite receiver against 4-6 Wake. This year, against the UNC powerhouse who fired John Bunting in shame, we unveiled the safety option pass, whose epic reverberations confront us even today. Finally, against Duke, we cracked out two unique looks. First, we threw the first slants we’ve thrown in roughly three years. Then we followed that with a bizarre spread read-option look. The only threat that poses to the upcoming schedule? Paralyzing them with laughter at Kyle lumbering down the field. His claimed 4.6 speed sure looks like it was timed by stopwatches at Virginia Tech.

(more…)

This was a disgraceful game. Everyone needs to go.

Here is the prediction from Friday-

Javarris James will almost undoubtedly be the starter at RB, and he will spend most of the game forced to evade the defenders who get to him before the line. If James Bryant is in, the run game will click, until he’s replaced with Dajleon Farr. The line as a whole will perform light-years better when Jason Fox is spelling Reggie Youngblood on the left side. The WR’s will have one drop and no less than three recoveries to ludicrously misthrown balls. Greg Olsen will make one mind-blowingly softbatch play per half at least. Kyle Wright will hang at least one guy out to dry. Charlie Jones will spell Javarris and get nailed for at most three yards of gain on 66% of his rushes. Derron Thomas will under no circumstances get the ball with a chance to succeed.

Javarris got the start, and had to struggle past the 8 men in the box all game. There was no respect for the pass, and FIU wasn’t forced to pay for it until the third quarter. 11 carries for 36 yards isn’t going to cut it, but it’s what will happen with no aerial threats. As it was, he did about as well as could be hoped when forced to avoid two guys before the LOS every play. James Bryant didn’t make a big difference in the running game this week- as a matter of fact, he missed a big seal block towards the half that could have made something happen. He was, however, the most determined receiver wearing orange. His catch and run was vital for Miami. Jason Fox got injured, it appeared, and the Reggie Youngblood/Chris Rutledge combo was not a solid duo. Lance had another drop, but there were some murderous throws by Kyle Wright this week. Greg Olsen got hurt and when he gave it another go, wasn’t 100%. CJ got kicked out before he could miss a block. Ty Moss was apparently at full strength, but he didn’t look it. Part of that may be that the staff didn’t like the idea of a bruising back running upfield and instead gave the guy with an acl tear an assortment of stretch plays. Derron Thomas didn’t get the ball with a chance to succeed, but he still was able to rip off two huge runs on the second team. I don’t know what to make of them, though- it looked like FIU had left the undoubtebly gassed first team defense in (except for those ejected).

Javarris James will almost undoubtedly be the starter at RB, and he will spend most of the game forced to evade the defenders who get to him before the line. If James Bryant is in, the run game will click, until he’s replaced with Dajleon Farr. The line as a whole will perform light-years better when Jason Fox is spelling Reggie Youngblood on the left side. The WR’s will have one drop and no less than three recoveries to ludicrously misthrown balls. Greg Olsen will make one mind-blowingly softbatch play per half at least. Kyle Wright will hang at least one guy out to dry. Charlie Jones will spell Javarris and get nailed for at most three yards of gain on 66% of his rushes. Derron Thomas will under no circumstances get the ball with a chance to succeed.