Out Of Kilter

I realize I’m working with the loosest definition of “later tonight” possible, seeing as how it’s seven full days later, but it took that long for me to work up the courage to rewatch on TiVo. So, was the game as bad as 51-13 would indicate? Pretty much. But, with judicious application of my orange and green glasses, there are some positives to take away, along with the sorts of monumental negatives that are par for the course in a game decided by six touchdowns.

Positives:

• Tavares Gooden has been damned good. He’s an asset when it comes to passing downs, and though he still occasionally overruns the play, is much more frequently bringing ballcarriers down by himself.
• Teraz McCray looks sharp. He struggled at times against OU, but he did a good job of engaging his man and frequently a second, enabling Gooden to flow very well.
• Javarris James ran well, so long as you disregard minor things like his numbers. The long run that was called back due to an unnecessary bad block by a true freshman WR came after the game was out of reach, but it appeared OU still had most of their first-team defense on the field.
• Oklahoma didn’t really do anything surprising, but it was nice to see a Miami offensive line not piddle on itself when playing an upper-echelon defensive line. They provided time for bad throws, and while they got beat pretty bad while Graig Cooper was running the ball, it seemed more that they were in an impossible situation than that they were overmatched.
• Kyle Wright’s first drive, though clunky and out of step by the standards of any other major college program, still resulted in a touchdown, and was epic in scope:18 plays, 6 and a half minutes, converting three first downs and a fourth, though Kyle left the game for that fourth down conversion.

Negatives:

• Kyle Wright’s last drive, which highlighted the reasons OOK wanted to see Kirby last year- throwing short of the marker on third down, scrambling into a one-yard gain when pressure came, despite the blitz being picked up.
• Kirby’s whole game. He was terrible, and to play to his strengths, Coach Nix decided to avoid playing to Javarris and Cooper’s, strengths. This was pretty categorically a mistake, if for no other reason than that he’s lost the ability to throw the deep ball, which was the one asset he has.
• Eventually I just felt bad for Randy Phillips. Watching him get methodically taken advantage of, for four TDs given up, got to be sad. Unfortunately, he’s not quick enough, and since we for some reason weren’t going face to face with their receivers, he wasn’t able to make up for it by jamming people.
• Kenny Phillips had a vintage Greg Threat game, where despite 13 total tackles and a forced fumble, he was unable to either get to the quarterback or break up passing plays, and allowed himself to get into the no mans land where he made tackles following big gains.
• Oh, and about 5 of the 8 players in the defensive line rotation got hurt.

Once again, reality has intruded with a handful of predicaments, so, without much ado, last week in bullet form.

• The running game was good. Scary Good. The o-line looked vicious for Javarris James, Graig Cooper, Derron Thomas, Kirby Freeman, Jerrell Mabry, and a guy who I think got on the team bus by accident at the depot. During the leaner of the Coker years, even weak opponents would manage to every so often man-handle their counterparts and just decimate runners or passers. It’s hard to figure how decent a training session Marshall was, missing their star DE, but there’s cause for hope that wasn’t there recently.
• Damn, that was terrible passing. It was befuddling, too, because while Kirby showed solid quality on his shorter passes, last year’s Achilles’ heel, he was unable to complete several available deep passes, which was the reason I thought he had the inside track on Kyle Wright. It was certainly nice to not have drives end on sacks on third downs, but Kirby threw the expected brainbender of an interception. He also wasn’t able to move the ball on long drives, needing short fields from turnovers that may not recur against Oklahoma.
• Did I mention Graig Cooper? The kid is lightning in the backfield, and really only needs a crease. He gets to the line so fast in person, that even on his seventh carry you’re gasping. Javarris showed great speed too, but an exceptional ability to keep going forward after contact, crystallizing in the run before his second touchdown, where he was wrapped by two guys and losing his balance until he spun towards another two Herdsmen, picking up three more yards after he seemed down.
• The wideouts were as expected: nothing special. Better observers than I thought Lance Leggett appeared unusually active, which is a plus going forward, but Khalil Jones and Darnell Jenkins were nonfactors. The tight ends looked better than expected as blockers, but didn’t do a whole lot of receiving, which was the concern that went unanswered.
• The defensive line was lights out. Teraz McCray set everything in motion. In some cases, he feasted on single coverage thanks to Calais, but it’s not his fault he took advantage. Eric Moncur was unblockable. Dwayne Hendricks, who saw extended playing time for the first time in his four years at Miami, looked as capable as Antonio Dixon did at times last year. Vegas was interesting. It might have been a mirage from playing a second tier team, but he looked faster and stronger than he did last year.
• Randy Phillips is kind of the defensive analogue to Kirby Freeman. He got beat, though Kenny Phillips should have been providing help, but apart from a misstep or two, was vital. DeMarcus Van Dyke is the absolute truth. I spent 25% of the game watching his matchup with his receiver. Speaking as an amateur, I spotted no real problems with his techniques. As a matter of fact, he played what looked to be flawlessly. The safeties, KP, Willie Cooper and Lovon Ponder, however, were nonfactors. KP stood out, as a matter of fact, because he didn’t stand out. He had a damned poor game by his lofty standards.
• Tavares Gooden surprised me. I thought his record gave reason for pause playing a spread-option heavy team, but he was generally great in committing to the pass or run as required. He got lucky on an interception that was pretty clearly, by the lights of replay, skimming the grass, but even without it he had a game that ranked as likely his best. Colin McCarthy also looked solid, though I’ll be more tempered in my praise than most out there have been. He looked good, and his tackling in space was textbook. Still and all, he made a lot of tackles in space… missing his assignment numbers of tackles in space. I didn’t notice it, but the sheer numbers make it a surprising possibility

Well, on Wednesday, another 18 brave souls entered the urban warzone that is the University of Miami.

No one would ever confuse me for an expert in recruiting, and with good reason. That being said, I’ll join the largely impressed crowd. I think this is a big haul, and for a couple reasons…

(more…)

I just don’t know what to expect this afternoon. Last week had some positives to work on and work towards (the burst Ty moss showed on his long run and his actually capably running out of the shotgun), as well as some negatives (Kyle and Kirby turning the ball over too much, not running the ball once after Moss’ big gainer).

I still believe this team has guys that are quality players. The performance hasn’t been there, but I think that’s due to a combination of Coach Coker’s ineptitude and some of the worst goddamned luck possible. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t watched one full Maryland game all year, so all I can go on is the less than impressive reputation.

I also don’t know what effect Kirby Freeman will have on the offense. There’s no doubt he’s looked sloppy at times and his numbers as an aggregate are less than impressive. However, Kyle Wright has looked downright bad this season. His late game turnovers have outright lost us one game and prevented us from doing anything in two more. I don’t know the exact reasons, whether it’s pathological fear of mistakes that end up paralyzing him into it, or whether he forces throws because by the end of games the offensive line no longer has any facsimile of his trust. All I know is Kyle is not where he needs to be.

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…)

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…)

Jon Beason and Greg Olsen are injured and are almost absolutely out for Duke.

The following players are out for Duke due to FIU-related suspensions:
Anthony Reddick, Carlos Armour, Chris Barney, James Bryant, Tyrone Byrd, DajLeon Farr, Ryan Hill, Bruce Johnson, Charlie Jones, Brandon Meriweather, Brian Monroe, Derrick Morse and Randy Phillips.

Ryan Moore remains suspended indefinitely.

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).