Miami Postgame

[BobintheATL99]

Only thing I have to say about this interview is:
HEY!!! COME IN OR STAY OUT!!! SHUT THE D&MN DOOR!
I hope they can move past this quick. Their on the cusp of doing great things.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Sometimes you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. *I added to my post above, not sure if you saw that part.

I cannot read Johnson's mind, so I don't know what his thinking is, but there have been way too many other games where he at least appeared to play not to lose, and yet we lost. In some of those games, we even had big leads and suddenly just sat back and did nothing, while the other team came from behind to win.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I cannot read Johnson's mind, so I don't know what his thinking is, but there have been way too many other games where he at least appeared to play not to lose, and yet we lost. In some of those games, we even had big leads and suddenly just sat back and did nothing, while the other team came from behind to win.

All I know is he wants to win more than all of us put together. He sure didn't play not to lose in OT vs UT.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

All I know is he wants to win more than all of us put together. He sure didn't play not to lose in OT vs UT.

I agree with you on both points there, but that's why it's all the more puzzling when it appears that he's merely trying to hold on. I wish he had shown some UT overtime moxie on Saturday.

 

[TampaBuzz]

I don't get all the arguments about not going for the field goal in the first half. If we had made the FG, we would have ended with 27 points. Miami was on our 4 yard line at the end of the game. I would give the a better than even chance of scoring a TD at that point, the way things were going. They would win 29-27.

I guess that is possible. But we gave up a very quick touchdown with 12 seconds left in the 2nd after not kicking the field goal. If we make the field goal, maybe that doesn't happen and we go into half time with an 11 point lead instead of one (1). At this point it is all speculative. Bottom line is that the offense did not do much of anything after the 1st quarter, defense played fairly well - but did not make the final big play when needed, and special teams are not trusted.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Just rewatched 4th and 10 in slow mo several times. Not sure how AJ doesn't get a better break on the ball than he does, he's playing that side of the field and the qb never looks to the other side. Then LS never turns to play the ball, but the ball hits his helmet and bounces perfectly to the wr who never gave up on it. Unfreakingbelievable. 99 out of 100 times that goes incompleted or picked. Frick!

 

[LargeFO]

Our dbs rarely turn their heads around. That’s a huge coaching issue.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Crucial play in the 4th qtr nobody is talking about. On first and ten at the Miami 43 with 4 min to go, TM gets sacked/tfl'd. Had he quick pitched to JJ, he might have scored, we had that entire side sealed off. JT was a master at reading situations like this and quick pitching. A quick pitch would have won the game in OT vs UT, as well. He's got to learn that.

Oh, and I don't blame CPJ for punting rather than attempting a field goal. That would have been a 56 yard attempt. A miss would have given the Canes the ball at their 46 only needing a field goal to win.

 

[WrexRacer]

Our dbs rarely turn their heads around. That’s a huge coaching issue.

We had several plays in this game where the corner turned and broke up the pass (usually Austin).

 

[ramblinwreck1378]

Forgive me because I was watching the game on a phone at a wedding, but it seemed like the officials were pretty liberal on stopping the clock out of bounds on Miami's last drive. Looked to be a time or two where they didn't quite get out, but were awarded clock stoppage. Not sure if anyone else saw this or I am just wrong.

Additionally, didn't Austin's helmet coming off on the last drive, which stopped the clock and forced him off the field for a play? It just feels like so many small things broke Miami's way on that last drive leading to a big thing (the catch) going their way as well.

 

[AE 87]

You saw the game and you didn't see a difference? Running Quaide 5 times up the middle for a total gain of 15 yards is one glaring difference. Where was Howard? Playing it safe because of questionable ball security, I assume. Other things I might point out would probably be met with "that was because of the rain." But, as I said in my original post, if we had been behind, the rain wouldn't have mattered.

I hear you and share your frustration, but I didn't see a change in play calling or aggressiveness on O. Kirvonte ran the ball 7 times and averaged 5.71 yards/carry. Quaide ran the ball 6 times and averaged 2.83 yds/carry. Whether that was from the rain, the blocking or just the difference in running styles, it is what it is.

I really think that CPJ has had the success he's had over the years by calling plays based on what he sees the defense doing. He's typically not calling plays to get the featured player the ball, the point that Rod Gilmore didn't seem to understand. Similarly, it looked to me that we ran a lot of veer (triple option) in both halves. In the first half, we hit for big plays. In the second half we didn't. Whether that was from the rain, blocking or what, I don' know, but it looked to me like we were running the same plays (still entirely subjective impression on my part, take it for what it's worth).

 

[WrexRacer]

I hear you and share your frustration, but I didn't see a change in play calling or aggressiveness on O. Kirvonte ran the ball 7 times and averaged 5.71 yards/carry. Quaide ran the ball 6 times and averaged 2.83 yds/carry. Whether that was from the rain, the blocking or just the difference in running styles, it is what it is.

I really think that CPJ has had the success he's had over the years by calling plays based on what he sees the defense doing. He's typically not calling plays to get the featured player the ball, the point that Rod Gilmore didn't seem to understand. Similarly, it looked to me that we ran a lot of veer (triple option) in both halves. In the first half, we hit for big plays. In the second half we didn't. Whether that was from the rain, blocking or what, I don' know, but it looked to me like we were running the same plays (still entirely subjective impression on my part, take it for what it's worth).

Most of our successful inside runs came after we started pitching outside. The bigger Benson runs were counters off the fake pitch. In the second half, there was no outside game, so the runs up the middle stopped working too.

 

[BobintheATL99]

Bunch of stuff went their way. Would also add it was horribly officiated. Awful holding inside wasn’t called. That said, we were largely beaten by a fluke play. Any constellation of other single events occur, and we win...

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Bunch of stuff went their way. Would also add it was horribly officiated. Awful holding inside wasn’t called. That said, we were largely beaten by a fluke play. Any constellation of other single events occur, and we win...

If we'd have won, they'd be saying the same thing, only the fluke play would be the onside kick return td.

 

[IEEEWreck]

Crucial play in the 4th qtr nobody is talking about. On first and ten at the Miami 43 with 4 min to go, TM gets sacked/tfl'd. Had he quick pitched to JJ, he might have scored, we had that entire side sealed off. JT was a master at reading situations like this and quick pitching. A quick pitch would have won the game in OT vs UT, as well. He's got to learn that.

Oh, and I don't blame CPJ for punting rather than attempting a field goal. That would have been a 56 yard attempt. A miss would have given the Canes the ball at their 46 only needing a field goal to win.

I agree, and have noticed this trend over the season. It seems like it might be a vision/awareness issue with respect to the 'off' side of the field. That's probably to be expected of a new QB, right? I wonder if we teach OODA loops like the USAF does to fighter pilots to help build awareness.

On the other hand, it might also be a comfort thing. Our pitches generally don't look as fast and confident as they might be. Sometimes it feels like a positioning thing, sometimes it feels like a timing thing. Again, not unreasonable for a new QB.

One last thing: I suspect that the outside shut down because you have to have iron underwear to pitch hard and fast in a downpour. We didn't, which tends to lead to the defense crowding the inside. Now, usually we still come out with 4 yard gains when the defense manages to brush against us on and near the line. I suspect that the amphibious landing going on on that field slowed us down enough to turn a 4 gainer into a 1 yard gain.

 

[IEEEWreck]

If we'd have won, they'd be saying the same thing, only the fluke play would be the onside kick return td.

I dunno, I feel like a return for a TD is a substantial enough risk with an onside kick that you can't call it a fluke.

I mean, I don't know, but what % of onsides kicks get returned? It's gotta be noticeably higher than a kickoff, right?

 

[Miami_da_U]

Just so you guys know how at least one Miami fan views the game. (not trying to be braggy or anything):

Miami should have won by more. If you told me these 3 things: 1- Offensively we would drive it into the Redzone 5 times (almost 6 since one of the TD's was from the 27 yard line), Travis Homer would rush for 170 yards on 8.5ypc. and we'd outgain you by 200 yards. 2- Defensively we would hold your offense to just 3 points after halftime, 281 total yards and only 226 on the ground when your season average is 458 yards rushing vs P5 opponents (UT, Pitt, UNC). 3- We would have no turnovers. ... I would tell you Miami won by at least 2 scores. I mean, 4 Redzone field goals is leaving 16 points on the board, not saying we absolutely should score every time we get in the redzone, but still thats terrible. Plus we just straight up gave you guys 7 points. Kicking an onside kick at all was just plain stupid, and letting you guys return it that easily is absolutely ridiculous. Easily the worst play/call of the entire game for either team.

So, while I believe we deserved to win by the eye test and stats, I really am surprised we did. And you guys should absolutely be pissed, I know I would be in your shoes. If it didn't start pouring rain, we might have successfully given you the game. And that's not talking about the field conditions (we have no control over that, blame the the Dolphins), thats because we are the Hurricanes and are used to practicing in downpours, and most importantly, it really energizes our crowd. Our fans love when it rains in close games. Also our Qb, Malik Rosier was complete garbage. The reason we ran those however many screens in a row at the end of the game was not just because you were leaving it open (why? lol) its because Mark Richt didn't trust Rosier to complete a pass anywhere down the field.

As for the rest of the season, I think you guys will prove to be the toughest win for us the rest of the season. Syracuse's high tempo offense is a tough thing to go against a week after playing your guys' slow time killing offense. But they shouldn't be too tough. VTech should be a good game but we're at home, so I'm confident. Unfortunately we don't have any bye weeks due to Irma and our QB is the incredibly inconsistent. You guys have a really tough schedule remaining, and I'll be rooting really hard for you guys vs VTech and UGA. But It's too bad you guys won't be playing Clemson this week when their QB is hurt. Anyways it was a good game, worse luck next year!

 

[The Rev.]

Great observations and discussion. Somewhat cathartic for me, at least. This was one of the five most painful and frustrating GT losses I've lived through (the others being Georgia-1978, Georgia-1997, Georgia-2013, and Tennessee-2017). I could probably think of more but I'll stop there. Anyway, I'm done thinking about this Miami game. Hopefully, our players (who have far more invested in this than I) chose to move on starting about 36 hours ago.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I agree with you on both points there, but that's why it's all the more puzzling when it appears that he's merely trying to hold on. I wish he had shown some UT overtime moxie on Saturday.

2nd half, 3 big plays, great play calls, the plays were wide open for 1st downs and potentially big gainers....players slipped and fell leading to busted plays......that ain't playing "not to lose". That's just not executing. But the result is busted plays adding up to a loss so.....coach sucks. Same BS Roof gets. Fans don't know crap but don't like the result so they of course know better.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Just so you guys know how at least one Miami fan views the game. (not trying to be braggy or anything):

Miami should have won by more. If you told me these 3 things: 1- Offensively we would drive it into the Redzone 5 times (almost 6 since one of the TD's was from the 27 yard line), Travis Homer would rush for 170 yards on 8.5ypc. and we'd outgain you by 200 yards. 2- Defensively we would hold your offense to just 3 points after halftime, 281 total yards and only 226 on the ground when your season average is 458 yards rushing vs P5 opponents (UT, Pitt, UNC). 3- We would have no turnovers. ... I would tell you Miami won by at least 2 scores. I mean, 4 Redzone field goals is leaving 16 points on the board, not saying we absolutely should score every time we get in the redzone, but still thats terrible. Plus we just straight up gave you guys 7 points. Kicking an onside kick at all was just plain stupid, and letting you guys return it that easily is absolutely ridiculous. Easily the worst play/call of the entire game for either team.

So, while I believe we deserved to win by the eye test and stats, I really am surprised we did. And you guys should absolutely be pissed, I know I would be in your shoes. If it didn't start pouring rain, we might have successfully given you the game. And that's not talking about the field conditions (we have no control over that, blame the the Dolphins), thats because we are the Hurricanes and are used to practicing in downpours, and most importantly, it really energizes our crowd. Our fans love when it rains in close games. Also our Qb, Malik Rosier was complete garbage. The reason we ran those however many screens in a row at the end of the game was not just because you were leaving it open (why? lol) its because Mark Richt didn't trust Rosier to complete a pass anywhere down the field.

As for the rest of the season, I think you guys will prove to be the toughest win for us the rest of the season. Syracuse's high tempo offense is a tough thing to go against a week after playing your guys' slow time killing offense. But they shouldn't be too tough. VTech should be a good game but we're at home, so I'm confident. Unfortunately we don't have any bye weeks due to Irma and our QB is the incredibly inconsistent. You guys have a really tough schedule remaining, and I'll be rooting really hard for you guys vs VTech and UGA. But It's too bad you guys won't be playing Clemson this week when their QB is hurt. Anyways it was a good game, worse luck next year!

Lol. Worse luck next year, back at ya. Y'all got momentum back just before the half and managed to maintain it despite that onside kick (haven't laughed that hard at a play call and play in quite some time...but alas). Your guys made more plays and deserved to win. Congrats.

Can't say I'll be pulling for y'all as I still want to win the coastal some how, but it's not gonna happen unless y'all fall apart the rest of the way and that's highly unlikely.