I would put Miami's defense ahead of Vandy but slightly behind BC and Clemson in terms of quality. They have some fast players and they made the field look small. They played 3-4 but did a lot of shifting and blitzing. Sometimes they would stack the LBs with one almost as deep as the safeties. They are a hard team to block out in space because of their athleticism. They will give a lot of teams trouble on that side of the ball I'm sure.
After this second viewing, honestly, I came away feeling much better than I have after any game this season. We executed at a much higher level on most plays and had control of the ball and the game most of the time. Although we weren't explosive, we pounded them pretty good. The sad part is, you can't just erase the penalties, drops, or the huge breakdowns on the scoop and score plays. They were a small percentage of our snaps, but they had a drastic impact on the outcome. Without them, I am convinced that we win this game. In many ways, this game reminded me of UGA 2014. There was a point in the third quarter where we had them at the point of breaking. The problem is, we had spotted them so many points that it gave them life. When you watch only offensive series, you don't see how they shredded our defense at times, so you have the illusion of being in control. We should have been, but we were behind on the scoreboard.
Lynn Griffin got some playing time, more than we have seen yet. He looked good to me and I think he should get more snaps. He blocked better than the other ABs and sprung some people in the process. JJ Green looks good running. He looks physical and elusive when he has the ball, but he has trouble bringing that to the table when it is time to block. Lynch and Searcy were hit and miss blocking. Lynch made some good plays with his feet and hands and got us some extra yards and clutch conversions. All in all, it was a better day for the ABs.
I hope you guys like Mills. The kid is just a football player. I can't think of another true frosh who has been so impactful running the football. He is tough and ALWAYS gets the extra two yards. He finds the daylight while dancing past the slashers in the trash and then pounds the tacklers who arrive later. I just ask myself, how good is this guy going to get?
I think our OL was more solid on assignments this go around, but the breakdowns obviously cost us a lot more when they happened. They were fewer in number, so that is a positive an something to build on. Shamire wasn't moving well on the bad wheel so he exited pretty early, giving Braun a ton of snaps. The kid played well and deserves to be a part of the rotation. We didn't get to every pursuer at the second level, but we were more disruptive than we had been against Climpsum. We are starting to gel on the interior. I am encouraged.
One thing we have to improve at, nearly to a man (with Mills as the exception), is to just put our pads down and get a couple tough yards instead of dancing and twisting as defenders close in. Too many times we left a much needed two yards on the table because of a lack of decisiveness or just not recognizing when a play was cooked.
