The showdown with the Turdicanes
I should probably preface this by saying I don’t like Miami. Before I got to UF I was not a huge college football fan, I rooted for various schools and rooted against various others, but I have always had a special distain for Thug U.
This will be a shorter analysis than normal – I was in the 80th row so it was tough to read numbers to know who was doing what.
I would like to point that while several people took shots at my analysis (and for even doing one for Hawaii) – much of what I said held up.
QB: The Savior (15) is definitely better than last year. Several times he kept his head up while running around and found a receiver. He’s still far from perfect – the ‘Canes dropped a pick when he threw into double coverage. He also still has limited pocket presence - he holds the ball a little too long, doesn’t scramble when he should, and mistaken often thinks he is big enough to get away from sacks when there are hands on him. Still in a tough game he kept his poise.
GRADE: B+
RB: This is where I was the most incorrect after the Hawaii game. Rainey (3) is indeed our best back, stronger and shiftier than Demps (2) (although he has some moves too), and Moore (33) looks poor by comparison. But we are not a great running team. Those three combined for 7 yards on 9 carries (Demps and Moore combined for -6 yards). Also we did not pass to them very often – Brandon James (25) seems to be the bubble screen guy, which is fine as he does it well.
GRADE: C- (see the OL)
WR: Harvin (1) was not 100%, but thankfully we are off next week. That meant that Murphy (9) was our #1 guy. He was okay, getting open a few times – but he also had some costly drops when the team was sleepwalking through the first half. The juco Moore (16) did well to catch a deep pass while getting whacked. Also apparently Meyer agreed with me because freshman Deonte Thompson (6) started. He made a few nice plays, he’s good a finding soft spots in the defense. As a whole the receiving corps did not block well.
GRADE: B
TE: Boy are we a lot better with Aaron Hernandez (81) playing instead of Tater Salad (#84 in your program, #1 in your heart) – who did play, he’s part of the short yardage squad. Hernandez is fast for a TE, making him a tough matchup. He’s talented at getting open when his initial route doesn’t pan out. He was our big play guy this week (not sure how much I like saying that about a TE).
GRADE: A+ (imagine how dangerous we’d be with Cornelius Ingram)
OL: Jim Tartt (63) was listed as starter, but I never saw him on the field. It appears Marcus Gilbert (76) played in his spot. It was a rough game for this squad. There was still enough pressure on Tebow it seemed to affect what the offense could do – we sure didn’t seem to be throwing deep, especially early (and when we did it was usually after Tebow fled the pocket). Worse yet Miami constantly got penetration on running plays, leaving very little room for our backs on traditional running plays.
GRADE: D+
DL: There’s no way for me to say how the guy I liked last week – DT Lawrence Marsh (90) – did this week watching from the 80th row. Overall the DL very well against the run – they busted a few runs here and there, but for the most part their backs had nowhere to go (it helped that every run was a draw). We still don’t do so well with running QBs, the DEs have to keep containment -Dunlop (8) especially. To their credit, they adjusted. Unfortunately their was minimal passrush. Even when we blitzed – which we did a fair amount of, including more corner blitzes – they still had time. Jermaine Cunningham (49) picked up a cheapie after the game was over (remember that if people talk up his sack numbers later in the year).
GRADE: B (stopping the run can’t be underestimated, especially in a game against an inexperienced QB)
LB: Meyer agreed with me again, because I saw Stamper (41) on the field a bunch, although he did not start. The linebackers came up to help in the run and sucked up most of the short passes – preventing them from becoming long passes.
GRADE: B+ (good play, but no big plays).
DB: Will we PLEASE bench Wondy Pierre-Louis (4)!! Miami targeted him all game, he just can’t prevent his guy from catching passes - and he also misses tackles. He was either pulled or hurt late in the game (I think pulled because he came in to blitz). Otherwise the secondary was pretty good. Most of the short passes they completed were against Wondy. Don’t get too excited, I honestly only remember them trying to go deep once all game. Of course with the lack of passrush, that implies the coverage was holding up. Freshman Janoris Jenkins (29) looks to be the nickel back. Maybe he can replace the Wondy Wonder. As a whole this was the most improved unit from last week – the Canes longest pass was 14 yards (we had at least two 30 yarders and three 20 yarders).
GRADE: Everyone else: A Wondy: F-
ST: Let’s see: a blocked punt safety, a bad snap on a punt that Chaz Henry (17) still got away, several big returns from Brandon James, pretty good coverage. It’s tough to argue against our special teams being the best unit.
GRADE: A+
Coaching: Our gameplan wasn’t great, and Meyer stubborn keeps trying the same things no matter many times the don’t work (how long did it take him to give up that shovel pass?) - in this case Tebow up the middle. However I’ll give him credit for making adjustments and finally finding a way to move the ball in a tough game. Those intermediate range passes we started working are not our standard offense.
GRADE: B+
101: I don’t have a term this week, but I want to expand on why it is especially important to stop the run against an inexperienced QB. Quarterback is the most mental and hardest position to play of any team sport. Young quarterbacks especially will feel the pressure and try to do too much and make a mistake. Defenses will often throw complex defenses and blitzes against new quarterbacks to confuse them. The way to help protect a young QB is to run the ball well, so the quarterback doesn’t have to do much, and especially not face long yardage on third downs. Our defense never game up a run of longer than ten yards. Now in this case to his credit their QB did not panic even though it was his first start ever, but the whole offense had to rely on him and he could not do it at all. Late in the game especially he ate the ball a few times.
Fans: For all the hype of the Miami game we were pretty quiet in a game against an instate rival. Seemed that people were getting frustrated even though we always led. We are struggling to sing in time with the music too.
GRADE: B
Play of the game: Aaron Hernandez’s 38 crossing route. Not only was it our longest play of the game, it was a major shift in momentum. Never underestimate momentum. Until that time Miami’s athletic defense had been good enough to frustrate our offense (remember our first TD came on a short field thanks to a limp Miami punt). Hernandez’s catch was our first big play and you could see it hearten the offense. It opened the door to pulling away late.
Player of the game: Aaron Hernandez – he also caught our first TD and lead the team with 5 catches.
Bottom line: We have some problems and probably aren’t blowing too many teams, but we can hang around against most of them - and we have an easy schedule.
This will be a shorter analysis than normal – I was in the 80th row so it was tough to read numbers to know who was doing what.
I would like to point that while several people took shots at my analysis (and for even doing one for Hawaii) – much of what I said held up.
QB: The Savior (15) is definitely better than last year. Several times he kept his head up while running around and found a receiver. He’s still far from perfect – the ‘Canes dropped a pick when he threw into double coverage. He also still has limited pocket presence - he holds the ball a little too long, doesn’t scramble when he should, and mistaken often thinks he is big enough to get away from sacks when there are hands on him. Still in a tough game he kept his poise.
GRADE: B+
RB: This is where I was the most incorrect after the Hawaii game. Rainey (3) is indeed our best back, stronger and shiftier than Demps (2) (although he has some moves too), and Moore (33) looks poor by comparison. But we are not a great running team. Those three combined for 7 yards on 9 carries (Demps and Moore combined for -6 yards). Also we did not pass to them very often – Brandon James (25) seems to be the bubble screen guy, which is fine as he does it well.
GRADE: C- (see the OL)
WR: Harvin (1) was not 100%, but thankfully we are off next week. That meant that Murphy (9) was our #1 guy. He was okay, getting open a few times – but he also had some costly drops when the team was sleepwalking through the first half. The juco Moore (16) did well to catch a deep pass while getting whacked. Also apparently Meyer agreed with me because freshman Deonte Thompson (6) started. He made a few nice plays, he’s good a finding soft spots in the defense. As a whole the receiving corps did not block well.
GRADE: B
TE: Boy are we a lot better with Aaron Hernandez (81) playing instead of Tater Salad (#84 in your program, #1 in your heart) – who did play, he’s part of the short yardage squad. Hernandez is fast for a TE, making him a tough matchup. He’s talented at getting open when his initial route doesn’t pan out. He was our big play guy this week (not sure how much I like saying that about a TE).
GRADE: A+ (imagine how dangerous we’d be with Cornelius Ingram)
OL: Jim Tartt (63) was listed as starter, but I never saw him on the field. It appears Marcus Gilbert (76) played in his spot. It was a rough game for this squad. There was still enough pressure on Tebow it seemed to affect what the offense could do – we sure didn’t seem to be throwing deep, especially early (and when we did it was usually after Tebow fled the pocket). Worse yet Miami constantly got penetration on running plays, leaving very little room for our backs on traditional running plays.
GRADE: D+
DL: There’s no way for me to say how the guy I liked last week – DT Lawrence Marsh (90) – did this week watching from the 80th row. Overall the DL very well against the run – they busted a few runs here and there, but for the most part their backs had nowhere to go (it helped that every run was a draw). We still don’t do so well with running QBs, the DEs have to keep containment -Dunlop (8) especially. To their credit, they adjusted. Unfortunately their was minimal passrush. Even when we blitzed – which we did a fair amount of, including more corner blitzes – they still had time. Jermaine Cunningham (49) picked up a cheapie after the game was over (remember that if people talk up his sack numbers later in the year).
GRADE: B (stopping the run can’t be underestimated, especially in a game against an inexperienced QB)
LB: Meyer agreed with me again, because I saw Stamper (41) on the field a bunch, although he did not start. The linebackers came up to help in the run and sucked up most of the short passes – preventing them from becoming long passes.
GRADE: B+ (good play, but no big plays).
DB: Will we PLEASE bench Wondy Pierre-Louis (4)!! Miami targeted him all game, he just can’t prevent his guy from catching passes - and he also misses tackles. He was either pulled or hurt late in the game (I think pulled because he came in to blitz). Otherwise the secondary was pretty good. Most of the short passes they completed were against Wondy. Don’t get too excited, I honestly only remember them trying to go deep once all game. Of course with the lack of passrush, that implies the coverage was holding up. Freshman Janoris Jenkins (29) looks to be the nickel back. Maybe he can replace the Wondy Wonder. As a whole this was the most improved unit from last week – the Canes longest pass was 14 yards (we had at least two 30 yarders and three 20 yarders).
GRADE: Everyone else: A Wondy: F-
ST: Let’s see: a blocked punt safety, a bad snap on a punt that Chaz Henry (17) still got away, several big returns from Brandon James, pretty good coverage. It’s tough to argue against our special teams being the best unit.
GRADE: A+
Coaching: Our gameplan wasn’t great, and Meyer stubborn keeps trying the same things no matter many times the don’t work (how long did it take him to give up that shovel pass?) - in this case Tebow up the middle. However I’ll give him credit for making adjustments and finally finding a way to move the ball in a tough game. Those intermediate range passes we started working are not our standard offense.
GRADE: B+
101: I don’t have a term this week, but I want to expand on why it is especially important to stop the run against an inexperienced QB. Quarterback is the most mental and hardest position to play of any team sport. Young quarterbacks especially will feel the pressure and try to do too much and make a mistake. Defenses will often throw complex defenses and blitzes against new quarterbacks to confuse them. The way to help protect a young QB is to run the ball well, so the quarterback doesn’t have to do much, and especially not face long yardage on third downs. Our defense never game up a run of longer than ten yards. Now in this case to his credit their QB did not panic even though it was his first start ever, but the whole offense had to rely on him and he could not do it at all. Late in the game especially he ate the ball a few times.
Fans: For all the hype of the Miami game we were pretty quiet in a game against an instate rival. Seemed that people were getting frustrated even though we always led. We are struggling to sing in time with the music too.
GRADE: B
Play of the game: Aaron Hernandez’s 38 crossing route. Not only was it our longest play of the game, it was a major shift in momentum. Never underestimate momentum. Until that time Miami’s athletic defense had been good enough to frustrate our offense (remember our first TD came on a short field thanks to a limp Miami punt). Hernandez’s catch was our first big play and you could see it hearten the offense. It opened the door to pulling away late.
Player of the game: Aaron Hernandez – he also caught our first TD and lead the team with 5 catches.
Bottom line: We have some problems and probably aren’t blowing too many teams, but we can hang around against most of them - and we have an easy schedule.
posted by El Breto @ 4:09 PM
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