Monday, October 26, 2009

Clemson Breakdown

We couldn't get around to a UCF breakdown, but in all honesty...there wasn't much to break down. We played sloppy, continued our inconsistent play on both sides of the ball (offense moreso this time) and it carried over into the Clemson game.

This kind of stuff happens when you come out unmotivated, playing with a lack of aggression and killer instinct over teams you are clearly better than. Some think it's playing down to your competition and I think it's true as well. Is it because we are still a young team? Is it because we have glaring holes on either side of the ball? Is it depth? Is it coaching?

Yes to all the above and the things we left out. We really do have a lot to pick apart, but the best way to sum it up is to say this. The team lost as a team. From the coaching to the backups. Tomorrow we'll post up a screenshot of a touchdown, which will show a breakdown of their first touchdown frame by frame and how we blew an assignment (courtesy of Rusty on Grassy, same person who makes all the youtubes).

Tonight, we'll give you our grades.

Offense

Quarterback

Jacory threw 3 interceptions. Never a reason for that. Just unexcusable. What killed us the most was the fact that he threw a pick 6. It was just one of the worst reads and forced passes I've ever seen. Credit to Jacory for bouncing back and hitting Travis on a nice throw, but the interceptions are momentum killers.

Score - 5

Runningback

A bright spot in the game. From blocking to the running between tackles, they played very, very well. Baby J, Coop, and Berry all did well.

Score - 9

Tight Ends -

Epps is injured, and we are waiting to see on how the MRI comes out for him. But both him and Jimmy played well. T. Johnson had a little miscommunication with Jacory on our third and goal play in overtime, but we don't know who that blame falls upon.

Score - 7

Offensive Line

They blocked well in the running game for the most part, except for that final drive in regulation. We can't really blame them though. Jason Fox said after that they were playing us in goalline formation, practically daring us to throw on them. That falls upon the coaching staff. Pipho even had a good game in pass protection, as did most of the O line.

Score - 7

Wide Receivers

They played phenomenally as well. It's not their fault Jacory played poorly, locked in on some receivers, and our coaches didn't keep them as involved (I remember reading a stat saying that we threw the ball 7 times after our initial score in the second half). Hankerson and Benjamin both came to play.

Score - 8 and 1/2

Coaching

Poor. Pathetic. Horrific. Why did we get so conservative when they clearly couldn't cover us one on one? Why do we run it three straight times with a 3 point lead and 5 minutes left in the game, despite them daring us to throw and being in goalline formation? Why didn't we throw a fade tou our countless 6'3, 6'4 WRs over their 5'9 CB? Why didn't we call for more deep pass patterns? How do we come out of a timeout with 12 men on the field? So many questions, and so many more that we are afraid we'll run out of bandwidth if we ask them all. This is easily Whipple's worst game in his short tenure with us. He went into a shell, got conservative and predictable, played not to lose and that put us in the coffin.

Score - 2

Defense

Defensive Line

Mixed results. Great in the run game. Prior to Spiller's big, he had 33 yards on 13 carries. Then again, they were on the field a whole lot, weren't they? They were very strong in run defense, but pass protection.... if Allen Bailey isn't doing it, no one is doing it. We just couldn't generate pressure with our front four and that's a big black eye for us.

Score - 7

Linebackers

McCarthy is what he always has been and will be. A stud in run defense, average in pass, but overall a linebacker that's hard to keep off of any team's starting roster. Sharpton, while playing better as of late, is still below average, and on a good day average. Spence was injured, and we are awaiting MRIs on him as well. The backups, Futch excluded due to his season ending knee injury, just dont have it down mentally yet. They have to get it done and cover the tight ends and running backs better

Score - 7

Defensive Backs

More mixed results. Brandon Harris and DVD played well. Shields played horrificly, like usual. Our safeties had some major blunders as well, as we will highlight for you tomorrow. Just a really up and down day, as was the game as a whole, for us.

Score - 7

Coaching

Did you think Whipple did bad? Then how do you feel about Lovett? He can't adjust and cover Rbs and TEs. He has never been able to adjust in his previous tenure as D-Coord. If he wasn't good enough to run Clemson's D 5 years ago, what makes him good enough for Miami ever? He started calling off the blitzes, gave a pedestrian freshman QB all day to throw on us and didn't do anything that can be considered wise.

Score - 2

Special Teams

Coverage - Aside from that one return, it was good. That return falls squarely on Uribe, who ruined a squib kick and proceeded to kick it directly to C.J. Spiller. No excuse and that's why Bosher replaced him from that point on.

Return - Solid, but could have used a bigger return game, especially in the punt game.

Coaching - 6. You have to make sure Uribe doesn't screw up like that.

Thanks for reading and as always, Go Canes!

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