I've watched the game a few times now and wanted to share my thoughts and see how some of the other guys I respect on here saw it as well.
The good:
Bradley Kaaya -- My goodness, THAT was an efficient performance that resembled someone expected to be a high NFL pick. For as bad as he was against FAU, he totally bounced back Saturday. Yes, he still needs to beat a good team (or a few of them). But that was about as good as you can expect a kid to play at this level in this offense. 21 for 27, and one of the incompletions was a dart thrown in a perfect spot to Coley in the end zone that was a drop (albeit a tough catch, but one Coley will tell you himself he should have made) and another was a ball that hit Richards right in between the 8 and the 2 on his jersey that he dropped. Just a masterful performance. This is the player we need Kaaya to be going forward. Everyone said in preseason that we'd have an advantage at QB over most of the teams we play....well, you gotta exploit that advantage. And he did. I didn't think there was a snowball's chance in hell that a kid with his ability would play that poorly 2 weeks in a row, and he bounced back. But what I found most encouraging were 2 things: 1. His emotion on the field. Giving the shhhh sign on the sideline, really pounding his chest after the first deep ball to Richards, yelling, being a leader. You didn't see that all he time the past 2 years. The kid took a pounding on this board last week after FAU....you don't think he knew how badly he played? He really wanted to bounce back big time, and he did. Hats off to him. And also, #2, the accuracy on virtually every throw. How often do you see the teams who play the RPO game get into trouble because their QB isn't pinpoint on the quick throws to the outside? It's a timing play, if you throw the ball at the WRs feet or behind him, it really hurts the efficiency of the play. But those were damn near handoffs in the first half. Brad put those balls on ropes and was hitting guys in stride, headed up field, and gave them the opportunity to make plays. Perfectly thrown balls. And then the 2 to Richards...just absolutely gorgeous. Excellent, excellent performance by 15. We're going to need more of them going forward.
The Defensive Line -- Again, for the 3rd week in a row, truly dominating performance by the DL. There is not a bigger fan of Coach Kool than I, and when he was hired here I couldn't even contain my excitement. The importance of that hire cannot be underestimated. I realize the scheme is 180 degrees different, but my god are the kids up front playing with aggression and energy. Especially in the 2nd half, we just mauled those kids up front. App State is a good team with a ton of heart, and the DL just ripped it out of their chests in the 2nd half. It was so good to finally see all hands on deck with Moten, Jenkins, and Willis finally together to spell 7 and 81....but damn this is shaping up to be an excellent unit. We have our hands full going forward, but you can't be anything but impressed with the DL thus far.
OL Pass protection -- 29 dropbacks, 1 sack. Kaaya has now been pressured 9 times in 3 games. FAU was not this unit's best performance, which is probably even being too nice. They were not good in protection. MUCH better on Saturday. Still a lot to be desired in the run game, but pass protection was excellent. Kaaya had time on several throws to come off his primary read and step into throws. And we saw the result
Overall execution -- Good god was it nice to see a team come in with a gameplan and execute the damn thing. So refreshing. We weren't confused, we weren't wasting timeouts, we didn't look clueless on either side. We came in with a plan, and we ran it, and we ran it beautifully. The RPOs were gorgeous. Keep running it until they adjust. For the first time in EONS it seemed that a Miami team came in and had their opponent off guard and confused, rather than vice versa. The coaching is so evident here. The tackling is more fundamentally sound, the blocking on the outside by the WRs is so much better, things schematically make so much more sense, we actually have an identity (and some balls) on defense. Just incredibly refreshing.
The bad:
OL Run blocking -- The first run of the game was all Mark Walton. It was an 80 yard TD, but it was not due to the line, it was due to the talent and desire of #1. He is special. But take that out, and I believe we averaged 2.8 YPC. Not good enough. Not against a team like this. I will give them credit, they are stout up front. And clearly there was a ton of room to throw, so it's not like their defense held us in check. But 2.8 YPC outside of 1 run is not nearly good enough, and the goal line series to start the 2nd half was putrid. You need to be able to steamroll a team like this into the end zone when you've got their backs against the wall. We wound up having to throw, and it got picked and almost got our QB hurt. Just as I wrote last week, the OL run blocking was the biggest concern for me headed into the year. We're through 3 games, and it's not alleviated one bit.
Play-action defense -- A little nitpicking here, but you have to do that if you're going to talk about what went "bad" in a 45-10 road win. But I'm VERY intrigued to see what happens when we play 2-dimensional teams who can run play action. FSU, UNC, ND mostly. Because the LBs are LOST in pass coverage right now on run downs when they see run action. I think it's 2-fold. For one, they're all true freshmen for god's sake. They're learning. And two, the scheme is SO aggressive right now, the amount of bodies at/near/behind the LOS as the balls is being handed off is obscene. With a capable QB, if he pulls, there are holes all over the place on this defense. I am interested to see if Manny reins it back just a tad when we see FSU. I just don't know how you can be quite this aggressive against a kid who can beat you with his arm. We haven't faced a team yet who can, and we won't in Atlanta. So it'll be attack, attack, attack again next week. But against FSU, I'm incredibly interested to see how we play it. Because again, we totally lost a TE for a TD that literally nobody even looked it. Can't happen against good teams.
The ugly:
Appalachian State -- Sorry guys, I've watched this game almost 3 times through now, most of the plays multiple times. And I don't think that if Miami plays this team 10 times, we beat them by 35 each time. Going into this game, I felt that it would be tough because App State was literally playing their super bowl....this was the biggest sporting event in the history of their city and the surrounding area. I felt they'd be juiced. But really, after watching a few times, the moment was too big for them. This is a good football team. They're not Miami, or even really that close, but they have good football players and they are well coached and they don't make mistakes. Except on Saturday, they played absolutely awful football. Now, I'll probably take some shit for this. So I'm NOT saying Miami doesn't deserve a ton of credit. We do. Part of being a good football team is executing and playing your best, or close to it. So we deserve credit. But they made our lives a hell of a lot easier. There were several really easy plays that they should have made, that they normally do make, but they just didn't. Penalties on the long TD run, their best player got hurt, the high snap at the goal line, the missed FG, being totally confused, the coverage busts, not executing their offense (they had several plays that were WIDE open that the QB missed in the run game, notably the 4th down they went for in the 2nd half that Chad absolutely killed....if the QB just makes a simple pitch its a 20+ yard gain easily if not more, instead he gets swallowed and Miami takes over on downs. 99 times out of 100, the kid pitches. But again, they melted under the spotlight). So I felt the ugly of this game was our competition. Ton of credit to Miami, and I don't think there's a single kid or coach on that team who can say "we should have won that game" with any sort of a straight face, but when they watch film I'll bet their coaches say they probably played their D+ game Saturday. Sometimes the moment is just too big. I think that was the case Saturday. But isn't it nice for that to happen to the OTHER time once in a while? And have our team come out and click on all cylinders? Damn, it's almost like we have competent coaches.......
The good:
Bradley Kaaya -- My goodness, THAT was an efficient performance that resembled someone expected to be a high NFL pick. For as bad as he was against FAU, he totally bounced back Saturday. Yes, he still needs to beat a good team (or a few of them). But that was about as good as you can expect a kid to play at this level in this offense. 21 for 27, and one of the incompletions was a dart thrown in a perfect spot to Coley in the end zone that was a drop (albeit a tough catch, but one Coley will tell you himself he should have made) and another was a ball that hit Richards right in between the 8 and the 2 on his jersey that he dropped. Just a masterful performance. This is the player we need Kaaya to be going forward. Everyone said in preseason that we'd have an advantage at QB over most of the teams we play....well, you gotta exploit that advantage. And he did. I didn't think there was a snowball's chance in hell that a kid with his ability would play that poorly 2 weeks in a row, and he bounced back. But what I found most encouraging were 2 things: 1. His emotion on the field. Giving the shhhh sign on the sideline, really pounding his chest after the first deep ball to Richards, yelling, being a leader. You didn't see that all he time the past 2 years. The kid took a pounding on this board last week after FAU....you don't think he knew how badly he played? He really wanted to bounce back big time, and he did. Hats off to him. And also, #2, the accuracy on virtually every throw. How often do you see the teams who play the RPO game get into trouble because their QB isn't pinpoint on the quick throws to the outside? It's a timing play, if you throw the ball at the WRs feet or behind him, it really hurts the efficiency of the play. But those were damn near handoffs in the first half. Brad put those balls on ropes and was hitting guys in stride, headed up field, and gave them the opportunity to make plays. Perfectly thrown balls. And then the 2 to Richards...just absolutely gorgeous. Excellent, excellent performance by 15. We're going to need more of them going forward.
The Defensive Line -- Again, for the 3rd week in a row, truly dominating performance by the DL. There is not a bigger fan of Coach Kool than I, and when he was hired here I couldn't even contain my excitement. The importance of that hire cannot be underestimated. I realize the scheme is 180 degrees different, but my god are the kids up front playing with aggression and energy. Especially in the 2nd half, we just mauled those kids up front. App State is a good team with a ton of heart, and the DL just ripped it out of their chests in the 2nd half. It was so good to finally see all hands on deck with Moten, Jenkins, and Willis finally together to spell 7 and 81....but damn this is shaping up to be an excellent unit. We have our hands full going forward, but you can't be anything but impressed with the DL thus far.
OL Pass protection -- 29 dropbacks, 1 sack. Kaaya has now been pressured 9 times in 3 games. FAU was not this unit's best performance, which is probably even being too nice. They were not good in protection. MUCH better on Saturday. Still a lot to be desired in the run game, but pass protection was excellent. Kaaya had time on several throws to come off his primary read and step into throws. And we saw the result
Overall execution -- Good god was it nice to see a team come in with a gameplan and execute the damn thing. So refreshing. We weren't confused, we weren't wasting timeouts, we didn't look clueless on either side. We came in with a plan, and we ran it, and we ran it beautifully. The RPOs were gorgeous. Keep running it until they adjust. For the first time in EONS it seemed that a Miami team came in and had their opponent off guard and confused, rather than vice versa. The coaching is so evident here. The tackling is more fundamentally sound, the blocking on the outside by the WRs is so much better, things schematically make so much more sense, we actually have an identity (and some balls) on defense. Just incredibly refreshing.
The bad:
OL Run blocking -- The first run of the game was all Mark Walton. It was an 80 yard TD, but it was not due to the line, it was due to the talent and desire of #1. He is special. But take that out, and I believe we averaged 2.8 YPC. Not good enough. Not against a team like this. I will give them credit, they are stout up front. And clearly there was a ton of room to throw, so it's not like their defense held us in check. But 2.8 YPC outside of 1 run is not nearly good enough, and the goal line series to start the 2nd half was putrid. You need to be able to steamroll a team like this into the end zone when you've got their backs against the wall. We wound up having to throw, and it got picked and almost got our QB hurt. Just as I wrote last week, the OL run blocking was the biggest concern for me headed into the year. We're through 3 games, and it's not alleviated one bit.
Play-action defense -- A little nitpicking here, but you have to do that if you're going to talk about what went "bad" in a 45-10 road win. But I'm VERY intrigued to see what happens when we play 2-dimensional teams who can run play action. FSU, UNC, ND mostly. Because the LBs are LOST in pass coverage right now on run downs when they see run action. I think it's 2-fold. For one, they're all true freshmen for god's sake. They're learning. And two, the scheme is SO aggressive right now, the amount of bodies at/near/behind the LOS as the balls is being handed off is obscene. With a capable QB, if he pulls, there are holes all over the place on this defense. I am interested to see if Manny reins it back just a tad when we see FSU. I just don't know how you can be quite this aggressive against a kid who can beat you with his arm. We haven't faced a team yet who can, and we won't in Atlanta. So it'll be attack, attack, attack again next week. But against FSU, I'm incredibly interested to see how we play it. Because again, we totally lost a TE for a TD that literally nobody even looked it. Can't happen against good teams.
The ugly:
Appalachian State -- Sorry guys, I've watched this game almost 3 times through now, most of the plays multiple times. And I don't think that if Miami plays this team 10 times, we beat them by 35 each time. Going into this game, I felt that it would be tough because App State was literally playing their super bowl....this was the biggest sporting event in the history of their city and the surrounding area. I felt they'd be juiced. But really, after watching a few times, the moment was too big for them. This is a good football team. They're not Miami, or even really that close, but they have good football players and they are well coached and they don't make mistakes. Except on Saturday, they played absolutely awful football. Now, I'll probably take some shit for this. So I'm NOT saying Miami doesn't deserve a ton of credit. We do. Part of being a good football team is executing and playing your best, or close to it. So we deserve credit. But they made our lives a hell of a lot easier. There were several really easy plays that they should have made, that they normally do make, but they just didn't. Penalties on the long TD run, their best player got hurt, the high snap at the goal line, the missed FG, being totally confused, the coverage busts, not executing their offense (they had several plays that were WIDE open that the QB missed in the run game, notably the 4th down they went for in the 2nd half that Chad absolutely killed....if the QB just makes a simple pitch its a 20+ yard gain easily if not more, instead he gets swallowed and Miami takes over on downs. 99 times out of 100, the kid pitches. But again, they melted under the spotlight). So I felt the ugly of this game was our competition. Ton of credit to Miami, and I don't think there's a single kid or coach on that team who can say "we should have won that game" with any sort of a straight face, but when they watch film I'll bet their coaches say they probably played their D+ game Saturday. Sometimes the moment is just too big. I think that was the case Saturday. But isn't it nice for that to happen to the OTHER time once in a while? And have our team come out and click on all cylinders? Damn, it's almost like we have competent coaches.......
