In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)

Yesterday's shameful loss by Miami to Virginia was a symptom of much larger "systemic" problems for the Hurricanes. Let me explain.

Sure, you could argue that the loss was bad enough to stand alone on its own merits among some of the worst losses in the modern era for Miami. That was if you did not watch the FSU game and the cluster that it unveiled right before your eyes. Even after a miraculous comeback against the Seminoles most of you educated fans knew right then that the Hurricanes were in trouble, now didn't you? Yeah, I thought so.

The loss to Virginia was not one of the worst by the score or style of defeat, but simply by playing well below the weaker competition. Most long-time Hurricane fans have not easily forgotten the 48-0 loss in the last game at the Orange Bowl that UVA laid on UM. But apparently the passage of time, players and coaches have let that fade from their collective memory so we will give that a pass.

Funny how that doesn't happen when Miami plays Notre Dame or Ohio State, now does it? But I digress. What is systemically wrong with your Miami Hurricanes football team can be summed up fairly easily.

1. The head coach is also moonlighting as the offensive coordinator.
2. The offensive scheme is totally antiquated and has proven to be ineffective.
3. The play calling is way too simplistic, redundant and unimaginative.
4. The head coach's son is the QB coach and the QBs performance has been horrible.
5. There is (in fact) no real special teams coach and one third of the game is being ignored.

Let's break these issues down one at a time:

1. The offense has been a failure. There is no arguing or debating this fact. Three years and three quarterbacks later the Canes still can't score early, often, consistently or especially when needed against any sign of competition. Clemson and Wisconsin proved it. FSU almost did this year but leave it to lowly Virginia to pin the tail on the donkey. Virginia stuffed the Canes in their attempt at a futile comeback against an un-ranked, allegedly hopeless and hapless ACC rival.
2. Dust collects daily on Mark Richts' 1972-82 offense. He was relieved of OC duties and eventually got fired from being a head coach at Georgia because of the same old, same old rust bucket offense. It didn't work then, it isn't working now and it will not work at all in the current era of college pass happy football. The 1972 Dolphins were perfect with this offense. Unfortunately, Griese, Warfield, Csonka, Kick, Morris and Shula have moved on.
3. We apparently have four plays? Canes fans were joking on Facebook today that UM has four basic plays that can be found on the video game football programs that consists of two running plays and two pass plays. While I could not prove this in a court of law I can say that most fans feel the same way. The announcers on TV call the plays we are going to run, the fans in the stadium call the plays and we are absolutely certain that highly paid and trained defensive coordinators can call the same plays as well. It has gone beyond the point of frustration to complete embarrassment.
4. Three QBs in three years and nothing to show for it? Simply stated, the QB performance has let down this team. But how are you going to fire your son for poor performance when you hired him out of nepotism in the first place. This IMHO may be the biggest bad mark against "Smart Mark" (OGV reference) that I can site so far. This is so ripe for criticism that it makes it such an obviously bad decision in the first place. This was a dumb move Smart Mark.
5. One third of the game is special teams. Miami has (let's be real) no actual special teams coordinator. Miami's special teams' performance has been putrid, no wait that is too generous, it has been a nightmare. Sure TE coach Todd Hartley is allegedly the ST coach but we know that he is still on this staff because he can recruit, not because he is a special teams genius. One third of the game is being lost each and every game before it starts and Manny Diaz must be livid about his defense being put in such a bad position all the time.

Before closing let me say that I believe all Miami Hurricane fans want Mark Richt to succeed. He is a former Hurricane player and came back to his alma mater out of love for the school and a chance to rebuild the once proud program. But, then again, we all wanted Randy Shannon to succeed also and we all know how that turned out.

Richt is a genuinely good man. He has done many good things for the University of Miami and has been generous of his time and money, contributing a cool $1 million to the indoor practice facility. But his job is to win football games. When he does a good job he deserves all the credit in the world. And, when the team plays poorly and loses, he deserves the blame too.

If he is willing to take a serious inventory of what needs to be done to fix things I believe he can be very successful at UM. The only questions that remain are will he, and if so, how soon will he address the issues that everyone can clearly see.

But hey, that's just in my humble opinion.

Comments

[HillviewCane]

Posted by: Go Canes!! | October 18, 2018 at 11:06 AM

I think Kaaya had a worse o-line. Add his inability to run...man o man

[nemo2002]

Word on the street is that N'Kosi Perry won't win the Heisman Trophy this year after all.
Go figure!
Go Canes!

[Terrance Sullivan]

Soup and KYCane the baseball schedule has been announced and unfortunately the weekend we planned for the Four Play they will be playing the Gators in Gainesville. They open the season at home the weekend before against Rutgers on February 15-17th. but on that weekend no basketball men's or women's still waiting and holding out hope for Women's Tennis we will see how their schedule is and we will make everything official. Go Canes!

[SOUP]

Over 400 comments? People are FIRED UP!

[SOUP]

TSully...we can change the dates if necessary?

[Terrance Sullivan]

Yes Sir Soup! Matter of Fact I will book for February 15-17 at Gables INN just to be on safe side and we can cancel whatever weekend we do not use.

[Old Skool]

Well this could make college basketball more interesting. ESPN reported the following

"the NBA's G League is creating a new venture as an alternative to the one-and-done route for the best American basketball prospects, it was announced Thursday.

As part of a newly formed professional path starting in the summer of 2019, the G League will offer "Select Contracts" worth $125,000 to elite prospects who are at least 18 years old but not yet eligible for the NBA draft.

The G League will target recent or would-be high school graduates who otherwise would have likely spent just one season playing college basketball, enticing them not only with a six-figure salary but also the opportunity to benefit from NBA infrastructure, as well as a bevy of off-court development programs "geared toward facilitating and accelerating their transition to the pro game," league president Malcolm Turner told ESPN.

Without the restrictions of the NCAA's amateurism rules, players will also be free to hire agents, profit off their likenesses and pursue marketing deals from sneaker companies and the like, which could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement opportunities to top prospects."

[Terrance Sullivan]

Soup, KYCane I have us booked at Gables Inn for February 15-17th as well. We can pick the weekend at a later time.

[SOUP]

NEW BLOG IS UP!

[TruCane81]

Can’t it be countered that when he opened it up a little with Malik the result was completion, completion...fluttering duck picked off and returned into Virginia territory?

Not disagreeing with you, just curious.

Posted by: Go Canes!! | October 18, 2018 at 02:04 PM

The only way to keep Malik from throwing picks is to not throw.

The only way to keep Perry from throwing picks is to not throw.

We will have to live with some turnovers.

Run, run, pass, shank or run, run, run shank has the same effect.

But if we do that, the offense is pure bust. Mixing it up and having a robust short passing game FROM THE OPENING DRIVE to the final drive gives us a chance at the boom.

But we can be more creative running.

The empty jet motion has been successful. Where are the follow up plays to that? Why not run the same concept with 10 personnel and have two backs, one in the slot?

This conceding defeat when we have stuff that works and is abandoned really gets me. It is getting to the players too.