It’s Monday. Yes……I’ve got nothing. Whatever.
Let’s get to it.
1) I’m not sure I can remember a more disappointing collapse in a recent sporting event.
Up 21-0 (in part because of a penalty that negated a Syracuse touchdown, but still), it seemed like the Miami Hurricanes were on their way to Charlotte. And then, the second quarter reared its ugly head again. In a quarter where the Canes can do seemingly nothing right, they were outscored 14-0 behind a pass defense that has become, in my opinion, the worst among all ranked teams. Probably worse than many unranked teams, too.
The Cuse tacked on two more offensive touchdowns in the third quarter and then added another score when Xavier Restrepo fumbled, and the Orange returned it for a touchdown. From the doorstep of regaining the lead to chasing a lead that they would never recover.
2) I’m just so flabbergasted by this defense, and the blame has to start with Lance Guidry.
If you can’t cover – and Miami can’t – and if you can’t get home with four rushers – and Miami couldn’t do that enough despite a solid game from Tyler Baron – you had better find a way to mask those weaknesses. I would have liked to have seen heavier blitzing. Force a quicker release or a mistake. Because it was completely obvious that Miami couldn’t handle Syracuse’s receivers one and one and weren’t going to be able to stop them.
Syracuse had 2 receivers with at least 110 receiving yards and 4 with at least 50. That’s….so gross.
3) As such, I think it’s time for Guidry and UM to go their separate ways.
I acknowledged what I thought was progress just one week ago, but this was just too bad, and this defense has gotten worse as the season has gone on. It’s spoiled a special season from the best offense in the country and a generational quarterback. Guidry also doubled as DC and safeties coach at Marshall, so the failures in the secondary are even more frustrating.
After Saturday, I’m wondering if CB Coach Chevis Jackson – who came in with Guidry – might should head with him. I know OJ Frederique, Jr. has had a strong freshman season, but he had a disastrous showing on Saturday along with the rest of the group.
4) Speaking of offense, I thought Miami’s was good enough to win the game, but there was still something I wanted to see more of.
I want to see Miami grind other teams into submission with the ground game, play ball control. I thought there were more opportunities there to do that. Miami was averaging a healthy 5 yards per carry on the ground, but they only ran the ball 31 times compared to 36 passing attempts. Considering Miami was never down by more than one score, that’s pretty inexcusable to me.
I feel like Shannon Dawson has been too reliant on the passing game this season when Miami has so much talent on its offensive line and in its backfield.
5) I didn’t have as much of a problem as others did with Mario Cristobal opting for the field goal late.
I get why he did it. Miami’s defense had to get a step either way to avoid a loss. And, well, of course they didn’t. They forced Syracuse to punt just ONCE after the first quarter. Thus, it doesn’t matter what you do in that spot if the other team is getting points anyways.
6) Now, Miami appears to sit squarely on the bubble for the final at large spot in the College Football Playoff.
It looks like it will be Miami, Alabama, or maybe South Carolina for the final spot in the playoff. At least that’s if you believe the pundits. About half have the Canes in, and half have the Crimson Tide in. And that would depend on Rhett Lashlee’s SMU squad knocking off Clemson on Saturday night in Charlotte. Talk about ironic.
It’s such a letdown from what this team had in the palm of its hands. I guess we’ll wait and see what happens when the rankings are revealed on Tuesday night, as that’s all we can do at this point. If Miami is behind any 3-loss SEC team, it’s over.
As usual, go Canes!