The Beast : Frustrated Now, Happiness Later

At 5-5, this team is once again not living up to expectations. It feels different, though.

Record-wise, there’s not much difference from last year. Still, there a feeling; a sense that it’s going to get better. Not sure whether I ever made my preseason prediction public or not, but I thought this team could go 8-4. Of course, that was before NevinGate.

I’m a firm believer in Al Golden and his staff, long term. On the other hand, all has not been perfect in the Gables.

Yes, Al had “head coaching experience” coming in, but there’s a vast difference between Temple and the MAC, and Miami and the ACC. I expected there to be growing pains – and there have been.

I think my point is this. While it’s quite clear to me that Coach Golden is the right guy to get ‘The U’ back to where we all want it to be, that doesn’t make him impervious to criticism. Going for it on fourth down at Virginia Tech. Not accepting a crucial penalty at Florida State. The entire situation surrounding the use of Stephen Morris lately.

Getting Morris playing time and experience if he were a true freshman would make sense, but after last season and now having two years in the system, he’s played enough to know what big time college football is all about.

I get running the option against Duke to make Florida State prepare for it, and I know he only took seven snaps against the Noles, but it still disrupted the timing and rhythm of the offense.

Jacory Harris had the offense running smoothly, which has truly been the case consistently since North Carolina. Morris enters and then Harris comes back with an interception. Now maybe one has nothing to do with the other, but when a player finds his rhythm, why do anything to disrupt it?

Another thing to take into consideration regarding the foreseeable future; things might get a bit worse before they get better. Lack of depth is a legitimate concern and as we saw this past off-season (eight Canes drafted this past spring), how does addition by subtraction work in this case?

Yes, this is going to be a large recruiting haul in February. Still, as much as you want to appreciate the play of freshmen, you don’t want to have to count on them. Miami is going to lose some key guys going into next season, including the most important one on and off the field, Sean Spence.

The fallout from NevinGate might not be catastrophic, but you have to believe there will still be some scholarship reductions, meaning that there’s now increased pressure on this staff to hit with this next recruiting class. Golden and staff might not have a chance to recruit this many players for a while. This class has to count.

Honestly, I’m not sure I want anyone at the helm other than Al right now. While I tend to roll my eyes as some of the things he’s said or done, that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. The bottom line is this – it’s crystal clear that Coach Golden has figured this out and has a game plan in place.

Considering what could be coming down the line, I want him on that wall. Miami needs him on that wall. Still even Coach Golden would tell you that you need to hear the truth, even if the future is a bright one.

IN OTHER NEWS : I’ve started using Tout, a service providing fifteen-second video updates. Twitteresque, but with video and I’ll be “touting” and tweeting from Tampa this weekend, so make sure you’re following the allCanes Radio Tout and Twitter feeds.

Comments

comments

6 thoughts on “The Beast : Frustrated Now, Happiness Later

  1. I don’t know about switching the QB’s disrupting the rhythm. Jacory was throwing picks when there was no QB rotation. Example would be the OSU game last year. They were driving the field, enter the redzone and bam, a pick. I think when J12 gets pressured he just doesn’t want to throw the ball away. With that said he is absolutel a better QB under this coaching staff.

    1. Carlos – That was Beast’s opinion. I am personally not of the belief that switching quarterbacks led Jacory to make a mistake he’s made many times in the past. He was pressured by the d-line and had that split second where he could’ve taken a sack, thrown it away or forced a pass and he chose to force one. Is what it is. The kid has had a great year, but that was a play reminiscent of 2010 and seemed like more of a brain fart than something to blame on musical quarterbacks. Morris got a handful of reps in effort to confuse the Florida State defense.

      At day’s end, no interception … no muffed punt … no pull-up by Rodgers on the lone defensive touchdown given up. There were a slew of Miami miscues that led to the loss.

  2. well – i’ve held off on commenting – but 2-3 points/comments.

    1. Is Florida high school football substiantially diluted by the additional schools? Initially it was UF, FSU and Miami. Then we added UCF and USF. Now we have FIU and FAU. Can you still recruit basically the whole team using a golf cart for transportation from the 3 south Florida counties. It would be nice to see results for the Northwood (or whatever) 7 (or was it 8). I’m guessing not impressive.

    2. Florida high schools play scramble-ball. The best running back gets to be quarterback. Can we win with a scramble-ball QB or do we need to bring in a NFL-Style passing QB who can barely walk (bernie, kozar, et al) who should never run.

  3. Once again, spot-on analysis. Can we expect any more musical performances on Tout this weekend?

    Patience is a virtue. I know we have been forced to be overly patient in the Gables these days, but the future does look bright with Golden at the helm.

    I have had a difficult time buying the argument that this year we have at least been in the close games, and we have never given up. But seriously with Golden building for the future, I feel assured that we win the close ones next year. Let’s go to Tampa and show USF that it does not belong in the conversation with the big 3.

  4. Yes I like Al Golden too! Now win out Canes! We should beat USF and BC, if we don’t beat ourselves with penalties and turnovers! Then go and win the low level bowl game, damn it! We are 0-3 in bowl games the last 5 years!!!

  5. I disagree with the assessment that it’s not necessary to bring in Morris in this kind of environment. I think that gaining some real game experience in this new system/philosophy** is essential for the future. This isn’t Whipple’s ‘chuck it deep, throw it late down the middle’ system and we need to break Morris of those habits now, if we want him to be reliable later. We saw him throw late and lack the ability to manage the game against Maryland, and we can’t expect him to suddenly ‘master’ this without giving him some real game reps. Practice and watching Jacory do it only goes so far. If it were up to me, I’d give him more than just 3 plays in these last two games… he’s not going to lose a game for us and in all reality what’s 6-6, 7-5. 5-7.. all the same anyways (bowl game, I KNOW, but i don’t think rotating QBs will lose you 2/2)

    I believe that if Stephen Morris can get a good grip of this offense and Lamar comes back, our offense should be fine next year because of how many kids Golden is playing. Yes, I know we are losing J12 (who’s been very good this year) and JET… but it goes to show what playing a lot of guys can do for the long-term progress of a team . Golden has been doing this for every position except QB all season (until the Duke Game).

    Let’s be honest, we are NOT a good team right now, so it doesn’t matter if these seniors get into a flow at this point of the season/career, too little too late. We are playing for growth and experience down the line. Golden has done this on the D-line (he had no choice), O-Line, RBs, WRs, LBs, and DBs all year; which is why I can be hopeful about next year. We’ve discovered that Chick, Perryman are SOLID, McGee has the potential to become very reliable, Finnie’s not afraid to lay the lumber, Dorsett is definitely up to playing on the big stage, Feliciano has so much to offer if he can remember the snap count and eduardo clements can be a very good 3rd down back.

    To reiterate, you don’t discover these things about player until you put them to the fire. Practice will show some things, but it won’t show your true football acumen. Winning is always important, now or tomorrow, but in all reality, what good does it do us if J12 gets to throw another 3 passes?

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