Conservative Play Costs Miami At Louisville

A new-conference coming-out party for the Louisville Cardinals and a Labor Day nationally-televised flop for the Miami Hurricanes.

All the chatter about the return of Duke Johnson, the next-level maturity of true freshman quarterback Brad Kaaya and the stewing frustration of a bowl game loss to Monday night’s foe—it was all for naught.

Fact remains Bobby Petrino had his squad ready to go and it looked like the same old, same old from Al Golden and crew. Some thoughts:

Golden is saying the right things in the wake of the loss, but how will this translate over to practice and eventually game day coaching.

Per last night’s presser, Golden said on WQAM, “The errors we made tonight, there’s no excuse. That starts with me. I need to challenge the coaches to look at everything we’re doing on the way back and use all day tomorrow. It’s important we get better. We made too many mistakes against a good team in a tough environment to win the game. I want to make sure I evaluate all three phases before I talk in-depth. We’ve got to be accountable, can’t make excuses starting with me.”

What that all sounds good, fans have to wonder what that means. Always seems to be an evaluation of the phases underway and a line in the dirt regarding taking blame and no excuses, but seeing the same mistakes September 2014 as this team was making a year ago—nothing short of mind boggling.

Kaaya is obviously not ready for the big stage. While that was to be expected, watching it all unfold really drove this sentiment home. Coaches raved about the true freshman’s next-level maturity and the soundbites went down smoothly this past week, but No. 15 was overwhelmed early and often.

On Miami’s third offensive play from scrimmage, Kaaya was tattooed by linebacker James Burgess Jr. and you could see a look on his face that it was more than he bargained for.

Early in the second quarter, an in-the-dirt pass to Stacy Coley that was registered a fumble, but had all the makings of a Miami go-ahead touchdown if Kaaya made the routine throw.

Kaaya went on to throw two interceptions in his debut and was a liability—which is understood, but frustrating nonetheless. Even more frustrating, he remains Miami’s best option until Ryan Williams is healthy enough to give it a go.

None of this is to say that Kaaya won’t develop as the season rolls on and over the next few years becomes all-world for Miami. Even the great Ken Dorsey was a deer-in-headlights when thrust into action mid-game at Virginia Tech as a true freshman in 1999.

Just saying, coaches raved about Kaaya maturity and being ready for the big stage and no matter how you slice or dice it, it was as rattled as any true freshman could’ve been.

Regarding the quarterback woes, hard not to harbor some frustration against redshirt sophomore Kevin Olsen for his boneheaded ways this past year.

Olsen was afforded the opportunity to learn the offense last season, to hit it hard in the weight room and to step up as a bonafide leader, earning the starting job this fall. Unfortunately he did none of that—suspended for the bowl game and again for the season opener.

The Hurricanes shouldn’t have been in a position where they had to lean on a true freshman, or look to Kansas for a senior transfer in Jake Heaps. Olsen should’ve been “the guy” and his immaturity has hurt Miami—while wasting a redshirt opportunity for Kaaya.

Bad as Kaaya played, the coaching staff didn’t do anything to put the kid in position to shine. Miami coached scared and offensive coordinator James Coley was ultra-conservative, again.

Last year’s bread-and-butter play—hitting Coley in the flats and giving the receiver some space to make a play—was overused and the season rolled on, yet was the first offensive play Monday night, which Louisville was ready for.

A similar play on the next possession, where Kaaya went to freshman speedster Braxton Berrios, resulting in a one-yard loss. In both cases, Johnson was in a second-and-long situation. picked up four and left Miami in third-and-long situations, both resulting in incompletions.

All week Golden talked about keeping the chains moving, avoiding third-and-long and keeping the offense on the field. Instead, same old situation as last year.

Miami only held the ball 26:43 and was a paltry 1-of-13 on third-down conversions. The ground attack netted 70 total yards, mostly because the box was stacked nine-deep and the passing game was never respected or seen as a threat.

Where former quarterback Stephen Morris was criticized for his overuse of the deep ball, Miami coaches never let Kaaya go deep—testing an inexperienced Louisville secondary or showing off the blazing speed of wide receiver Phillip Dorsett, who had one reception on the night and was visibly frustrated when a handful of Kaaya’s attempts weren’t where they were supposed to be.

Kaaya was handcuffed much of the night, going three-and-out on a few occasions without even attempting a pass.

If this staff claims to have such faith in the kid, why not let him get after it? Even going the conservative route, the mistakes were there because he was playing scared and didn’t appear to have the full trust of the coaches.

In short, a true freshman quarterback is only one of Miami’s offensive issues right now. Another is a sophomore coordinator who is still coaching like a rookie.

As far as veteran coaches go, the offensive line headed up by Art Kehoe had a terrible opening night. Both run blocking and pass blocking, the Hurricanes didn’t get it done, while Danny Isadora accounted for the night’s biggest penalty—an ineligible man downfield, that wiped out a huge fourth quarter gain to Johnson on a wheel route.

Miami’s offensive line lost some talent, but was still supposed to be a strength this season and was raved about by coaches the past few weeks. This was not the night to no show, with so much on the line—Johnson’s return and the start of a true freshman at quarterback—yet they flopped and must regroup.

Defensively the Hurricanes certainly hung tough, forced some fumbles made some plays and were generally more aggressive, but playing zone defense and no man-to-man is going to drive fans crazy as the year rolls on.

Too much athleticism and talent to leave guys sitting in soft zone all night, relying on a three-man rush from a defensive line that lacks superstars.

This unit is certainly improved talent-wise and shouldn’t bear the brunt of this loss, holding Petrino’s offense and the Cardinals to 17 offensive points until the game’s final two minutes. Miami’s offense was the culprit on Monday night—inefficient, mistake-prone and putting the defense on the field too often.

Also, not to take away from the effort, but credit Louisville’s receivers with some inexplicable drops—especially on third down, which killed a few drives.

Credit to Petrino and their coaching staff for a solid offensive game plan that Miami’s coaches must learn from; find the weak link and exploit it.

A few fans on Twitter were asking why we weren’t hearing much from Tracy Howard, Deon Bush and the rest of the secondary all night—because Petrino knew that was Miami’s strength and instead chose to pick apart the middle of the field and a sub-par linebacking corps (Denzel Perryman obviously excluded.)

Meanwhile, the Cardinals’ strength is their front seven and instead of exploiting a young secondary, the Hurricanes kept everything underneath, never threw deep and continued to force the run with nine in the box.

At some point this staff has to figure out what is so blatantly obvious to others; play to one’s strengths and exploit an opponent’s weakness.

One more (deserved) shot at the coaching staff. After back-to-back catches and a touchdown by Clive Walford, why did the senior tight end only get one more look and reception the rest of the game?

Also, with Johnson running the ball effectively all drive early second quarter, why is Gus Edwards getting his first touch of the night in a crucial 3rd-and-3 situation from the Louisville five-yard line? Everyone in the building knew Miami was going to conservatively hand off to the bigger back and the play was stuffed for a two-yard loss.

If you going to run, keep Johnson in there. If you bring in Edwards, it’s the optimum time for a roll-out, using him as a decoy.

Handing off to the big guy—way too scripted, yet the Hurricanes did it again first drive of the third quarter facing a 3rd-and-1 from their own 34-yard line. No gain and punt time—on the heels of back-to-back runs by Johnson and not even giving Kaaya a shot with three consecutive runs.

After the Hurricanes recovered a Will Gardner fumble on the ensuing drive, Miami went with three more runs, starting at the Louisville 8-yard line and settling for a field goal.

No balls, innovation or even any basic common sense on those early, game-defining third quarter possessions.

The special teams’ gaffes that resulted in a 97-yard kickoff return for score was definitely a momentum killer when Miami finally took a 10-7 lead.

Equally as bad was watching the Hurricanes’ defense in a few 4th-and-1 situations where the didn’t fill the gap and the Cardinals’ bowled ahead for first downs.

In the end, the effort was a comedy of errors and missed opportunities. Points were left on the field and drives that should’ve been sustained rolled on, resulting in points or field position.

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson touched on it in his column this morning, but every Hurricanes fan was dwelling on it last night play-after-play; the ones who got away.

Lots of talent from Dade and Broward counties on the other side of the ball last night—19 players and many who made big time plays. Corvin Lamb (Miami Northwestern) with the 97-yard kickoff return. Burgess (Homestead), who was all over the field making tackles and wreaking havoc. Eli Rogers (Miami Northwestern), who hauled in five receptions for 65 yards and Gerald Christian (Palm Beach), right behind him with six grabs for 59 yards and a score.

Miami has it’s share of local talent, but damn does it hurt when those made in South Florida, who played in South Florida didn’t stay in South Florida.

Thankfully for Miami, the net two foes are Florida A&M and Arkansas State, both at Sun Life Stadium.

Eight quarters of football and 18 days to clean things up before a late-September road trip to Lincoln to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a primetime showdown—in what will be another colossal flop if this staff doesn’t properly game plan.

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