Article on Miami preparing for TO

cajunjacket

cajunjacket

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Posted by our "favorite" blogger, Heather Dinich.

On Monday, Miami’s defense watched the game film of last year’s performance.

“They were kind of upset about it,” said Phillips, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last year and didn’t play in the game. “They feel very confident this time. It’s a lot better. It’s a different scheme, different guys on the field. Some of the guys played last year, but most of the guys are new, and it’s a different attitude for the defense. We have a lot to play for. We feel like we’re one of the best teams in the country on both sides of the ball. We have a lot to prove. We haven’t beaten Georgia Tech in four years. We’re just going to go out there and play aggressive and get a lot of takeaways.”

The defense will no doubt be key, including players like Phillips in the secondary. He said a lot of the missed tackles last year came from the safeties. After just two games, Georgia Tech leads the ACC with 318 rushing yards per game, but Miami’s defense limited Florida State to 110 yards on the ground. The Noles’ running game so far hasn’t quite lived up to its preseason billing, though, and this might provide a more realistic gauge as to just how much the defense has improved under first-year coordinator John Lovett.

One of their main priorities in this game will be to slow Georgia Tech B-back Jonathan Dwyer, who rushed for 128 yards on just 10 carries in the first half, including a 58-yard touchdown run.

“The biggest factor will be [Jonathan] Dwyer,” Miami coach Randy Shannon said. “The fullback must be accounted for on every single play. If he happens to get into the open field, we have to get him down for a 10 or 12 yard gain and then line up again. We cannot afford him to get long runs against us and that’s what makes their offense go.

“You can say the middle linebacker has the fullback, but that’s not always the case. It depends on what kind of triple option it is -- veer base, arc, midline or load-option. Depending on the scenario, certain guys have to be responsible for certain roles. Once you figure out what they’re trying to do and what we have to get done, then you have to respond to it.”

Like Clemson, Miami began preparing for Georgia Tech’s offense as early as the spring, and devoted a few practices this summer to it, as well. Shannon said there were a few things the team could glean from watching Thursday night’s game against Clemson, though “there will be a wrinkle here and there.”

Clemson held Georgia Tech to seven three-and-outs in a 30-27 loss to the Jackets on Thursday night, a 27 percent completion percentage -- the best in 11 years at Clemson -- and went 54 minutes without allowing a touchdown. The Tigers held Dwyer to 66 yards, and executed and tackled better as the game went on.

What’s their secret?

“You have to have a simple plan,” coach Dabo Swinney said. “There’s only so much you can do against that. You can’t dial up a bunch of different calls and things like that. The biggest thing you have to do is be disciplined and execute and win the matchups, and I think our guys did a great job of that. I don’t know if they’ll ever go seven three-and-outs again all season. It will be interesting to try it.”

And Miami is ready to give it its best shot.
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"We’re just going to go out there and play aggressive and get a lot of takeaways.”

This just sounds strange to me coming from an actual player, at least the "get a lot of takeaways" part. I don't know. Just kind of feels like the "score early and often so they abandon the run" kind of statement towards us that stupid fans make. Maybe I'm just crazy.
 
This quote if true gives me good feelings about Thursday:

Reason #4: John Lovett Replaces Bill Young

I think this is vitally important. John Lovett’s style of coaching the D could be exactly what this young, fast defense needs. He lets them make plays, and they will. All of those young studs mentioned in “Reason #5” have the smarts and speed to react and stop the option. The return on Moncur will give the D-Line a boost, and Randy Phillips return will mean better tackling from the secondary. Judging by the FSU game, Lovett seems to have made a point in the offseason to coach tackling. This is the biggest single difference from last year.
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I can only IMAGINE him 'letting' his athletes that think they are the shi* running to all the wrong places to make the 'big play'.

Please let it be so!:fingersx:

Also of note, in that article the author things we lose 42-24.

http://canespace.typepad.com/canespace/2009/09/five-reasons-miami-beats-georgia-tech.html
 
GTLiebs said:
"We’re just going to go out there and play aggressive and get a lot of takeaways.”

This just sounds strange to me coming from an actual player, at least the "get a lot of takeaways" part. I don't know. Just kind of feels like the "score early and often so they abandon the run" kind of statement towards us that stupid fans make. Maybe I'm just crazy.
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Not nearly as bad as his comment (that Heather kept out to make her article more credible) where Phillips says they will score at will against us.
 
“They feel very confident this time. It’s a lot better. It’s a different scheme, different guys on the field. Some of the guys played last year, but most of the guys are new, and it’s a different attitude for the defense.
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Seems like it would be better to have players out there that faced it last year.

“You can say the middle linebacker has the fullback, but that’s not always the case. It depends on what kind of triple option it is -- veer base, arc, midline or load-option. Depending on the scenario, certain guys have to be responsible for certain roles. Once you figure out what they’re trying to do and what we have to get done, then you have to respond to it.”
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Welcome to Football 101.
 
"Get takeaways" and "let them make plays" sound like the ideal type of defense I want to play against. They will be going for stripping the ball instead of tackling (saw a lot of that in replays of last year's game) and they will use instinct instead of playing their assignments. I really hope they do this.

I remember Dabo saying a lot about making tackles and just wrapping up in the week leading up to our game with Clemson. It seemed to work really well for them. If I were Miami, I would be following Dabo's lead.

Instead Miami is going to use their special position. It's better than sec speed ... better than world class speed ... it's .... SWAGGER!!
 
unforgiven108 said:
Also of note, in that article the author things we lose 42-24.

http://canespace.typepad.com/canespace/2009/09/five-reasons-miami-beats-georgia-tech.html
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After watching the game last Thursday, reason #3 is what concerns me the most.

Reason #3: Weak Defense / Secondary For GT
After watching the GT-Clemson game, I think Jacory and our never-ending list of playmakers will carve up Tech’s D. GT could barely handle a RS-Freshman in his first road start and a SINGLE playmaker in Spiller. If Clemson wasn’t dumb enough for that pooch-punt, or to be caught by the fake field goal, Clemson’s offence easily outscores Tech. I will venture to say our offence is light-years ahead or better than Clemson’s
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FSU had several blown coverages that lead to easy Miami TDs last Monday. Likewise, our secondary also had blown coverages by letting CJ and Jacoby get behind them.

I really hope the other three guys on our defensive line can step up. No doubt Miami will double team Derrick to buy Jacory time. Our pass defense was horrible from the middle of the 2nd quarter until the last two defensive stops.
 
alpha said:
After watching the game last Thursday, reason #3 is what concerns me the most.

FSU had several blown coverages that lead to easy Miami TDs last Monday. Likewise, our secondary also had blown coverages by letting CJ and Jacoby get behind them.

I really hope the other three guys on our defensive line can step up. No doubt Miami will double team Derrick to buy Jacory time. Our pass defense was horrible from the middle of the 2nd quarter until the last two defensive stops.
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Agree...I think this game comes down to our DLine. If they are solid and don't give Jacory all day, then we are looking good. If they can't get pressure, we're gonna be looking at a shootout, and with the way they can throw it around given time, I don't like those odds. I was terrified that there was a minute left after our field goal against clemson, simply because they had been getting the big pass play when needed.
 
alpha said:
After watching the game last Thursday, reason #3 is what concerns me the most.

FSU had several blown coverages that lead to easy Miami TDs last Monday. Likewise, our secondary also had blown coverages by letting CJ and Jacoby get behind them.

I really hope the other three guys on our defensive line can step up. No doubt Miami will double team Derrick to buy Jacory time. Our pass defense was horrible from the middle of the 2nd quarter until the last two defensive stops.
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What would help our defense would be a long offensive drive to score, 8+ plays. Those quick scores are great but it doesn't allow our D to rest much. This would help keep Morgan fresh to keep the heat on Harris.
 
MEwreck02 said:
What would help our defense would be a long offensive drive to score, 8+ plays. Those quick scores are great but it doesn't allow our D to rest much. This would help keep Morgan fresh to keep the heat on Harris.
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Yep, it would be great to see longer offensive possessions. We had too many times last game where the offense couldn't convert the 3rd down and the defense only got a minute or two of rest.
 
cajunjacket said:
"Get takeaways" and "let them make plays" sound like the ideal type of defense I want to play against.
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Agreed. I think UGA was hurt by their 5* defenders always going for the big play instead doing the fundamentals, taking the right angle, getting low and THEN tackling. Clemson's veteran defense was probably the biggest reason we didn't get more home run plays. Hopefully Miami's speed will turn out the opposite.
 
Reason #3 doesn't concern me all that much.

For one, Clemson has more playmakers than Spiller (Jacoby Ford anyone?). Both of those guys are much faster, more proven and more experienced than anyone on the Miami team.

Secondly, they Miami played against FSU. I know everyone's mind rebels about it, but FSU is not that skilled in the secondary. They have one good cover guy (Patrick Robinson) and we have at least three. I would expect that the matchup problems that FSU had against Miami won't materialize (brand new starter vs experienced receiver). Also, FSU's DL lost a bunch of people - the only way they were able to get pressure against both Miami and JSU was to rush a linebacker.

Thirdly, Miami's OL is probably the weakest part of their offensive unit, at least in terms of what the players on it have shown to now. Especially the G-C-G. So, instead of going against one of the best centers in the country and 2 returning starters as we were against Clemson, we're going against 3 new starters in the middle of the line. And we did a decent job of containing Spiller on Thursday (obviously, we need to do better, but I don't think Greg Cooper or Javarris James is the quality of Spiller).
 
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