The anger is still boiling inside after this game, but now that we have had some time to calm down, time to look at what happened or lack there of. The USF offense simply failed to do anything in the game. Whether Daniels or Eveld was taking snaps, the execution and the playcalling was horrible. With Daniels in, the Bulls failed to take any shots down the field, instead tried the short passing game and zone runs, against a team like Miami, it won't work. Eveld came in after Daniels injured his shoulder and the defense knew he would not run the zone read, so the running game became a joke and they continued to use short passes for the air attack, failing to move the ball except on the 9 punts by JBK.
Overall, the offense had 133 yards through the air and 116 on the ground, that will beat no one, especially a team like Miami.
Daniels was 11 for 18 with 98 yards and an interception before he left the game with a shoulder sprain. He also ran the ball 8 times for 19 yards. Eveld went 5 for 9 for 36 yards, not exactly a big night throwing the ball for him either (thanks Fitch)
The running game was just bottled up. Scott had 16 carries for 58 yards, showing a few nice burst up the middle and getting to the outside edge when he could. Murray ran 4 times for 29 yards. Lamar had 1 for 9 yards.
The receiving corps didn't do too much. They had a few drops, but the offense never took a shot down the field, making it really hard to get yardage. Andre Davis had 4 receptions for 42 yards. Victor Marc had 3 for 30 yards. Darrell Scott had 4 for 21 yards. Deonte Welch had 2 for 15 yards. Evan Landi had 1 for 14 yards (why aren't we throwing to him more?) Murray had 2 for 12 yards as well.
Special teams was busy. Bonani was 1 for 1, the only offense during the game. JBK had 9 punts but averaged 33.8 yards a kick. He did change field position a few times during the game, in the battle of kickers, but overall he continues to be less than great out on the field.
The defense did everything they could in this game. They allowing 259 yards passing in the game, avoiding the deep balls, but allowed the Canes to drive down the field several times, including the last drive at the end of the game to ruin the night. They only allowed 57 rushing yards, so they were able to get to the running backs of Miami (Harris did escape a few times, but 6 sacks negated his running yards). DeDe Lattimore had 10 tackles, a sack, and 2.5 tackles for loss. Quenton Washington had 9 tackles and one for a loss (active all day with the passing game going). Lanaris had 8 tackles, Kayvon Webster had 7 tackles, Keith McCaskill had 4 tackles and 2 sacks, and Ryne Giddins only had 1 tackle (came close so many times to Harris).
There are a lot of items to discuss over this loss, from the offense to the coaching decisions on the field. For now, we will study the numbers, but will have more to say about this game soon.
Yes the "D" gave up the late drive just as they did in the Cincy game. I'm not sure of the reason why we're doing it but you can't run zone coverage the entire game. How many times did you see USF DBs watching someone catch the ball before moving in for the tackle. You don't play 15 yards deep when they only need 6 for a 1st down. Are you kidding me? What a gift it must be to pass against our secondary.
ReplyDeleteNo we never went downfield. When the coaching staff doesn't trust the players for deep throws or on a 4th and inches...it reflects in our players performance. They know they're not trusted thus they will never build confidence and improve. Remember last year at UM when Holtz declared the slant pass a "stupid" playcall for B. Eveld? He completed it easily and we went on to win.
The season is trash. If we continue with the same gameplan and the same 5 offensive plays we will lose-out. Why not treat them like men and open this thing up.
On Holtz; If you're "playing not to lose" then you're not "playing to win". That's what we did yesterday and THAT is unacceptable. -Steve J.