Miami Offensive and Defensive Unit Breakdowns: GT Edition

Thoughts on the Offense

Running Backs

Both Johnson and Yearby played relatively well. They totaled 116 yards on the ground with Johnson getting the lone touchdown in the losing effort. They couldn't run the ball in the fourth quarter as they were down by multiple touchdowns so the backs took a backseat to the passing attack. Duke chipped in with the passing game though, he finished with 152 all purpose yards.

Offensive Line

During the first half the line had their way with the Yellow Jackets. Whether it was draw plays or tosses; huge rush lanes were opened for the running backs. However, in the third and fourth quarters the sledding seemed to be a tad bit tougher when looking for yards on the ground. The Canes only tallied 24 rushing yards in the third quarter and even less in the fourth due to having to throw the ball.

The pass blocking did well all game. Kaaya only had a few QB hurries and few sacks. Unfortunately they made those pressures count. Both of the hurries led to the interceptions and one sack snuffed out the Canes last gasp effort in the fourth quarter to try and make a comeback.

Quarterback

Kaaya played well overall. He made two freshman mistakes when it came to the picks but he did well finding open receivers in space all game. He missed a pass to Dorsett in the fourth quarter by throwing it short but from the booth you can clearly tell he has the awareness to make tough throws. The pass to Berrios for the touchdown was a long developing play. Berrios was a quarter of the way through his route when Kaaya released the ball towards the end zone. The ball landed right where it needed to for the score.

Wide Receivers

Not much to say out of this bunch. Kaaya spread the ball out to Waters, Dorsett and Malcolm Lewis for a grand total of 157 yards. Coley was absent again on offense as his sophomore slump continues.

Thoughts on the Defense

Defensive Line

Honestly, I don’t believe the defensive line played that badly. What I do believe however is that they weren’t put in positions to excel and make plays. As I was sitting up in the media booth I could clearly tell where the gaps were along the line. GT, if they found them, had huge holes. It was just whether they found them or not.

Linebackers

This group was tougher to grade. They missed many of their assignments and simply didn’t shed blocks. Heading into the game I was nervous that they would get exposed and they were. Perryman had a solid game but overall the group was uninspiring. Not many tackles behind the line of scrimmage (any?) and no game breaking fumbles.

Secondary

What to say about this group? When they were tested, they failed. Going into the fourth quarter Justin Thomas was 4-7 for 53 yards. What was unforgivable was the third and long completion that ended in a touchdown for GT in the fourth quarter. Honestly though, I again put that sequence on the coaches. The zones they ran were expansive and extremely difficult to cover to say the least. Asking two players to cover the short and deep zone for one side of the field was almost impossible and it showed on that specific play. In the running game the Corners were physically over matched at points. UM has smaller players on the outside whereas GT had 6 foot and taller wideouts who clamped down on their defenders in the run game. It also helped that the secondary played seven plus yards off the line of scrimmage.

Safeties

Non-existent. Didn’t do anything today. Apparently they wanted to take the deep ball away from the Jackets and they succeeded. However, in so doing they took themselves effectively out of the game.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"

Miami’s defense made a few adjustments throughout the game but they simply didn’t have an impact in the game. They didn’t force a turnover and although they held the Jackets to punts on a little less than half their drives they simply didn’t make enough impact to win the game.