now that the disappointment and whiskey have mostly worn off. we should still win the west baring covid and injuries. clark needs to work on the stupid penalties. actually he needs to focus on them. its been an ongoing issue season after season. we can win out if we dont beat ourselves
at least we were in the game compare to previous P5 game under clark ,,,,,
we may play another P5 in the bowl and we will see if we still improving
I went back and looked at some of Tyler Johnston's highlights before his shoulder injury 2018 and 2019. From looking at those videos compared to how he has played until now I think it is quite obvious Johnston's shoulder maybe more damage then we're being led to believe. He's clearly not throwing the ball like he did in 2018 and the early 2019 season.
And lets address the defense; clearly no comparison to The Steel Shield. The Shield would not have given up over 300 rushing yards last night period.
Overall UAB skill players were just as good as Miami with the exception of QB. This team will play well in CUSA but just isn't capable of playing consistently well against P-5 talent. Simply disappointing last night but the sun did rise this morning so there's that.
I agree about Johnston possibly not being 100%. He doesn't look like the same QB that won us 11 games and a conference title in 2018.
Will our offense ever be good enough to compete on a high level?
My knee jerk reaction is that the defense played very well. I might change my mind if I rewatch with a critical eye but they were not beaten at the line until very late in the game when they were gassed. Again, I haven’t gone back to look at stats yet, but I think A LOT of the rushing yards came on the 4th down play (just a bad gap fit in a short yardage/goal line type set), the long scramble at the end of the half, and some amazing plays by the QB that would have probably been sacks against any other team we play this year. King missed on some passes as well but the coverage was good considering the dudes Miami has.
Offensively, the line got some push when Miami didn’t either stack the line or run stunt. QB play and/or play calling still seems lacking. Lucero is a natural thrower but I still think Tyler is the better QB, for now. Like y’all said, it looks like Tyler’s shoulder injury hasn’t ever really healed. It’s like he’s pushing the ball rather than slinging it. Spencer looked like the back everyone says he is. Whether it was injuries or weight, he might have been the third best option we had.last year. This year I expect him to roll.
I’m with Bill Clark as far as moral victories but I do feel better about the CUSA season today than I did last week.
Almost forgot; timeout Alabama-Birmingham. Also, Kris Moll is still a player.
The good news is no Turnover Chain has appeared in the game.
Anyone know how many of the Covid 5 were in the rotation?
(09-11-2020 08:38 AM)ajw18 Wrote: [ -> ]Almost forgot; timeout Alabama-Birmingham. Also, Kris Moll is still a player.
And Noah Wilder. Had 15 tackles!
Safety position ( Grayson Cash ) is very suspect this year. We need more speed and much better tackling skills at that spot. Saw too many whiffs against the U and some similar shortcomings against CAU.
(09-11-2020 09:20 AM)hooverblazer Wrote: [ -> ] (09-11-2020 08:38 AM)ajw18 Wrote: [ -> ]Almost forgot; timeout Alabama-Birmingham. Also, Kris Moll is still a player.
And Noah Wilder. Had 15 tackles!
A lot of tackles for those two so I may have been unfair in the game thread. I'll have to watch it again but we seemed to miss a lot of tackles around the line or be trailing the ball. Overall we kept what was billed as a potentially high octane offense in check for most of the game. Our D is pretty good but it ain't the Shield. We have to be able to score more than 14 points to have a realistic chance of winning. Special teams helped create one of those scores too.
There are reasons to feel good -
Biggest for me - No Turnovers...this is HUGE
Lucero - looked very crisp with passing, if he can just get his deep timing down with the WRs. Will be starter before season over if Johnston keeps playing as he is. Lucero just brings more at the moment
Speed of Miami's offense - Those cats were FAST and UAB was not prepared for that speed. Had bad angles all night. Luckily, that we don't face another team with that much speed in the season
No quit - There was no quit in the team, they played hard. The fight on the sidelines to me shows passion we need and probably accountability checks from player to player.
I am VERY concerned with penalties though. Very Very concerned
The missed tackles were also concerning, but that will be corrected I am sure before South Alabama
(09-11-2020 08:34 AM)hooverblazer Wrote: [ -> ]I agree about Johnston possibly not being 100%. He doesn't look like the same QB that won us 11 games and a conference title in 2018.
Agree.. a couple of instances.. the wobbly passes and not wanting to run and flipping a backwards pass to Mitchell.
If you had told me before the game that we were going to hold King to 224 yards and not turn the ball over, I would have felt really good about our chances. But they just beat us at the line of scrimmage, and ran over us, especially after we ran out of gas late in the game.
The penalties killed us--I think we had four in the first three minutes of the game. And how many 2nd and 17 or 3rd and 15 situations did we face because of those penalties. Not many offenses are very effective when you are that far behind the chains. And ours is predictable enough that Miami seemed to have us scouted perfectly on about every play we ran.
And I agree that Lucero is throwing the ball downfield so much better than Johnston, even if he didn't complete that many throws (though Prince had two drops that would have given us first downs).
I am hoping that this is a very good Miami team. Had they continued at just a normal improvement this season--instead of making such a huge leap adding all of the transfers they added who are helping them immediately, most notably at QB--then we could have played with them.
The week off should be good for us now. Hopefully, we get everybody healthy, and make a run through the rest of the season.
(09-11-2020 10:42 AM)bftb Wrote: [ -> ]If you had told me before the game that we were going to hold King to 224 yards and not turn the ball over, I would have felt really good about our chances. But they just beat us at the line of scrimmage, and ran over us, especially after we ran out of gas late in the game.
The penalties killed us--I think we had four in the first three minutes of the game. And how many 2nd and 17 or 3rd and 15 situations did we face because of those penalties. Not many offenses are very effective when you are that far behind the chains. And ours is predictable enough that Miami seemed to have us scouted perfectly on about every play we ran.
And I agree that Lucero is throwing the ball downfield so much better than Johnston, even if he didn't complete that many throws (though Prince had two drops that would have given us first downs).
I am hoping that this is a very good Miami team. Had they continued at just a normal improvement this season--instead of making such a huge leap adding all of the transfers they added who are helping them immediately, most notably at QB--then we could have played with them.
The week off should be good for us now. Hopefully, we get everybody healthy, and make a run through the rest of the season.
The receivers are still adjusting to the faster zip that Lucero puts on his throws.
It went straight through there hands several times. Prince especially.
(09-11-2020 10:25 AM)jaymay2525 Wrote: [ -> ]There are reasons to feel good -
Biggest for me - No Turnovers...this is HUGE
I mean, credit where credit is due...but I think that's on Miami more than us. There were at least two throws I remember being clear interceptions if Miami hadn't botched it. One particularly bad throw was basically a gift-wrapped Pick 6, but the defender didn't react as quickly as they probably would have if it wasn't their first game.
Who was "fighting" on the sidelines?
Can we get rid of Vincent and get someone from under Lashlee or Malzahn, or even Chad Morris to come run our offense? I know people just assume it's all about the HUNH, but as we saw last night it's mostly a ground & pound kind of offense, and it matches up pretty well with what Clark wants to do. Wasn't our current TE coach the OC under Chad Morris at SMU & Arkansas? Seems like a pretty simple move there.
Lucero has to start, at least until TJIII is 100%. TJIII showed up on NFL scouts radar a couple years ago because of his arm, and it's been nonexistent this season. I hate it for him, because he's already been through so much, but this team, with this type of offense, can't function with a QB at 60%. Additionally, what does it say about the offensive scheme when every QB gets injured.
I disagree with others saying UAB got crushed on the lines. UAB did a great job of containing King and their RBs, and getting pressure on passing downs, but that Harris kid is unreal. I remember reading about him before the season, and just chalked it up to Miami fan bias, but I haven't been that impressed with a RB in a while. It could very well just be poor tackling by UAB, but I rarely saw the first guy bring him down. OL wasn't perfect, but did a decent enough job opening holes against a a stacked box and top 5-10 DL in the country.
Spencer Brown is the best I've seen him. I am surprised that him and Jermaine only had 87yds because it felt like both of them had good runs.
Penalties, my God. They showed a stat towards the end of the game where UAB's average 3rd down distance was >9, and I bet a lot of that had to be due to penalties. You can't win a game when you lose the penalty margin by 8!
Yeesh those announcers were just awful. I guess I get that it's ACC Network, but that was a <= 10 point game for 41 of the 60 minutes and I only heard about Miami. Lucero played an entire quarter before they realized he had checked into the game.
I thought the D line did a good job at the point of attack. Fair and Fish didnt get moved alot. I wonder if missing the off season S&C program had anything to do with some of the broken tackles