Ivan you are a player…but just remember this, you may have won… this was best tackle/hit of the game…Saunders’ abuses 80#. Should have been targeting at the end of the play…not sure if was (Warren hit with leading helmet from UC).
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I don’t think he actually made contact. Warren’s helmet never moved.
One thing I would say about the Pace transfer. We kept discussing during the game how much different the game would have been if Ivan were still playing for us and not for them. On a team which has 3 defensive starters on NFL rosters this year, Ivan was clearly our best defensive player last year, and probably the best in the MAC. The transfer portal is to the players advantage, but also to the big schools advantage and the smaller schools disadvantage. Pace was a 6-0 200 pound guy when we signed him, now he is still 6 foot but but 240 pounds without losing the speed and aggressiveness. Now he looks like an NFL guy. We developed him, but UC gets to take advantage of all our work.
I really did appreciate the way he handled himself at the game, plus last year when some of our guys who were going NFL sat out the bowl game to protect their health, Pace knew he was transferring but he stayed and played in the bowl game. That is a credit to him.
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eh…53 and 77 have him wrapped up…the third guy is below him on his ankles…only place the 4th guy can hit is pretty dangerous…no matter though, Warren was going backwards already, and is fine…I just noticed that the hit looks like a dangerous and unnecessary play given two lineman and a WR have him wrapped up already.
yup…I could not believe on the ESPN coverage, they said PACE was up to 263 when he stepped on UC’s campus…now 235#.
Dick the only thing about that…and maybe it’s b/c we need more offensive talent…but three guys in NFL and three guys that transferred are best or top 5 best players on the their ~P5 programs and we can only muster 7-6…sort of odd with that defensive talent.
Guys…it’s mostly coaching. Yes you need some talent but even with “some talent” we are still, unable to get to 9+ wins. What is our main consistency through all of this mediocrity…players come and go…but look who stays.
I rest my case.
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Frustrating MAC season in that we lost 3 road games by 1,1, and 2 points.
A clear example of not being able to get over the hump.
You said hump. And this reader took notice!
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We have had 3 straight winning records. Before that it was one winning season under Heywood. This is the highest level the program has been since Hep left.
The current Miami athletic scene is not easy to win in. Witness the hockey program, men’s and women’s basketball programs. Chuck’s program is way, way better than the other prominent programs. We just lost two road games at #8 and #30 or so?. In both game we came out on fire and played great, but gradually the better teams took over and had the lead by halftime and then controlled the games and won by around 3 TD’s.
Everyone being realistic knew we would be 1-2 at this point. Now we have to play the last 9 games to see what kind of a season we will have. Other than the game at Akron, I would say the other 8 games could all go either way. We are, of course, now playing without our best player, 4th year QB Brett Gabbert for the last 11 games of a 12 games schedule, with no other QB on the roster who had ever thrown a pass in college football ( of course, both of those things can be blamed on our head coach).
This season could turn out well, we could be playing in the MAC championship game and a bowl game again, or it could go very badly. If it goes very badly, then would be the time to talk about the Coaches future here. Right now he has the program at the best point it has been in 2 decades and he deserves credit for that.
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There is too much complacency on this board…I’m all for supporting the team, and hope that our season goes well, but year after year, so many people keep giving the benefit of the doubt. When will results matter? They seem to matter for other teams throughout the MAC and country.
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Gotta come to peace with the fact that Miami’s major sports operate at the “participation” level rather than competition level. Hockey has tried to operate at the competition level, but I don’t think is able to do so anymore.
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Just about everyone outside top P5 is in the “participation” boat…and Miami has increased its NFL scouting lense…meaning teams are checking in here more frequently…so not sure on this…
Miami is trying, we are just not that well coached in game…and it shows.
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Skins: If you mean that Miami is not well coached in games, etc., then I’m in agreement.
Yes…in game, it’s not a sh!t show but a lot of confusion and slow to organize…it’s been a bit, but there was a CM tradition of flag on first play of kickoff for a couple seasons, etc.
Miami is in general, a well run program. That is why we have improved and if you look at our strongest area, we have the best MAC record over the last 5 or 6 seasons.
Miami football is generally very well prepared for each game. In 2019 we were ahead in every game we played ( including Ohio State, UC, and a powerful Louisiana team).
Where Chuck has struggled is in making the right call or the best percentage move. He does not seemingly have that instinct to see which move gives a better chance of success. The program has had repeated faults in certain areas, some of which he has cleaned up over the years. An example of that is originally he had terrible special teams, but eventually he started hiring a dedicated special teams coach and we started having outstanding special teams ( the first two games this year being an exception, but things were much better against UC).
Here are a couple of things which he still does not get right. The last 2 seasons when Aveon Smith entered a game, he was allowed to do nothing but hand the ball off to the tb. Thus when he is suddenly the #1 QB, he has no game experience. That is because of Chuck just not getting it, even as he sees the teams he plays against allow their backup QB to use the entire playbook when they enter a game late.
Here is another one. I will just use the UC games as an example. Several years ago we were 0-0 halfway through the 4th quarter when UC finally scored. Then we got down to a 4th and 20 at our own 10 and he went for it and of course did not make it and UC got a quick and easy TD. We lost by 2TD’s. The last time we played at Paul Brown, the game was played in an all day rain ( tail end of some Gulf hurricane). It was 7-0 UC until the last 6 or 7 minutes, when we went for it deep in our own territory a couple of times and gave up 2 cheap TD/s . Final score 21-0.
Same thing on Saturday. We were down 2TD’s with 6 or 7 minutes to go, 4th and 1 on our own 29. He decided to go for it, but disorganization caused us to get a 5 yard penalty. He still went for it, turned it over and UC got a cheap and easy TD so we lost by 3TD’s.
Chuck obviously never watched Randy Walker coach. He won a couple of games in those situations by punting. When it is obvious that our team was unable to drive the field ( which was clearly the case in all 3 of those UC games, your best play is to punt and hope for a mistake/turnover, because you realize you are not going to be able to drive it 80 yards. In Saturday’s game, UC was turning it over, and after the initial 75 year TD drive, that was the only way we scored or came close to scoring, by them turning it over and giving us a short field to work with. The only thing Chuck’s desperation 4th down efforts do in these situations is cause us to get beat by an embarrassing margin instead of keeping it close. As I said before, Randy Walker pulled out a couple of games at Miami by doing just that, punting and hoping for a break because he realized we were not going to be able to drive the field.
So that is the type of thing Chuck does not sense well. Our offense got better when he quit calling the plays and let Kohler call them and he concentrated on our defense ( and our defense got better). Those are things which frustrate me and others, but to say we are poorly coached is to not see all the things that he has brought to our program that are better than the other MAC schools. So BG upset Minnesota last year. Their program and season still sucked. Ours does not. We have been challenging for the league title every year, and even won one, and have had the best record for several season. Even Randy Walker was not performing at that level in the MAC, he never won a Championship.
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My comment was more directed at the departments internal attitude. Miami is in the MAC, it’s Not an impossible task to be the best. If UC can win it’s conference, beat a good team every 5 years or so and get invited to a “P5” conference, that’s an attainable goal for Miami
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“Competitive in the MAC” IS NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE to competing (and winning) OOC. I’m so sick of CM’s MAC record (in a horrid MAC East) excusing the OOC faults. He’s had almost a decade. We’re either improving or we aren’t. And I don’t see any improvement over the last 5 years. Just the same 5 to 7 win ceiling year after year. That’s not going to excite anybody.
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And your point is? A reminder that BG not only beat Minnesota last year but managed to beat an obviously big-headed Marshall squad last week. We’ve gone 0-2 vs Marshall in this era.
I totally agree on the lack of improvement, but my argument is that that mindset comes from the department and university leadership. I wish they had the same interest in the athletic department as they do building new academic buildings in the green spaces around campus
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