Football vs. Clemson/Miami Observations

Finding content this time of year is pretty difficult -- there's nothing obvious to post about. No previews/recaps. No midseason thoughts on the team. No really exciting recruiting information.

But like a lot of you guys, I always need my dose of Virginia sports. To quench this thirst, I have been watching some old UVa football games on ESPN3 and making some observations/projections about this team. Since we lost very few guys to graduation, a lot of what I saw will be applicable to this season.

Because we were so abysmal last season, there are not many games of ours remaining on ESPN3. In fact, our only games left on ESPN3 are against the big football schools -- Miami, Oregon, Clemson, Va. Tech, etc. -- because their fans are more likely to go back and watch these games. This means in these games, we were severely outmatched and out-coached. And lost.

Still, if you want to be good, you have to be able to compete against the good programs. Obviously, we didn't do that last season.

I chose to watch parts of the Clemson and Miami game for two reasons: 1) they were better teams than us, so it was good to see how our players handled big-game situations, and 2) the games were later in the season, when the team had basically done all it was capable of doing.

So without further ado, here are some observations from the losses against Clemson (59-10) and Miami (45-26).

Clemson

• David Watford really struggled. The most frustrating part was you could see he had the talent to succeed. Early in the game down 7-0 on a 3rd and long at around midfield, Watford hit Keeon Johnson on a nice out route right at the chains. The ball was perfect, and Johnson was able to continue his momentum and surge down the sidelines for about ten more yards. It was a gain of about 20 on the play.
• Offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild talked all season about how Watford's athleticism was such an advantage. While that clearly wasn't the case, Watford did have his moments. I think it was on the same drive when Watford dropped back, and as the pressure came, he began to climb the pocket. No one was open downfield, so Watford took off up the middle. He sidestepped a defensive tackle at the line of scrimmage and then dove near the first down marker. Gain of nine.

• But of course, Watford has two sides -- the negative he showed more than the positive last season. His interception in the second quarter was just terrible. We were only down one or two touchdowns, and Watford had a clean pocket. Darius Jennings was running either a seam or inside post route -- he didn't really seem sure. Jennings did cut it to the inside, but the throw was about five yards over his head. Even if Jennings was supposed to run a seam route, he would have been double covered -- there was nothing there. Either Watford threw a terrible pass or made a terrible decision.
• Watford's running was not consistent either. On a called QB draw, Watford hesitated big time, jumping around for about two seconds before he was tackled in the backfield. This indecision killed him both on the ground and through the air.
• I hate when we roll the pocket on passing plays. While Watford has speed, our offensive line was not near athletic enough or near cohesive of a unit to roll out in unison. We rolled out once to the left and once to the right, and both times Watford ended up throwing it away about 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
• Do not underestimate the loss of Jake McGee. He was about the only receiver that had a chance in the middle of the field. Could Dockins fill that role? Maybe. But McGee will definitely be missed.
• Our play-calling was way too predictable. Half of our plays were simple dives from the pistol formation. Watford would act like he had an option, but he rarely took it.
• In these read-option plays, Watford's inconsistency came up again. He made a nice fake and ran in our first and only touchdown late in the first quarter. Then in the second quarter on a third and 1, he faked to Parks (who had a clear lane for the first down) and tried to break it outside for no gain. Punt.
• It cannot be emphasized enough how important Parks was to the offense. When Mizzell took the ball inside, he was stuffed for no gain. Parks was always able to find a little wiggle room and at least push the pile forward.
• Defensively, we played pretty well in the first half. Clemson got up early with about a 40-yard TD to Watkins, who was covered by freshman Tim Harris. Harris was about a half step behind Watkins, but the throw was perfect. Touchdown.
• On the 96-yard touchdown to Watkins in the third quarter, Harris again had the coverage. It seemed to be a cover 3 look. Both Watkins and a receiver in the slot ran vertical routes. Harris had good positioning on Watkins until he jumped inside to cover the slot guy -- this left Watkins wide open. Turing the hips was all it took for Watkins to break free.

• Tim Harris was targeted and burned by Boyd, but his talent was obvious. He simply wasn't ready to play at such a high level so soon. He would be in good position, but then make a mental error. He also had trouble finding the ball in the air. These areas will improve, and he should be a very solid corner when he starts as a junior in 2015.
• The defensive line was dominant early, especially tackles David Dean and Donte Wilkins. Both brought a lot of pressure and helped to account for at least three sacks -- one a 14-yard loss by Dean.
• Tenuta showed no fear in bringing the blitz. It worked well on a third and short when Henry Coley stuffed Boyd on a draw for a several yard loss. However, Boyd could take advantage, like when he threw an underneath pass to an uncovered running back resulting in about a 30-yard gain.

• The defense played well in the first half. With Canady and Nicholson in at corner, we might have held Clemson to just a touchdown. But they were hurt, and our lack of depth was exposed. 
• The offense simply has to sustain longer drives. The defense played admirably, but against a speedy team like Clemson, they cannot shut them down all game. They need to rest, and the offense did no favors in helping them out.
• We didn't throw the ball downfield. End of story. The longest completion I saw (I only watched select parts) was in the air for about ten yards. Watford's interception was about 20 yards downfield. We needed to stretch the defense, and we never did.
• I hated the idea of throwing in Lambert at the end of the game when it was all but lost. He simply had no chance to succeed. Our confidence was broke, and he was playing behind the second team o-line. Miscommunications are bound to occur -- and they did, twice. On a second down run, Lambert and Mizzell weren't on the same page. The timing was off, Mizzell never got the ball, and Lambert was stuffed for a loss. On the next play, the offensive line must have not known the snap count -- they looked like frozen blocks when the ball was snapped. Lambert was hit in about a second from both sides, and his wobbly ball was picked. You can't evaluate Lambert from these garbage-let's-hurry-up-and-lose-this-game minutes.

Miami

• Things could not have started off much worse for Watford. On his first pass attempt -- a bubble screen out wide to Khalek Shepherd -- the Miami DB read Watford all the way and took in the pass for a pick-6. How Watford did not see the DB is unknown. Miles Gooch missed a block on the DB, but Watford has to see the guy coming and just throw that ball away.

• From there until the end of the second quarter, UVa dominated. It was all about the ground game. Parks picked up at least five on seemingly every attempt. Sometimes he would find his own hole, but more often than not the offensive line was creating huge lanes for him to run through.
• Our first touchdown -- a 20ish-yard screen pass to Parks -- was perfectly executed. The key blocks were by McGee and Kyle Dockins. However, Connor Davis (projected starter at left guard) got out in front and put a nice block on the safety about 10-yards downfield that ultimately sprung Parks for six.
• Speaking of the offensive line, they did a great job on a 30-yard run by Shepherd. The line made a huge initial hole that put Shepherd to the second level. It was then tight end Zach Swanson who came in, blocked a linebacker, and sprung Shepherd for an extra 20 or so yards. When every blocker executes their assignment, you get plays like that.

• Furthermore, even Watford was doing a great job with his legs. On the read option plays, he was actually reading the defensive end. Watford took several plays around the right end gaining a good 5 to 10 yards per pop.
• Still, Watford never recovered through the air. Down 14-13 with about a minute left in the second quarter, UVa was driving the ball. It was 3rd and four on the Miami 15. We could have run (we had had previous success), but we threw the ball. It was a good call -- it was a bit unpredictable and Swanson was wide open in the right flat. However, the pass was a bit high, bouncing off of Swanson's hands and returned to our three-yard line (tackle was made by McGee -- another reason we'll miss him).
• In this first half, Watford completed 4-13 passes for 32 yards and two interceptions. It's not like we needed Watford to be passing more -- we were running the ball at will. But those two interceptions were killer -- and both were his fault. The first one was pathetic -- no DI QB should make that throw. The second one Swanson probably could have caught, but in the rain, Watford needed to be more accurate with a check-down pass.
• However, the defense was very good in the first half. We were blowing up run plays and really playing solid pass coverage. (It was Brent Urban's first game back after missing time with a high ankle sprain.)
• The one exception was a screen to a Miami WR that he took about 60-yards for a touchdown. It was just really bad angles taken by UVa defenders. Canady was the first -- he came in too wide at the line of scrimmage and was easily pushed aside. After breaking about 20-yards behind two lead blockers, Tim Harris had a shot at the tackle, but he went too far in front and was popped by a Miami receiver. Touchdown.
• Anthony Harris had nearly an identical interception to the one he had against Clemson. It was a deep ball over the middle that was underthrown. Harris read it all the way and made an easy leaping interception.
• Also, the Anthony Harris targeting penalty was a terrible call. Morris had not started his slide by the time Harris dove. It was a bang-bang play with no malicious intent by Harris. I could see a personal foul, but not a targeting. It cost us in that second half, and even in the first half against Va. Tech the next week. Bad call. 

• It was a different Miami offense in the second half. They were more aggressive and more easily running the ball. They made adjustments though it's not like they were running all over us. Just more of their plays were picking up decent yardage.
• Our offense -- specifically our ground game -- really stalled in the second half. Why? I'm not sure. But it really could only slow down. After all, we had picked up over 200-yards on the ground in the first half. Unless you run the triple-option, you don't duplicate those results. Miami stacked the box giving Watford an opportunity to shine, of which he didn't take advantage.
• Watford's third pick of the game was a ball that should not have been thrown. The receiver was double covered and the tipped ball went directly to the deep safety.
• Lambert replaced Watford and honestly looked really good, as he should have. Up by three touchdowns, Miami was playing prevent defense. Lambert led the offense down into the redzone on his first drive. But Lambert fumbled and a Miami defensive lineman took the ball back for a touchdown.
• Turnovers were the difference in this game. Miami scored 28 points off of four turnovers. The final was 45-26. We honestly had a chance at this game. But this was one of Watford's weaknesses -- interceptions.
• On the bright side, Smoke really shined for our offense. Granted, most of his touches came off of checkdowns since Miami was in a prevent defense. But he showed the ability to run good routes. He caught a nice touchdown on a throw with some nice touch by Lambert. The LB or safety (I didn't see which) had no chance against Smoke. Around 15 yards for a touchdown? I'll take it. If healthy, this is the dimension to our offense Smoke should add in 2014.
• Smoke also showed good toughness taking the ball in for a touchdown on the next drive. It was only about a five-yard run, but it was the first time I had seen him play with a chip on his shoulder and shed a tackle. It was a nice power play by a speed guy.

Conclusions

After watching parts of these two games, I think they are an accurate microcosm of our season. Basically, we had the talent to compete. Just look at the first half of both of these games. We hung in there with Clemson, and we dominated Miami. However, it's the score that ultimately changes our record, and even with solid performances in each of these first halves, we still trailed at the break. Against Clemson, this was because their offense was speedier than our defense. If Nicholson and Canady had played, maybe it's closer, but then again, maybe it's not. Against Miami, take away those two first-half Watford interceptions and we're up by a touchdown -- maybe two -- at half.

Ultimately, the offense has to produce more consistently. Our defense was better than it appeared on paper, but when the offense goes three-and-out time and time again, the defense will wear out. The defensive line -- especially when we're not substituting our guys -- doesn't get the same penetration they did earlier in the game. And when we're blitzing as much as we did, sooner or later we'll miss an assignment. It happened all too frequently against Clemson.

Lambert played mop-up duty in both contests, but you can't read too much into the good or the bad. When he's in there late in the game behind the second team offensive line, there are only so many takeaways.

Honestly though, I feel better about this team after watching those two games. I've always thought our defense would be solid this season, but I have even more confidence now. With added depth on the defensive line, the same consistency at linebacker, and an experienced, talented secondary, the sky is the limit.

On offense, I gained a lot of confidence in guys like Keeon Johnson and Taquan Mizzell -- who should both have increased roles on offense in 2014. Ultimately, the fact that a different quarterback will be under center should make a world of difference. A quarterback -- Lambert in this case -- is the only guy that has the power to turn this offense around. He has the arm talent and a couple of weapons. Plus, we shouldn't be fooling around with designed quarterback runs anymore.

So despite losing both of these games by multiple touchdowns, I think there are some positive takeaways. Of course, it's July, so I can spin anything in a positive way. But I feel better about this team after these two games. Hopefully I'm right.