Interesting that there is no national championship game thread

LudicrousSpeedGO!

LudicrousSpeedGO!

Well-known member
Indiana seems to be playing ball control. Miami better change that or Indiana will roll them up in the 2nd half as Miami's D eventually wears down. Miami's edge pressure has kept them in this. There were 2 early hits on Mendoza that could have drawn flags. One of them absolutely should have without doubt. And for as good of a coach as Cignetti is, he played that last possession of the half wrong. How do they not call a timeout after that run. They easily could have gotten into FG range with an extra 15 seconds.
 
Indy only has 1 TO which could come back to hurt them if they're held to a FG and Miami scores a TD.
 
Hats off to Cignetti and Mendoza. Cignetti has earned his beer or many beers tonight. Besides the gutsy TD run by Mendoza (what a call), the game really turned on special teams. Miami played well enough to win otherwise. Can't have a missed field goal and a blocked punt for a TD in a game like this when trailing.
 
LudicrousSpeedGO! said:
Indiana seems to be playing ball control. Miami better change that or Indiana will roll them up in the 2nd half as Miami's D eventually wears down. Miami's edge pressure has kept them in this. There were 2 early hits on Mendoza that could have drawn flags. One of them absolutely should have without doubt. And for as good of a coach as Cignetti is, he played that last possession of the half wrong. How do they not call a timeout after that run. They easily could have gotten into FG range with an extra 15 seconds.
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Sorry, I should have created a thread. But thanks for starting one.
 
LudicrousSpeedGO! said:
We did play Indiana tighter than anyone. We certainly had the talent to go on a run.
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But not the head coach. Indiana was not the most talented team overall this year, but they were extremely well-coached and talented enough. I'd generally take our roster over theirs, except at QB and receiver. Charlie Becker, especially, is an absolute star. I wish we'd had a receiver like that this season.
 
LudicrousSpeedGO! said:
Indiana seems to be playing ball control. Miami better change that or Indiana will roll them up in the 2nd half as Miami's D eventually wears down. Miami's edge pressure has kept them in this. There were 2 early hits on Mendoza that could have drawn flags. One of them absolutely should have without doubt. And for as good of a coach as Cignetti is, he played that last possession of the half wrong. How do they not call a timeout after that run. They easily could have gotten into FG range with an extra 15 seconds.
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I thought Cristobal's decisions to close the half were even worse. His team driving after being completely shut down...and he sits on the ball and lets the clock wind down, playing for a 50-yard FG attempt from a kicker struggling during the playoffs. Hard to figure.

Still, it ended up being a pretty darn good game. Miami's offense came to life a bit in the 2nd half. Blocked punt for the TD was an absolute killer though. That Toney kid is electric.

Hats off to Indiana. Love how their team plays...very tough and everybody on the same page. When you look back to that game we could have and should have won against them, which was their closest call of the year and an indication of the talent on our team, you can't help but be struck again by what a disastrously wasted opportunity this season was for us. Hard to swallow.
 
Jerry said:
I thought Cristobal's decisions to close the half were even worse. His team driving after being completely shut down...and he sits on the ball and lets the clock wind down, playing for a 50-yard FG attempt from a kicker struggling during the playoffs. Hard to figure.

Still, it ended up being a pretty darn good game. Miami's offense came to life a bit in the 2nd half. Blocked punt for the TD was an absolute killer though. That Toney kid is electric.

Hats off to Indiana. Love how their team plays...very tough and everybody on the same page. When you look back to that game we could have and should have won against them, which was their closest call of the year and an indication of the talent on our team, you can't help but be struck again by what a disastrously wasted opportunity this season was for us. Hard to swallow.
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We had the talent and not the mental toughness. It shows when we were truly tested and when we had to try and bounce back. That's 100% Franklin. It wasn't the first time we saw teams beating us more than one week.

As for Cristobal, what you viewed as taking the foot off of the gas (perhaps), I'm sure he viewed as don't leave enough time for Indiana to march down and add a knockout blow. They didn't execute and missed the long FG. But he left little time for Indiana and Cignetti wasted most of that by not taking the TO. In the end, both could be criticized but it wasn't the difference in the game IMO.

I was surprised to see Miami's offense come to life in that 2nd half. They couldn't do anything it seemed in the first half and Miami's D was on the field an awful lot. I thought we would see Miami's D wear down in that scenario as the game wore on and Indiana get some separation. But Miami was the more effective offence in that 2nd half and their edge rushers wreaked havoc. Indiana mostly gutted it out and held on. That call and run by Mendoza was truly a Heisman moment.
 
IANit said:
But not the head coach. Indiana was not the most talented team overall this year, but they were extremely well-coached and talented enough. I'd generally take our roster over theirs, except at QB and receiver. Charlie Becker, especially, is an absolute star. I wish we'd had a receiver like that this season.
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The best team, but not the best collection of talent. The best team won and are champs, as it should be. Otherwise, the '86 Canes and others would be crowned champs.
 
LudicrousSpeedGO! said:
We had the talent and not the mental toughness. It shows when we were truly tested and when we had to try and bounce back. That's 100% Franklin. It wasn't the first time we saw teams beating us more than one week.
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I think there were several factors that led to PSU's demise:

1) It was typical for Franklin teams to come up short in big games like Oregon. The best teams play to win but Franklin's teams failed time after time in big moments. I don't know if it was overcoaching but the play calling became questionable and the players played tight.

2) Franklin teams would have usually rebounded against teams like UCLA and NW but not this time. I think the pressure finally got to Franklin after another last minute big game loss vs Oregon. I really think the guy cracked mentally. He looked totally lost on the sideline.

3) We were weak at LB going into the season then Rojas got hurt. PSU had no plan B. It reminded me of when Clifford got hurt vs Iowa and Roberson couldn't even get the snap count right. It also didn't help that the entire defense seemed confused about their assignments. Look at AJ Harris who was an all conference player only to get benched for a time.

FWIW I think in spite of everything PSU would have finished 9-3 instead of 6-6 if Rojas didn't get hurt. He would have stopped some of those 3rd and long QB runs. Remember, we only lost to UCLA by 5, NW by 1, and Iowa by 1.

4) The staff was very careful with Grunk after Allar got hurt. More running was a good idea but I think they were reluctant to let the inexperienced RS freshman to throw during the first couple of games.

5) I think Grunk was great. He and the staff restricted his throwing vs Iowa and then he had to play OSU & Indy. That's a tall order for RS freshman QB and we nearly beat Indy. Then we won the last 4. I think letting Grunk get away was a huge mistake by Campbell. I understand he wanted his guy but we have nobody in reserve if Becht gets hurt. Also, Grunk has 3 years or eligibility remaining.
 
It might have already been mentioned in this thread, but IU's RB Kaelon Black hits the hole like a missile. Maybe it's a combo of his style and the OL's blocking philosophy. There's no dancing or bouncing at the line.
 
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