I wrote this on another thread, but Perry said in the postgame that he was supposed to cut inside in that play but ended up going outside at the last second. Perhaps that's why Sam is late throwing?
Maybe, but they're playing a single high safety, so the corner route should be the read.
Yeah Perry was looking over his right shoulder but the defender played inside. Sam saw the spot to throw it and put it there, Perry made a great catch. Both players recognized the situation and made it work, but it wasn't a route headed for the corner. Watch the play again at the line, he was getting pressure straight up the middle and the pocket was collapsing on both sides as well.
All this second guessing of Hartman after a 6-0 start is getting ridiculous. Sam "the second coming" Howell just barely threw for 200 yards with a pick against a much worse FSU defense at home in a disastrous loss. Sam "he's just mediocre" Hartman is now 6-0 and threw for over 300 yards and 3 TD's with a game-winning OT walk-off on the road despite sketchy protection all day. It's not some criminal offense to hit an open guy but not lead him enough when you complete the pass - ask Louisville if they wish they had a couple of those overthrows back in our game.
Big difference between saying Hartman has missed a few throws or we've struggled in protection and calling him out as mediocre or underperforming. He's playing high-level football right now, even with the imperfections.
If by "the defender" you mean the cornerback, this is clearly and indisputably wrong. Yes, there is a single high safety, who is, by definition, inside, but that was easily visible pre-snap. Syracuse is obviously showing man free with a single high safety. That should be a cue already that the route needs to go to the outside.
As indicated, Syracuse mans up after the snap. The safety has dropped off the screen in the deep middle. Syracuse brings five on the rush. Our RB stayed in to block, so his defender drifts in the middle of the field as a spy/underneath zone. You can clearly see Perry's man is playing outside leverage, because that's what you do with a single high safety--funnel the receiver to your help in the middle of the field. That should confirm that they're in man free and that Perry needs to go to the corner.
As the play develops, it's even clearer the corner is playing outside leverage, with his arm on Perry's outside (left shoulder). You can also see Whiteheart running down the middle of the field, in what appears to be a deep route (he's 10+ yards downfield by the end of the play), which would be another reason for Perry to turn it outside.
Just before he leaves the screen, Perry's man still playing outside leverage. Perry also seems to have rubbed Roberson's defender, who is likewise on his outside shoulder. The pocket is still good and Sam is still clean here. There are 10 Syracuse defenders on-screen (5 rushing the passer, 1 in that semi-zone/spy, and 4 manned up), with the high safety off-screen in the middle of the field.
Maybe the route was originally designed to go up the middle, but the read looks pretty clear to me, and Sam doesn't let go of the ball until almost 2 seconds later. No one's saying that Sam is just mediocre or underperforming--I find it's a sign that you don't have much of an argument when you have to argue against what people don't say. He's a good to very good college quarterback, but has had, by his standards, a couple of mediocre performances.
For the record, I would say the touchdown pass to Perry was a good, solid play. It could have been better, but had a lot more room to be worse, and a majority of college QBs wouldn't be able to make it. His problems in this game were more on the deep balls and the horrible miss against Chapman that I was very worried was going to come back to bite us.
