| Is This The Year Of The Canes?? |
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Perhaps its just the euphoria of Football season coming down upon us. With NFL Preseason in full swing and the College Football season set to kick off in under two weeks, its time to wax nostalgically about our great yester-years and about the potential of what very will could be for the 2010-11 season. One thing that I find myself getting giddy about is the fact that my Hurricanes and Cowboys look like they have a very promising year ahead of them. We will get into Dallas Cowboys later in the season, but for now I would like to take a moment to relate a article that I got from our belove crew over at Eye of the Hurricane with JSQ penning out a wonderful article. After reading this article, if your not a Canes fan...you will be envious to not have a fan like this on your side. Sit back...relax and Enjoy the ride!!!
The View From Mars: Our Faith Be Tested
You will not find a more “bold, brash and ballsy” statement or prediction than the USA Today/Coaches Poll released last week. Miami plays six teams in the top 20 (#2, #6, #15, #17, #18 and #20). No, that is not a typo. Six, seis, sechs, sis. Any which way you slice it, the U is poised for the most compelling run to a National Title…ever. No one in the country is looking at matching the same feat. Want to go even further? Depending on which link you click or magazine you buy, Miami will face – and beat – the leading candidate to win the Big Ten, Big East and ACC. Figure we may match up against the winner of the SEC in the Fiesta Bowl on January 10, 2011 and you get the picture that the motto “anyone, any place, any time” takes on a whole new meaning (GAYtors take note).
Every press release, every individual that attended the fall practice points to the same thing Bruce Feldman saw back in January, Miami is bigger, faster and stronger. Miami looks the part. There is a maturity about these men, and make no mistake, they are men not boys. The days of high school “baby fat” starting are over. These are twenty, twenty-one year old men with two, three years of experience and training. I recall two years ago complaining out loud that our team looked small compared to the opposition and SEC teams. No more. I recall seeing our lines get pushed around at will. No more. I remember the team wilting away in the 4th quarter before our eyes. No more. No more! It took time, and a lot of patience. Even arduous Shannon detractors must recognize two things: a) how bare the cupboard was three years ago, and b) how full it is now.
Clemson and Pitt will be two different animals (get it?!). Clemson got Parker back for one more year, but lost out on their top WR, RB and TE. I will take the absolute homer route on this one and say that the reason we win is: a one man team needs to replace its one man (C.J. Spiller). Yeah the crowd will be into it, but when Parker keeps running back to the sidelines after three and outs, it will become a murmur. Pitt, on the other hand, presents a different challenge. Pitt’s staff has proven it can develop players (according to CFN, their two top players “didn’t even sniff out scholarship offers.”). Their staff however, hasn’t shown the ability to make adjustments at the half. Pitt outscored its opponents 221-110 in 2009, yet managed to lose three games. Their Defense will be stout, and their running game with Lewis can be striking. However, they need an OLine to block, and lost 3 starters in the middle of it. In addition, Pitt will have an inexperienced QB at the helm (and they ranked 68th in passing last year!). His snaps will come against Utah and New Hampshire prior to taking an 11 day break before the Canes come calling. A nice breather will come the way of Duke on October 16, before coming back to the first of three grudge matches. UNC has dominated us the last three years. We are 0-3 against the Tar Heels. Realize that for a second. If there is a game we need to win, it is this one. UNC will come in with the ACC’s pre-season pick for best defense. However, their woes are on offense. TJ Yates is the model for inconsistency and no way their offense jumps dramatically from their cellar 102nd passing and 79th rushing rankings. Their D would have to all but shut us out to win this game, and that is not happening. Last year, a one-handed Harris torched UNC for almost 500 yards, but it was his interceptions that did us in at the end. After this game, Maryland, Virginia and South Florida will simply be fillers for the next important games of GT and VA Tech. Cane fans, the path is laid for absolute greatness. If there was a moment to behold, to seize, it is this one. This one season is littered with opportunities not challenges. Prepped for achievements and glory. This team is but a kick-off away from returning to where heroes walk and immortality lives. Let the passions run free and faith build high, this Canes team is coming, let the rest of the country start praying in unison, “Our Father…”
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Pre-season magazines are out, polls by everyone and anyone are a weekly occurrence, and the calendar says we are midway through August. This is the time of the year that “daily practice reports” are akin to that 2:30 p.m. caffeine fix. Where memos, reports, cases and errands are pushed back in the mornings to check what any opinionated self proclaimed expert – from the major media outlets to those with a catchy column title and a generous forum – might have to say about the religion that has become college football. Make no mistake about it, academia pigskin is a religion. From the passions it demands, the Hail Mary, the locker room prayer, to the core of its ethos. College football is a faith. Most importantly, however, Miami made it a religion. When Notre Dame came out of their home tunnel only to find the Miami players there, it made them pray. When FSU sees the word “Miami” in their schedule it makes them kneel, and when the rest of the country sees the renewed hurricane warning a brew, it makes the whole country plead and implore.
Back in the spring of this year, I wrote a piece that essentially ended with these lines: “You still think we can’t go 12-0? Then get off the bandwagon, move to the side and turn in your membership card. Show me a team on the schedule that is more dominant in every phase than we are… Plain and simple. Yes, it is bold, brash and ballsy. I’m a Cane, damn it!” For those of you not fortunate enough to have read such Pulitzer work, the essence of the article is summed up in those lines. I recalled them for a simple reason: I have not backed down from that belief, it has in fact been strengthened.
This is what Miami was built on and this is the attitude that Shannon is oozing. This is not a challenge, it is an opportunity to be great. Shannon is not letting the team think that it is a tough schedule. He is telling everyone that will listen that this is what you want. You want to be in that stadium against those teams, on national t.v. and in prime time. You don’t want to claim stake to greatness while showing “W’s” against Charleston Southern, Troy and Appalachian State! And as a true Miami fan, you thrive to step into their house. You want to be in those situations. That makes champions, it makes winners. Attitude reflects leadership, and we have a whole lot of it going on around these parts this time of the year.
Melvin Bratton said that competition was so high back in the day, that you would hesitate to go drink water in fear that someone may take your spot. That is where we are now. Jacory Harris is in everyone’s Heisman Watch list. His receiving corps are so deep and talented that Kendall Thompkins has been the talk of every practice. The stable of ‘backs is so confident and fast that Storm Johnson recently said “I’m scared of my own ability.” Back in that spring, my fear was the production from the TE position. Yet, here come Asante Cleveland and Chase Ford and turn heads by making plays at every turn. And so, I assume that the ol’ mantra of “we go the way the offensive line goes” will hover amongst us all again. True, that the move of Figs to RT was not welcomed with cheers from the mass populace. But, I say this to thee, we have ten days until our first dress-rehearsal, and three weeks until the quick trip to the Midwest. That is almost a month of going against the absolute best, fastest and deepest defensive line rotation in the country. In addition, no one can question that this Oline is an upgrade to last year’s. Without a doubt. How much of an upgrade it is? It remains to be seen. Furthermore, our blocking assignments will be aided with the return of Pat Hill in the backfield and our best blocking TE, Richard Gordon. Regardless, take peace in this. Time, talent and depth are on our staff’s side.
Another aspect that is on our side, is this daunting defense that Miami will roll out. With a First Team All-American candidate in two units (Bailey and Harris) and an Honorable mention in the third (McCarthy), the U will have speed, experience, and talent in droves. Three players may have been singled out by the press, but there is a lot more to this D than that. Telemaque is in every single practice report making plays, DVD has shown a welcoming maturity, Ojomo and Forston are dying to unleash, and Spence should be better than the player we saw two years ago when he was named All ACC Freshman. Making your toes tingle yet? Imagine the force of this defense playing their second year under the same system. No thinking, just reacting. No doubting, just hitting, intercepting and making plays. This team will make plays. This team is ready for what we all have been waiting for, and the schedule sets up perfectly.
Miami has nine days before the Ohio Taint game, twelve days before the Pitt game, and nine days before Clemson. Genius. This will allow extra time to prepare for the first five games. One cannot begin to overstate the importance of extra days. One more wrinkle, one more formation, one more blitz…all game changers. College Football is such an emotion-driven game that these extra days allow for that coach’s touch to make a difference between a win or loss. It’s like a runner having an extra day, or a basketball team coming off a back-to-back while the opposing team is waiting for 5 days. It will allow Coach Whipple to key in on the strength of Taint’s defense, the DLine and LB. For Coach Lovett to put in one more blitz to confuse Pryor. Playing them will not make us re-discover the wheel. They play conservative, close to the vest – no pun intended – allowing their defense to set them up, and only throw to spice up the drive. Look for Tressel to limit Pryor’s hand. The more throws coming out of the backfield, the more comfortable Tressel will feel with his QB. However, if we see a 65%-45% run to pass ratio, we can feel secure in two things: 1) Taint is going to play their brand of ball, and 2) Tressel is not confident in his quarterback’s ability to beat us with his arm. The more “repeatable” and customary Ohio Taint is, the easier the game will go.
Hardly preparation for the speed and talent coming his way. A win here will come from the trenches. Our Dline should embarrass their Oline and ours must hold on to theirs. I see our staff running the ball extensively in this game, off-setting whatever edge their front seven may have. Long, time-eating drives, will push their green QB into mistakes. After four W’s, we will enter the game against FSU with more energy. It’s a home game, after a long month, finally this team will be home, and undefeated. Stoops needs to prove that FSU’s defense has changed under his tutelage. Still, there is no way on this green earth I would ever pick them over Miami…ever! Miami has shown that all things being equal, we have more heart. Heck, even when there was a disparity in talent in ’08 we came one flag away in a monsoon from a historical comeback. So, despite G-d’s sense of humor of making my girlfriend a ‘Nole (and no we are not sitting together on gameday), I’m going to say that we are undefeated half-way through the season.
Last year’s GT game was a woodshed beating, this year should be no different. VA Tech may be one of those “payback” games if there ever was one. This team was manhandled all day last year, and a statement needs to be made. The home team is usually the winner in this series, and with all on the line, I’m giving the home nod to us.
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