Another game and another week where the question remains; which Miami shows up?
Sitting at 5-2, just past the halfway mark, this season is already a success. The Hurricanes weathered the early storm, hung on against a few lesser foes and fell to two quality ACC opponents; Virginia Tech and most recently, Clemson.
Five games remain, with a slim shot at a BCS berth potentially in the cards. At best, a 10-2 regular season. Realistically, 9-3 looks like a logical conclusion regarding year three in the Randy Shannon era.
For all those balking at the premise of 9-3, remember where this program spent the past three seasons; somewhere between 7-6 and 5-7.
You might also want to remember how you originally predicted this season playing out. For many, 9-3 was a dream and 8-4 would’ve been considered a step forward – yet at 5-2, many folks are ready to write off 2009 and consider the season a failure. Typical Miami.
Should fans be miffed over the performance against Clemson? Absolutely. The majority of the game was a car crash. Jacory Harris was half awesome and half awful. The offensive line earned a big ol’ “fail”.
Defensively and special teams-wise, the Canes had their fair share of breakdowns. Coaching-wise, Shannon, Mark Whipple and John Lovett came across as playing not to lose, as opposed to having their squad performing like the No. 8 team in the land. All that said, last week is in the rearview.
When Miami fell to Virginia Tech earlier in the season, Harris received a text message from former Cane great Ken Dorsey. The former quarterback’s advice for the current quarterback? Simple, yet poignant; don’t let the Hokies beat you twice. Oklahoma was on the docket and it was imperative that Miami was ready for its next opponent, no longer dwelling on its last.
Wake Forest welcomes Miami on Saturday and the Demon Deacons are a shell of the team who won the ACC a few years back. Riley Skinner remains behind center, but gone are the supporting players who made head coach Jim Grobe look all world.
The Deacs stumble in 4-4, coming off back-to-back losses. Clemson schooled them 38-3 and last week, an embarrassing 13-10 loss to Navy; a squad that didn’t complete one pass in the contest.
On paper, a Miami win would be a safe bet. In reality, another week where a decent squad can step up and save their season with an upset win.
In reality, the Canes are as banged up as they have been all season and will again rely on unproven upperclassmen to carry the load.
For those keeping score, Miami now officially has eight players out for the year and six more which are sidelined against Wake. The biggest names on that list; Ray Ray Armstrong, Sean Spence, Javarris James and Eric Moncur. Losing Ryan Hill, Adewale Ojomo, Jordan Futch and JoJo Nicolas hurt, as well.
Miami is already underclassmen-heavy in 2009. Over fifty Canes are either freshmen or sophomores and while that bodes well for the future, it is a crushing blow this season with fourteen players sidelined tomorrow and beyond.
While the hard-headed fan pounds the table, screaming “suck it up” and “find a way”, the logical fan knows better. This team is still a year or two away and for all intents and purposes, the Canes are overachieving at 5-2 this year. Another loss (or two) would be understandable, but in the same breath, Miami could still win out if bodies heal and this team plays better football.
The key this week? Shannon’s ability to get Miami’s collective head out of the toilet after a heartbreaking loss. Rebounding from a 31-7 pounding at the hands of Virginia Tech? Chalk it up as a bad day out. A 40-37 OT loss to Clemson in a back and forth shootout? A completely different ball of wax.
Word out of Coral Gables is that a ‘focused’ Miami took the field all week. The standard soundbites came out of the usual suspects; guys like Jason Fox owning the loss and talking about the Canes rebounding. All of that may sell newspapers, but it doesn’t win ballgames.
The Canes’ defensive line needs to get after Skinner in the way they didn’t get after freshman Tigers quarterback Kyle Parker last week. Miami let Parker play like a Heisman-worty senior. Lovett must get aggressive defensively, rattling a veteran quarterback early and looking for turnovers.
Offensively, Miami is without James, but Graig Cooper and Mike James must be ready to go. Take the pressure off Harris by implementing an effective ground game. Wake’s defense has proven suspect and Miami has to answer. Don’t be afraid of the deep ball. Rely on J-12 and let the sophomore quarterback get his mojo back against a squad known for giving up the big play.
The Deacs should be the right remedy for a Canes win… but only if this squad is mentally ready to play.
Even with the injuries, it’s hard to argue against Miami this week. On paper, Wake is the second to last easiest opponent the Canes face from this point on (Duke earns the top spot, visiting Land Shark on 11/21).
The Call: Miami 34, Wake Forest 20
One thing that should be mentioned is the majority of those injured are on the defensive side of the ball. Because of that I think Whipple needs to open up the offense and try to outgun teams for the next few games. Shannon needs to take the reigns off and let Whipple pour it on as he sees fit. The D has been on the ropes so the O needs to carry the team for a while. Yes Wake just lost to Navy but that means nothing when we come to town. They could easily beat us if we don't play right, as they showed last year in almost coming out with the W. How well the D-line plays early on will be key to any success we have as a unit overall. I think they can get it done, but it remains to be seen. I haven't seen Wake play at all this year but I do know they have Skinner as QB and he's a veteran, so I'm wary of him. I think we have better players and in the end it will be enough for us. Canes-31 Deacs 24
Is it me, or was the officiating a bit off last week? How did they miss that block in the back (replayed on the jumbotron) that led to Clemson's 3rd TD? Looked like a hold at the 40 yd. line on the kickoff return for TD.
Seems like injuries are increasing year over year. Why is that? Thanks for putting things in perspective…GO CANES!
f injurys were wins the U would be the highest ranked team in the country. All you have to do is look at the injury lists of other teams, and you see the U's list is 4 or 5 times the average. ESPN.com has all ACC injury reports listed, one after the other, and you cant deny this team appears to have been run over by a truck, Albeit a truck specifically aiming for extremities.
The interesting thing is that it appears player doing somersaults and handstands leaving the field after the game have been inexplicably struck by the extremity seeking truck five days later.
Does this have anything to do with the philosophy of full speed, full contact "flyin' round" during practices late in the week? With season ruining injuries mounting, does it do more harm than good to have these guys pounding each other during the game in the name of competition? It would appear that competition doesn't do all that much good when the people competing end up out indefinitely with faulty extremities.
Obviously, when the team has more depth an extremity going bad doesnt matter all that much as another body with fully functioning extremities AND equivalent talent steps up. Thats not the case…. yet.
So, do all teams hit as much as this one does during mid season practices or are we shooting ourselves in the lower extremity by competing so hard on Wednesday that we cant compete on Saturday?
Was I the only one who noticed that Shannon was miffed at Whipple, or vice versa, after calling a timeout late in the game on a drive? Any help?
I was having fits watching this game…the OL wasn't protecting J12, and the defense just wasn't doing well. We got turnovers, and they really counted, but we put little pressure on WF's QB. Regardless Miami won, and I'm happy now….but my heart is still racing and my throat s sore from yelling at the tv.
Say what you want about that game but a lesser team doesnt come back from that. Wake was as fired up as they have been all year and Miami was as flat as they have been all year and they were still able to muster the energy to win the game. With that said tho, this team has to play better down the stretch. The defense has played horribly the last few weeks and that needs to be fixed ASAP. Good win tho, 6-2 sounds a helluva lot better than 5-3
A win is a win, right? In one sense this was a great come from behind victory with a key 4th and 16 conversion. On the other hand c'mon this was against Wake who lost big to Clemson. Jacory was money when it counted,but he also made some bad reads. Seems like more than earlier this year. To me, biggest issue is defense. I know there are alot of injuries, but the secondary has been fair at best all year. To beat UNC we definitely need to step it up. I'm thrilled we are having a good year, but we have got to improve to win out this year. We have got to play to our potential. I feel like defensive play is our weak point. A Bailey is the type of dominant player we had in the day. Hopefully more guys can get to his level of intensity. I believe we have got the athletes on defense(even with the injuries) and hopefully they can maintain focus and we win out. Go Canes!
I would like to thank the Miami coaching staff for giving me the scariest Halloween I can remember….
Hated by many, loved by few, WE are the U
heh we all had a creepy Halloween. everybody did Especially in the ACC.
All Cane, can you do a piece on Miami O-Line. I think we need to know about how three seniors will be replaced. I just seems that we are not recruiting at this position very well and next year looks bad thin. I can't believe we don't have 3-4 JUCO all-americans in the Bryant McKinnie mold in pipeline.
I was at the game Saturday and although I am thrilled with the win, I am also very concerned going for this finishing stretch! First of all, we NEVER should have won this game! Our defense was HORRIBLE! We could not stop them on 3rd down to save our lives! They went after and beat Brandon Harris EVERY time on 3rd down! We just gave up over 550 yards of offense to Wake Forest for God's sake! I saw up close and personal that this team had no sense of urgency or purpose for most of the 1st half and all of the 3rd qtr. I love Jacory Harris, but his throws are late and have no velocity on them. His lob passes are getting played out real fast! I am not preaching doom and gloom and I am 100% behind this team but I can't ignore the fact that we have some glaring weaknesses right now! We can't play this way against UNC, Duke, or South Florida (UVA doesn't worry me much) or we will get smoked! Injuries are mounting up, but c'mon 550 yards of offense for Wake? That is just unacceptable! I know we can win out, but not with the mentality that the Canes had on Saturday!