Crazy two extremes the media goes in regards to the University of Miami and this football program. No program gets kicked more when they’re down, yet right now The U is the new flavor of the month in college football.
Truth be told, who is playing like the top flight team in the land?
Florida? Hardly. You can’t bump your gums about how Tennessee is going to get rolled… only to deliver a lackluster performance, while complaining afterwards that your boys had the sniffles.
Southern Cal? Upended at Washington. Next.
Ohio State? Same ol’, same ol’. Beat up the nobodies and fall to any quality opponent – home or away.
Texas? Too early to tell, but a dogfight with an unranked Texas Tech team didn’t help their cause.
Alabama? Definitely up there after a win over Virginia Tech, but wins over Florida International and North Texas don’t really mean much.
Ole Miss? Penn State? Cal? LSU? Undefeated, but also lacking quality wins… which brings you to Miami.
In today’s Forde Yard Dash on ESPN.com, columnist Pat Forde ranked Miami No. 1 in his ‘power rankings’, sating:
“The Dash sent in the weekly ESPN.com power rankings with Miami ranked No. 1. This was not caused by drinking turpentine while filling out the Top 25, or by losing a bet with Melvin Bratton. It was caused by using results-based appraisals instead of being influenced by August guesswork or rigid adherence to a slot-voting mentality.
The Dash went with the Hurricanes because they’ve done the best work to date in this young season, beating two ranked opponents.”
Of course some of Forde’s counterparts didn’t feel the same – Tim Griffin (Big XII Blogger), Chris Low (SEC Blogger) and Ivan Maisel (ESPN.com Senior Writer) all kept Florida at No. 1 and had Miami 11th, 9th and 11th, respectively.
Forde hits the nail on the head, reminding folks that ESPN.com power rankings are “truly for entertainment purposes only”. A nice disclaimer, giving him a reason to get some site traffic with his over the top prediction.
Miami isn’t the top-flight team in the country (…yet), but it’s nice to see the Canes garner some early respect after taking n Florida State and Georgia Tech back-to-back weeks. Of course the proof will be in Virginia Tech and Oklahoma. Win those two and even Forde’s counterparts have to come around.
Good article, while it's great to finally get respect, I am getting a little anxious about receiving so many accolades so early. I am positive Shannon will keep these boys' heads grounded and egos in check, but I am getting a little superstitious about all the praise we are getting. I feel its too much too soon, we still have two more big games left and do not need any distractions as these will undoubtedly be our biggest tests. Let's be honest here, Shannon will do his best to keep the team level headed, but these are young kids receiving national praise and media attention(their egos will still inflate) dammit i hope this isnt a jinx. Two more major games to go, LET'S GO CANES.
finally the Canes getting the credit they deserve!!
Where's the ESPN bias?
I think in the beginning of the season the polls should be more fluid than they tend to be, overall. The preseason rankings aren't really based on any facts, merely assumptions. The U deserves to be ranked where they are right now based on who they have played and beaten, so I do give the pollsters more credit than usual. At the same time, how are teams like Penn State and Ole Miss ranked where they are, and based on what? Yes, The Rebels beat UF last year, but who have they played so far and have they looked impressive? Penn State was blown out by USC last year, eeked by OSU, and so far has only played Directional Community College X. It's laughable that they are Top 5, but these are just examples of what I think are pretty random rankings of many teams. It's basically based on last year and who's coming back, but it should be more on the field performance. With Miami's schedule, The U deserves every accolade they get.
-Columbus Cane
the same pat forde who jumped all over miami for the 7th floor crew song… making the canes #1 in his poll.. OKAY!
Some say Miami is ranked too high, others want miami to be in the same talk with the other undefeated teams.
Hey, i guess only MATH can solve this one out.. hooray for the BCS poll
Part of this is sudden ESPN love is a realization that The U is better than they expected this year. However, I think a bigger part of it is the need to sell a story. People don't want to read another regurgitation of Tebow, McCoy, and Clausen. So we're a convenient, fresh story for them to get people clicking on their pages. Forde may not even believe what he wrote, but he probably got a whole lot of clicks today because of the headline. The 'Canes just have to back it all up now.
I agree completely with ATL CANE FAN, feeling really wierd heading up to blacksburg this weekend and hope its not to much. but seeing the interview with J12 today gave some reassurance that these canes are levelheaded and on a mission. check out the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfCtE-0l5qA
TO BE HONEST I'M NOT FEELING THE LOVE ESPN IS SUDDENLY GIVING TO THE U FOR THE PAST FEW SEASONS THEY SHOWED US AGAINST TEAMS GETTING SCORED ON LIKE WE WERE THE WORST SQUAD IN FOOTBALL NOW EVERYBODYS ON OUR JOCK I FEEL THAT OUTSIDE OF KURT HERBSTREET & DESMOND HOWARD NOBODY THOUGHT WE WOULD BE ANYWHERE NEAR THE TOP 25 LET ALONE THE TOP 10 ESPN GET OFF THE BANDWAGON!!KEEP HATIN ON US!!
Also keep in mind UM is halfway thru the 4 game stretch, and they have not looked bad in both games. The Media sees that Miami is getting better every week. At the rate they are playing, J12 will have his way with teams from week 5 until!
There is not ONE team on their schedule that looks like they can match them point for point! UNC may have a good defense, but their offense cannot match the effort, but on the otherside, UM's D has the ability to match the O!
As long as they can out score you, and you have to play catch up, it's lights out!
What offense scares you right now? NONE! The talent level starts to go downhill after the OU game, and thats what the Media is looking at right now!
Canes fans, enjoy the ride, because next season, we get allllll the horses at home, and becasue of the effort this year, we will have bodies in the seats!!!
Go []_[]!!!
Miami will lose to VT…
The Canes have – thus far – exceeded expectations and hence, the hype.
I just don't see them as #1 right now. Perhaps a top 10 team, but not #1.
The offense has performed extremely well against two quality opponents.
The defense was suspect against FSU, but greatly improved against GT.
The special teams play, however, has left much to be desired – especially in regard to field goals and (gulp) kick off coverage.
For two straight games, FSU and GT regularly started on a short field due to poor kick offs or coverage. Va Tech has historically had superior special teams and they will no doubt exploit that weakness in Miami. In fact, it may well cost UM the game against VT if the score is close.
Hopefully the coaches have addressed the special teams play and we'll see a much improved performance.
Knock off VT in Blacksburg, and I think UM can definitely make a claim to being top 5.
Knock off Oklahoma, go 4-0, and I definitely think they are number 1. (Unfortunately, there is no way UF gets supplanted barring a loss, but I can see UM at #2 should they go 4-0)
Lose at VT and UM stays in the top 25 (maybe 20 or so) and has an opportunity to redeem itself.
Lose at VT and against OU at home and I think UM is out of the 25 altogether. Pure speculation of course and lots of variables apply, but in general, I don't think a 2-2 team stays in the top 20 or 25 when there will be lots of 3-1/4-0 teams still.
All just talk of course, and believe me, after the last few years, it is such a pleasure to talk about UM at 2-0 rather than 0-2!
One game at a time … just win baby!
Go Canes!
can you order some new swingman(the one with the stiched numbers, but not authentic) jacory jerseys! please, i need to get one as soon as possible!
J12 for HEISMAN or should I say HE12MAN.
ESPN is not stupi. They are hyping up the 'Canes because they know Miami gets them the best ratings. Hype them up now so the showdown vs Oklahoma will be HUGE.
I'm loving all the praise we're getting and don't believe it will be a distraction come Saturday
I can't wait for Canes/OU, that should be the real test. Until then they are completely unproven but very promising. Although I agree that teams like Florida and Texas really haven't done much this season, when you accomplish what those teams have done in the past and are returning the players that they have, you really only need wins to impress and that is what they have done so far.
-Brian Mumbojumbosports.com
I don't why people care about rankings. We are 2 games into the season. Just 2! It's the oldest cliche in the books, take it one game at a time!! The schedule only gets harder, not easier. Just take care of business! Go Canes!
This is just the beginning we have to continue to take care of business rankings don't mean a thing. We need to go into Blacksburg and take care of the Hokies. All this hype does not need to be in the head of the U. We are going to Blacksburg not an easy place to win. They want this win.
I have a funny feeling that we will lose this game against VT. This is entirely too much press and hype for miami! I hope they can handle it and don't let it go to their heads. You guys remember last year when we were ranked number 23 and we started to get press and attention. Then we lost to GT in Atlanta. I have a strong feeling it's going to happen to us again. I hope that I am wrong but I'm trying to keep my fingers cross on this one. If we win in Blacksburg, I will be really confident against OU! In the meantime, I am really, really, really nervous about this VT game!