The Miami Hurricanes are ‘back’ – and that’s not just me talking; it’s the theme of the day. Miami Herald. Sun Sentinel. ESPN. Sports Illustrated. Sporting News. Bloggers. Talking heads. Everybody and their mother is geeked out on this new offense, a swarming defense and the fact that Randy Shannon seemingly has this team on track early on in year three.
As I type this, Tony Kornheiser opened ESPN’s “Pardon The Interruption” with the question, “Is The U Back?” He went on to say, “I think college football is well served when Miami is good…. I like Miami. I want them to be good. It’s good for college football.”
Preach on, Brother Tony.
For those who missed some ink, dig on these links:
>>> ESPN/AP Recap: Click here
>>> Ivan Maisel’s “Hurricane Warning”: Click here
>>> Andy Staples “Hurricanes weathering early tests”: Click here
>>> Susan Miller Degnan’s “The Swagger Is Back”: Click here
>>> Edwin Pope’s “It’s No Illusion…”: Click here
>>> Greg Cote’s “Hurricanes Defense Steps Up To The Challenge”: Click here
>>> Manny Navarro’s “Harris As Sharp As A Surgeon’s Scalpel”: Click here
>>> Linda Robertson’s “UM’s Fortunes Are In Receivers’ Hands”: Click here
Local and national, everyone is talking Miami today… except Georgia Tech. The Atlanta media… a big-mouthed fan base… inexplicably quiet today.
The AJC’s Jeff Schultz took a shot at the Canes earlier this week (“Is Miami Taking Georgia Tech Lightly?”), implying that UM was looking past GT and that the win over FSU was being blown out of proportion. Columnist Chris Boggs took it a step further with his “Miami… Substance or Swagger?” piece – complete with his bogus top ten reasons Tech would roll the Canes.
Par for the course, neither journalist sacked up this morning and ate crow. Shultz admitted Miami was a “good” team, but never fully gave credit and seemed to be too hung up on the past instead of the present (“This was a good team Georgia Tech lost to. But to be so dominated by a school you had beaten in four straight meetings and pancaked last season for 472 yards rushing indicates something is seriously wrong.”) Shultz even had some pregame jitters, attempting to lay some blame on back-to-back Thursday night games.
How about trying this one on for size – maybe the problem wasn’t Georgia Tech’s inability to block or run. Maybe this is simply proof that when Miami has the athletes, your hometown squad can’t hang. Maybe this proves what UM fans have said the past few years – that Tech’s wins over the Canes were somewhat hollow based on the state of the program. 19-19 the past few seasons, who WASN’T taking it to The U these past few years?
Just as LSU outtalented and outworked Georgia Tech in last year’s bowl game, Miami now has the higher caliber athletes who aren’t going to wilt against a gimmicky triple option.
As for Boggs, his in-game blogging was laughable. My favorite line, “Patrick Nix is no longer calling the offense in Miami”. Very astute, Chris. Of course that’s been the case for upwards of nine months now, but thanks for noticing.
Par for the course, the blame game… defensive line was gassed… GT “squandered” an offensive opportunity – no credit given to Miami’s defense for making plays, until later in the live blog. Boggs finally admitted Tech was out-coached and out-athleted… but never owned up that his biased top ten list oozed with homerism and was completely off base.
A rather typical reaction from a program that’s never really been there and one that started making its name during an era when Miami was down. As we saw last night, all is right in the world again. Just as it was decades back when the Canes were shredding Nebraska’s option and Oklahoma’s wishbone, gimmicky offenses don’t work against a speedy, aggressive UM defenses.
Talent. Depth. Two solid coordinators. Year three in The Shannon Era. It’s all starting to come together. Other ACC foes, beware – your run of beating up on a down Miami program has officially come to an end.