Game Eleven : Miami 34, Duke 16

Who ever thought Miami and Duke would be a rivalry on the gridiron? On paper, this sounded like a good hardwood match up, but when these two ACC foes were slated to meet during football season, most expected a one-sided affair with the five time champion Hurricanes rolling heads and dominating the Blue Devils.

Not quite.

Close match ups in 2006, 2007 and the first half of 2008, when Jacory Harris entered the game in the third quarter and blew things wide open in a 49-31 Miami victory.

This season’s contest was eerily similar, with Duke again holding a three-point halftime lead. Rumors of the Blue Devils celebrating before the second half and Harris going ballistic might be blown out of proportion, but the result was enough to earn the Miami quarterback ACC Player Of The Week honors for the fourth time this season. Harris finished the day 25-of-43 for 348 yards with two touchdowns and one interception; the majority of his success coming in the second half.

Between Harris’ arm, the legs and tough running style of Damien Berry and a tremendous effort of Darryl Sharpton – who recorded a career-high 12 tackles and a 73-yard interception for touchdown – Miami outscored Duke 24-3 in the second half, en route to a convincing 34-16 victory.

348 passing yards. 14-for-21 on third down efficiency. 148 yards on the ground with three capable backs. Cutting down on turnovers and penalties. Fighting back after being behind most of the game. On paper it may have been Duke, but in the end it was another successful day for Miami football, regardless of what the critics say.

The message board vultures were out in full force on game day; an easy task when only 38,200 show up to Land Shark. Coaches were trashed, play calling was ripped and a three-point halftime deficit was being treated like a three touchdowns loss.

What ever happened to looking at the bigger picture? How did overemotional behavior and knee-jerk reactions take the place of logically-fueled debates and friendly banter?

Hell, whatever happened to waiting until the end of a game and judging the final result?

The same portion of the fan base ripping this team at halftime is the same bunch shredding Randy Shannon early in the third quarter of his rebuilding project.

8-3 isn’t where anyone wants to be right now. Not the coaches, not the players and not the superfans pecking away online. This is the University of Miami – the most accomplished program in the modern era. Expectations are high. Success is demanded.

That being said, the Canes don’t simply get a pass for being “The U”. There’s a price to be paid for poor recruiting and a lack of player development. You can’t go through the motions for half a decade and not feel the ramifications.

You also can’t make up for five foot-dragging years in three pedal-to-the-metal rebuilding years.

Everyone wants their beloved “U” back and nobody more than the lone man to roll up his sleeves to take on this project. A former player, a former assistant and the current head coach with more invested at UM than every uber fan combined.

Year three on the job, two full recruiting classes under his belt (and one he saved at the final hour.) A revolving door regarding assistants who haven’t held up their end of the bargain – be it through incompetence (Patrick Nix and Tim Walton) or leaving their post prematurely (Bill Young).

Mark Whipple was hired as offensive coordinator and fans jumped on that bandwagon immediately. Whipple’s devil-may-care attitude was praised as fans dug up old articles where the ‘whiplash’ offense was described, as well as the demeanor of a balls out signal caller unafraid to go for a 4th and long, deep in his own territory.

Whipple was also praised for his tutelage of NFL stars Ben Roethlesberger and Donovan McNabb; yet he’s not taking any heat for Miami’s 8-3 record of J12’s nation’s worst seventeen interceptions – ten in the last five games.

Whipple holds the title of assistant head coach and has been given free reign to run Miami’s offense, yet Shannon haters continue to pile on the head coach instead of their beloved offensive guru.

For the record, I’m not ‘pro’ or ‘con’ regarding Shannon, Whipple or anyone else on this staff. I’m all about the University of Miami and I want the Hurricanes to again be a top the college football world. I choose to support Randy and from day one have believed that this was a five-year rebuild. Should UM not be back on top by 2011, I’ll be the first in line calling for change. Not now, though.

Not three years in. Not at 8-3, with a chance to go 10-3. Not on the heels of 7-6 and before that, 5-7. Not when Larry Coker left such a mess that not even Greg Schiano wanted to leave New Jersey to rebuild from the ground up.

You don’t piss and moan when you’re down three points at halftime and you don’t call for a coaches head just past the halfway point of a rebuild. As we’ve seen often with these 2009 Canes, the second half is when things happen.

Miami trailed Oklahoma Wake Forest and Duke at the half, yet dug deep, found inspiration and pulled out big time wins. Close games against Florida State and Central Florida were also decided in the second half, proving there’s a reason games are sixty minutes and not thirty.

The Canes continue showing they have fight and heart; a big step forward year three in the Shannon Era. Next up, South Florida and another interstate rivalry. A chance at 9-3. A bigger bowl game berth on the line.

Even more than that, another new experience for Miami. The Canes haven’t won a season finale since an inspired win over Boston College in 2006. Time to reverse that curse in Tampa.

Canes v. Bulls preview coming later this week. Stay tuned.

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