Game Six: North Carolina 33, Miami 27

Down 27-0 at the half against a 1-4 team when you’re 4-1? Pretty pathetic any way you slice or dice it. Miami was supposed to be on the rise. The ship was supposedly righted after the 34-17 dismantling of then-#20 Texas A&M.

A road trip to Chapel Hill was supposed to be a tune up game for the meat of the ACC schedule. Not a buzzsaw which sent Miami to 4-2 with question marks entering a stretch where they’ll face Georgia Tech and Florida State back-to-back.

Par for the course, the doom and gloomers are in full force. That in itself is almost as pathetic as a 27-point halftime deficit. I checked out some of the online commentary at halftime and didn’t know whether to laugh or puke.

Let’s get some perspective here, people. Seriously. Calling for the heads of Randy Shannon and/or Patrick Nix is flat out moronic. It took six years for the program to erode as it has and it’ll sure as hell take more than six games to fix all the current problems.

The Canes have been a tale of three teams this year. We saw a young Miami squad beat up pretty badly at Oklahoma. Another rendition took it to aTm on a nationally televised Thursday night outing a few weeks back, playing an almost perfect game. This past weekend we saw The U ‘finish’ a game, as their new leader has taught them – but they forgot how to ‘start it, striking fast and first.

I don’t care who the opponent, 27-point halftime leads are damn near impossible to overcome. While I’m sick to see Miami come out flat and fall behind, there is something positive to be taken from this game as well as some things to harp on:

Kyle Wright. Is there any Cane more in discussion right now? No. As expected, the haters are running their mouths and the Kirby Freeman supporters are chiming in with their “I told you so” b.s. Note to everyone, can it. Wright threw four interceptions on Saturday and you’re not going to win too many games where your quarterback puts you in a hole of that nature. That said, 27-points against North Carolina should be enough for a win.

You want to point a finger? Send it at Miami’s defense and special teams. Call out Tim Walton and Joe Pannunzio. I can’t recall a game where the Canes tackled worse, were out of position or didn’t execute. A blocked punt? Arm tackling? Last I checked, Wright didn’t play defense.

Miami’s defense has spent the past few seasons saying if the offense could muster up 17 points, the defense could win the game. This D gave up 27 in the first half and two field goals in the second en route to a 33-27 loss.

Wright is who he is. Four years in the system, four offensive coordinators, a hot/cold offensive line, a pretty good running game and little stability from his wide outs – until recently. As the 2007 season rolls on, expect to see Wright play some games as he did against the Aggies and other days expect the guy who showed up against the Heels. That’s what happens when you poorly develop a five-star, can’t miss talent.

Look no further than the third quarter 97-yard bomb to Darnell Jenkins for the Tale of Two Wrights. The first attempt sails five yards over the head of Sam Shields and is a poorly thrown ball. One play later, a perfectly executed spiral hitting Jenkins in stride and in the mitts.

#3 is going to do some things exceptionally well and other times he’ll look like the Wright of old. Deal with it. He could throw eight picks a game and he’s still a better option for Miami than Freeman.

Wright’s red zone struggles continues. Sadly, we didn’t see any direct snaps to the running back, a la Texas A&M. Several times that game, either Graig Cooper or Javarris James took direct snaps inside the ten yard line.

With three interceptions under his belt and Miami driving to pull within six, Wright forced the ball into triple coverage. Seemed like the perfect time for a direct snap and to let your running backs work their way into the end zone.

As for the defense… I’m still shell-shocked by the product on the field right now. We’re all accustomed to Miami simply reloading on D – but not this year. The offense is on the upswing, but the defense absolutely took a step back. Bar none, this is the worst defense the Canes have fielded in a decade.

The defensive line is red hot or ice cold. This hardly looked like the same bunch that was in A&M’s backfield all night. The Canes’ d-line was pushed around by a UNC o-line chock full of back ups and nobodies. There is some talent, but it all needs to come together. Right now a mix of guys that are either young, hurt, playing up to their potential half the time or simply doing a good – not great – job.

Linebackers are nowhere near where they should be six games into the season. Colin McCarthy will be a baller, but his youth shows at times. The absence of Darryl Sharpton and Glenn Cook hurts this squad. Spencer Adkins and Tavares Gooden are athletes, but neither has a good enough grip on the mental aspect of the position. Every play, the LBs seem to be shifting and figuring things out on the fly.

None of this helping the fact that Miami’s secondary is another down unit. Kenny Phillips played the game of his season thus far, but when your safeties are leading your team in tackles, somethings gone awry. DeMarcus Van Dyke shows promise, but the freshman is still a work in progress. The experience of Glenn Sharpe is missed at corner and the same for Anthony Reddick at safety.

Too quick to judge Walton, but Shannon needs to micromanage until this side of the ball resembles the Canes of old. To do that…

…Coach Shannon needs to keep the headphones on at all times. The first half, Shannon was headset-less and letting his DC call all the shots. The result, a 27-point deficit. After a fiery halftime speech, the Canes came out and hit the ground running. Shannon sported the headsets, got involved in the play calling and Miami held North Carolina to two field goals the rest of the game. The Canes wrapped up, made plays and forced a fumble.

The word ‘deprogrammed’ was thrown around a lot this weekend regarding this team’s mindset. I’m thrilled this is being stared in the face and acknowledged.

“It’s almost like you have to deprogram these guys to get out of their heads and minds last year,” Shannon said Sunday. “So many things that they went through in the past, they can’t get it out of their minds.”

Attitude. Swagger. A lot of people throw those terms around like it’s a light switch that turns on and off. That’s bull. Miami’s attitude dulled over the past three years and needs to be built back up. Deprogram is the perfect adjective. Shannon oft talks about instilling a winner’s mentality and he’s right.

Miami found themselves in a 27-0 halftime hole the same way they wound up 7-6. Like putting on or taking off weight one pound at a time, the Canes fell apart play-by-play. The downward spiral kicks in and the wheels seem to fall off.

This team is getting some Shannon:101 regarding how to become a championship team in the future. Miami lost by six-point, but another valuable lesson was learned. This team fell short, but it never quit. Not even down 27 points. The Canes fought back on both sides of the ball. They’ll grow from this game. Shannon will make sure of it. I don’t doubt the direction this team is headed in the least. Just learn to absorb some speed bumps along the way.

24 of 40 for 364 yards, 2 TDs and 4 INTs. They might sound like Wright’s numbers from Saturday, but they’re not. Try ‘former’ Heisman candidate, John David Booty as the 41-point favorite second- ranked Southern Cal was dropped by lowly Stanford, 24-23. It was the Trojans first home loss since 2001.

Booty has a big time line, a stable of running back and top-notch talent regarding receivers. USC is loaded and the Cardinal aren’t know for their defense. Still, the big time quarterback choked away their season – and 35-home game win streak.

Miami’s NCAA record 58-home game win streak remains in tact. Thanks, Stanford.

The idiots trashing Miami for dancing and then “getting what they deserved” – could you be anymore off base? Godforbid a team bounces around a little bit in an effort to fabricate some motivation. North Carolina called the perfect play and executed. Good for them, but the Canes did nothing out of line.

Amazing that we’re in a forgiving sports community that will look past all the recent woes at Florida (felony theft) and Florida State (assault on an officer, resisting arrest w/o violence and disorderly conduct) – yet trashes the Canes for bouncing around during a challenge.

Florida stomps out LSU’s logo pre-game and not a word. Miami tries to wake up on defense and it’s on everyones lips. Absolutely ridiculous. Get your eyes checked and your priorities straight, people.

For those still lamenting the loss to UNC, employ the Shannon tactic of forgetting what happened five minutes ago. It’s the past. Move forward. Georgia Tech is this weekend and Miami is always sixty minutes from redemption.

College football was turned on it’s ear the minute Appalachian State blocked a Michigan field goal to upset the #3 team in the land. There are no guarantees in 2007. Look at the past six weeks.

Ten of of the preseason top-25 are now unranked. Seven of the current top-15 and seven of the ten remaining unbeatens were unranked in the preseason.

Cal, Boston College, South Florida and Cincinnati are ranked higher than ever before. Missouri and Kansas haven’t been ranked this high since 1981 and 1995, respectively. The defending national champs just dropped back-to-back games.

Add all those upsets, flukes and changes in the landscape and then tell me why it was impossible to fathom 1) that Miami could lose to North Carolina and 2) that the Canes couldn’t overcome a 27-point halftime deficit. Expect a lot more surprises this season.Nothing is certain.

And yes, Florida losing a heartbreaker in the final moments – after sitting in the driver’s seat most of the game – enhanced my three hour old Crown Royal buzz. The big mouthed Gators were somewhat shut up after being upset by Auburn last weekend (yes, I am still peddling the CandyAss Charley clip) but then Tony Joiner stole a page out of season three of Sanford & Son by breaking into a tow yard at 4am to retrieve his girlfriend’s car.

You know the story from there. Charges dropped within 72 hours. No discipline regarding playing time as it was #1 LSU. Over 200 threatening calls to the tow yard owner about what would happen if he didn’t drop the charges.

“I’m just glad it wasn’t Tim Tebow, that’s all I can say,” Stan Forron told the newspaper. “I think I would be covered in ten feet of concrete right now if it had been Tebow.”

I don’t buy the whole karma thing, but for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. Joiner deserved to ride the pine and Urban Meyer wussed out. Same as he did last year letting Jarvis Moss play against South Carolina after failing a drug test. Moss sat out a week later against Western Kentucky, but only after blocking an extra point and field goal in a 17-16 win over Steve Spurrier and South Carolina.

Meyer has Florida right on par with Florida State with their ‘football first’ mentality and no one in the NCAA or media calls it out. I do. It was mierda last week when Bobby Bowden let recently Tasered Geno Hayes play against Bama and Meyer is equally as wrong this week.

Meanwhile, Shannon is sitting kids for being late to practice and study hall and Miami is still perceived at Thug U.

Stay classy media, NCAA, Canesville, Trailerhassee and double standards.

Keep it in perspective. 4-2 and a meaningful throw down with Georgia Tech this week. Great time for a bounce back game. Make it 5-2 and headed to Tallahassee for the first of three ‘games of the year’ – Florida State (10.20), Virginia Tech (11.17) and Boston College (11.24).

A lot of ball left to be played and a lot more to be learned. We’re going to see some more big wins, teasing us and making us believe we’re back – and we’ll have more “huh?” type losses. Try to hang on and enjoy the ride. Miami is pointed in the right direction. This is a 1998-type season. Make the most of it. This is a bridge to better days.

.:Canes305:.

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