It ain’t the Butch Davis Show…

Miami plays North Carolina at 12pm ET on Saturday and I’m seeing a lot of ink regarding Butch Davis, as the current Tar Heels coach spent 1995 thru 2000 as head coach of the Hurricanes.

No offense, but to hell with Butch the Heel. No disrespect to the former Miami coach, but this game has nothing to do with the past. Davis will tell you the same, oft quoted this past week downplaying his time spent at The U.

When asked if he felt at all nostalgic regarding his ties to this week’s opponent, Davis said, “To be honest, not particularly. It’s not like Tom O’Brien, who had to play Boston College two weeks ago and virtually every kid on the field was one he’d recruited in their homes. At UM, it’s all new players.”

“My wife and I spent close to 12 years in South Florida. Some connection will always be there, but little by little it diminishes,” said Davis.

Thankfully coach, the feeling is mutual.

I’m not a Butch basher. If anything, I’ve always backed the guy outside of his cowardice exit in January 2001. I believe in absolutes and value a man based on his word as well as his ability to carry it out through his actions. Before bailing The U, Davis was adamant that he wasn’t leaving and went so far as to say he planned to retire at Miami and had no desire to go anywhere else.

Days later, “Adios Miami”.

I can appreciate the lure of the NFL money and prestige a head coaching position brings. Because of that, I never faulted Davis for leaving. He had the NFL bloodlines, following Jimmy Johnson from Coral Gables to the Dallas Cowboys in the late 1980s as a defensive coordinator. His boss succeeded at that level after coaching the Canes and now it was Davis’ turn to make his run. Still, I never respected the way he said goodbye. It was wrong.

Entering tomorrow, this match up is being dubbed “Butch Bowl I” by a few fans – to which I ask, why? This game isn’t about Davis. It’s not even about his former pupil Randy Shannon, Miami’s current boss. This one is about Miami and North Carolina. A 4-1 squad-on-the-rise playing a road game against a 1-4 bunch better than their record indicates.

The Canes are on the climb, getting better week-by-week. Miami sits at 1-0 in ACC play and Saturday is about improving that record to 2-0. Nothing more, nothing less.

Miami is a little more than two weeks removed from a 34-17 pasting of then #20 Texas A&M and grinded one out a week ago against a feisty Duke team, 24-14. Still, the Canes are yet to put together that perfect game – not finishing against the Aggies and needing a productive fourth quarter against the Blue Devils to put that one in the books.

That said, this season has been about improving week in and week out and Miami has truly grown each week since the 51-13 pasting Oklahoma sent their way.

The Canes haven’t traveled to Chapel Hill since October 2004 when North Carolina knocked off then #3 Miami on a last second field goal, 31-28. Some have dubbed this a ‘revenge game’ – a term fans love anytime their team faces a first after a heartbreaking loss. Miami is 2-0 against North Carolina since, but with the first return to the scene of 2004’s crime, it’s taken on the ‘revenge’ tone.

The only important stat entering Saturday is 1-3; the Canes’ ACC road record dating back to November 2005. Miami’s last conference road win was a 47-17 win at Wake Forest almost two years ago.

Davis and Shannon are nothing more than a sub plot entering this weekend – and a minimal one at that. These Canes are trying to grow as a team each and every game. Unhealthy players are getting healthy, providing depth and entering the sixth game of 2007, Miami is expected to gel even more come game time tomorrow.

Beat North Carolina. Not as revenge for 2004 and not because a former Canes is wearing the visor on the opposing sideline. Get this win because an ACC title is the new goal. This is one final tune up game before teams like Georgia Tech, Florida State, NC State, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Boston College are on deck.

Work out any last kinks because the meat of the ACC schedule is on deck and Miami needs to strut in 5-1 with chests puffed out, not 4-2 with a boat load of question marks.

Miami 34, North Carolina 16


.:Canes305:.

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5 thoughts on “It ain’t the Butch Davis Show…

  1. Well let’s see, it’s the middle of the second quarter and it’s 20-0 North Carolina. 20-0! To North 1-4 North Carolina! This isn’t Oklahoma. This is North Carolina. Three words describe Miami’s play so far: Sad, Pathetic, Emabrassing. We have no leaders on this team espicially offesnively. Everyone is waiting for someone else to make a play. James and Cooper have done nothing, Wright hasn’t made anything happen and the WR’s are invisible. Why do you continue to throw the ball to Leggett on third down when he runs patterns SHORT of the first down marker, and has nothing after the catch. The O Line is not making any holes and not protecting that well. The D Line is getting out of position, the LB’s are often in no man’s land, somewhere between guessing if it’s a run or pass and the secondary besides Kenny Phillips has done nothing. Special teams is again garbage aside from one or two nice returns. Kickoffs suck, punts suck and field goal kicking is less than average. I don’t think I can even watch anymore of this. How can you go on the road against a below average team, and not be ready to play? I know Shannon likes to give his coaches autonomy and not have his head set on, but Randy it’s time to get your hands around this team and these coaches and get in on every aspect during games. 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter and NC just went up 27-0. I can not watch this joke of a game any more. I guess we are not ready to handle success yet. Very disappointing and sad. We are in for a long season if we can’t execute or even show up on the road.
    -Columbus Cane

  2. Sick to my stomach. We’re failing at all positions just like OK game. #3 overshooting his WRs, RBs having no impact, #27 missing easy tackles, special teams outside of 1 play absolutely horrid. But most importantly, the coaching staff has failed us so far. I’m hoping this staff can get players motivated since it’s so early in the game, but I haven’t seen any evidence so far this season.

  3. OK, so I’m not abandoning my team today. I just can’t watch the ESPN2 telecast. I’m still listening on WQAM via the internet so I at least get some Miami flavor, but I’m still sickened. As soon as Marve gets healthy, we need to start getting him in the rotation and start working towards next year and getting in any play-makers we have in the game. One other thing: On short down distances, can we PLEASE stack the line and not have huge gaps between the tackles and ends? We have been doing that since losing to OSU in the Fiesta Bowl letting Krenzel run sneak after sneak, and we are doing it today letting Yates do the same thing. We are way too Goddamn slow to make any kind of adjustments on both sides of the ball. We had a chance to possibly be ranked after this week and we showed that we’re not even a top 30 team. We give up long 3rd down after long 3rd down with no pressure on the QB what-so-ever. I hope this team goes back to the field TOMORROW and runs all day until they get some heart and learn how to win coming from behind for once. Stop taking up space and make a muthaf***ing play!
    -Columbus Cane

  4. I hope this season, the Miami coaching staff takes some visits to some other staff like others have done to us in the past to get some ideas. What we’re doing right now is not working. I hate to say this because they are our rival, but watch the gametape of the V Tech-Clemson game and see how a team on the road goes into a hostile environment and succeeds. Tech’s offense has done next to nothing, however in all other facets of the game, they are killing Clemson. Death Valley is a million times more difficult to play in than Chapel Hill, yet Tech goes into the game expecting to win, instead of hoping to win like we seem to do. So go to Blacksburg this summer, see how to have a special teams impact, ask Bud Foster how to have your defensive players in position to make plays. I know we will never do that, but just watch this team and the attitude they have on the road. They don’t wait on someone else to make a play. They make plays themselves and create their own emotion. They dictate to the offense, not vice versa. We just need some of their mental toughness right now. We are weak.
    -Columbus Cane

  5. Rough day. My Gators lost too.

    At least the Canes made it a bit of a game for a little while.

    It will take better players for Miami to improve. They’ve got a long way to go. This is going to take years, not weeks.

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