Look, a gratuitous fight shot….

Miami plays Florida International tomorrow and for most, it’s simply another reason to show last October’s brawl footage. I’ve already caught it a few times on College Football Live and ESPN U. Nothing like exploiting last year’s debacle on the watch of two new coaches. Randy Shannon replaced the fired Larry Coker at The U, while Mario Cristobal replaces Don Strock, who resigned last fall.

Two new coaches, a slew of new players – yet a slew of old school brawl footage. Stay classy, ESPN. Anything to up the ratings for this week’s ESPN U-televised event, right?

I’m not really going to ‘cover’ this game or waste time breaking it down. No offense, but FIU sucks. It’s not worth my time to give you the Xs and Os here for a squad on a fourteen game losing streak that hasn’t won since 2005. Forget the fact that their cheap shots and bush league antics brought a slew of bad press against The U… though our boys had no responding to that nonsense and getting caught up in the melee.

They did. We did. It’s over. Move on.

Saturday’s match up against FIU is a scrimmage for Miami. Rebound and get ready for Texas A&M on Thursday night. Stay healthy, get the young kids some reps and bounce back from that bitter 51-13 loss at Oklahoma.

I’m worried about one thing tomorrow night – Kyle Wright. I’m sitting pretty in New York city for a family wedding and I’m surrounded by some family members who bleed Notre Dame. I’ve got some serious Disciples of Weis here. President and chairman of the Jimmy Clausen fan club and I’m catching some heat about our boy #3.

You’ve read my blog. I’m not anti-Kirby Freeman here. From the get-go, I’ve just felt that Wright gives Miami the best chance to win in 2007. I won’t dub it the ‘lesser of two evils’ but while it’s been felt Wright has underachieved, it still feel that #3 on an average day has ‘it’ more that #7 on his best day.

Coach Shannon has oft stated that there are no musical quarterback as what was once Quarterback U, we’ve seen Freeman-Wright-Freeman in eight quarters of football and Wright dubbed the starter for game three. This position is cast in Jello and one bad quarter could throw the position into a frenzy for the rest of 2007.

The National Championship is obviously out of reach at 1-1 — and for all intents and purposes, was out of reach before the season kicked off. Either way, there’s two out of conference game before the ACC season kicks off. FIU is more than winnable and in just less than a week, Miami takes on a solid Texas A&M program. The U needs zero quarterback drama going into next Thursday, so I’m looking for one thing going into Saturday – the Wright Aerial Assault on the Golden Panties. Thump FIU with the passing game so we have zero question or flip-flopping entering next week’s match up.

Miami was exposed last week at Oklahoma. There’s a lot of work to be done if this program is going to compete for a conference crown in 2007. I rewatched some of the OU debacle. While the Canes packed it in last, it was still a 21-13 third quarter deficit and an ensuing drive turnover away from making things interesting. Still, that’s neither here nor there. The U got waxed and looking forward, a conference title and BCS game are the goal.

Are they reachable? We’ll see. Miami has to pick their guy at quarterback and then get production out of him. Wright is that guy for now and FIU is the perfect patsy to pad the stats against and eliminate any QB shuffle for next Thursday.

The Canes will only go as far as their quarterback takes them and the odds are better with Wright behind center. After seven of eight quarters on the bench and his only action seen when trying to erase a 21-3 deficit at OU – Wright came in, looked pretty good (against the #4 squad), picked up some key third downs and played with the fire of a starter benched for a junior. Hopefully that intensity keeps up and this develops into a special season.

Again, we’ll see tomorrow with FIU across the field. It’s not about the opponent; it’s about Wright getting to air it out a bit and get his timing right for aTm next Thursday. Time to get into that starter’s groove and not look over your shoulder every offensive drive. Light up FI-Who and the starting job for next week will be solidified. Play with a sense or urgency and get the job done.

Thanks to my man Victor Rivera for giving me the inspiration to bust something out here. Throwing down in Staten Island, gearing up for a family wedding and wasn’t going to write about the Canes. If anything, I’m trying to find a way to scam some ESPN U between the ceremony and reception. I have a 3:30pm ET kickoff – not to mention, some driven Irish bleeding hearts looking for some Notre Dame/Michigan at the same time. Have cable TV, will travel.

Big Vic talked the talk and got the juices flowing, so it was time to blog and pimp the FIU match up this week. Bounce back from the OU beating and realize the ACC is still within reach and two OOC games remain before getting into the thick of the conference schedule.

Work FIU and gear up for Texas A&M next week. Hope that Wright can ‘bring it’ so that the quarterback controversy takes back seat and that we can focus on winning football games between now and Thanksgiving.

Miami/FIU at 3:30pm and somewhere sandwiched around the cousin Tanya and my new main man Mario are getting hitched. Football, family, booze and good times forthcoming.

More after the win. 0-15 en route. More to come.

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