A few hours before kickoff and nothing resembling a preview coming from the allCanesBlog. A thousand apologies. Make the trek back to Miami for this one and been hunkered down in the Grove getting ‘game ready’. Old friends. Familiar stomping grounds. Same passion for the program I grew up loving during my twenty-five years in the three o’ five.
A few thoughts before heading to Land Shark:
… I already miss the Orange Bowl. Watching on TV, it’s a stadium. This marks my first trek back for a home game since 48-0 against Virginia.
I miss the game day experience. I miss my friends and their house where we used to party on 6th Street. I miss seeing rowdy fans stumbling around in the street hours before kickoff. Hell, I even miss hearing ‘no blokee’ and coming out postgame seeing my ride four cars deep in someone’s driveway.
It’s Miami/Oklahoma tonight and Land Shark has hosted it’s share of Super Bowls… but I’d prefer Canes/Sooners at the OB, just like every other fan.
… Sam Bradford isn’t starting, as expected. Still can’t believe the emails I received from OU fans after calling that shot weeks back – Sooners buying into the hype this week because the Heisman-winner ‘practiced’ earlier this week. This is a ‘Grade 3’ shoulder separation to a quarterback’s throwing arm, people. No way Bradford could be game ready a month after sustaining an injury of this nature.
Landry Jones will come to play, but the freshman is no Bradford. The newbie did a great job lighting up a few ‘nobodies’ these past few weeks, but Idaho and Tulsa are no Miami defensively. Neither is BYU, for that matter. Jones couldn’t move the ball late against the Cougars; the same BYU squad Florida State shredded for 512 total yards.
… All that said, nothing is more important than Miami protecting Jacory Harris. If there’s on reason the Canes got spanked by the Hokies, it was the constant pressure on the sophomore quarterback.
Although they’ve played nobody, the Sooners still field the top-ranked scoring defense in the nation and Bob Stoops knows D. Virginia Tech gave the nation the blueprint how to shut down the Canes. What does Mark Whipple do to thwart the onslaught and more importantly, can The U finally establish a running game tonight?
… Other than that, what is there really to say? Miami was predicted by some to go 0-4 out the gate and instead made it to 2-0 before losing at Virginia Tech. 2-1 going into the Oklahoma game was an absolute dream at the beginning of the season… yet one loss later, the ‘doom and gloom’ has returned regarding the fanbase.
A win against Oklahoma absolutely puts Miami back on the map, while a loss drops things to 2-2 — which was hardly an ‘end of the world’ scenario when the season started.
This is still year three in the rebuilding project and the schedule lightens up a bit over the next month (Florida A&M, Central Florida, Clemson and Wake Forest). 7-1 isn’t out of reach and 6-2 shouldn’t put a damper on what many thought would be a three to five-loss season.
Oklahoma is beatable… if the Canes come to play. Home night game at The Shark. Miami under the radar after some early-season hype. A sidelined Heisman-winning quarterback. A rowdy fan base on a Saturday night, in prime time.
Headed up 95 North to play my part. Have a feeling the Canes pull out a close one:
The Call: Miami 20, Oklahoma 16
No excuses. Get it done Miami!
Go 'Canes!!!
Boy Chris I hope you're right about Miami winning a close one …
But I just don't see it happening. Two out of three games, Miami's defense has been lit up.
Oklahoma's defense is better than VaTech.
Finally, given the slew of injuries and lack of talent depth, I have to think the signs point to a blowout by OU.
Sure hope I'm wrong and would love to be proven so, but …
OU 41 UM 14
I'm headed to the "Shark" now! Go Canes!
sit Shields on the Goddamn bench, win or lose.
-Columbus Cane
Please remove any and all doubts, the Hurricanes of Miami are back on track!!!
Great prediction Chris. We made a lot of bad penalties at really bad times, but we made enough good plays to pull it out. Like I said earlier, Shields needs help whatever side he's on from now on against the good teams. He was killing us. But aside from that, it was a hell of a win. We showed great resilience coming back from 10-0. Last year's team could not have done that. We were on our heels for most of the first half, but we shook it off and executed. Great win. I'll be interested to see where we end up in the polls tomorrow. Go Canes!
-Columbus Cane
21-20, 'Canes, baby!!!! Hell yeah! 3-1 after that almost unprecedented 4 game schedule to star the season is fantastic. Damn I wish I was down in Miami partying with you all.
Sir Bolt
http://www.Boltitis.com
3 and 1 after the toughest 4 game start ever! Enough said.
hey homie,
you spelled DIFFERENT wrong in the image… Just looking out for you.
Go Canes!!!! 3 – 1 and we ain't done!
Way to go guys!!!!
Oh, and Joe Robbie Stadium is 5 times the stadium that the Old Orange Bowl was anyday. I love the chairbacks, great parking, plasma screens, nice bathrooms, etc. etc. etc.
It's all about the U!!!!
Beautiful, just plain beautiful. 4:30 am and I just finished. To overcome the early turnovers and finally play some defense. Fantastic ! ! ! Thank you Canes.
The Joe will never be the OB, or at least until they win 59 straight 4 NCs there.
I LUV MY CANES….we finished 3-1 when many predicted 1-3 or 0-4, the rest of the season is ours to lose, we could easily go 11-1 or 10-2. Man Its A Great Day To Be A Cane!!!
We need to start referring to "Landshark" as the "Orange Bowl". Maybe it will catch on.
Chris, I stand humbly corrected and am enjoying a nice big serving of humble pie!
Hopefully they can maintain the focus and momentum.
Go Canes!