Categories: Uncategorized

Miami and Oklahoma teeing it up tonight…

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

Comments

comments

C. Bello

Longtime Miami Hurricanes columnist. Wrote for CanesTime.com, Yahoo! Sports and former BleacherReport featured columnist. Founder of allCanesBlog.com no longer toeing any company line. Launched ItsAUThing.com to deliver a raw, unfiltered and authentic perspective of all things "The U".

Recent Posts

OFFENSE CAN’T SAVE MIAMI HURRICANES’ POROUS DEFENSE AT GEORGIA TECH

When you dance with the devil enough, the devil doesn't change—you do. The slow-start offense…

2 weeks ago

MIAMI HURRICANES LAST ONES STANDING IN SHOOTOUT WITH LOUISVILLE CARDINALS

The Miami Hurricanes won a spirited shootout against the Louisville Cardinals this past Saturday afternoon…

1 month ago

MIAMI HURRICANES OVERCOME 25-POINT DEFICIT; CLAW BACK AGAINST CAL BEARS

"Are you not entertained?!?" Impossible to not channel the legendary Maximus Decimus Meridius in the…

1 month ago

‘U’ PREVIEW: MIAMI HURRICANES HEAD WEST TO BATTLE CAL BEARS

The Miami Hurricanes are off to Berkeley, California for a rare west coast road trip…

2 months ago

WARTS EXPOSED IN MIAMI HURRICANES GRITTY WIN OVER VIRGINIA TECH

Miami survived Virginia Tech in a backyard brawl Friday night at HardRock and the only…

2 months ago

MIAMI HURRICANES DISMANTLE SOUTH FLORIDA BULLS IN SUNSHINE STATE SHOWDOWN

The Miami Hurricanes blew through Raymond James Stadium and delivered the kind of total-package, hit-on-all-cylinders…

2 months ago