Miami went into the Russell Athletic Bowl knowing it’d have its hands full with Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
What the Hurricanes didn’t see coming—an absolutely suffocating performance, courtesy of the Cardinals’ defense.
Miami was held to a season-low 174 total yards, unable to get it done through the air, or on the ground. The Hurricanes were an abyssmal 0-for-11 on third down conversions and didn’t notch an offensive score until early in the fourth quarter when running back Gus Edwards punched in a meaningless two-yard touchdown.
After self-imposing back-to-back postseason bans and earning their first bowl berth since 2010, the Hurricanes appeared to be ready. Head coach Al Golden and staff had 19 days to prepare, 18 practices to scheme and a roster full of supposedly pent-up kids, ready to relish the opportunity.
Instead, it was the Cardinals and a roster full of Florida-bred players who rolled into Orlando with purpose and passion. Miami couldn’t even come close to matching Louisville’s energy.
Bridgewater put together a career night, throwing for 447 yards and three touchdowns. Late in the game, the junior all-everything quarterback ran in a score from a yard out on fourth down—an effort to pad the highlight reel and to put an exclamation point on his season, should this be his final collegiate outing with the NFL calling.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes invented new ways to unravel.
Down 16-2 late in the second quarter, Morris was sacked and fumbled away a gimmie scoring opportunity inside the red zone. A few plays later James Burgess Jr.—another former Miami commit—delivered a crowd-silencing hit on Dallas Crawford. Early in the third, a backwards pass and some trickery resulted in a 19-yard loss.
Miami was also stuffed twice on fourth down over the course of the game, giving away both field position and momentum in crucial situations.
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Where to begin… Vanilla; my favorite flavor, not the way my favorite team should play when it is time to shine. D’onofrio, this should be his curtain call. (hopefully) Al Golden needs to take all the blame and make the necessary changes these kids need and deserve. The photos being posted on Facebook (stopping for charity, shopping sprees, and so on) need to cease during the season. Nothing needs to be posted excluding the mental toughness and the grueling pin ups of practice. Concentration was not there against The’Ville and it was ever so evident. Lack of capitalization did not happen from lack of preparation. More Importantly, lack of proper play calling to counter the wandering defense that taunted our offense. I look for Golden to bolt for Happy Valley if O’brien leaves, but I hope he stays and sees the mission through. Luckily, this stout recruiting class is wide open on securing a starting role and this marks the last of the Shannon hand-me-downs. All hail THE-U..
… no way in hell Golden leaves Miami for Penn State. Not buying it. Not after what he went through the past three years trying to rebuild, not with the class he has coming in, not with his family settled in South Florida and not with the mess still underway in Happy Valley. Penn State may in some ways still be his dream gig, but he’s smart enough to know 2014, based on the state of both programs, is not the time to head north. Zero chance.
And again, the D’Onofrio frustration is understood, but in a game where Miami hung tough early, contained THE Teddy Bridgewater the first half and fought hard for a while … how is there not more frustration towards the offense? Miami had a season-low 174 yards, didn’t score offensively until garbage time early in the fourth quarter, couldn’t run the ball, was 0-of-11 on third down and the offensive line got its ass kicked all night.
Seems folks are so inclined to always jump on D’Onofrio—understandably much of the time—but a MONSTER FAIL on offense is what did the Hurricanes in against the Cardinals, not the defense. Not even close.
As an “all in,” with Al Golden supporter it is hard to put any positive light on what we all witnessed last night. Miami was just glad to be in a bowl, Louisville was on a mission!
Saying this coaching staff was out coached, out prepared and out everything is an understatement. Hopefully Golden learned from this.
As of now, December 29th, this is now Al Golden’s team. Randy Shannon’s recruits with an exception of a few will be gone. I know the Hurricane boards are in a white hot meltdown and I refuse to take part in such negativity, baseless and ignorant comments as if Miami and Golden owed these guys something and failed to deliver on their unrealistic expectations.
I highly doubt Golden, “covets,” the Penn State job as Mark May so ignorantly stated last night and while I’m on the subject Lou Holtz can go to hell with Mark May too! Golden isn’t going anywhere whether he won or lost last night! I don’t know what he has to say that he hasn’t already said but idiots abound in Miami so……
Golden has a much tougher and bigger rebuilding job than at first advertised and expectations with the 7-0 start hid much of the truth about the lack of talent on this team. I didn’t see too many Hurricane upper classmen that would start elsewhere even in the ACC.( Note to Perryman and Chick stay in school you need the extra work!)
I admit to being on the fence with coach D. Am I upset… yes,but still see the silver lining and can see enough to feel that the U is headed in the right direction! So I for one will stay the course and when the rebuilding is done will have much more satisfaction as a fan for doing so! I have been a fan since y dad took me to my first Hurricane game in 1957 at seven years old. Not going to jump ship now! Besides if I did my long since departed father would haunt me without end, so dad, the going just got tougher but I’m still on board!
… I think that’s part of it, Hank. But I think it’s more than Miami just being “happy” to be in a bowl and Louisville on a “mission”. The Cardinals are a more season bunch. 23-3 the past two years. Heisman-worthy quarterback. Solid coaching staff. Some pretty good talent on both sides of the ball. They’ve also been in big games and won—as witnessed with last year’s Sugar Bowl win over Florida. Louisville coaches proved they know how to coach in bowl season.
Conversely, this was Miami’s first bowl game with this staff and first postseason appearance since 2010. The Canes were outcoached and outplayed. Frustrating, but true and in hindsight, not all that hard to believe.
You are on point in saying that hopefully Golden learned from this, and I’m sure he and this staff did. They’ll have all offseason to deal with the loss and will continue working to change a broken culture.
Lastly, Miami was also without the great Duke Johnson the final five games and while that wasn’t a problem in the past for the Canes (re: sub a Gore for a McGahee. Replace a Shockey with a Winslow. Etc.) that’s now the case right now. Losing Johnson changed the entire offense almost as much as Mike James’ graduation a year ago forced this year’s offense to built entirely around Duke. (There’s also the Coley vs. Fisch factor—a newbie versus an innovative mind and seasons playcaller).
ALL of Miami’s coaches have a lot to learn and hopefully they continue doing so. I believe there will be some coaching changes this offseason, though think they’ll be some position coaches, opposed to coordinators.
Close strong on the recruiting front and let’s do it again next year.
But but….we must “trust the process”. Golden has this team on the right track. Louisville is just a little ahead of us right now but Golden wouldn’t trade locker rooms with them for anything…Louisville has more d line talent than us. Tired of the damn excuses. There’s no excuse for going 0-11 on 3rd down….NONE
No, there’s no “excuse” for 0-of-11 on third down, just as there wasn’t an “excuse” for Kirby Freeman going 1-of-14 passing in an overtime loss to a 3-5 North Carolina State squad in 2007. There is an “explanation” for both, though.
Miami’s offense regressed big time under James Coley this year, starting with Stephen Morris, who lacked the tutelage he received from Jedd Fisch the past two seasons. Fisch was a true quarterbacks coaches and innovate signal caller. Coley is learning on the job, brought on as a recruiting and up-and-comer last minute late January after Fisch bailed out.
The Canes also lost Johnson and didn’t have a game-breaking second stringer, whereas last year Mike James was in the mix. Crawford, Edwards and Clements lack the “it” factor. There was also the loss of Rashawn Scott early, who never rebounded, as well as the midseason loss of the Canes’ best deep threat in Phillip Dorsett. The offensive line also chose the worst time of the year to play its shittiest game—blown up by Louisville’s defensive line, as their veteran DC threw things at Miami’s like that they weren’t ready for. Bravo to the Cards for that.
Strong and his staff, who are 23-3 the past two years, including a BCS win, proved better and more prepared than a Miami squad still figuring things out. Louisville also have the best quarterback in the game and a future first-pick-of-the-draft under center which didn’t hurt.
You’re right, there’s no “excuses” but there are “explanations” for those who want to analyze logically. I get why it’s easier to go knee-jerk and get pissed off, but I don’t think it’s all that productive. Honestly, if the losing is too much for you, I suggest shutting off the TV and finding another hobby for at least another year because the struggles will continue in 2014.
Last night’s game shows us how much more work Coach Golden needs to have done before we can be considered elite. We do not have the depth of playmakers. Our running game consist of one big play guy (Duke) and grinders. We need another big play guy. With Duke out we needed our OL to control the line of scrimmage. We could not and Stephen was forced to throw. The same goes with our receivers. Although the depth is a little bit better, we need to have more playmakers. The end result is that we need to have at least three more good recruiting classes-to fill in the gaps and to begin to redshirt those incoming.
… agree. Miami needs a boatload more talent. Doesn’t mean that Coley and D’Onofrio—or even Golden—get a pass, but the talent at “The U” is far from what it needs to be.
The Hurricanes went 9-4, beating nobodies, losing to an elite team and falling to three beatable teams. Seems about right for where the talent level is right now as Golden is still in clean-up mode with the NCAA scandal and the mess he inherited. Again, Randy burned bridges with local high school coaches, didn’t recruit proper depth and talent, conditioning sucked and the team was 28-23 the four years before Golden arrived.
Not exactly an ideal situation.
Not stoked about the early 4th and 1 call from the coach. Not like we had proven that we were able to do anything on offense up to that point. It was a good way to dig a big hole.
… going for it didn’t bother me. Handing off deep in the backfield and trying to run, opposed to a rollout or a play that Miami had designed for such a situation—really looked like amateur hour.
If you’re going to go for it on 4th-and-1, have a smart play called with a run or throw option—unless you have a superior offensive line and they’re winning the battle all day against the opposing defensive front seven. Hardly the case. Miami’s line was already getting pushed around at that point and the run wasn’t there.
Blahaaaaaaaaaa. ….at all the excuses for golden and d’onofrio! !!!!!!!!!! Yea its me CANESINCEDAY11 …THE GUY THAT TOLD EVERYONE WHEN AL GOLDEN WAS HIRED HE WOULDNT GET IT DONE……HE IS IN OVER HIS HEAD…GOLDENS LOYALTY TO FRINO WILL BE THE DEATH OF MIAMI. ..THESE 2 ARE LOST!!!! BLAMMING IT ON SHANNON RECRUITS WHICH ARE BETTER THAN MOST OF THE OPPONENTS RECRUITS THAT BEAT US…WOW SOME OF YOU REMIND ME OF MANSON FOLLOWERS…LOL. …MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, IF OUR NEXT COACH ISNT CHOSEN WISE ….CHOSEN HUGE AND CHOSEN NOW…THIS WILL BE THE QUICK SLIDE TOWARD THE END OF OUR BELOVED HURRICANE FOOTBALL PROGRAM…OUR FOE IS LAUGHING BIG TIME!!!!!!!! AND IF GOLDEN IS GOING TO STAY BE WISE ENOUGH AT LEAST TO SURROUND HIMSELF WITH TOP NOTCH ASSITANTS LIKE JIMMY JOHNSON DID….
… meh, save the ALL CAPS, backslapping and grandstanding nonsense for the day Al Golden is fired. Even if he took the Penn State job tomorrow, he’d get an “incomplete” at Miami based on what he walked into and the short time frame he had to fix a ten-year problem with an arm tied behind his back.
Screaming “I told you so” now about Golden is akin to saying “I told you we’d lose” when down a few touchdowns at halftime.
As for all this, “if our next coach isn’t chosen wise” stuff … again you act like dozens of guys are lining up and clamoring for the Miami job. No one wanted it in 2006 and few wanted it in 2010, too. It’s a niche job for the right guy at the right time. We’ll see in the next few years of Golden was it, or not.
… and let’s stop all the Jimmy Johnson revisionist history. Fans wanted to run him out of town in 1984 as well as after a 35-7 bowl loss to Tennessee after the 1985 season and the 14-10 debacle a season later, losing to an inferior Penn State team with the best team Miami had ever suited up to date.
Fans also wanted to run Butch Davis out of town from his opening 31-8 loss at UCLA in 1998 to his 34-29 loss at Washington in 2000 and every year in-between. A few years later, folks wanted him back after seeing what he did recruiting-wise, despite his game day blunders (who can forget that on-field debate with Ryan Clement in 1996 against Virginia Tech when the argued whether to kick a field goal or go for it on fourth down. The play clock expired, Miami was forced to kick and Andy Crosland shanked it. Brilliant.)
The “quick slide” you’re talking about already happened, player. That was the Shannon hire in 2006, the poor job recruiting (re: no idea how to build depth or recruit by position), the issues he formed on the local recruiting front (allowing rivals and lesser programs like Louisville, North Carolina and Rutgers to take solid Miami talent) and the 28-23 record he assembled over four years before Golden walked in.
Year three just ended 9-4, as did the NCAA investigation, which started eight months after the guy showed up on campus—to a recruiting class that only had four verbal commitments in December.
In a word, relax. Save the “I was right” speech for a few years from now if he fails.
WOW!!!!!!! AT YOUR REPLY. …GOD BLESS YOUR VIEW. …..AND MY ONLY LOVE FOR YOU WITH THAT NONSENSE IS THAT YOUR A CANE…..WAIT FOR WHAT….I WAS ON POINT AND I WOULD SAY I WAS A GENIOUS. ..BUT WE ALL KNEW GOLDEN WOULDN’T WORK! !!! GO AHEAD AND ADMIT IT YOU WERE WRONG…ITS OK ….YOU’VE BEEN WRONG BEFORE WITH YOUR VIEWS…I KNOW THIS IS YOUR BLOG…LOl…..HURRICANE FANS ARE SICK OF THE WAIT WORD….NOLE FANS , BAMA FANS DIDN’T HAVE TO WAIT AND NEITHER SHOULD WE….FIRE THIS GARBAGE ASS COACH AND TURN THE POCKETS INSIDE OUT WITH WISDOM ON A BIG HIRE FOR NEXT SEASON….WHAT ARE WE THAT DAMN BROKE AND DUMB!!!!! OR TRYING TO MASK THE TRUTH…THE STORM IS NOW JUST SCATTERED SHOWERS…..HOPE NOT…LONG LIVE THA U!!!!!!
… brother, you can be “sick” of the wait word all you want but it changes nothing. Most of life is spent “waiting”. So it goes.
Of course I’ve been wrong before. I’m a fan with an opinion, not a prophet. News flash, I’ll be wrong again. A lot.
Seminoles fans didn’t have to wait? What do you call a 13-year drought between title games, only two national championships and sticking with Bobby Bowden about five years too long, while he ruined their program with nepotism, hiring his son Jeff Bowden to run the offense for several years, replacing Mark Richt after the 2000 season?
Alabama had their down years as well, not winning a title between 1992 and 2009—seventeen years between that Gene Stallings era and one ring and the hiring of Nick Saban.
Oklahoma? One ring under Bob Stoops his second year (2000) and nothing since. Texas? A 2005 title and before that it’d been a two-decade drought. Fans have wanted Mack Brown gone for the past three years and it took until this year.
It has nothing to do with being broke and has everything to do with there not being that many coaching options. Look at Florida. All they could get after Urban Meyer was first-time head coach Will Muschamp. The University of Florida has one of the largest athletic budgets in the nation and could’ve written anyone a blank check. A lot of folks turned the gig down … and look at Texas now—striking out with Jimbo and forced to look at an up-and-comer like James Franklin (Vanderbilt) or throwing a ton at Charlie Strong.
Southern Cal thought they were hot shit and ready to get some big name NFL guy and instead settled for their former offensive coordinator who did little at Washington, Steve Sarkisian. Meanwhile, Chris Petersen, who countless schools courted over the years decided that Washington was the right for him as he prefers the Pacific Northwest. The Trojans poach Sarkisian and the Huskies get the better end of the deal. Go figure.
Miami isn’t the job this fan base thinks it is. Period. Greg Schiano didn’t want it in 2006 and by 2010, the three choices were Al Golden, Randy Edsall and Marc Trestman (who would’ve run like hell for the NFL the MINUTE the big leagues came calling or when sanctions hit).
A lot of coaches are happy where they’re at. What big name is going to leave where they’re at to take over Miami right now? Honestly and realistically? No one.
Golden is Miami’s best option for now. Yes, he needs to elevate things to another level with the NCAA investigation over and has to shake things up with his staff—some position coaches, at least—but the notion that he should be canned three years in after the shit-show he took over … that’s absolutely insane.
NEITHER FSU OR ALABAMA HAD TO WAIT ONCE THEY GOT WISE AND WENT INTO THEIR POCKETS JIMBO AND SABAN GOT IT GOING QUICKLY…..PLAYING FOR TITLES QUICKLY…AND SOOOOOO TRUE LIFE IS ABOUT WAITING BUT SOME PEOPLE ARE TOO STUPID TO TAKES THEIR FOOT OFF THE BRAKES AT THE RIGHT TIME…. AND ITS TIME FOR GOLDEN TO MASH THE GAS ON D’ONOFRIO OR THE U NEEDS TO MASH IT ON GOLDEN…..YET I DO AGREE WITH SOME OF YOUR VIEW….IT DOES APPEAR THAT NO ONE SEEMS TO BE INTRESTED IN US AND WE MAY HAVE TO SETTLE WITH OLE GOLDEN ….YET HE SEEMS TO NEED SOME ASSITANCE IN HIS DECISION MAKING!!!!!!
… stop with the Nick Saban argument for anything, bro. It’s Nick Saban. He makes more money than most NFL coaches. He’s one of the more coveted head coaches in all of sports. Alabama is a football factory with a storied tradition that rivals Notre Dame.
As for Florida State, they brought in Jimbo Fisher when he was an coordinator at LSU and he had to kick around as a “coach in waiting” for years. Before he was Florida State head coach and title-game bound Jimbo Fisher, he was LSU coordinator Jimbo Fisher and didn’t have a huge name in the coaching world. YES, he came from the Saban coaching tree, but he was absolutely unproven when he trekked to Tallahassee.
Fisher’s base when signed by Florida State to run the offense and coach quarterbacks in 2007?
$215K and with incentives he was making $400K.
Miami started paying James Coley $500K a year to run the offense (and not coach quarterbacks) in 2013.
As for Fisher getting it going “quickly”, another bullshit myth. The “coach in waiting” was essentially running the program for face-of-the-program Bobby Bowden for three years. Took over full-time in 2010 and went 10-4, which was essentially his fourth year and the Seminoles had NOWHERE near the issues Miami did. No NCAA scandal. No recruiting debacles. The kids were simply underachieving under Bowden and Fisher helped start turning that around … for $400K a year.
9-4 in 2011 and 12-2 last year, which are good on paper, of course—but based on expectations and talent level, the were letdowns.
Losses to Oklahoma and Clemson were understood, but the likes of Virginia, Wake Forest and North Carolina State when Florida State started both seasons highly-ranked?
2013 is essentially Fisher’s seventh year running the Florida State program. Good on him for finally getting them back, but again, the Seminoles made him a name—he was a coordinator when they tapped him and he was paid as such.
WELL I HAVE TO AGREE WITH YOU ON JIMBO…I HAVE OFTEN SAID THE SAME BEFORE…..I SLIPPED ON THAT ONE…..YET!!!!!! MIAMI STILL SHOULD BE IN BETTER SHAPE…WE STRUGGLE AGAINST EVEN OUR WEAK OPPONENTS AND LOSE ALL THE BIG GAMES..HAS AL GOLDEN WON A BIG GAME YET…WELL HE BEAT THE GATORS BARLEY AND THEY WENT ON TO ONLY WIN 4 GAMES..LOL….THEY BLAME OUR TALENT BUT SHANNON MAY HAVE NOT BEEN THE ONE BUT HE LEFT US WITH BETTER TALENT THAN A LOT HAVE…..NO DOUBT…..UCF LOOK PRETTY GOOD WITH LESSER …..AND SO DID DUKE!!! D’ FRIONO IS A MUST GO….IF AL IS GONNA STAY..FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!!!!