Miami Seeks Season-Defining Win At Nebraska

Miami head coach Al Golden—a New Jersey native—has an affinity for legendary singer Bruce Springsteen and is known for blasting “Born To Run” during pre-game warm-ups.

As the Hurricanes take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers this weekend in Lincoln, a different anthem by “The Boss” fits the bill for this meeting; Prove It All Night.

“Everybody’s got a hunger, a hunger they can’t resist. There’s so much that you want, you deserve much more than this . But if dreams came true, oh wouldn’t that be nice. But this ain’t no dream we’re living through tonight. You want it, you take it, you pay the price. Prove it all night.”

Four years into Golden’s tenure at “The U”, little has been proven and a signature win continues to allude this staff. Three years of falling short against Florida State, while wins over Ohio State (2011) and Florida (2013)—seemingly big in the moment—fizzled as the Buckeyes and Gators stumbled to sub-par seasons.

As recent as three weeks back, Miami had what was thought to be proper motivation for the season opener, but still came up short.

NCAA cloud gone, solid recruiting haul last February and a prime time shot at revenge against a Louisville team that curb-stomped Miami in the bowl game—yet the Hurricanes still wound up on the wrong end of a 31-13 beat down, playing conservative and losing a winnable ball game.

Miami is slated to take on a Nebraska team that is an understandable favorite (-7.5), but outside of home field advantage, still remains an enigma. The Huskers chewed up Florida Atlantic in the season opener, struggled against McNeese State and pounded a winless Fresno State a week later.

The Hurricanes remain a work in progress, but certainly boast more talent and athleticism than the Owls, Cowboys or Bulldogs. In short, this will be Nebraska’s toughest challenge to date and one of their tougher games this year.

For Miami, Saturday’s showdown at Memorial Stadium is a tone-setter and can prove season-defining. It’s not a must-win game in the sense that nobody is going to lose their job if this team loses its second game in three weeks—but it truly is must-win on so many other levels.

Beat the Huskers and the Hurricanes will have a confidence that can help guide them through some mid-level ACC battles over the next few weeks—Duke and @Georgia Tech—baby-stepping towards a meaty late-season run—@Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Florida State, @Virginia and Pittsburgh.

Lose, and the negativity will reach epic proportions for a backed-up, over-it fan base.

While Golden and staff are certainly taking heat for a half decade of rotten football that preceded them, the prime time flops on their watch have the natives growing restless.

The bleeding and setbacks have to stop—at least for one monumental weekend. The Hurricanes desperately need this win for self-confidence sake and to stave off the amped-up masses.

Big game opportunities occur a handful of times per year and for Golden and staff, the road flops stand out and aren’t soon forgotten. Last year it was the 41-14 loss at top-ranked Florida State. A year prior, smoked at Notre Dame in primetime, 41-3, weeks after a 52-13 throttling at Kansas State.

While the Miami program won’t enter Saturday’s showdown at Nebraska searching for a moral victory, fact remains that the Hurricanes at minimum need a close, respectable loss if a proper takedown isn’t achieved.

Road game. Hostile environment. True freshman quarterback. A back-and-forth game and falling short is understandable, if not desired or acceptable. Real talk—Miami has to show up. Another blowout and Golden stands to lose even his biggest supporters, with the wheels falling off yet another season by late-September. No bueno

Mental mistakes at crucial moments. Boneheaded turnovers. Conservative play. Giving the game away. All will come back to this staff for having the team unprepared—which is unacceptable four years into this regime.

A loss is one thing. Falling all over oneself is another.

Just like Louisville a few weeks back, this is a winnable game for Miami. Nebraska is most-certainly beatable and three games in, remains unproven. Players take on the personality of their coaches and against the Cardinals, the Hurricanes were stiff, timid and reactive—which is precisely how Miami’s staff called the game.

Conversely, “The U” showed some cojones against Arkansas State last weekend and it paid off. The run-first mentality was shelved and coaches finally let quarterback Brad Kaaya throw the deep ball—which proved successful, hitting speedster Phillip Dorsett on two 63-yard touchdown strikes in a 342-yard, four touchdown performance.

The big plays on offense were infectious. Miami’s defense showed up, laid some lumber, forced a turnover and got some big, game-changing stuffs which essentially put the Red Wolves away by the end of the first quarter.

Miami needs a devil-may-care attitude at Nebraska on Saturday night. Whatever the result, go down swinging. Kick some ass. Play Hurricanes football and don’t hold back as it’s proven that nothing good has come from a conservative approach.

— Fact, the Huskers are going to pound senior running back Ameer Abdullah all night. Can Miami’s front seven respond against a solid Nebraska offensive line?

— Special teams is the Canes’ most-glaring weakness going into this weekend. Giving up a touchdown for a return at Louisville, while Miami’s own returners have been relatively ineffective two games in. Veteran kicker Matt Goudis remains out, meaning walk-on Micheal Badgley—who missed a routine extra point last week—will be back in action.

— The Canes will also be without offensive lineman Alex Gall, but do return the elusive, potentially game-changing receiver Stacy Coley, who is also a huge special teams threat and seems due to make something happen.

— Cornerback play has been suspect for the Hurricanes early this season—working in more man-to-man coverage, but not seeing the best from veterans like Tracy Howard and Ladarius Gunter.

Can the Miami secondary rise to the occasion in those moments where Nebraska’s run opens up the passing game for sophomore quarterback Tommy Armstrong, coming down with a drive-defining deflection or turnover, much like last year’s win over Florida?

Or will the Canes unravel on the main stage, making a kid like Armstrong look all world, as Miami has do so often lately—turning mid-level signal callers into Heisman hopefuls?

Equally as important, solving some dismal third-down woes.

The Hurricanes are a horrendous 8-of-35 on third down conversions this season—and while coaches will point out skewed stats by way of second- and third-stringers not making plays in the final quarter of a few blowouts, fact remains Miami was an inexcusable 1-of-13 on third downs at Louisville and walked away with one field goal in three red zone trips.

No better way to whip 90,000+ plus into a frenzy than failing on offense, putting a tired defense back on the field and giving the Huskers momentum in front of a rabid crowd.

If the Miami who showed up at Louisville treks to Lincoln this weekend, the Canes are done by half time. Conversely, if the mentally prepared, let-it-rip group who just smacked up Arkansas State last week comes to play, this could be one on the better games of the weekend.

Doom and gloom has surrounded this program way too long. The Canes seem primed to finally go toe-to-toe with a formidable foe, instead of rolling over. Since 2009, Miami is 1-15 against ranked foes on the road. An unfathomable stat for longtime supporters of this program to accept.

The Huskers may be average, great or somewhere in-between—but based on the schedule thus far remain an unknown. The Hurricanes must pounce and exploit that.

Miami won’t play a perfect game and neither does Nebraska, but something about the timing of this one and the Canes’ recent outings have the makings of a throw down that will come down to the fourth quarter and this time around, “The U” seems due.

An ounce of homerism in that pick? Of course. Giving this program the benefit of the doubt one final time this season. Fail, and that won’t be the case moving forward.

Miami 27, Nebraska 24

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