The walls are closing in on head coach Al Golden—who continues struggling to find answers, consistency and the path back to greatness for a once-dominant Miami Hurricanes program.
A week ago there was no worse feeling than having a foot on Florida State’s throat, letting up and watching the Seminoles dance off the field victorious. Eight days later, a new low as the the Hurricanes showed up characteristically flat in Charlottesville and were pushed around by a four-win Virginia Cavaliers squad all night.
Miami, who hung so tough against Florida State after three impressive wins over Cincinnati, Virginia Tech and North Carolina, reverted back to the shell of the team it was in losses to Nebraska and Georgia Tech.
Any notion of trending upwards these past four weeks—right out the window courtesy of this lifeless performance. Passive on defense, sloppy on offense, a disaster on special teams and completely uninspired across the board.
Wins and losses serve as a line-in-the-dirt and ultimate measuring stick, but chartable growth, lessons learned, steps forward and the way Miami is playing should trump everything during a rebuild.
That being the case, the Canes aren’t growing or learning, are completely backsliding and flat-out no-showed in a way it has no business doing year four under Golden and crew.
No, there aren’t championship implications—national, conference-wise or even divisional—but a Miami program in a decade-long rut should be playing with purpose every time it takes the field as there’s so much to prove these days.
Same to be said for Golden and this oft-criticized, maligned staff, rolling out the same tired mea culpas after every loss. Beat in all three phases of the game. Too many mistakes. Didn’t execute. Need to find a way to get this fixed. Blah, blah, same-ol-same-ol, blah.
Always big on verbalized accountability, but forever short on fixes and solutions.
Rolling in at 6-4—after taking Florida State to the wire, losing and getting knocked out of the Coastal Division race—the request this week was simple; show up, shake it off and play with some passion. Losses aren’t what drive fans insane—it’s the way Miami arrives in these moments, reinventing new ways to fail.
Virginia lost some close games this season, knocked off Louisville and took UCLA to the wire in the opener, but the fact remains this was a below average team on a four-game losing streak. The Cavaliers weren’t on an upswing. If anything, they should’ve been ripe for the taking and completely unraveling.
Winless for a month, head coach Mike London playing for his job and back-to-back wins over Miami and Virginia Tech necessary for nothing more than bowl eligibility—and with that, the Cavaliers still showed up a team possessed, despite a lackluster wine-and-cheese crowd in Charlottesville.
Across the field, the Hurricanes strolled in like there was someplace else they’d rather be. Reactive instead of aggressive, sloppy and unprepared both emotionally or physically for anything the home team threw their way.
Similar to losses at Louisville, Nebraska and Georgia Tech, Miami was schooled time of position-wise— again, courtesy of a passive defensive “effort”.
The Cavaliers held the ball 35:56 to the Canes’ 24:04 and it was another train wreck regarding third down conversions (5-of-12), penalties (9-for-59 yards) and offensive line play, which killed the ground game and quarterback protection.
Brad Kaaya wasn’t necessarily a liability this ugly night, but he was far from the asset he’s been the past few weeks—leading this offense, finding a way, minimizing mistakes and playing well beyond his years. Kaaya’s line did him no favors, either—which stifled the running game and fueled the Cavaliers’ aggressive front seven.
For a few hours this weekend at Scott Stadium, Kaaya looked all the part of a true freshman—which happens when a defensive-minded opponent had two weeks to game plan, smelled blood in the water, owned the line of scrimmage, brought pressure and dictated the course of the evening.
Miami’s defense got an early stop, thwarting a six-play, 21-yard Virginia drive and forcing an opening series punt. Still, the tempo of the game played out on 3rd-and-4 when made-to-look-better-than-he-is Greyson Lambert hit Canaan Severin for a 14-yard reception, getting the Cavaliers to mid-field.
The drive didn’t result in points, but the message was heard loud and clear—the Hurricanes were in play-it-safe mode. That old, tired, failed mindset that destroyed this team against Nebraska and Georgia —it was the scheme-de-jour for this showdown. Play the percentages and hope that there are some breaks along the way.
Despite defensive success against Duke, Cincinnati, Virginia Tech and North Carolina, by way of an aggressive nature, corner blitzes and quarterback rattling, Miami revered to that, don’t-give-up-the-big-play” bunch of candy-asses that bent and broke in earlier losses.
Pressure and designed blitzes were the blueprint for success against quarterback Marques Williams and North Carolina weeks back. The Tar Heels were on fire offensively before that trek to Sun Life Stadium and a few helmets-to-the-back, big hits and forced throws early—Williams never got his bearings and was erratic all afternoon.
A similar situation in the first half against Florida State when Miami was putting pressure on Jameis Winston. As defending champs on a then 25-game win-streak, the Seminoles adjusted, as the Heisman-winner again shook off the dust, settled in and did his thing.
Not at Virginia, though. No, this was a bad trip down recent memory lane where Miami rushes three, fails to blitz, applies zero pressure and a junior-varsity-style quarterback is free to toss it around the yard like an All-American.
Zombie-like as the Canes’ defense was, it was an offensive nightmare from the get go, as well.
Much like last week against Florida State, an opening drive was cut short by a turnover. This time is was Duke Johnson fighting for extra yards, having picked up 26 on a monster run after back-to-back first down passes from Brad Kaaya to Stacy Coley and Malcolm Lewis.
Miami’s defense got the stop, but it was still another case where key offensive points left on the field; points the Canes needed this week, by way of a few early blows to shake off last week’s loss and Florida State’s, 23-3 tear en route to the comeback.
This was a Virginia team that thrives off turnovers—creating 24 on the season prior to last night; 17 of which came in their four wins. Ball control was a killer for the Hurricanes last week and here, on the opening drive, another mental mistake.
Both sides knows what they were getting into and nothing should have been a surprise for Miami or Virginia.
The Hurricanes again boasted better over ally talent, but were understandably shell-shocked coming off the loss to the Seminoles. Regarding the Cavaliers, an always defensively-sound team that plays Miami tough in their house and a desperate program fighting for a bowl game and their head coach’s job.
The Canes were well-aware that London’s squad had two weeks to prepare and circled November 22nd on the calendar as a season-saving game, while the entire college football world knew Golden was 1-2 against his former employer and winless in Charlottesville since taking over this Miami program.
Knowing the logistics and understanding the intangibles, one program delivered while the other rolled over. Unfortunately for Golden, his team was the one that tanked and as a result there will be a ton of understandable backlash.
The formula and game plan were pretty simply for the fourth-year Miami coach; build on this loss to Florida State. There are no moral victories, but in college football there are recruiting wins and for those 200-plus recruits at Sun Life Stadium last week, they saw the Hurricanes ahead by 16 points much of the first half and a few too many late game mistakes to pull off the upset.
In short, those four quarters against the Seminoles laid out a narrative that Miami looked to be on the rise and maybe another class or two away from being a powerhouse again. All that Golden and staff needed to do from here was beat a struggling Virginia team at home on Saturday and knock off a six-loss Pittsburgh team in South Florida next weekend.
Not exactly Murderer’s Row or a tall order.
Instead, a full blown crap-the-bed situation against the Cavaliers, making for a two-game losing streak, another week of demoralization and back-of-the-mind situation where Miami limps into bowl season riding a three-game losing streak, as well as another unthinkable 6-6 season.
Year four was the season that former head coach Randy Shannon truly began feeling the heat and by year’s end, was gone.
Although the situation in 2007 wasn’t as dire for Shannon as 2010 was for Golden both talent-wise, culture-wise and NCAA-all-up-in-your-business-wise, there were still some parallels—right up through a 9-4 third season, with a step forward understandably expected the following year.
Shannon’s watershed moment took place early October when twenty-third ranked Florida State waxed thirteenth-ranked Miami, 45-17 at home. It was an abysmal performance, setting the stage for future losses against Virginia, as well as back-to-back home losses to Virginia Tech and lowly South Florida, in overtime.
The Hurricanes wrapped the regular season 7-5 before getting school in the Sun Bowl by Notre Dame—Shannon long gone and Golden watching from the booth with the commentators, talking about Miami’s necessary rebuild.
Six months later a former player spoke out about the mess Golden was inheriting. A few weeks after that, Nevin Shaprio became a household name and the NCAA set up shop in Coral Gables, plaguing this program for the next two-plus years.
A few early losses defined Golden’s fourth season at Miami, but if looking for silver lining or something to pin them on, there were understandable, if still frustrating, reasons.
True freshman quarterback at Louisville; play it safe. Tough road game at Nebraska and too many uncharacteristic turnovers in a hostile environment. As for Georgia Tech, lost the chess match to a good coach who imposed his will and had Miami reactive all night, the offense seeing the ball 1/3 as much as the Yellow Jackets.
Losing to Florida State hurt the most, but there was still reason to have heads held high as the Hurricanes finally looked like they belonged on the same field as the Seminoles again—despite the talent differential, the rookie quarterback versus a Heisman-winner and a “home” crowd that featured equally as much support for the in-state opponent.
From that high to the low of being down 31-6 to a sub-par Virginia team late in the fourth quarter. Welcome to Golden’s watershed-type moment as this was as bad as Shannon’s higher-ranked Canes bunch losing by four touchdowns to the Noles, if not worse.
Much like Shannon getting pummeled by a rival at home year four, Miami’s current coach lost a late-season game his fourth year—his team was out-gamed, outschemed, outclassed and out-hustled, all in a similar fashion which ultimately sent his predecessor packing.
Despite any similarities to Shannon and Golden record-wise four years in, the overall state of “The U” couldn’t be more difference. Winds of change are blowing at the University of Miami and an era is ending as long-time president Donna Shalala will step down next spring.
Four years ago Shalala was knee-deep in growing UM in the world of medicine, then-athletic director Kirby Hocutt was climbing the ladder, looking to make a name for himself and the NCAA was just under a year away from descending on Coral Gables to launch an eventual two-plus-year investigation into the athletic department.
Golden signed up, stayed on and when checking off every box, appeared to be ideal for a program in need of stability, leadership and relationship-repairing as Miami’s former staff burned local bridges on the recruiting front.
All of that eventually parlayed into a show of faith by the Hurricanes, extending Golden’s contract through the 2019 season—and while fans play some The Price Is Right-stye game called, “Guess The Buyout”, fact remains there are bigger things unfolding at UM this off-season, trumping any head coaching changes.
Shalala won’t saddle the next president with a new head coach, nor will one of her final moves in office be the firing of Golden and eating his buyout. Chalk it up to bad timing, but facts are facts and that’s just the way this business works.
What can happen this off-season; answering tough questions and dealing with those personnel changes Golden blew off last year this time, sticking to his guns and with a steadfast belief that his crew could turn things around.
Former head coach Larry Coker was given a bit of an “ultimatum” after the 2005 season ended with a Peach Bowl loss to LSU, 40-3.The call came from above and long-time coaches were fired—Don Soldinger and Art Kehoe—as was offensive coordinator Dan Werner.
Coker was saddled with retread play caller Rich Olson, while pushing for his quarterbacks coach Todd Berry to have more say. Instead, massive conflict between the two. The season unraveled, with Miami going 7-6, after a clear message that things needed to improve. They didn’t and Coker was gone the morning after winning the season-finale over Boston College.
Where it appeared weeks back that Golden accepted the need for a more aggressive defense and made necessary changes, a more glaring get-it-right scenario is waiting just around the corner.
With a new president headed to the University of Miami, ready to create their own legacy—neither Golden or athletic director Blake James are safe and both absolutely must perform. By next summer everybody is officially playing for their jobs.
A few weeks ago it was easier to defend Golden, who looked like he’d finally seen the light regarding defensive scheming. He was coaching like a man who knew everything was on the line and his team was responding as such.
Miami looked good in victory and even deserved to hold its head in defeat, going toe-to-toe with Florida State and playing at such a high level.
Virginia changed everything.
If a hang-tight moment with the Seminoles was two steps forward, falling to the Cavaliers was ten steps back. Miami lost in a manner that showed nothing has changed and after years of stubbornness, begging the bigger question—under Golden, will it ever?
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