Miami v. Virginia : The Preview

Virginia is headed back to Miami for the first time since they laid a 48-0 skunking on the Canes in the Orange Bowl finale. Even though UM got some ‘revenge’ in last year’s 24-17 OT win in Charlottesville, current Canes are still smarting from the brutal send out in November 2007.

Hopefully Miami doesn’t need to fill their sales with fabricated tales of revenge when Virginia heads to Land Shark Stadium for a noontime kickoff on Saturday. Sitting at 6-2 with four games remaining, the Canes should have enough motivation to win out and to reach a quality post-season bowl game.

It’s been eight interesting quarters of football for Miami since re-cracking the top ten and sitting at 5-1 before Clemson came calling two weeks back. Defensively the Canes are reeling. 965 yards and 67 points surrendered over two games. Special teams breakdowns. If not for a few lucky bounces at Wake Forest, the Canes would be the not-so-proud owners of two straight losses.

That said, Miami was resilient in it’s comeback last weekend, made the most of those breaks and the defense stepped up when it needed to, holding the once-potent Deacs offense scoreless in the final quarter and forcing two critical turnovers – an interception and a fumble on a punt return.

November hasn’t been kind to the Canes these past few years and again, injuries are taking their toll as the season winds down. In almost two decades of coaching, Randy Shannon admits he’s never seen or been around such a depleted bunch.

“I’ve never had this many injuries, even as a player,” Shannon said. “And we’ve never had this many on one side of the football — the defense. Think about it. We’re missing Ryan Hill, Marcus Forston, Adewale Ojomo, Andrew Smith, Sean Spence, Jordan Futch, Ray Ray Armstrong, Jo Nicolas… There are a lot of guys who have had a lot of experience in games that are not out there.

“Are any guys coming back? No, not right now. The other guys have to step it up.”

Win or lose, inevitably some are going to cite the ‘no excuses’ mentality this team has attempted to employ this past two seasons. Still, truth is truth and the Canes are down a lot of bodies year three into this rebuilding project. As much as coaches want other guys to “step up”, that might not be the case. When you lose a Spence… a Forston… a Futch… an Armstrong… it’s going to take its toll and there are going to be some break downs – especially defensively, where most of Miami’s injuries have occurred.

Simply put, the Canes haven’t “regressed” these past few weeks. This isn’t the same team that raced to a 5-1 start and slowed down No. 8 Oklahoma early October. The bodies and the chemistry aren’t there and in some cases, won’t be back until next season.

Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and South Florida. Hardly the “murderer’s row” type schedule the Canes opened with, but four quality teams who could all beat Miami. Especially a beaten up bunch that has temporarily lost its collective focus.

Credit to Shannon, Miami’s learning-on-the-job head coach who is attempting to negotiate dangerous terrain as this season winds down. 2-2 last November and 0-4 the November before, this staff is looking for answers.

In an effort to keep these Canes from breaking down further, the practice routine was shaken up a bit. Instead of the standard 5:45am start time on Tuesdays, drills have been moved to 3pm. All practices have been reduced in length and the focus down the stretch will be on the mental breakdowns, instead of the physical aspect of things. More film study, a faster tempo and a quicker overall experience, which allows for more recuperation time.

All great in theory, but Miami still has to find a way to win with a lot of its best players on the sideline and with Virginia sitting unpretty at 3-5, this looks to be the Canes easiest remaining foe. Offensively the Cavs are an inconsistent bunch (re: ACC’s worst) and while their defense isn’t half back. Miami should have enough firepower to put up some points and wear UVA down in that early afternoon South Florida sun.

This contest is the closest thing Miami will see to a ‘preseason’ type game in November. Embrace the homefield advantage, wipe the early morning cobwebs (this is the Canes first 12pm ET kickoff all season) and focus. 10-2 is still a reality, as is an at-large BCS berth, should some higher ranked teams fall over the next month. Keep the dream alive, Canes.

Take care of the Cavs and get this thing to 7-2. This isn’t about revenge; it’s about a win and keeping the goals and dreams of this season in tact.

The Call: Miami 34, Virginia 16

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