NC State 38, Miami 28

From 2-3 to 7-3 to 7-5.

It’s been a tale of three seasons for the Miami Hurricanes this year. Some good, some bad and some just plain ugly. Welcome to ‘rebuilding mode’.

A promising defensive showing in an early season loss at Florida. An offensive showcase a week later at Texas A&M. Heartbreaking, back-to-back losses against North Carolina and Florida State, by a combined six points.

From there, a five-game win streak. Not always pretty, but effective and character-building. After a seven-loss campaign in 2007, Miami found ways to rebound against legit conference foes; Wake Forest, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Regardless of how the season would end, this alone was a sign of improvement.

A week later, with a potential ACC title game berth in the wings, Miami folded in Atlanta. A week after that – playing for pride, a season-ending win and a shot at a higher-tier bowl game – the Canes again choked in Raleigh-Durham.

A five-game win streak feels like a million years ago after going 0-2 in the span of nine days, the glaring weaknesses covered up by a nice mid-season run are that much more apparent.

The Canes gave up 472 yards in last week’s loss at Georgia Tech and 219 today at NC State. Redshirt freshman quarterback Russell Wilson picked Miami apart with both his arms and legs. 220 yards through the air, 58 on the ground and three total touchdowns. Wilson played error-free on a day when the Canes quarterbacks combined for two turnovers each.

Be it Robert Marve or Jacory Harris, neither proved to be the answer these past two weeks. Supporters of both each have crow to eat. Twelve games into the season, both Marve and Harris still look, act and play like freshman. There have been glimpses of greatness, but the overall body of work took a hit after a few sub par outings. Backsliding has been part of the process.

As much as Miami still hasn’t grown on offense, the defense again no-showed. NC State rang up 439 total yards in the 38-28 victory. A balanced attack that left the Canes confused, it’s now two straight weeks that opposing offensive coordinators went for the jugular, exploiting Hurricanes weaknesses.

The tenacious D that kept a potent Florida offense in check for three plus quarters in Gainesville has been exposed as the year rolled on. Miami’s secondary and it’s linebackers were picked on consistently and once Georgia Tech proved the Canes couldn’t stop the run, NC State coaches simply needed to follow the blueprint.

Up next, the bowl game. Right now that either means the Emerald, Music City or the Meineke Car Care Bowl, with the Champs Sports still a slim possibility.

On paper, it’s a 7-5 season with a post-season game pending, but those who live and breathe Miami Football know there’s more to the story. Randy Shannon is at a severe crossroads two years into his rebuilding project. Decisions he makes this off-season could very well determine how his head coaching career plays out. This season may be in the books, but it’s officially ‘roll up the sleeves’ time as Shannon needs to get back to this rebuilding project.

There’s no love lost with the Canes’ fan base and offensive coordinator Patrick Nix. As if the product on the field isn’t evidence enough, look at the numbers. 88th in overall offense. 78th in passing offense. Ranked 112th in the land regarding interceptions given up (19 between Marve and Harris) and 80th in passing efficiency.

Even more frustrating than five losses and paltry statistics, the fact that Miami still lacks an offensive identity and that both freshman quarterbacks seem to have regressed over the course of a season. Where’s the leadership? Where’s the development? Where are all those things that were supposed to be fixed in this new regime? What happened to addition by subtraction?

One could argue that Nix deserves more time. Let the talent jell. Give the quarterbacks and young receivers time to grow. Part of me wants to agree with that, but the other side keeps going with my gut.

I believe the writing is on the wall. Nix is unimaginative and coaches scared. He’s reactive instead of proactive and seems content to milk a lead or bleed out a clock, as opposed to putting a foot on an opponent’s throat and piling on. He officially lost me the fourth game of the season.

Months back, Miami jumps out to a 14-0 lead against North Carolina, abandons the run, loses any offensive identity, attempts to bleed the clock, can’t pick up crucial first downs late in the game and falls behind 28-24 with under a minute to play.

After being stagnant on offense the majority of the second half, Nix opens it up on the final drive and Miami is a fingertip grab away from a game-winning touchdown and 69-yard drive in half a minute, leaving everyone wondering where was that fire the last two quarters.

Everything that worked early on was ditched once the Canes played with a lead. From there, an assortment of offense plays and no rhyme or reason regarding what Nix wanted to do.

A week later, down 24-3 at the half against Florida State after a slow start, Miami puts up 36 points in the second-half, using an assortment of gimmicky and grab bag-style plays. The Canes moved the ball and played with a purpose later in the game, but was lost the first thirty minutes. This was also the game where Nix ‘answered his critics’ by attempting three straight deep balls on the first offensive possession of the game.

The rest of the season didn’t fare much better. Another poor offensive showing against UCF was followed by a breakout performance by Harris at Duke, in a 49-31 win. A week later, Miami can’t move the ball against Virginia and is down 17-10 late in the fourth, yet the playbook is opened up and the Canes roll the length of the field for a game-tying score.

The offense backslid further against Virginia Tech, where Miami mustered up 247 yards and relied on stout defense (and a few lucky bounces) to escape with a 16-14 win, but again lacked an offensive identity, relying on broken plays and quarterbacks’ legs to pick up first downs.

While the defense was to blame in losses against Georgia Tech and NC State, Nix’s offense never set the tone, picked up first downs or kept drives alive. The playcalling was confusing and spotty, which kept a run down defense on the field much longer than it could afford to be. I can’t remember a time when the Canes offense set the tone and truly seized some momentum.

All preseason the talk was of Miami’s offensive line and the running game being the backbone of this offense, yet Nix never had this team establishing the run. The few times the run worked (UNC, for example), it was abandoned for no reason.

Times when teams absolutely rely on the ground game (4th and inches against GT comes to mind.. ), Nix inexplicably called a passing play with his quarterback in the shotgun. Later in a 3rd and long, with an obvious passing down, Nix chose to call a draw and failed.

Stop routes. Out routes. Curls. The same bubble or jailbreak screen run several times again, never fooling an opposing defensive coordinator. How long can one really blame the inexperience of offensive players and start laying that at the feet of an offensive coordinator who appears in over his head?

Could Nix turn things around? Will an influx of talent allow him to open up the playbook in time? That’s a question only Shannon can answer. If there’s ever a time to make this change, it’s this off-season. You don’t want this young squad to get that much more comfortable under this current OC, only to rip the rug out a year later, taking two steps backwards after one step forward.

Aside from Nix, Shannon will also have to evaluate Wesley McGriff (secondary), Tommie Robinson (running backs), Jeff Stoutland (offensive line) and Andreu Swasey (strength & conditioning) as all areas suffered big time the past two seasons.

As this team’s CEO, the second year head coach has to take a hard look at every area of this program where a deficiency has occurred. If not, Shannon will risk eventually losing his ‘dream job’, effectively proving the doubters wrong.

While there are some glaring weaknesses, it should be noted that 7-5 is a vast improvement from 5-7. It’s more than just a two game swing. Miami is one step closer to being ‘Miami’ again. The culture is changing, slowly but surely and while the critics are sick of so much being put on Larry Coker, you can’t underestimate how far this once mighty program has fallen.

Coker was the first Miami coach to be fired since Carl Selmer was canned after a 3-8 campaign in 1976. Howard, Jimmy, Dennis and Butch all left for supposedly greener pastures and all left the program in tact. While Miami may have been headed towards probation when Erickson headed to Seattle, Davis inherited a team that went 10-2 and finished #3 in the land, losing the Orange Bowl to #1 Nebraska.

Even beyond the fact that Shannon inherited a dog of a program, how about the fact he was the only guy to raise his hand and sign on for the task of cleaning house? Butch Davis. Greg Schiano. Dave Wannstedt. Even the ol’ ball coach, Steve Spurrier.

No one want to straighten up Coker’s mess. Not even for a few million per year. The only folks who think coaching The U is a plum gig are fans still living in yesteryear, in denial about the state of the program as well as the parity in the college game and the big money other state-funded athletic departments can dole out.

Talent-wise, this Canes bunch is sorely lacking. I traded emails with a fan earlier this week who said a 7-6 season was unacceptable (barring Miami loses their bowl game) because this team is ‘so much more talented’ than the 7-6 squad of 2006. A squad that I quickly pointed out fielded four first round draft picks and few other NFLers.

While Miami’s underclassmen are showing promise, lest not forget that no upperclassmen are expected to be drafted next spring – something the Canes haven’t seen in over three decades.

It takes more than just strapping on that helmet and running out the smoke Saturdays in fall. It takes Miami-caliber players and a cupboard full of future NFL talent; something which has lacked severely the past few seasons.

Catch SportsCenter any Sunday night during football season and listen to the laundry list of NFL U superstars making plays and securing wins week in and week out. Today’s heroes were Jon Beason and Philip Buchanon. Next week, a different crop of successful Canes getting it done at the next level. Wherever you look, there’s a Miami alum somewhere taking care of business.

Way too many upperclassmen are making freshman-like mistakes and haven’t grown in 4-5 years in this program. Until they’re all replaced by better talent, the losses will keep rolling in a handful of times per year. Unfortunately, that won’t happen overnight. It took a few years to fall off the radar and it’ll take as much time, if not more, to right so many wrongs.

If you’re in any way, shape or form affiliate with Miami Football, you have your work cut out for you. That goes for coaches, players and fans alike. Everybody needs to deal with something.

This staff needs to hit the road and recruit away, while the head honcho decides which coaches will be invited back to do it all again next year. The players? Get in the weight room, man up and get stronger for next season. Too many Canes have been pushed around the past few seasons.

What happened to the mantra, ‘stronger, faster and better’? Not lately, at least.

Regarding the fans, it’s time to take inventory. Quit living in the past and start dealing with reality. Miami has slipped big time and rebuilding projects don’t just ‘happen’. There’s a science and it’s a slow process. It will take several classes to right this ship and as exciting as five-game win streaks can be, don’t delude yourselves into thinking it means the Canes are ‘back’.

The ACC may have been ‘in reach’, but a title game berth or BCS game was never a reality. Not right now. Not with 31 freshman. Not when you’re ekeing out last minute wins and end a season with two brutal road games. Miami was more lucky than good this year, which is fine as it resulted in a few important program-building wins. In time, the Canes won’t need to rely on luck as they’ll again begin ‘outtalenting’ the competition.

Until then, see things for what they are. 7-5 is a step forward after 5-7. A bowl game berth is big time after last season ended Thanksgiving weekend. Some freshman made a big impact and should make a bigger one at sophomores.

Wins over Wake Forest, Virginia and Virginia Tech were important, as it gave these kids the feeling that goes along with winning. They couldn’t do it consistently in 2008, but they showed that if they put together a good enough game on both sides of the ball they can get the job done.

This team is close, but unfortunately is only as strong as its weakest link. As seen these past two game, a few too many weak links resulted in some ugly losses.

Ride it out. Enjoy the bowl game. Set your sights on another top-flight recruiting class.

Miami will be back. Maybe not on your timetable, but this thing is on the right track and it’s a matter of time before the Canes are significant again. 7-5 was a step forward and hopefully we see a bigger one in 2009.

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