Sooners say, "Later Canes"…

51-13. Ouch. Definitely didn’t see this one coming. A few thoughts before drowning my sorrows in a bottle of Crown and rooting for some upsets today. Misery loves company. Bring on the pain. For now, some Oklahoma/Miami sentiments and thoughts on the future of Miami Football 2007:

Props to my guy Tru2OU. He broke it down here a few days ago and was spot on with a lot of his commentary. At day’s end, he had a better feel for OU’s abilities than I did. Enjoy the Joe’s gift card. You earned it and waited 20 years for this day. Enjoy for now. See you in our house next time – 2009, when we’ve turned things around.

Speaking of underestimating… I was way off with my call this week. Pretty embarrassing. I was optimistic Miami could hang with Oklahoma. At times, they did. But most of the game you saw the drop off in talent. The Canes don’t have 1/3 of the playmakers the Sooners do. OU has truly reloaded. They’re a legit title contender and proved that The U is a year or so from being ‘back’.

And yes, I agree with the emails I’ve received regarding some poor officiating in the game. That said, when you lose 51-13 you sort of lose the right to blame the refs. Regarding those of you on suicide watch about the 38-point beat down, get over it the same way this team has to. The Canes are 1-1 and there’s a lot of football to be played. Lest not forget, an undefeated #2 Oklahoma team was beat down 55-19 in the National Championship game a few years back.

It happens. The wheels can fall off when you’re doing nothing offensively and your defense temporarily staves off the onslaught from a superior offense. Eventually something’s gotta give. Put it behind you. Don’t dwell on the score. A loss is a loss. Good teams can get punked on the scoreboard. It happens. Move on.

As for the commentary that our coaching staff needs to go, I won’t even discuss the stupidity in those statements. We’re two games into this era and some of you are already off board? Pathetic. No mystery why this fan base is one of the most heavily criticized in the sport.

Another tale of two offenses. OU boasts a promising young quarterback in Sam Bradford, one of the top offensive lines in the nation, big time receivers and a stable of running backs. Miami flip-flopped between two average QBs, had sub-par play out of the o-line, sports a group of wideouts on par with the Sooner back ups and two promising running backs getting shut down due to a one-dimensional offense.

Coaching didn’t do Miami in. A lack of talent did. Bob Stoops didn’t call a genius game compared to Randy Shannon and staff. Oklahoma out-talented Miami up and down the field. You want to blame coaching? Point the finger back right back at Larry Coker. Poor recruiting set the Canes back these past few seasons. Shannon can’t change that in nine months. He can work on attitude, preparation and mindset – but at day’s end, he’s still doing it with Coker’s lack-of-talent at several key positions, most notably, quarterback.

Kyle Wright

hasn’t panned out and Kirby Freeman can only do so much. Behind them, a walk on; the position depleted with Coker losing potential recruits Pat Devlin, Derek Shaw and Nick Fanuzzi in back-to-back-to-back seasons and with no Plan B in mind.

Miami will only be as solid as their quarterback play. Robert Marve better be the second coming if this program is going to turn it around as soon as 2008.

Something good can be taken from this match up. Early in the third quarter, Miami brought it to 21-13 and was hanging tough, but couldn’t string together enough big plays to steal momentum. Randy Phillips missing a sure interception which would’ve ended a would-be score. Tavares Gooden leading with the helmet as Bradford stepped out of bounds in Miami territory.

Intercept a pass, snatch momentum back. Hold OU to three instead of seven and you’re still in the game. These Canes break every time they can barely afford to bend. You only get so many chances on the road against a top five team.

Great teams don’t make these mistakes, nor should they need two third down pass interference calls to keep drives alive for the game’s lone touchdown. The Canes are low on elite talent.

I don’t need to break down game film to tell you that the wrong guy has been behind center 7 of the past 8 quarters. I’ve stated in the past I believe Wright has more upside than Freeman. That was never more apparent than yesterday. Freeman truly looked like a back up against OU. The game moves in slow motion with #7 at the helm. No zip on his passes. Plays take to long to develop. The lack of big game experience was beyond apparent.

Wright was hardly flawless, but in watching him come off the bench he had much better rhythm and feel than Freeman. The big game setting didn’t faze him. #3 did as much as he could with this team in this situation and he looked hungrier having lost the job and getting a chance to win it back.

There’s only one scenario I see for 2007. Wright is your starter, Freeman is your back up and it’s time to burn, baby, burn in regards to Marve’s redshirt. Once healthy, the freshman needs to see the field. Wright is gone in 2008 and Freeman isn’t the guy to lead this offense. Marve needs to get his feet wet now. If he’s as good as advertised, he’s not sticking around more than four years anyways.

Miami played its toughest game of its season, by far. No team left on the Canes schedule will give them the challenge the Sooners did. FIU and Texas A&M are the final two OOC games before ACC play kicks off. Both are beatable. The Golden Panthers are garbage while the Aggies needed triple overtime to take out lowly Fresno State at home.

Get to 4-1 and welcome Georgia Tech into the Orange Bowl on October 13th for the next “game of the year”. The ACC again looks down this year, with the exception of the Yellow Jackets. Miami is better than a North Carolina, NC State, Duke or Virginia. Florida State looked beatable at 1-1, struggling with UAB yesterday while Virginia Tech got manhandled at LSU. There’s no reason Miami can’t head into the season finale at Boston College a one-loss team.

Every team on the remaining schedule would’ve gotten equally as throttled by Oklahoma. That’s not the measuring stick for Miami 2007. We started this season unranked and aren’t ready to match up with top five teams on the road. As of now, Miami doesn’t look to even face a top ten team for the remainder of 2007. Let’s not throw in the towel just yet.

Shannon is changing the culture of Miami football, but let’s be realistic regarding how quickly this thing can be turned around. Seems a lot of us let the new head coach’s fire and passion dilute us into believing we were going to knock off #5. The new attitude is fine, but the “national championship” was premature. I’ve felt that since those two words were uttered this offseason.

You want to aim for undefeated, fine, but any realistic talk about winning it all was off base. It’s time to now reassess goals. Win the ACC. It’s doable as the conference is down again this year.

As this season progresses, I want less soundbites and more accountability. Miami has talked too much as of late and then not backed it up. There was a lot of chatter before last year’s 31-7 loss at Louisville. During OU week I’m hearing guys like Derrick Morse quoted as saying “when we win”. This coming from a guy who lost his starting gig at center to John Rochford.

I’m all for the big talk if results are delivered, but Miami hasn’t won a meaningful road game since November 2005. Can the soundbites and focus executing and winning ball games from here on out.

Hang tough. Our kids will learn from this loss. Anyone on this squad who thought Miami was on the same playing field as Oklahoma, just got a big time eye-opener. That’s a good thing. Want to know what it takes to be great? You just lived it for sixty minutes on Saturday. OU was the prime example of what great teams do in big time games and it showed our kids how far they are from achieving greatness. Mental breakdowns. Not stepping up. Talking it but not walking it. All that needs to be rectified quickly.

Miami will be great again as Shannon continues to recruit top-ranked talent. Find conference success this year, build for the future and attempt to make a serious splash in 2008. 2007 can still be a special season, but it starts with an ounce of humility after a big loss as well as the ability to bounce back quickly and regroup as several important match ups remain between now and December.

.:Canes305:.

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C. Bello

Longtime Miami Hurricanes columnist. Wrote for CanesTime.com, Yahoo! Sports and former BleacherReport featured columnist. Founder of allCanesBlog.com no longer toeing any company line. Launched ItsAUThing.com to deliver a raw, unfiltered and authentic perspective of all things "The U".