Sun Bowl : Notre Dame 33, Miami 17

A disappointing end to a disappointing season and Miami, true to form, performed like the Canes of 2010 when facing Notre Dame in the Sun Bowl.

Jacory Harris threw his first pick on his third attempt; yet another off the mark deep ball. Early second quarter, Harris coughed up two more picks in under two minutes, going 4 of 7 for 36 yards on the day.

Stats-wise, another outing where the box score was even. Miami amassed 405 total yards to Notre Dame’s 397 but coughed up four turnovers, while the Irish played mistake-free ball. The Canes were also dinged for ninety yards on 10 penalties, while ND had three infractions for 20 yards.

Arm tackling. Defenders falling down or playing out of position. The lethargic style of play which plagued the Canes all season carried over to the bowl game. If this was an ‘audition’ for new head coach Al Golden, this collective unit earned an epic fail.

Stephen Morris stumbled out the gate with an early interception, but rebounded and put together a 283-yard performance, going 22 for 33 with two touchdowns. Morris showed fire, passion and poise as he did late in the season when filling in for the injured Harris. But much like the loss at Virginia, the Morris rally came too little too late.

One has to wonder what interim head coach Jeff Stoutland saw that earned Harris the starting nod. Less than one minute into the second quarter, the Irish went up 21-0 after three Harris picks and Morris again took over after spotting the bad guys three scores.

Miami outscored Notre Dame, 17-12 from that point on, holding the Irish to four field goals – but down three touchdowns, never established a ground game, despite a slew of talented tailbacks. Damien Berry led the charge with 34 yards on nine carries, but the Canes’ longest run of the day came on an eleven-yard scramble courtesy of Morris.

Storm Johnson carried twice for 24 yards, Mike James had 14 yards on four carries and Lamar Miller racked up 13 yards on five attempts.

The Golden Era can’t officially get underway soon enough.

During the CBS broadcast, Gary Danielson echoed a point Golden recently made about a lack of leadership – stating that old school Miami would’ve had players in each others faces on the sidelines, demanding more out of their teammates and that really is the silver lining here. Coach Golden is going to end this bullshit and will change this entitled, lackadaisical, reactionary brand of football we’ve seen out of Coral Gables the past several seasons.

Another bright spot; the fact that Morris more than got a leg up on Harris in this spring’s quarterback competition. Morris again showed more poise, a stronger arm, better wheels and good decision-making – taking what was there and only forcing one errant pass.

Beyond that, Morris proved to be this team’s only spark – getting very animated after an early fourth quarter touchdown strike to Leonard Hankerson.

Yes, the Canes were still down twenty but that’s what you want to see out of your players. Fans can mail it in, feeling the game is out of reach – but you want a team full of guys battling until that final whistle. Morris is one of those guys and if Coach Golden is looking for someone to build this team around, his freshman quarterback is that guy. Besides being the better of the two quarterbacks, Morris also looks like this team’s best option regarding a leader.

Losing a third straight bowl game is a blow, but a lesser one due to the staff changes that were made at the end of the regular season. If Shannon were returning, there’d be little reason for optimism entering 2011.

Instead, Miami welcomes up a fired up Golden, with a game plan that’ll rid this program of its current sense of entitlement, lack of toughness and constant inconsistency. Golden may sound as polished as a CEO or politician in front of the cameras, but his northeastern blue collar work ethic will have him demanding more from his players than his predecessor. I have no doubt Golden and staff will have their collective boot up this team’s ass between now and September, doing anything and everything to instill a tougher culture at UM.

A disappointing win, but time to toughen up and get over it. There’s a reason these Canes lost five games entering today’s contest. Miami could’ve played like the team that showed up for Pittsburgh, Clemson, North Carolina and Georgia Tech, but instead came out like the mistake-prone, fundamentally-unsound bunch that crapped the bed against Florida State, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Consistently inconsistent and again, gaining steam late after shooting itself in the foot early on.

Take this 2010 team out to pasture and get out any last bit of frustration tonight as it’s a new regime in Miami and a few hours from now a brand new year. Wake up tomorrow with a cocktail-fueled hangover, not a Shannon-induced one.

Better days are ahead, regardless of today’s failed audition at a meaningless Sun Bowl.

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