A few weeks back, when asked what the biggest issue with his team was, Miami Hurricanes head coach Randy Shannon had a one-word answer; consistency.
After wins over Pittsburgh and Clemson, as well as the loss to Florida State, it was still a fair question. Still is after a lackluster win over Duke and beat down of North Carolina, considering Miami still didn’t put together four solid quarters of football.
The Canes are 5-2 and to date haven’t shown they can stay focused for sixty minutes. A game where offense, defense and special teams all come out and dominate. There have been hints and glimpses, but no complete performance.
With Virginia on deck and based on what took place last weekend, this could finally be the game where it all comes together.
We’ve talked about the emotional week Miami players had between Duke and North Carolina, coming to their own realization that it was on THEM to get this thing on track. Having finally bought into that, the next step is ‘getting it’ regarding the consistency mantra.
You look at Virginia and you see that home or on the road, this really isn’t a good football team. First-year head coach Mike London is trying to revitalize a program that many Wahoo faithful have already dismissed. He’s been on every talk show in state, urging residents of the Commonwealth to back this program. They’re in desperation mode and they’re ready to get dominated. (Especially their run defense.) But the question remains, can Miami bring its “A” game for four quarters?
I don’t want to disrespect Virginia. That really is the worst thing you can do. However, on paper, Miami is a much more talented squad and a team desperately looking for another break out game, fueling their run to Charlotte.
I want to see Jacory Harris play mistake-free football from the start. He found his groove the second half against North Carolina, but it’s time to show everyone the type of quarterback he really is.
I want to see these wideouts pick up where they left off with North Carolina, no longer dropping footballs.
I want to see an offensive line that opens huge gaps for Damien Berry, Lamar Miller and Mike James, fueling a potent ground attack.
I want to see good tight end play, something that’s been lacking outside of the recent play of Asante Cleveland.
I also want to see Mark Whipple calling a game that suits the strengths of J-Harris, instead of one that asks him to do too much.
On defense, continue with the solid tackling. You can’t just expect the turnovers to keep coming. Continue playing aggressive, sticking to fundamentals and making things happen.
Matt Bosher, one of the best in the game, needs to make his kicks. No missed field goals and certainly no more missed extra points. Some point to fatigue, saying that doing all three phases of the game (kickoffs, punting and special teams) have worn Bosher down and it’s hard to disagree. If you want to focus on one failure on the recruiting front, it’s the lack of finding someone to take some of the responsibility off of Bosher’s plate.
Special teams woes need to end and the Canes have to do a better job on kick off returns. Virginia is tops in the ACC and 26th nationwide in returns. Miami ranks 11th in conference and 92nd nationally in kick off coverage. That’s not going to cut it.
Lastly, enough with the penalties already. The Canes are 11th in conference in least penalty yardage and ranks near the bottom in ever national penalty category. Beyond unacceptable.
The win against North Carolina was awesome, but it means little if the Canes experience a letdown in Virginia. Another sloppy game is a huge step back for a team looking to win the Coastal and the conference. It’s about getting better every game from this point on.
The win against UNC was awesome, but a let down against Virginia in the form of a sloppy game is going to put Miami right back where it was before, not very convincing as a potential ACC Champ.
IN OTHER NEWS: On behalf of allCanes Radio, I want to thank Chris Freet, Margaret Belch, Rob Dinning, Scott Zavitz and Bryan Harvey from the Miami Sports Information Department for helping me catch up with Ryan Hill, Malcome Grant and Julian Gamble this past week. If you missed the broadcast, check it out. We also had some AMAZING sound from Vaughn Telemaque, Brandon Harris, LaRon Byrd and DB20 from after the win over the Tar Heels.
Also, don’t forget that you can subscribe to the allCanes Radio feed via iTunes and you can stream the show live (or check the archives) via the allCanes iPhone App.
Kickoff is 12pm ET and for those not going to the game it’s on ESPN HD. Those home watching, hit me up via Facebook or Twitter as I’ll be commenting during the game.