Yeah, tell me again that Miami "can’t" win at OU…

Anyone who reads my stuff knows that I’m very anti-preseason rankings. They benefit the top five and they make the rough that much tougher for those looking up at the top of the mountain. When they work in your favor, great. If you’re on the outside looking in, good luck.

My biggest issue with these preseason polls is the blatant media bias and stroking of traditional powers. Letting members of the AP, writers and coaches decide who “deserves” to be ranked where is an utter joke.

Let’s look at last week. #5 Michigan is absolutely stunned by I-AA Appalachian State, 34-32 and has since dropped completely out of the top 25. Conformation just how wrong these pollsters were to have the Wolverines ranked so high in the preseason. On paper, the return of seniors Chad Henne and Mike Hart gave the other UM some offensive firepower – but this is still a team who lost it’s last two games of 2006 and is now on a three-game losing streak.

What about #4 Texas last week and a less than stellar performance against lowly Arkansas State? The Horns ‘escaped’ with a 21-13 over a nobody university and is ripe for an upset this week at the hands of state rival Texas Christian.

#9 Virginia Tech was tugging at heartstrings with their season opener this week and the first football played in Blacksburg since the shooting rampage this past spring. Supposedly poised for a big year, the Hokies needed a late game pick-six to trump pathetic East Carolina, 17-7.

#15 Tennessee got absolutely worked by #12 Cal, 45-31 – which says something for the Bears, but very little about the Vols. Even #1 Southern Cal didn’t looks superhuman in their 38-1o win over Idaho. A few years back they’d have worked the Vandals, 70-0.

What about our brethren in Tallahassee? Ranked #19 going into Monday’s game at Clemson even though they had a 7-6 season like Miami, sport even more severe quarterback woes, a putrid offensive line, a Swiss cheese defense and fewer playmakers? Who ever saw the day when the Florida State’s biggest gamer was their kicker? Yet somehow, Bobby Bowden gets the sympathy vote for the umpteenth time and the Noles sneak in the top 20 while the Canes are looking up from the “Others Receiving Votes” perspective.

All of which brings me to unranked Miami taking on #4 Oklahoma this weekend in Norman. The line is -10.5 and all the media focus is on the Sooners ‘big time’ 79-10 win over that 6A high school disguised at North Texas as well as the on-the-surface situation at Miami; solid defense, quarterback woes, offensive line needing to improve, playmakers lacking, etc.

It’s as if these media members have a giant book of NCAA Cliff Notes and skim the surface for their info. I’ve seen little this week touting the strong running game Miami boasts with Graig Cooper and Javarris James or the fact the offensive line played solid last week.

What about the fact that Oklahoma has laid a giant egg on more than one occasion in big games? Their 2003 squad was touted as all world and went on to get waxed 35-7 in the Big XII title game at the hands of Kansas State and lost the National Championship game a month later to LSU in the Sugar Bowl.

A year later, they’re on the grand stage again after making mince meat of their overrated conference, only to get smothered by #1 Southern Cal, 55-19.

Conversely, Miami thrives in that ‘back against the wall’ mode. Whether it was 1998 against #2 UCLA (49-45), 2000 against #1 Florida State (27-24) or as recent as 2005 against #3 Virginia Tech (27-7) – when ‘on’ the Canes play to the level of their competition. Obviously that wasn’t the case in Larry Coker’s swan song, but this is the Randy Shannon era. The U will be ready on game day.

The Sooners are sure getting a lot of hype at #4 with a redshirt quarterback in Sam Bradford and a trio of good running backs, though none on the level of an Adrian Peterson… a yes OU, I know you actually had a better record last year without A.D. but you’re A.D. (absolutely delusional) if you believe that your program improved without your Heisman-worthy running back on the field in 2007.

All the talk dwells on what Miami lost or lacks, but again, what about Oklahoma? A program that lost three games in 2006 and four games in 2007 is certainly going to feel the effects of who’s departed since the OT loss to Boise State in January.

How can folks actually believe OU will be better without Rufus Alexander (Big XII Defensive Player of the Year), Zack Latimer (first team Big XII), CJ Ah You (first team Big XII), Calvin Thibodeaux, Carl Pendleton and Larry Birdine?

The Sooners have recruited well across the board, but two games into the season you have to believe that the loss of six big time defensive players needs to at least be acknowledged by the national media. How come a hack Canes writer with a meaningless blog is the only one making mention of this?

I’m not predicting a Miami win… yet. But I am going through the ‘facts’ here with a fine-toothed comb and there’s a lot more to Saturday’s match up than the national media is mentioning. Seems everyone wants to crown OU the victor before everyone tees it up on the 8th.

Without saying too much, this is absolutely setting things up for a Hurricane-sized upset. Yet another “us against the world” opportunity for The U. As long as the ghosts of 2006 don’t return, Miami has a legit shot on Saturday.

.:Canes305:.

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