Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A Statement, One Way or the Other

Hello All,

Time to preview week 5 of the college football season.

Last week was a tough one, on many levels, for the ‘Canes.

This week is their chance to bounce back against another ranked opponent, at home, in primetime. Oklahoma is a very good team that borders on great when Sam Bradford is playing. They are not invincible, however, as BYU proved early in the season. Really, BYU won because they caught Oklahoma off guard with they physicality.

If Oklahoma watched tape of the Virginia Tech game, Miami should be able to do the same (really, Oklahoma has got to be licking their chops). Whether they do or not is really a matter of which defense shows up: the one that shut down Georgia Tech or the one that got mauled by Virginia Tech.

Here is the breakdown:

Quarterback: Jacory Harris is a very good quarterback, no doubt about it. However, he is still young and is prone to the mistakes that young quarterbacks make. He will make some this week against a wrecking crew defense that will bring the noise.While Harris has gotten a lot of publicity, Oklahoma’s Landry Jones has been playing very well for the Sooners, who have an explosive system that feeds off of its running game and puts up points in bunches. The x-factor here is Bradford. I will not believe he is out until I see it. If Bradford plays, the Sooners will probably win (as they did 2 years ago). If it is Jones, than Miami will not be at a disadvantage; the edge may be with the ‘Canes in this case, as this will be his first prime time test on the road against a fast defense. EDGE: EVEN (if Jones starts)/ OKLAHOMA (if Bradford starts)

Running Back: Graig Cooper and Javarris James are solid but proved last week that they are not game changers on their own. They need a good passing game to take pressure off. They also need better play calling, as both are better with a lead blocker and cannot beat the blitz to the edge, as they were being asked to do. As for Oklahoma, the 1-2 punch of Demarco Murray and Chris Brown is sure to give the Miami defense fits, particularly after Ryan Williams and Tyrod Taylor shredded them. EDGE: Oklahoma

Wide Receiver: Laron Byrd and Leonard Hankerson have emerged as go-to guys for Harris, and Travis Benjamin will have a better game on a dry track. I also think that Jimmy Graham will come up with a big play somewhere to atone for last week’s drops. Oklahoma is replacing their top 2 receivers and has not yet found a go-to guy. Jermaine Gresham will be sorely missed, as Miami has not been able to cover elite tight ends for years. EDGE: Miami

Offensive Line: If the talent is equal, which it probably is, then the edge goes to the team that will face less pressure. Miami was unable to create pressure with their front four last week. EDGE: Oklahoma

Defensive Line: Oklahoma is nasty on the front four, lead by Gerald McCoy (who I think is the best defensive player in college football), Jeremy Beal and Auston English. Miami is talented but banged up right now. Marcus Forston, Andrew Smith and Olivier Vernon have got to contribute this week or the Sooners will march up and down the field at will. Allen Bailey has been great but cannot do it all, and the depth issues last week really showed down the stretch. EDGE: Oklahoma

Linebacker: Miami’s unit, aside from Colin McCarthy, was unable to do anything last week. Sean Spence has got to hold the edge better against the run, and Daryl Sharpton really can only be relied upon in short yardage situations, where his lack of lateral speed can be hidden. Oklahoma is lead by Ryan Reynolds and is tough as always. It is quite impressive the job this team did in shutting out Tulsa’s juggernaut offense and a lot of that goes to the linebacking corps. EDGE: Oklahoma

Secondary: It doesn’t matter how good Oklahoma is here, because Miami has been terrible so far. EDGE: Oklahoma

Special Teams: Miami’s return game is not bad, but they cannot cover kicks and gave up a blocked punt last week. EDGE: Oklahoma

Coaching: This is a tricky one. While Bob Stoops has a great reputation, he has fallen short repeatedly in recent years against fast, talented teams (USC, Boise State, West Virginia, Florida, Texas, etc.). Randy Shannon and crew must adapt this week, because if they stick dogmatically to their gameplan as they did against Virginia Tech than it will be another blowout. Whipple and Lovett both must show more willingness to take what is given. That means creative offensive play calling (like the first two games) and more blitzing on defense. This is a tentative pick, but Oklahoma has the advantage until the Miami staff proves it is back to where it was against Georgia Tech. EDGE: Oklahoma

Now, that looks like a blowout. However, I think this will be a close game. Miami is not nearly as bad as they played last week, but this was always going to be the toughest of the first 4 games. Can Miami win? Yes. Will they? No clue.

POINT, COUNTERPOINT: Can Miami Score Enough to Win?

This week, I start a new segment with my buddy Justin Antweil of WVUM radio. We will both be answering the same question, touching on what I perceive to be the biggest questions facing the ‘Canes. I think it is a given that the Sooners are going to score, so Miami’s best chance to win is to go blow for blow with them and hold on at the end. So, the question is, can Miami’s offense bounce back?

Justin:
Miami Can Score! Sure, the Oklahoma Sooners defense has been stout. Coming off back to back shutouts after the stunning loss to BYU, this team is really motivated. The defense is playing with a chip on its shoulder, as it is getting overlooked because fans and analysts are more obsessed with the right shoulder of an injured player.
Come Saturday night at 8, No. 8 OU battles No, 17 Miami. The ‘Canes offense can exploit the OU defense, which has forced 4 picks and 2 fumbles. The key for the offense is to be aggressive. Mark Whipple strayed from his traditional game plan last weekend in soggy Blacksburg. Whipple must continue to implement the crossing routes and create constant movement that will cause confusion for the crimson and cream.
Whipple must utilize his weapons. Junior receiver Leonard Hankerson continues to thrive and haul in difficult catches every week. LaRon Byrd is proving he is worthy of wearing an orange and green 47. Dedrick Epps looks healthy after tearing his ACL in December. Sure, Jimmy Graham is a fan favorite, but let him catch balls in low pressure situations to get his confidence up. Don’t throw him in to the fire just yet.
Be aggressive and good things will happen.

Stein on the Sidelines:

I agree with Justin that the ‘Canes offense can score on this team. The question is which offense will show up.
Justin mentioned crossing routes and being aggressive. I agree with both. However, he doesn’t mention WHY we were able to be aggressive in the first two games: Jacory was standing in the pocket unpressured on almost every play. Whipple was using max protect schemes, using only 2 receivers as route runners on first down. Sure, there was a lot of motion and shifting, but in the end, at most 3 receivers were running routes while everyone else helped the o-line. The receivers ran intermediate and deep crossing routes and Jacory has a lot of time to find them open.
Last weekend, Whipple went away from the max protect and the o-line was exposed, most specifically Matt Pipho. The Miami o-line is solid but has some weaknesses. Virginia Tech found these weaknesses and Whipple never adjusted.
Justin is underselling the Sooner defensive front. As I said, the Sooner front 7 is big and fast and will be coming hard until Miami proves they can stop them.
Whipple needs to go back to the max protect, because if Jacory has time to throw, Byrd, Hankerson, Epps, Travis Benjamin, Thearon Collier and even Jimmy Graham can make big plays at any point in time.
The solution is not in the passing schemes, but the blocking schemes. Keep Jacory upright and Miami can score in bunches. The early pass will set up the run, which will set up play action, which will lead to touchdowns. However, if Oklahoma blitzes successfully early on, Miami will be in a hole and a repeat of Virginia Tech is very possible.
Max protect for max points.

Week 4 Picks in Review

I have been avoiding writing this section like I would avoid sharing a drink with George Christopher in “Bored to Death”.

My upset special barely missed, but I was off pretty much everywhere else. While it was a guest picker that picked Ole Miss, I was responsible for predicting Cal in “a close one” and Penn State “in a blowout”. Alas, I went 6-3, which is respectable. That brings me to 6-4 on the season. Guest pickers are 0-1.

This Week’s Guest

This week’s guest is close friend of Stein on the Sidelines, Steph. She is a native of Northern Virginia, so I asked for her opinion of the North Carolina- Virginia matchup in Chapel Hill. Take it away Steph:

"When Dan asked me to guest write for this blog my first reaction was to laugh in his face. Anybody who knows me at all will tell you that I have absolutely no business writing for a football blog. I don't really have any business even reading a football blog, considering most of the time I have no idea what is going on when it comes to sports.

However, since it's apparently my responsibility to make a prediction for the UNC v. UVA game, I'm going to go ahead and go with UNC. Mostly due to my intense dislike for the entire institution of UVA and anything associated with it. There are a variety of reasons I have problems with UVA.

First of all...southern Virginia. Enough said.

They also have the idea that twelve kids sitting around in a basement playing beer pong is a "really raging party."

But the worst part is the general student body. If you ever find yourself in a conversation with a kid from UVA it will probably go a little something like this:

"So, what school do you go to?"

"Why, I go to the *dramatic pause* University of Virginia," They will then wait expectantly for you to drop to your knees before them and/or begin to cross yourself. "Where do you go?" I

n my particular case, with the response "The University of Miami," this tends to be the reaction:"Oh. Mmm," they respond in what can only be described as a sympathetic tone.

They might even accompany this with an understanding nod, as if you had just admitted that you were partially mentally retarded. I think you all get the point. I've met kids from Yale, Stanford, and Princeton. I have a very close friend who goes to USC for film, one of the best schools in the country for his major. And NONE of them carry themselves they way that kids from UVA do. I really fail to understand how this mindset came to be. Yes, UVA is a good school. Yes, it is difficult to get into. But it's not Ivy League. It's not MIT.

I guess you could say I'm not the biggest fan. So yeah. Go Tarheels. Or is it Tar Heels? Whatever."


Admirable for her brevity and absolute willingness to allow personal prejudices to cloud football predictions, folks.

My Picks

West Virginia over Colorado: After watching Colorado get smacked by both Colorado State and Toledo, I have no hope that they will be able to stop Noel Devine. None. Zilch. Nada. If I were a gambler, this would be my stone cold lock of the week. It won’t even be close.

Michigan over Michigan State: I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Sparty will keep it close, maybe even lead in to the 4th quarter, and then blow it. The only question is how. My prediction: they will try a fake field goal when up 6 and throw an interception on the play. Michigan will score 14 unanswered and run away with it.

Georgia over LSU: I don’t even really consider this an upset. LSU has not been very impressive, and they have to travel Between the Hedges for a big game with the Bulldogs, who have quietly been piling up points. I see this being a good game, but Georgia gets back in the national discussion with a win. This will also make it 5 straight weeks a top 5 team loses.

Georgia Tech over Mississippi State: After the Bulldogs almost knocked off LSU, they will be too drained to take on Tech’s physical offense. Tech by two scores.

Ole Miss over Vanderbilt: This was actually a tough call (sorry Bill). Jevan Snead needs to get going and should this week. But Vanderbilt has become a sneaky tough place to win on the road, and Snead will have his hands full. I think Ole Miss has too much talent, but keep an eye on this game.

USC over Cal: I was going to pick Cal here in a bounce back game, but then we all heard about the tragic accident involving Stafon Johnson. I think USC wins this one for their teammate, and I wish him a very speedy recovery.

FSU over Boston College: FSU needs the win, and typically when a team this talented needs a win they find a way to get it. It will be tough on the road, but the FSU speed will juuuust pull one out. Also, this is one of the strangest choices for a College Gameday site yet.

NC St. over Wake Forest: This Wolfpack team is quietly playing well, and Wake just lost to BC.

Clemson over Maryland: Clemson bounces back, but Kirk Herbstreit is right: they don’t play well when it isn’t a TV game. Ralph Friedgen would love to catch them napping, but his team just isn’t there yet.

Tennessee over Auburn: I wanted to go with Auburn on the road, but my dad talked me out of it. Lane Kiffin needs an SEC win, and his defense just stopped Florida’s spread for most of their game. Auburn is good on offense, but Tennessee ain’t Ball State, and Auburn ain’t Florida.

UPSET SPECIAL: Indiana over Ohio State

My dad thinks I am an idiot for making this pick. I am more afraid about the ramifications of this pick backfiring than E was when he was waiting to hear if he has Drama’s STD. However, I am sticking by it. I think that Ohio State is playing too conservatively even by their standards, and I think that Indiana got a taste of upset in last week’s near-win against Michigan. Call me crazy, but never call me a coward. You could also call me 0-2 in upset special picks so far.

Always guard the inbound passer.


Monday, September 28, 2009

The Green Pants Jinx

Hello All,

Well, that was a rough Week 4 for Stein on the Sidelines.

Let’s get right in to the carnage that was Miami vs. Virginia Tech.

Pre Game

It is raining buckets in Blacksburg. Not good. Not good at all. Why? Well, Miami has been relying on their speed and athleticism. Which is nullified when the players cannot plant and drive.

Bonus: On top of the rain, we get Sean McDonough and Matt Millen for this one. I think I can see Matt Millen’s excitement over Laron Byrd from here. Seriously, we need to put this guy on the Service Academy circuit. There’s no way he could possibly find a receiver there. Right? Right???

I see Miami is wearing the white over green. Uh-oh. We never play well in big games when we wear green. I was praying for the Storm Trooper white over white. My stomach hurts.

We go down to Holly Rowe on the sidelines…wow…that’s a really…nice…hat…Holly …this is awkward…

The added benefit of being on ABC is getting to see the promos for ABC’s awful new lineup. Can’t wait. Modern Family would be chuckle-worthy, except for the fact that almost every funny moment is spoiled by the promos. And the rest…well…how should I say this?

1st QTR

- Jacory Harris picks up right where he left off, finding Leonard Hankerson for a nice third down conversion.

- Wait, why are we running these extended handoff plays? Why are we running a stretch play to the short side on 3rd down? Is Patrick Nix back? What is going on?!?!?!?!?!? Somebody answer me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (this is one of my Ari Gold moments that I have every game, only internally; the answer is yes, there are ulcers in my family)

- To make things better, Jacory gets hit on a corner blitz (hmmm…this is the second time he has been sacked this season and both are on corner blitzes…think Oklahoma will notice?) and fumbles. Alright, that’s fine, the defense will come up big.

- Tech drives down the field and Miami forces a field goal on a nice play by Vaughn Telemaque in

the end zone…but wait…pass interference…ya know, sometimes I wonder why we even use defensive backs, because they get called for pass interference every time. Maybe we should try to blitz 11, like on Tecmo Bowl when you predicted the other team’s play.

- Virginia Tech scores a touchdown after the penalty. (7-0 VT)

- Miami calls for an awful run play on 3rd down…seriously…is Nix signaling plays to Whipple. Is Whipple acting as Nix’s host right now, like in Men in Black? Egads.

- Tech almost fumbles the fair catch, but they manage to hang on to the ball. If we are going to win this game, it is becoming readily apparent that we will need some good breaks. That would have been one.

- Tech gets a play overturned on a challenge…another break for them…

- Quickly followed by a 48 yard touchdown pass on a ball that was underthrown for the receiver BUT hit him in stride anyway because Chavez Grant slipped and fell. Oh dear. (14-0 VT)

- Miami runs a 2nd and long play straight in to the line…with no lead blocker…against an attacking defense…seriously, how is this happening?

- Miami runs a 3rd down screen play to Cooper…I am at a complete and total loss…

2nd QTR

- Virginia Tech muffs a punt and Kendall Thompkins dives on it. MIAMI BALL!

- And Matt Pipho gets literally pushed over by the defensive end. The resulting sack kills the drive that began in amazing field position (the sack + Jason Fox’s false start). Well, that’s just awesome.

- Kelsey Grammar isssssssssss HANK! Part of ABC’s new fall comedy lineup!

- Tyrod Taylor is having his way with the Miami D. So far, the attacking defense seen against Georgia Tech is gone, replaced by a reactive, unimaginative defense that is swarming to the ball 8 yards past the line of scrimmage, not 3 yards behind. Well, our big play offense can bail us out. Wait, what happened to our big play offense?

- Brandon Harris takes a smart pass interference that saves a long touchdown.

- Millen just said that Ryan Williams “runs well with his eyes”. This is the new hot phrase for commentators this year. He runs well with his freakin’ feet. Let’s not kid ourselves. No one runs with their God damn eyes. That’s like saying “Pedro Martinez is pitching well with his brain tonight”.

- Tech misses a field goal… Mark Whipple will definitely go for the kill shot here to put us right back in it.

- A RUN PLAY ON 3RD AND 4? WHAT THE F#$% IS GOING ON? WHAT TEAM IS THIS???

- And lo and behold, Virginia Tech, masters of Beamer Ball, Kings of Special Teams, block a punt and score a touchdown. Did we not KNOW that they block punts? Who is coaching special teams, Eddie? (21-0 VT)

- I wonder aloud with my dad whether Whipple is refusing to change the strategy because he feels his plays are so good that they should be working and it’s the players’ fault that they aren’t. The Tech defense is destroying everything he calls, and yet he has not adapted. He is either worse than we thought (which I tend to disagree with) or is trying to prove a point.

- Miami runs on 2nd and long for a gain of 1.

- And Holly reports that Taylor takes advice from Michael Vick. Would love to hear that conversation.

HALFTIME

- GOD. DAMN. IT.

- “It’s the frickin’ green man. I’m tellin’ you, it’s a curse.” – Richard Stein

- My buddy Trent and I have the following text message exchange:

Trent: Why can’t we tackle?

Me: Or cover?

Trent: Or run?

Me: Or block?

Trent: Or catch?

3rd QTR

- Cooper starts the half with a 39 yard return, across midfield.

- Hankerson and Byrd make big catches…and Javarris in for the touchdown! Exactly the type of big play we needed. This team looks re-energized.(21-7 VT)

- Randy Phillips will miss the rest of the game. Sh!t. He is really our only reliable safety. Which means our weakest position is now without its best player. Great.

- Is it me, or does Adrian Peterson looks like he has shingles or a severe skin condition in this Nike ad? I think I am going with Under Armor…

- Miami gets the ball back quickly and has a huge drive going…Jacory to Byrd after eluding pressure…Jacory to Epps… Cooper for 13 yards…

- Jimmy Graham drops 2 balls and Miami turns it over on downs. The announcers than harp on this play for roughly 2 hours. More on this later.

- Tech FG (24-7 VT)

- We need a turnover…our punt hits the VTech up-man and is on the ground…scrum for the ball ANNNNNNDDDDDD…Tech has it. No bounces today.

- Somewhere in there Millen made a joke about McDonough paying for something, which Sean followed with “Why don’t you pay with all the money you STOLE from the Detroit Lions, Matt?”

- That that last part didn’t happen, but it would have been AWESOME, right?

4th QTR

- Taylor gets away with a ridiculous grounding call.

- Jacory throws a terrible pick. He had Byrd run a double-move that only works when the defender bites. Well, he didn’t bite, and Jacory threw it anyway. Sigh.

- Tech TD (31-7 VT)

- Don’t miss what critics are calling this year’s best “Lost” rip-off…Flash Forward!!

POSTGAME

- Well, that sucked. I have almost no notes for the 4th quarter…there was nothing worth writing.

- Jimmy Graham is going to be the scapegoat for a lot of people, and that is unfair. Everyone played a bad game, and the team lost as a team. We will need Jimmy at some point this season, and I hope he bounces back. As I have said before, he is a great kid and has worked his ass off to become a weapon for this team so quickly. He played no worse than Jacory or Spence, and they are two of our best players. To be honest, Mark Whipple probably had the worst game of anyone for Miami.

- Not much else to say. I tip my hat to the Hokies, who came out and just rocked the ‘Canes in every aspect of the game. There was never really a moment when Miami had legit shot of winning, and Tech made sure to squash any spark of hope.

- At least Miami should be angry for the Sooners next week.

The Morning After

- First of all, let me say that this loss still hurts a lot and I am disappointed in the way the team played. However, let’s not lose sight of its significance. This is only the 3rd game of the season, and the third time in a row the team had to get pumped up to play a very dangerous opponent. That takes an emotional toll on a young team. The team still has the same problems that it had coming in to the season. There are over 50 players listed as freshmen and sophomores on the roster. That is a huge number. There is no dependable depth, particularly at key positions such as offensive line and safety. The secondary plays as four separate pieces instead of one larger one, and special teams, particularly kick coverage, is spotty. This was always going to be a 2 or 3 loss team that really hit its stride late. Early success changed expectations, and everyone SHOULD want to go undefeated. But this is not a team that was going to realistically compete for a national title, not with the weakness of the upper classes on the roster. It is still a dangerous young team, and there are many good days ahead of it. But there are also going to be a few more bad ones.

- I have decided that the offense reminds me of the scene in “Pulp Fiction” with The Wolf. Jacory is the Wolf, and the rest of the team is Jules and Vincent. The Wolf is always calm, even when things are going badly (sounds like Jacory to me). As long as The Wolf is calm and Quentin Tarantino’s wife doesn’t come home, then Jules and Vincent are calm and collected and can get their job done. However, as calm as The Wolf is, if Quentin’s wife comes home from her shift as a nurse to find them cleaning up their mess (the dead body; for the purpose of this analogy, we can use Miami’s thin offensive line as the “mess”), they are all screwed. Well, against Virginia Tech The Wife came home. Jacory remained calm, but Virginia Tech’s blitz was the wife coming home too early and catching Jules and Vincent (the rest of the offense) trying to clean their mess; the result was a panic from Jules and Vincent that completely undermined the calm of The Wolf. I hope that made sense to everyone else, because it made sense to me.

- On defense, how does John Lovett not adjust at halftime? He should have been blitzing everyone, daring Taylor to beat us with his arm, which he never really did. That’s what Tech did in the first half, and Lovett saw it. I understand sticking to his game plan in the first half, but after watching Tech blow up our offense with the blitz in the first half, didn’t he think we could maybe do the same to them in the second? Or at least try it? Snarl.

Other Games I Watched

- Ole Miss vs. South Carolina: Not a good weekend for the Stein boys. Jevan Snead looked about as coordinated as Larry David trying to open his GPS.

- Nevada vs. Mizzou: As uninteresting as it sounds.

- UNC vs. Georgia Tech: Tech proved that they are indeed better than they showed against Miami. Or maybe UNC is just overrated. Whatever. Looks like another year of ACC cannibalization.

- Wisconsin vs. MSU: Flashbacks of the 9 year prison sentence that was my time in Green Bay. I flipped the channel really quickly. But I will take this time to say hello to my friend Doug that chose to study abroad in Kenya of all places (he goes to Madison). Congrats Douggie, Da Badgers are slightly less mediocre than Sparty!!!

- Yale vs. Cornell: Hey, it was on, ok? I don’t feel like I should have to defend myself for giving this game its due 5 minutes…

- Southern Miss vs. Kansas: Honestly, not much to say here.

- Indiana vs. Michigan: Or here.

- Auburn vs. Ball State: Or here.

Best Game: Iowa vs. Penn State, from what I understand. I really couldn’t bring myself to watch more football after the Miami game.

Best Uniform: Oregon, against all odds, in the throwbacks.

Game Ball Goes To: Bud Foster, Virginia Tech Defensive Coordinator. He made a great offense look silly. Well done. Prettay, prettaaay, prettaaaay, prettaaaay, prettay good (that’s 2 Curb references; I feel like Stein on the Sidelines is singlehandedly going to be responsible for the success of the current season).

Worst Uniform: Miami, white over green. Not the worst looking, but we already discussed this.

Trojan Enz © Boner of the Week Award: Me, for my picks last week. More on this in the next post.

Brian Rolle “Should’ve Been a ‘Cane” Award: Charles Clay, Tulsa. Clay is a big combo back for the Golden Hurricane and is extremely productive. We recruited him as an underrated linebacker out of Arkansas and lost out to…Tulsa?? What the hell? Anyway, we could certainly use as many big, physical linebacker/running back prospects as possible.

Non-BCS Name You Should Know: Deandre Brown, Southern Miss. Stud wide receiver. If he played at an SEC school, which he could have, he would be a household name like Julio Jones or A.J. Green.

Always guard the inbound passer.

Also, to my buddy Tim: good luck in Azerbeijan big guy.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

A Good Problem to Have...I Think

Hello All,

Week 4 of the college football season is upon us, and already the ‘Canes have shot up from unranked to the top 10 of the AP Poll.

Before the season, it was stretch for the ‘Canes to be included in the “also receiving votes” portion of any ranking. Forget being declared “back”; the ‘Canes are on the front page of ESPN and featured in nightly Sportscenter segments.

However, it was today that I truly felt the coverage jumped the shark; today, I learned that Lou Holtz has decided to throw his support behind the ‘Canes.

Excuse me, I am going to go smash my fingers with the spine of a textbook…AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...alright, back.

Seriously, this was the worst thing that I heard all week, aside from Herschel Walker

announcing that he was joining Strikeforce (the potential jokes for a 48 year old, multiple-personality, former All- American Georgia Bulldog turned cage fighter are overwhelming…fill in the one of your choice here __________).

It goes back to the largest challenge that will face this team in this week’s game, larger even than Virginia Tech, a pretty damned good football team that hung with Alabama for 3 quarters (I consider Alabama the best team in the country at this point): hype.

You see, it was easy for Miami to stay pressure free against Florida State, because they had the all-important “nobody believes in us” chip on their collective shoulder.

Ditto Georgia Tech.

Now? Kirk Herbstreit just threw up the U on College Football Scoreboard. Seriously.

I just had to reject an invite to the group “Jacory Harris for Heisman 2009” on Facebook. Why?

THE FOOTBALL GODS ARE FICKLE, PEOPLE! AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT REMEMBERS THIS? IS THERE ANYONE LISTENING? I FEEL LIKE I AM TAKING CRAZY PILLS!!!!!!

Everybody has Miami marked, even more so than usual (and usually Miami has a pretty big red circle around its place on the schedule). Everyone is picking the ‘Canes. And Holtz has given them his kisssshhhh of death.

Virginia Tech is going to be hungry, and they will be playing at home in a stadium that will be loud as a jet engine until Miami silences them. Virginia Tech lost its only primetime appearance so far, and they will feel disrespected by the hype surrounding the ‘Canes coming in. They are always a tough, borderline dirty, football team; you can bet they will have a little extra motivation this week.

This usually would add up to a disaster. And yet, I have a strange confidence heading into the

game. Why?

Simple. In a game like this, the quarterback is all-important. One needs no further evidence than the USC-Ohio State game from a couple weeks back.

If your quarterback makes plays when it matters, you will probably win the game. Virginia Tech is sick of hearing about Jacory Harris. They want to put him out of the game. They will blitz linebackers. They will blitz corners. They will stunt with linemen. They will dare Jacory to beat them.

The thing is, Harris has seen this before. When he was a junior at Miami Northwestern, he led his team to an undefeated record. His senior year, he played with a huge target on his back as his team was anointed preseason national champion.

He led his team in to Texas and whooped a team most thought would destroy the undisciplined Baby Bulls. He led his team 99 yards in the final 3 minutes of the state semi-final game to avoid the upset, an then orchestrated a blowout the next weekend for the second straight title.

When everyone expected him to be perfect, he was damned close; when he erred, he made up

for it by winning.

He has “it”.

I think the game is going to a close one. However, I think that in a close game the team with the best player wins. And Jacory has the chance to be the best player on any field he steps on.

Here is how I break down the matchups:

Quarterback: As I said, Jacory is a better quarterback than Tech’s Tyrod Taylor. Taylor is a dangerous scrambler and Miami has struggled against scramblers in the past (see Ponder, Christian). However, this season Miami has shown the ability to force quarterbacks to throw to win; if that is the case, than Miami will win the game. Taylor struggled throwing against Alabama and for most of the game against Nebraska, save for one play. Taylor has more talent than any other player on the field, but Harris runs his team with much more poise. EDGE: Miami

Running Back: Tech’s Ryan Williams has been impressive, but the Virginia Tech offense has failed to score effectively against Alabama and Nebraska (Marshall doesn’t count as a real game). Darren Evans has been sorely missed. Meanwhile, Javarris James and Graig Cooper have combined to give the ‘Canes great production. They are splitting carries and have both run downhill and closed out drives when called upon. EDGE: Miami

Receivers: Laron Byrd and Travis Benjamin have made the biggest plays, but Leonard Hankerson and Dedrick Epps have also been huge for the ‘Canes, who have picked apart the middle of the field in both games. Virginia Tech has speed at the receiver position in Danny Coale and Jarret Boykin, but is again limited by Taylor’s inaccuracy. EDGE: Miami

Offensive Line: Tech is lead by All-American Sergio Render and always has a solid line. Jason Fox is not as talented as Render but does a great job of leading Miami’s underappreciated line, which has been solid in both games. EDGE: Even

Defensive Line: Miami did a great job shutting down Georgia Tech last week, and freshman Olivier Vernon is quickly developing in to a man-beast. However, Virginia Tech has always prided itself on its defensive front seven, and this year is no exception. End Jason Worilds is yet another All-American type in the typical Hokie tradition and will create matchup problems all night. Bottom line is that neither unit has fulfilled its potential. Miami's has been more productive, but Tech's is equally talented. EDGE: Even

Linebacker: Last week, Miami’s linebackers played downhill and attacked the Yellow Jacket offense. However, the week before, they looked a step slow against FSU. What will it be this time? I tend to think that they will be able to execute their assignments as they did in last year's Tech game. Meanwhile, Tech will have their usual strong linebacking corps, lead by Cody Grimm. EDGE: Even

Secondary: Miami’s secondary has become a physical group that is not afraid to come up and tackle someone. That being said, they are still struggling to play the ball in the air, as evidenced by their inability to come up with big plays when Josh Nesbitt dropped back to throw (Nesbitt is a far inferior passer to anyone the ‘Canes will face the rest of the season). Sam Shields will be picked on, as he in particular has been susceptible to the big play as he has been forced in to heavy duty early. Tech has no Deangelo Hall or Macho Harris this season, but one can assume they will be well coached and tough as always, which is enough to be better than this unproven Miami group. EDGE: Tech

Special Teams: Tech’s Dyrell Roberts and Jayron Hosley are electric in the return game, and Miami’s special teams coverage has been abysmal, particularly on kickoffs (the ‘Canes have finally found a kickoff guy to kick it deep, and now they cannot tackle…snarl). Matt Bosher had a rough night against the Jackets but figured to bounce back, as he has been one of the most consistent players for two years now. Travis Benjamin and Graig Cooper are both weapons in the return game for the ‘Canes. This is where the Hokies have established “Beamer Ball” as their team identity, although they have come back to the pack a bit in recent years. Knock on wood… I mean, the Hokies are still AWESOME on special teams and always make game changing plays. EDGE: Even

Coaching: Frank Beamer has always been solid and always has his teams prepped. This will be a battle of wills between Tech Defensive Coordinator Bud Foster and Mark Whipple. EDGE: Even.

This week, I will begin a new weekly thing where I pick a few select games for the weekend to text my skills. Here goes nothin’:

Last week, I was 0-1 on my game picks, as Cincinnati marched in to Corvallis and smacked the Beavers.

Ole Miss over South Carolina: I turn the keys to this pick over to my brother, an Ole Miss junior: “The last time Ole Miss was a top 4 team, segregation was legal in Mississippi (hell, it still is). This team is for real. Our high powered offense can trick the ‘Cock defense. Jevan Snead can control the skies (which doesn’t have a “y” in it, Bill). And our defense is playing well enough to stuff the miserable ‘Cock offense (as you can tell, Bill likes the fact that South Carolina is nicknamed the GameCOCKS; yes, he is in a fraternity, to answer your question). Our coach is Nutt, theirs is Darth Visor. In the end, the fresh whites over the Rebel greys prevail 42-20. Too much “Cock” in South Carolina. Hotty Toddy!” This again, folks, from an actual Ole Miss student. Could not have said it better myself; maybe less fratty, but not better. And yet, the song remains the same.

Georgia over Arizona State: The Sun Devils fall in to the same category as teams like Michigan State and Oklahoma State. Every year, they look a lot better on people than on the field and are good for losing one or two games in the fourth quarter to higher ranked teams. Maybe all these “states” should replace their grass fields with cardboard…

Cal over Oregon: This one should actually be pretty close. Oregon is looking to get back on to the national stage, and one of the overlooked subplots of last week was Cal’s inability to put Minnesota away for most of the game. If they let Oregon hang around they might not get so lucky.

Boston College over Wake Forest: These are two plucky programs that are a bit down this year. Homefield advantage gives this one to the Eagles. Damn it. I can already hear my friend Francis. “Screw those guys. This whole column is invalidated. You’re a bigger idiot than Tom Delay dancing to “Wild Thing”. If I wanted to read this crap, I would be reading Skip Bayless. You’re slippin’ Stein. Go Yankees.”

Houston over Texas Tech: The Vegas line is that the teams will score a combined “eleventy quadrillion” points. I am taking the over.

Stanford over Washington: Washington travels to Palo Alto for a tough game following an emotional upset win. Toby Bernhardt and Andrew Luck lead a scrappy Cardinal team that almost pulled a noon upset on the east coast to start the season and have improved quietly under Jim Harbaugh. Upset special? No. Not yet. We’re getting there though (dozens and dozens of readers are waiting on pins and needles, I know).

Penn State over Iowa: This is going to be a blowout if Penn State is anywhere close to as good as they are ranked. Iowa barely beat the juggernaut Northern Iowa Panthers. Now they have to go to Happy Valley for a “Whiteout” game (which I think is amazing). Kudos on your featured game this week, ABC. Sure to be thrilling.

Notre Dame over Purdue: There’s that great schedule Notre Dame plays again. While we are here, let’s talk about something interesting, unlike this game. Is there anything funnier than when someone uses “deranged” as an insult? Is there any coming back from that? It literally might be the ultimate insult. Funny every time, and it has gone underused by this generation, so it automatically stands out while seeming harmless. You not only get the initial shock of the little-used insult, but you also plant a ticking time bomb in the person’s brain. They will spend the rest of the day and probably most of the night trying to figure out how angry they should be about the insult. It will even make them mad that they chuckled when you said it to them. Eventually, they will snap. Genius.

Georgia Tech over North Carolina: Time for a bounce back for the Jackets. UNC has not been great so far, and I think that the Jackets will be angry as a beehive (new drinking game: take a shot every time I make a bad joke or pun) after two ugly performances. Tech in the mini-upset. Upset special?

Very soon…

Wait for it...

UPSET SPECIAL: Clemson over TCU

BOOM! Clemson is very fast on defense, and fast defenses usually bode poorly for these Mountain West teams. C.J. Spiller is a little bit banged up, but the Tigers have a great backup in Jaime Harper. The ACC takes a little pride back with the win (to be straight, I do not care about the ACC’s pride and would rather be independent, but there are plenty who do care; this should be a nice feather in their cap).

And there you have it. Please refrain from calling me out on bad predictions until AFTER the Miami game, please.

Always guard the inbound passer.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Welcome to Dade, Bitch

Hello All,

This just in ... Tennessee just missed another tackle! Bing bang bong!

Gracias! This is my review of the entire week, but before I break down what I watched, I have to talk about the biggest thing to happen in my life in quite some time (pathetic?), the Miami Hurricanes turning back the clock and dominating Georgia Tech.

I drove down to Miami for the long weekend so that I could take in the biggest ‘Canes home game in years with my friends, most of whom are either still in school at UM or flew back in for the game.

Here is my account of what happened as taken from notes I made along the way:

WEDNESDAY NIGHT

I pick up my buddy Tim from the airport at 10:30pm on my way down. Tim and I both realize that neither of us has a place to stay nailed down yet. Do we go to someone’s house to try and claim a couch or air mattress (or even a space on the floor)? Nope, that would be too logical. Instead, we go straight to a bar and tell everyone to meet us there. We all know where this is going…

THURSDAY MORNING/AFTERNOON

SO. HUNG. OVER.

I finally ended up sleeping on Steve’s couch, which is made of suede and located in the middle of a house that refuses to use air conditioning. The combined heat, suede, excess of alcohol, and lack of water was delightful.

I woke up at 7 am to the sound of Steve’s roommates cracking open beers to shotgun.

Game Day baby!

I spend the rest of the morning and the early afternoon at The Rat and then catch a ride to the game with my former roommate Ty.

TAILGATE

There are levels of dehydrated, and "slept two hours, drank beer in the sun for three hours at the Rat and now I am tailgating in the heat of Miami in September" dehydrated is one of the least fun.

As if to make it worse, the beer is only semi-cold. I was at The Rat all day, so I left Tim in charge of really the only important task of the day: buying beer and ice. Tim is a great kid, but a pro-tailgater he is not. He bought the beer, but decided to wait until we were on the road on the way to the stadium to get ice.

This presents a problem in and of itself, as the car ride there is not nearly enough time to get the beer cold in the first place. It also completely takes away the possibility for road beers. Wait… I mean… road beers? That’s illegal, sir.

It also presented the problem of having to stop somewhere along the 826 to find ice. We tried five different stores. None of them had ice. Worse, none of them spoke English. We were sold, at different times, ice cream, popsicles and Smirnoff Ice, but never a bag of ice. And since you usually go to the counter, pay for the bag of ice and then pick it up, we paid for ice, went to find it, couldn’t find it and then got a refund each time. Five times. Awesome.

This ranked right up there with Season 5 of The Office on my list of frustrating experiences. The moral: just buy the damn ice when you get the beer. It is one of the few inalienable rules of tailgating.

As if that weren’t bad enough, on the way to the game I I read someone’s Facebook status that said “The ‘Canes are 12-0 all-time at home on Thursday night. Just sayin.”

That is the football equivalent of Joe Buck announcing that someone has a no-hitter going in the 2nd inning. What inevitably happens when Joe Buck does that? Some utility guy hits a double and breaks everything up. The lesson? DON’T MESS WITH THE SPORTS GODS!

Listen, I have been a fan of the ‘Canes for a long time and have a long memory. I remember probably 10 different games over the last four years that the ‘Canes should have won but didn’t, always losing in ridiculous fashion. I think it is the Football Gods punishing our fan base for making comments like this. And, well, for some of the other stuff that our student section does, like flip the other team off when they enter the field.

Or booing our own players for missing field goals when up three scores (someone actually did this behind me; he was angry because he didn’t win his bet).

Or booing an opposing player who was getting taken off the field on a gurney.

Or getting in fights with each other fueled by too much booze and the inferiority complexes that come standard on Northeasterners.

And yet I digress.

Anyway, the point is, you never say something like that, because only bad things can come from it. It upsets the Sports Gods. What was this person thinking? I honestly would have killed them with my mind if I could have. This is when the overwhelming sense of dread filled my stomach.

Or maybe it was just the hangover. Either way, my stomach was not great, and I needed the game to start.

I passed the time by playing cornhole at the tailgate, possibly the greatest “passing the time” game ever. And I would just like to say that I might be the world’s most lethal man with a bean bag. Try me.

1st QTR

- First of all, congratulations to Miami for finally nailing the pre-game entrance. The Band of the Hour’s “U” formation was great, as were the two videos they showed while the team got its final talk in the locker room. When the videos ended, the Jumbotron cut to the tunnel, where the ‘Canes were walking past the Georgia Tech players to form in the giant inflatable Miami helmet while the music blared in the stadium. The helmet started rocking as it filled with players, and the band formed another “U” along the path the players ran down. The crowd was foaming at the mouth and genuinely in to the moment by the time they shot off the fire extinguishers and the players came running out of the helmet and onto the field (an entrance which I could watch a million times and never fail to get chills down my spine). It took them a while, but they have finally figured out how to set the stage for a game.

- Miami’s got a new kickoff guy, walk-on Alex Uribe. He booms his first kickoff down the field…and out of bounds. DAMN IT! I look around to see if I can find the Facebook offender in my vicinity. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t. As if to make me angrier, Tech marches down the field in to field goal range quickly. Our defense looks confused, and we are missing tackles. We manage to hold them to a field goal. Already, we HAVE to answer back with a score.

- It gets to 3rd and 11, and I wait for the inevitable screen pass to Graig Cooper. I have seen this too many times. But wait, Jacory drops back…and he has Hankerson…and Hankerson is across midfield to the 40! FIRST DOWN ‘CANES!!! I think I might have broken Steve’s hand. Oops.

- Harris takes the next snap and drops back, finding LaRon Byrd over the middle. Byrd bangs his way in for a touchdown. 7-3 CANES!!!!! 1:36 later, the ‘canes not only answered, but Byrd made the Jackets star safety look foolish on his route, freezing him with a shoulder fake to the outside before cutting it back over the inside, where no one was within five yards of him. Beautiful. That looked an awful lot like Ken Dorsey to Andre Johnson. Wait, that looked A LOT like Dorsey to Johnson. Could it be…well, lots of game left.

- The rest of the 1st QTR features the ‘Canes starting to come up and hit the Tech offense. They are not only playing their assignment, but they are forcing the issue. They look fast. They look hungry. The tackling is not the cleanest, but it doesn’t matter, because the D is swarming. The only downside is that Alex Uribe kicked his second kickoff out of bounds too. Can you imagine his conversation with Randy Shannon after the second offense? “Alex, you’re still not keepin’ it in-bounds. Now, that’s something we’re gonna need you to work on in the offseason… It is, after all, your only job…and you do have 55 YARDS to work with…”

2nd QTR

- Harris opens the 2nd quarter with a play action pass to Dedrick Epps that goes for a score. 14-3 CANES!!!! Epps is the most underrated player on this team, and if we could have used him right for the past three years, he would have been a first round pick and our offense would have been better. Thanks Pat Nix!

- Steve and I just engaged in five consecutive minutes of switching off between hugging and giving each other bones, all the while screaming at each other like gorillas at a zoo. The girls occupying the seats next to us, Carter and Steph, have a look on their face somewhere between Jay Cutler’s after he threw his fourth pick against the Packers and Bobby Bowden’s after he loses another game to Miami (because of his dadgum kicker); they are in complete disbelief and are bordering on afraid for their lives.

- Travis Benjamin reverses a reverse to pick up the first down, making something out of nothing. The most overlooked play of the game occurred on this play, when fullback Pat Hill cracked back on a defensive lineman and hit him so hard that his knees buckled. Did not make a single highlight reel, but it was one of the best blocks I have ever seen. Pat Hill is 5’9” in the program, which means he is probably more like 5’7”. And he cracked back on a guy that was probably 6’5”. And the guy is probably still trying to find his mouth piece. And I just said probably a lot.

- The whole D looks good, but Brandon Harris has stood out so far. He is turning in to an elite corner.

- The clock management has been great, and Randy Shannon is able to use his timeouts near the end of the half and get the ball back for one last shot at scoring. Tech is forced to punt to Benjamin, who fields and it and starts his typical routine, which includes sprinting one step toward a sideline, completely stopping to make two guys miss, reversing field while retreating to run around a mass of guys and waiting for a crack back to spring him. Benjamin is reversing field…he is sprinting toward the sideline…all of a sudden, an orange blur enters the picture and flattens a Tech defender as Benjamin picks up an extra five yards. I mean, Jordan Futch just straight up Batmanned the Tech defender (wow, I just sounded really G; word to your mother). This is why they tell you to keep your head on a swivel. The crowd goes nuts as they replay it; in fact, most hardly notice that Miami has decided to just head in to the half. It is 17-3 ‘Canes, and the stadium has legit "energy" in it for the first time I can remember. My brother sends me the following text: “Welcome to Dade bitch”. Hmmm, Dan smells a Facebook status...or maybe a blog title...

HALFTIME

- The voice of the Band of the Hour needs to be fired, which I have been saying for years. He is awful. He sounds like a bad TV Pitchman. Just embarrassing.

- Whatever happened to cheerleaders wearing sweaters (and why do I sound so much like Larry King right now?) If you are going to have as many fat cheerleaders as Miami, you should strongly consider bringing them back. Just sayin’. For a school as good looking as Miami, why are the cheerleaders so rough. There are a few beautiful girls cheerleading, don’t get me wrong. But seriously guys, get on this.

- If I were in the band, I would be so pumped to do the Thriller Dance at halftime that it would be ridiculous. I would spend the whole game looking forward to it. I would probably not even be able to play my instrument during the game because I would be so excited. Not even kidding. Seriously. I liked it MAYBE a little too much.

- This game was over at halftime. The difference was only 2 scores, but everyone in the building knew in their gut that the ‘Canes weren’t losing this one. It was good to feel that way in a big game for once.

2nd HALF

Honestly, I got so excited during the second half that my note-taking suffered. However, I did manage to get a few notes down:

- Jimmy Graham’s touchdown was the loudest I have ever cheered. The entire student section went nuts. This guy was everyone’s favorite basketball player for four years. He hustled, he rebounded, he blocked shots, he committed hard fouls, he dunked and he played to the crowd. He was everything we ever wanted him to be, and to top it off, he was a great guy. Everyone had a story about Jimmy, and to see him score made everyone ecstatic.

- Miami continues to get screwed repeatedly on penalty calls. The first was when Vaughn Telemaque broke up a pass with great coverage to force a turnover on downs and got called for pass interference. Just awful. They are emasculating the sport, and it seems like the ‘Canes always get the short end of the stick. The bright spot of that call was that the ‘Canes responded by slamming the door for three more plays after, which was really the moment when the Tech players accepted defeat. The second awful call was when Brandon Harris got a pick but had it waved back due to roughing the passer on Steven Wesley, who arrived roughly .000000000001 seconds after Josh Nesbitt threw the ball. Ridiculous. Pretty soon, quarterbacks will be protected by bubbles like the kid in Seinfeld.

- Allen Bailey is dominating the interior linemen sent up against him. He has found his position finally.

- The whole team played amazing football in the second half, so there is no reason to list every individual who made a great play. However, the team came together and played old school Miami football, and that was enough to beat any team in the country.

- The final was 33-17, but it easily could have been 50-10 if Randy Shannon had allowed it to be. I personally wanted to run it up, but I can see why he didn’t. The team played mistake free up to that point, so why worry about points when you have the win in hand?

- There is a lot to improve. Dumb penalties must be eliminated. The secondary needs to make better plays on the ball. Overall, however, I have not been this pleased in 7 years.

POSTGAME THOUGHTS

- GAMEBALL: The defense. Randy Phillips and Brandon Harris played their asses off. Olivier Vernon, Vaughn Telemaque, Marcus Robinson, Sean Spence, Micanor Regis, Joe Joseph, Andrew Smith, Futch, Jared Campbell and Colin McCarthy all made big plays, and everyone else executed their assignment well. I cannot say enough about this performance. When facing an option attack, guys can play well and not have their name called, like Allen Bailey and Sean Spence. They didn’t get their name called much, but they enabled others to make plays. Which against Georgia Tech is a big deal.

- I love the way that Whipple makes use of everyone he has, including the non-hyped guys. Pat Hill, Tervarris Johnson and Jimmy Graham made huge plays. Raise your hand if you saw that coming two weeks ago. Anyone? Bueller?

- I was wrong about this game. I said it would be close and it was not. I said we would try and play our assignments and bend but not break. Instead, the Miami D came up and made play after play. One great examples were Olivier Vernon shedding a double team and blowing up Roddy Jones in the backfield at one point. He tossed aside the back assigned to chip him and blew past the tackle to envelop the pitch back. It was a work of art. Another was Vaughn Telemaque shooting into the backfield and flipping Roddy Jones up in to the air (Jones had a rough night; on top of the aforementioned, he had to watch both hits get replayed on Sportscenter ad nauseum). These were guys forcing the issue. They stayed in their lane, but instead of reacting, they came up and forced Tech to react. Beautiful. Old school.

- Enough has been written about the ‘Canes through 2 weeks that I don’t have much to add in a larger sense. I am legitimately excited and finally confident in this team. They are playing as a team and playing fast. They make mistakes, but they aren’t afraid to. They have the look of a team that could knock off anyone on any night, and all of a sudden 2-2 would be a major disappointment. It’s great to be a Miami Hurricane.

WEEKEND NOTES:

- Fresno State vs. Boise State: Boise is a force. They have a lot of speed. A lot of speed. And I know they usually beat up on weak teams, but they have proven they can beat the big boys. If they don’t go undefeated I will be extremely surprised. And you can bet they will make noise in their bowl.

- UNC vs. East Carolina: I do not understand the hype around UNC and never really have. They seem solid, but nothing spectacular. I think they rank behind Miami, FSU, Virginia Tech and Clemson in the conference right now. And their fans are quick to achieving Rutgers- fan status (talk a lot of smack even though they have never won ANYTHING of import).

- Boston College vs. Clemson: Clemson is quickly becoming the one game outside of our first 4 that scares me the most. They just ran by BC, who might not always be talented but always puts up a fight.

- Cal vs. Minnesota: Jahvid Best and Eric Decker are both studs. This was a boring game without those two, who made electric play after play. Best single handedly won the game, and Decker single handedly kept the Gophers in it. PLEASEGODLETTHEDOLPHINSDRAFTTHEM!

- North Texas vs. ‘Bama: Blowout. Alabama is the best team in the country right now, although if they got in to a shootout I have concerns as to whether they could stay in it.

- Notre Dame vs. Michigan State: Damn it Michigan State.

- Florida vs. Tennessee: DAMN IT Tennessee!

- USC vs Washington: Hats off to Steve Sarkisian for getting a mediocre team to believe they can beat anyone. This shows what a difference coaching can make. The Washington staff is doing what Ty Willingham couldn’t, much like Mark Whipple is doing what Patrick Nix couldn’t (2 Nix slams in one blog? Damn).

- Oregon vs. Utah: Thank God I don’t have to worry about Orrin Hatch impeding upon this college football season. I would have enjoyed Oregon’s win a lot more if they had not been wearing those Godawful uniforms.

- I missed the late games due to dinner and driving, but I was pumped to hear that FSU rocked BYU. Miami and Florida State winning big against ranked teams in the same weekend. I like the sound of it.

Best Game: USC vs. Washington, just because it was the only game that I watched closely that didn’t turn in to a blowout. Notre Dame should have lost, but Michigan State is Michigan State. Virginia Tech should have lost, but Nebraska decided not to tackle at the end. However, Washington actually pulled the upset they were supposed to, and that makes this the best game of the weekend.

Best Uniform: Washington’s home Purple over Gold. Well done.

Game Ball Goes To: Jahvid Best, Cal. Single handedly beat Minnesota. 5 touchdowns reminded me of Willis McGahee (Jesus Christ himself as far as running backs are concerned).

Worst Uniform: Minnesota’s Gold over Maroon. Ouch. WAY ouch.

Trojan Enz © Boner of the Week Award: Nebraska. They let Tyrod Taylor run around for roughly 15 minutes on the game winning play without tackling him. It looked like they were standing around waiting to lose. And this is why Nebraska keeps losing.

Brian Rolle “Should’ve Been a ‘Cane” Award: Janoris Jenkins, UF. The story goes that Jenkins wanted to commit to Miami but was told that we were holding off on offering corners until tapes came in. Jenkins found out that Patrick Johnson and Travis Howard were already offered and decided to commit to UF on the spot to spite the ‘Canes. How good would he look on the other side of Brandon Harris the next three years? Very. Very damn good. Sigh.

Non-BCS Name You Should Know: Ryan Matthews, Fresno State. The guy broke three different 60+ yard runs in a losing effort. He was electric. Odds are he is not done breaking off long runs, as his short, stout build translates well to the next level as well (Maurice Jones- Drew? Chris Johnson? Felix Jones?).

So there it is, a great week reviewed. Miami is up to No. 9, and I will preview their game against Virginia Tech later this week.

Always guard the inbound passer.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Georgia Tech Preview

Hello All,

I know it is only Tuesday, but tomorrow I am headin’ down to Miami to watch the home opener and therefore decided to post this when I could. This, coupled with the fact that I am still awkward from Kanye's apology on Leno last night, should make this post one to laugh at when we look back at it on Sunday.

The ‘Canes take on Georgia Tech Thursday night in what will be a good barometer of how much progress has been made since last season.

Last year, Miami went in to Atlanta to play the Yellow Jackets after an emotional victory over Virginia Tech the week before.

Miami has used the Virginia Tech game to catapult in to the top 25 after being unranked.

People were pronouncing the ‘Canes as “back”.

The Yellow Jackets then drubbed the Hurricanes 41-23 in front of a Thursday night national TV audience in a game that was not as close as the final score might indicate (and the final score would indicate a blowout).

If the lead-up to last year’s game sounds familiar, it is because it is.

Miami comes in to this one after beating FSU in the young season’s best game and carrying a National Ranking.

Georgia Tech struggled last week against Clemson, and Miami has had 10 days to prepare for Georgia Tech’s unique (gimmick?) offense. Last season, the ‘Canes only had 5 days or so to put in a defensive gameplan.

Also working for the ‘Canes this year are two new hires. John Lovett was part of the defensive coaching staff at North Carolina last season, when the Heels beat the Jackets 28-7. Mark Whipple gives the ‘Canes the ability to win a shootout, which is a weapon they did not possess last season, when the offense routinely sputtered and was unable to prolong a drive when it needed to.

Miami will be watching tape of Tech playing LSU and UNC last season, as well as last week’s game, to show the players how to stop this offense. The long and short of it: play your assignment, tackle well, and create pressure through the middle.

This matchup is far more even this year, although I still give the Jackets a slight edge due to their dominance of the ‘Canes of late (in my four years as a student, Miami was 0-4 against these guys). Here are the breakdowns:

Quarterback: Jacory Harris looked like the next great Miami quarterback against FSU, standing up to enormous pressure which he is sure to see again next week and making plays in the clutch to win the game. Tech’s Josh Nesbitt is a great quarterback for his system, but struggled mightily throwing the ball last week when forced to (the name Kirby Freeman came to mind). If Miami can force Nesbitt to throw more than 15 times, than the ‘Canes will be in good position to win. EDGE: Miami

Running Back: Javarris James and Graig Cooper looked good for the ‘Canes. However, Jonathan Dwyer, Anthony Allen and Roddy Jones have looked great for the Jackets. Both teams are deep and use their backs in completely different ways. Dwyer is the best back in the game, and that is a good thing to be. Dwyerr also carries in the knowledge that last season the 'Canes made him look like Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson. EDGE: Tech

Receiver: Miami got a boatload of receivers involved last week, and Travis Benjamin is a game breaker. Tech has one star receiver in Demariyus Thomas, and he can be contained, as evidenced by Clemson last week, when his only big play was on a gimmick fake field goal. EDGE: Miami

QUESTION: How much is a boatload? I have always understood it to mean a big number, but what if it is a small boat? I guess for the purpose of this blog post, the boast is big enough to fit like 10 guys.

Offensive Line: Miami looked good last week, allowing only two sacks against a great pass rush. They will have their hands full with Tech’s Derrick Morgan, an elite pass rusher. Tech relies heavily on the cut block, a practice which many (me included) consider dirty. Cut blocking, for those unfamiliar, is the practice of diving at a defensive lineman’s knees in order to seal him off from the play. It is also known as “chop blocking”, which is illegal. Any Georgia Tech fan that reads this will say something along the lines of “if you can tackle below the waist you should be able to block there.” I would be interested to see what they say the next time one of THEIR defensive lineman gets his knee shredded by an offensive lineman who dove in to his knees while the defender had his eyes upfield, watching the flow of the play and beginning his pursuit (which is what you are SUPPOSED to do in football). It may be cheap, but it is effective for them. EDGE: Even

Defensive Line: Miami will get Eric Moncur back, which will help. The tackles will have to play better, particularly Marcus Forston, as middle pressure will take away the dive option and force Nesbitt in to mistakes, as Clemson proved last week. EDGE: Tech

Linebackers: Colin McCarthy looked good last week, and I have to assume that Sean Spence will have a bounce back game. Georgia Tech has a solid group, but Miami has too much talent. They look better tackling this year, and you can bet they have been watching tape of last year’s embarrassment all summer. EDGE: Miami

Secondary: This is Georgia Tech’s strength and Miami’s weakness. Luckily, this is the one game Miami can hide their struggles in pass coverage and rely on their corners and safeties to play the run. The defensive backs looked much more physical last week, but I am still skeptical of their ability to come up and thump. Tech’s Morgan Burnett is a star, and Miami’s Brandon Harris is moving in that direction. The ‘Canes are also boosted by the potential healthy returns of Vaughn Telemaque and Ryan Hill (or as you might know them at home, “Miami’s best reason to get Jared Campbell and Jo Jo Nicolas off of the field”). EDGE: Tech

Special Teams: Tech has a good return game lead by Jerrad Tarrant, who Jesse Palmer tried to compare to Devin Hester last week (yep, Jesse Palmer, resident genius). For Miami, Cooper and Benjamin are studs. Bosher might be the best kicker in the country overall. Miami’s kickoffs must be better, however. If the kick is going to be short and high, that is fine, but the coverage has got to make a quick tackle. If it is going to be squibbed…well, let’s just say it should NOT BE SQUIBBED! EDGE: Miami

Coaching: Whipple and Lovett will help, but Johnson embarrassed the Miami staff last season and will only be better this season. EDGE: Tech

So there you have it. It will be a close game, and I predict a shootout. Talk to me Thursday night around 11 to see who I think will win.

This Week’s Upset Alert: Oregon State over No. 17 Cincinnati. I have no idea if this would even really be considered an upset, but one team is ranked and one is not. Cincy has to visit Corvallis, where the Beavers are a tough out. Jacquizz Rogers is a stud for Oregon State, and while this game may be close, USC couldn’t even pull out a win in this building last season. Book it!

Always guard the inbound passer.