We’re in hell right now, gentlemen, believe me. And, we can stay here -- get the
sh*t kicked out of us -- or we can fight our way back into the light. We can
climb outta hell one inch at a time...You know, when you get old in life things
get taken from you. I mean that's...part of life. But, you only learn that when
you start losing stuff. You find out life’s this game of inches. So is football.
Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small -- I
mean one-half a step too late, or too early, and you don’t quite make it.
One-half second too slow, too fast, you don’t quite catch it.The inches we need
are everywhere around us.They’re in every break of the game, every minute, every
second. On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear
ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our
fingernails for that inch, because we know when we add up all those inches
that’s gonna make the f*ckin' difference between winning and losing!
Between livin' and dyin'!I’ll tell you this: In any fight, it’s the guy who’s
willing to die who’s gonna win that inch. And I know if I’m gonna have any life
anymore, it’s because I’m still willin' to fight and die for that inch. Because
that’s what livin' is! The six inches in front of your face!
I bring this up for a few reasons. First of all, this is my favorite football movie and this is my favorite scene in the movie. I think it is completely underrated and I have wanted to include this in a blog of mine pretty much since I started writing one. Second of all, the italicized section is particularly poignant when digesting Miami's win over Clemson.
As fans, sometimes we get to live in our own world. We have the luxury of being able to sit down and watch a game as an observer and say things like "Jacory should have thrown that ball to the guy's back shoulder" and tally up errors and dissect and dissect and dissect as the game goes along.
We do not, however, have access to the player's point of view. We are not on the field when the 
proverbial bullets start flying.
We live in a world of theory. The players live in a world of actuality.
Football is an imperfect sport. After every game, even the best teams come away with a laundry list of things to work on. That's just football. The true test of your grit is if you can adjust when the game starts going in the other direction. When the inches become harder to win or, worse, you start losing them. When you are punched in the mouth a couple of times and have to respond.
Let's not lose sight of what Miami did in this game.
Jacory once again made some bad throws. They sucked. Period. He could have very easily checked out. But he didn't. He kept attacking. He showed a Favre-like resolve in rallying and rallying his team. He threw four touchdowns against a good defense. He scrambled out of a sack on 1st and 20 and turned it in to a 17 yard gain. He checked down to Leonard Hankerson for a key 3rd and 5 conversion late in the 4th quarter that kept the clinching drive going.
He played like a winner. It wasn't pretty. He had to scrap for it. He had to kick and fight and spit and claw his way out of some bad situations, created both by himeself and his offensive line and a good Clemson front four. But he got it done.
Miami also had to overcome a talented team playing in it's own stadium on Homecoming in front of a LOUD crowd. It had to overcome it's third straight road game. Most importantly, it had to overcome the refs. The refs were terrible. Period. I am a lifelong Miami Hurricanes fan. I have seen some TERRIBLE officiating go against us. This might have been the worst, highlighted by the following, which as far as I know is a first in the history of football:
Tommy Streeter is essentially handed the ball by the Clemson return man ona muffed fair catch. Miami has the ball inside Clemson's 30. The refs challenge the play. The call is overturned, citing a rule that states if a fair catch is called and the returner loses possession but the ball does not touch the ground then the returner must be allowed space to recover the ball. Fine. that's a stupid rule, but the rule nonetheless. Here's what got me. The golden rule with challenges is that you cannot use them to assess a penalty or take one away. Not allowed. It was a huge sticking point during the replay debate. The refs called no penalty on the play in question. And yet, somehow, Miami came out of the challenge without the ball AND WITH A 15 YARD PENALTY. On a play that I personally watched Clemson replicate 3 times during the course of the game without being whistled. Annnnd scene.
There were 5 instances wherein Miami got called for a bad penalty/screwed on a replay in this game. 5. It was such a comedy of errors that my buddy Francis texted me "if these good ol' boys are going to be so blatant they might as well just call the penalty on N-word #86". I hate going racial, but I almost have to agree.
And yet, despite that, Miami pressed on. The entire second half was one big momentum shift toward Clemson. And yet, Miami came up with 6 turnovers, none bigger than the forced fumble/fumble recovery by the benched Demarcus Van Dyke. They held strong on a BIG 4th&1 late in the game that should have been a gimme for Clemson. They held strong even though a true freshman right tackle was going against Clemson's Freakshow DeQuan Bowers in his first career start.
They held on, won the inches and won the game. Isn't that really what matters?
It has been said too many times too count about this team that they are too soft mentally and physically. That they are talented but can't go on the road and win a big game. That they are talented but they can't win if they are not one hundred percent on their game. That they shrink from big spots and big moments.
This was a game where Miami played to maybe 80% of their potential. It was on the road. It was against a good team. It was filled with pressure points, those moments when you see how big an inch really is. And Miami knocked it out of the park.
Sure it was ugly. Sure it was at times frustrating. Sure I had to call my dad and make sure his ticker was tickin' the way it should.
But good teams go on the road and win the tough ones. They win ugly. They see the games that everyone deems a "yardstick" game and they win them. Bottom line is that they find a way to get the job done.
Already, Miami fans are saying Clemson was overrated (even though they all predicted Clemson to win the game) and are saying FSU is the real test. It will be the same thing if we beat FSU. Fans have the luxury of sitting on their high horse. They dwell on the negative and don't talk about Sean Spence emerging past DeAndre McDaniel as the top defender in the ACC. Or the d-line continuing to get pressure. Or the run game churning out yards. Or the 6 turnovers.
They also often forget the most important thing: The W.
Miami got The W and Clemson didn't. They got it because they won the inches.
I'll take 10 more just like it.
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