Hello All,
The Cardiac Canes continue to live up to their name, and I continue to struggle to find new ways to write about the anguish they put me through every Saturday.
Against UNC they put the shoe on a different foot, stomping the Heels in the first half and then allowing them right back in to the game in the second half, to the point that I legitimately was thinking exactly what statement it was that I made that cursed the team in the second half (after a big defensive stand on 4th and short early in the 4th Quarter, I stood up and declared “Ballgame!”…that was the leading candidate).
That is what the ‘Canes have done to me…as soon as the other team gets a glimmer of hope, I automatically assume we are going to lose.
It is like being a Cubs fan (or an Orioles fan…or the fan of a team comprised of the 12 best players from each of the two teams that would still lose 90 games a season and have serious disputes about where they would play their home games…if such a team existed…).
Doom is always hovering around the corner.
This time Doom was kept at bay by a blitzing Sean Spence, and the ‘Canes left my heart to die another day.
This week the opponent is Georgia Tech, a buzzsaw of an offense reliant upon opposing defenses
being greedy and leaving their lanes / missing tackles to hit the big plays vital to its success.
This would be fine except for our defense’s biggest problem areas are freelancing and missed tackles.
Translation: another shootout. Another rough day on the stomach.
The silver lining is that Miami’s offense is playing with a…dare I say, swagger…that we have not seen in a long time. I honestly feel that every time we get the ball we are going to score, and if we do not it is our own fault, not the opponents’. This offense seems to be capable of putting up 50 on any given day, and Tech’s defense is not stellar. We have a multitude of weapons in our arsenal with more seemingly capable of breaking out any week now (Eduardo Clements, Phillip Dorsett, Asante Cleveland, Seantrel Henderson, etc.).
The team is getting demonstrably better each week, even though there are overall themes that continue to bother, mostly the previously mentioned problems with the defense.
A great offense is fun to watch, but we all know defense is what sets apart the great teams from the fun ones.
And until the defense rights itself (I have essentially given up on this season), I will continue to have a gloomy feeling in the bit of my stomach until we are ahead on the scoreboard when the clock goes to triple zeroes.
Last week I went 8-3 to bring the season record up to 40-17. And yet, it is the near misses that will stand out (damn you Maryland).
This week’s picks that are sure to be laughed at:
Clemson (-11) over UNC
There’s no chance that a vastly superior Clemson team would ever trip up on their own feet when they control their own destiny, right?
Arkansas over Ole Miss (+16.5)
Ole Miss (Off the board) over The Party
Still undefeated.
FSU (-17) over Maryland
But wouldn’t it be nice?
LSU (-23.5) over Auburn
Northwestern (+4) over Penn State
Kind of an upset. But who cares about that? The real lesson? The Big Ten still sucks and Northwestern is kind of cool. Like Duke of the Midwest, except for bad at basketball too.
Bama (+30) over Tennessee
The Third Saturday in October has lost a little steam, granted, but it is still a great nickname for a rivalry. There are a few games I am interested in every year, regardless of records or intrigue, because the name is so cool. The Holy War (BYU-Utah). The Border War (Mizzou- Kansas). The Cocktail Party (Florida-Georgia). Clean, Old Fashioned Hate (Georgia-Georgia Tech). The Backyard Brawl (West Virginia-Pitt). Those are games I can get behind. Ya dig?
Notre Lame (-8.5) over USC
Who cares?
Stanford (-21) over U-Dub
SMU over SMU (-3)
Too good to pass up.
Always guard the inbound passer.
The Cardiac Canes continue to live up to their name, and I continue to struggle to find new ways to write about the anguish they put me through every Saturday.
Against UNC they put the shoe on a different foot, stomping the Heels in the first half and then allowing them right back in to the game in the second half, to the point that I legitimately was thinking exactly what statement it was that I made that cursed the team in the second half (after a big defensive stand on 4th and short early in the 4th Quarter, I stood up and declared “Ballgame!”…that was the leading candidate).
That is what the ‘Canes have done to me…as soon as the other team gets a glimmer of hope, I automatically assume we are going to lose.
It is like being a Cubs fan (or an Orioles fan…or the fan of a team comprised of the 12 best players from each of the two teams that would still lose 90 games a season and have serious disputes about where they would play their home games…if such a team existed…).
Doom is always hovering around the corner.
This time Doom was kept at bay by a blitzing Sean Spence, and the ‘Canes left my heart to die another day.
This week the opponent is Georgia Tech, a buzzsaw of an offense reliant upon opposing defenses
being greedy and leaving their lanes / missing tackles to hit the big plays vital to its success.This would be fine except for our defense’s biggest problem areas are freelancing and missed tackles.
Translation: another shootout. Another rough day on the stomach.
The silver lining is that Miami’s offense is playing with a…dare I say, swagger…that we have not seen in a long time. I honestly feel that every time we get the ball we are going to score, and if we do not it is our own fault, not the opponents’. This offense seems to be capable of putting up 50 on any given day, and Tech’s defense is not stellar. We have a multitude of weapons in our arsenal with more seemingly capable of breaking out any week now (Eduardo Clements, Phillip Dorsett, Asante Cleveland, Seantrel Henderson, etc.).
The team is getting demonstrably better each week, even though there are overall themes that continue to bother, mostly the previously mentioned problems with the defense.
A great offense is fun to watch, but we all know defense is what sets apart the great teams from the fun ones.
And until the defense rights itself (I have essentially given up on this season), I will continue to have a gloomy feeling in the bit of my stomach until we are ahead on the scoreboard when the clock goes to triple zeroes.
Last week I went 8-3 to bring the season record up to 40-17. And yet, it is the near misses that will stand out (damn you Maryland).
This week’s picks that are sure to be laughed at:
Clemson (-11) over UNC
There’s no chance that a vastly superior Clemson team would ever trip up on their own feet when they control their own destiny, right?
Arkansas over Ole Miss (+16.5)
Ole Miss (Off the board) over The Party
Still undefeated.
FSU (-17) over Maryland
But wouldn’t it be nice?
LSU (-23.5) over Auburn
Northwestern (+4) over Penn State
Kind of an upset. But who cares about that? The real lesson? The Big Ten still sucks and Northwestern is kind of cool. Like Duke of the Midwest, except for bad at basketball too.
Bama (+30) over Tennessee
The Third Saturday in October has lost a little steam, granted, but it is still a great nickname for a rivalry. There are a few games I am interested in every year, regardless of records or intrigue, because the name is so cool. The Holy War (BYU-Utah). The Border War (Mizzou- Kansas). The Cocktail Party (Florida-Georgia). Clean, Old Fashioned Hate (Georgia-Georgia Tech). The Backyard Brawl (West Virginia-Pitt). Those are games I can get behind. Ya dig?
Notre Lame (-8.5) over USC
Who cares?
Stanford (-21) over U-Dub
SMU over SMU (-3)
Too good to pass up.
Always guard the inbound passer.
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