Happy Monday, errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbody. Hope your weeks have gotten off to a great start.
It’s another victory Monday. It’s a victory Monday after playing North Carolina. IT’S A VICTORY MONDAY AFTER PLAYING NORTH CAROLINA IN CHAPEL HILL! IT’S A VICTORY MONDAY AFTER A BILL BELICHICK-LED TEAM SCORED 35 POINTS (an actual first in the history of football)!!! What a victory Monday indeed.
So, without further added hype, let’s get to it.
1) I wrote about winning a game after a struggle about 11 years ago.
I do wonder if it’s applicable here.
The Miami Hurricanes led Nebraska 33-10 in the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium in 2015. Nebraska stormed back to tie the game with a last-minute touchdown and two-point conversion. A Corn Elder pick and a walk off field goal delivered victory. I wrote about the game, saying there’s a W in “wrangle”. As in there was a fight but it ended with a win. This is from that piece:
But here’s the thing – it didn’t. Miami won. Perhaps my disgust has subsided a great deal over the past week and a half….but the fact still remains. They…..won.
And no one has ever complained about an undefeated team. Right now, that’s what Miami is. Their ability to play down to the level of their competition (or below it) has been maddening during Golden’s tenure (and Shannon’s, and the end of Coker’s, etc). I get that. And now, fans will be waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I can’t say that’s not an unreasonable way to feel by any means.
But, the Canes sit here undefeated. And that’s what Miami will try to maintain on national television against a team that just piled on the points and yards in alarming quantity with a backup freshman quarterback last week. With Gunner Kiel out, the Bearcats will be starting said freshman, Hayden Moore, against the Canes, who helped Cincinnati shatter six school records last week against Memphis.
Well, the bottom fell out on that 2015 team, and the rest was history, as we all know. Ugh, that Cincinnati game.
2) But I write that as a setup to wonder if the struggles we’re seeing in pass defense is a sign of bad things to come. Is it fair to consider again the “W in wrangle” mantra in a win like this and look at it in a positive light? Yeah….I still think it is.
It’s of course hard to win in conference on the road, and generally it’s even harder to win in the NIL/transfer portal era. The parity is amazing. The talent level has never been more evenly distributed. Notre Dame was pushed in Chapel Hill as well.
And this Miami team’s base talent level is worlds better than what we saw 11 years ago, obviously. It’s reach-the-national-championship-game-level base talent. That’s the kind of talent you can feel good about stepping up the next week and playing better, not that the talent itself is not good enough as we saw in 2015 and a win there can be a bit of a mirage.
That’s at least how I choose to look at things after a few rough games on the back end of the defense.
3) Now, I will say, Corey Hetherman has to get back into the lab and get to work on how to mix things up, both in pass rush scheme and in coverage.
After the game, Bill Belichick was asked about Miami’s scheme on the play where Billy Edwards, Jr. was sacked and stripped of the ball. His response was…interesting.
“They didn’t mix it up,” Belichick said. “They did what they did the whole game. They ran what they ran the whole game, which is honestly what they’ve been running the whole year.”
Well, that’s possibly not great. And when the pass rush isn’t getting home as it has not been lately, that seems kind of relevant. Need a hard look and reset going into South Bend, in pass rush game plan and on the back end.
4) And as for the penalties on the UNC onside kick attempts, THERE. WAS. NO. CONTROVERSY. THERE.
And yeah, I’ve read A. LOT. of comments saying those flags should not have been thrown. Buddy, they were a yard offside, multiple players. And on the second attempt, the UNC player clearly blocked in the 10-yard area by a full yard.
But yeah, push stupid narratives. Put those in one hand and poop in the other and see which one fills up more quickly. It was a clean win free of actual controversy to anyone but FSU fans and other ardent haters.
5) Miami isn’t the only team with some injury issues going into this top 5 tilt with Notre Dame.
The Irish are banged up coming into this one, with the Irish seeing a trio of important defenders going down against Navy. Here’s the injury update to start the week.
Defensive captain Drayk Bowen is out, along with starting safety Brauntae Johnson and CB DJ McKinney. Both defensive tackles are banged up in the middle and questionable for the game. Not the best news for a defense that will have their hands full trying to slow down the best offense in all of college football.
Will hold off with a prediction for now, but lots more to come this week here at State of the U. Go Canes!
