The Fiesta Bowl is now just one single sleep away, y’all. Miami and Ole Miss are that close to duking it out for one of those two incredible Cinderella stories to advance into the national championship spotlight.
I’ve played the game over and over again in my mind. I’ve thought about Miami’s strengths and Ole Miss’s weaknesses. I’ve mused over the Hurricanes shortcomings and the Rebels’ ability to potentially exploit them.
And that led me to, at one point, say, “man, if only we had (insert Cane legend)
for one more game”. So, naturally, that got me to thinking further. Who would that be? There are so many great options, but I wanted to narrow it down to a top five.
So, here’s my list.
5) Dan Morgan
Man, I almost went tight end here. I mused Jeremy Shockey, and even Jimmy Graham, in all honesty. I even had the paragraph written. But then I relented. How could I not include Morgan and his all-world 2000 senior season? Put him the middle of the field, and even if Kewan Lacy somehow gets through the Hurricanes’ defense, he’s getting pasted after 5 yards. Morgan’s toughness and physicality was legendary, and he would add a nightmare to the middle of Miami’s filthy defense.
4) Cam Ward
I have wondered way, way too many times this season what this team would look like with last year’s offense and this year’s defense. Like, I’ve beaten myself up over the irony that an all-time great team was just one year apart on both sides of the ball.
So, while the weapons aren’t quite the same as last year out wide with the exodus from 2024, there’s still more than enough meat on the bone for the school’s most prolific single-season passer to work with. And Ward and Malachi Toney together would have been so, so special.
This team can go all the way with Beck. He’s been great doing what he needs to do in this run for Miami to win. But man…..what if?
3) Andre Johnson
I wrote somewhere before that CJ Daniels needed to step up with teams keying on Toney in the passing game. He did against Ohio State with five catches. But just imagine a game breaker on the other side of the field from Toney. With teams gearing up to stop Miami’s run and Toney requiring special attention, Johnson would make them pay in a Rose Bowl-type of fashion.
2) Ed Reed
For this particular game, Ole Miss’s Trinidad Chambliss taking the top off Miami’s defense with a scramble drill bomb like he did against Georgia in the second half of the Sugar Bowl is the worry for Miami. Putting number 20 back there would counteract that in every way possible. No fly zone.
1) Sean Taylor
I mean this as respectfully as I can. His loss was and always will be a terrible tragedy, and I obviously wish Sean was still with us. But if I could take him from that field in 2003 and put him back there on Thursday, more than any other player and without a shadow of a doubt, I would. He’s the greatest college defensive player I’ve ever seen, and he’d be a missile all over the field while hammering against Lacy and the Ole Miss ground game in run support. The ultimate defender.
There were plenty more I mused over – Antrel Rolle, Ray Lewis, Jonathan Vilma, Ken Dorsey, Edgerrin James, Santana Moss, Ted Hendricks, Warren Sapp, Willie Smith, and many others – but I went with where I thought Miami could use a potential shot in the arm with the roster as currently constructed, as well as where Ole Miss has the greatest opportunities to succeed against Miami.
And honestly, even as I write this, I’m still not sure. I might sub in Rolle or a linebacker for Cam Ward. Not sure.
But anyways, who would your top five be? (I’m sure some might come down on me for #4 in the comments, but oh well).
