What’s good, my Hurricanes friends? Hopefully you’ve all gotten your weeks off to a nice start, and having a Victory Monday to celebrate over the Florida Gators is always a great start to a week.
Lots to talk about, so let’s get to it…..
1) I talked at the start of the season about if you could pick a win over Florida or Notre Dame, which would you pick?
Silly me. Tee hee.
2) College Gameday was absolutely awesome.
MAN, it was so nice seeing that on TV and smiling. Not having had the pleasure of being
on campus in a minute, it’s nice to see the spots where I used to sit between classes and soak it all in again through the screen. It was a TREMENDOUS advertisement for the university, both for the football program and just going to school there in general. So proud to be an alumnus of that terrific university.
And man, how the fans made it worthwhile. Loud. Signs that made me chuckle. Aggressive chants (you know what they did to start the show).
Just a perfect embodiment of the University of Miami experience.
3) The Hurricanes are a dump truck, and it’s the main reason they can beat anyone in the country.
As many of you know, I am a Tennessee and Miami double alum. I have watched Florida roll up Tennessee and grind them into mincemeat time and again. Physical and mental dominance and submission. More than any other series between notable programs that I’ve seen. The opposite was the case on Saturday for Miami against the Gators. It took a while, but you finally saw the Hurricanes go from imposing their will to continuing to throw body shots to finally using those body shots to wrap up and put the Gators to bed late in the fourth quarter.
Miami set the tone with an imperial march to start the game. They finished it with a 13-play, 80-yard death march where they just pushed the Gators back to their own goal line like General Sherman going towards the sea. It left no doubt as to who the significantly better and more physical team was on Saturday night.
4) But, with a caveat, the score should have been significantly wider as we all know if the officials weren’t incompetent in a key moment.
Calling this forward progress is objectively wrong, as Marty Brown literally never stopped moving forward, and the whistle didn’t come until Brown was already moving past the last defender with a full head of steam.
It’s hard to score against good defenses (which Florida undoubtedly has), and Miami wasn’t rewarded for doing it. That’s the only reason this was a game and left the door open for the Gators to hang around.
5) Did you see Rueben Bain, Jr.’s PFF grade this week?
93.8. Almost impossibly high. He had 10 pressures in the game. TEN! And Akheem Mesidor had nine. That’s absolutely insane considering DJ Lagway dropped back only 29 times! 19 pressures!! In 29 pass rushing snaps!!! That’s absolutely crazy. I can’t remember seeing a pressure rate like that against a team with the talent that Florida has. That duo is so unbelievably good, man.
6) I also wanted to give a shoutout to safety Jakobe Thomas.
Two absolutely crucial plays that killed drives and forced punts. Had a sack of Lagway late in the second quarter to thwart a drive. But his play in the fourth quarter with 12 minutes left was so important. Up 13-7 and facing 3rd and 1, he broke through and tackled Florida RB Jadan Baugh for a loss to force a punt. Miam’s aforementioned death march starts after that punt. So major kudos to Thomas for some impactful plays.
7) And now for a well-earned bye week before Florida State comes up next Saturday.
Rest up, Canes fans. It’s going to be one of the biggest in the rivalry in decades on October 4.
Go Canes!
