The Short List To The Superdome: Week 6

After the fallout from a wild weekend of college football, the list of teams still in the running for the right to play in the only bowl game of any importance reads as follows:

Georgia, LSU, South Carolina, UF, Vanderbilt, UK, Ohio St., Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan St., Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, TAMU, Texas Tech, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas St., Kansas, VT, Miami, FSU, Clemson, BC, Southern Cal, Oregon, ASU, Cal, WVA, USF, Rutgers, Cincinnati, and UConn.

The perfect record of only 14 teams remains intact out of only 36 remaining potential teams remain on the Shortlist.  This percentage only will continue to grow to a premium in the second month of the season as if two or more unbeaten teams remain after the conference championships, those teams will remain on the Shortlist while all others are discarded from consideration.  Last week, only one team in the entire nation lost a Shortlist elimination game and saw it's sights set to next year:

1) Penn State falls on the road for the second week in a row to Illinois 27-20.  There aren't that many "next year's" left in the career of Joe Paterno but Happy Valley seems to have decided to ride his career off into the sunset for better or worse.  In the meantime, Paterno won't have to worry about complaining about being left out unjustly as in the past as this time.

Two teams avoided elimination last week despite my calling for otherwise, both a pair of the Big Ten:

1) Indiana continues to defy the odds as they go on the road to Iowa and come away with a impressive 38-20 as they spoil homecoming for the Hawkeyes.  At this rate, it will be a stormy 10 year anniversary for Kirk Frerentz and the Iowa City natives next year.  I thought Iowa had a shot a double digit win season this year going in, but a three game losing streak has me wondering if the Hawkeyes might not even make a bowl this year.

2) Illinois, as mentioned above, snuffs out Penn State's glimmer of hope of going to New Orleans after New Year's.  Excuse me while I laugh at the sight of Joe Paterno getting put out to pasture by of all people, Ron Zook!  Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is when you know the game has passed you by, when the Zooker is getting the best of you.  The party comes to an end for the man who recruited Urban Meyer's upperclassmen this week as the Wisconsin Badgers find yet another way to stay perfect by the skin of their teeth and knock the Illini off the Shortlist, but it's obvious that Zook has his teamed primed for a long awaited bowl berth up in Champaign-Urbana.

The teams that find their championship quest end in the first week of October read as follows:

UF, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Texas, Nebraska, and VT.

Of them all, the defending national championships have the most to both gain and lose this week as a win keeps them in prime title contention, while a loss guarantees a new national champion in the college ranks.  Urban Meyer always has his team ready to play but LSU looks too loaded to me this year for a youthful Florida squad. 

Last week's dual upsets of both Texas and OU turn the traditonal Red River Shootout into a Shortlist elimination game this year.  Some pundits would say the luster is now off this game compared to last week but I would contend that if anything, the tension in the hi-drama football spectacle has only been amplified as I expect a well contested game.  Enjoy the games this week and I'll see you back here next week to sort through the wreckage of broken dreams that lie along the margins of the Shortlist to the Superdome.

Copyright 2007 by Christopher Whelpton for Canespace

Comments

[Keoki]

UNO

[SuperCooper]

Miami 45
UNC 10

Book that shiznit

[86Cane]

Keoki pulls it off from the road in NC!

Super...your score has been properly recorded.

Solar...if you get a chance to read this before the game, don't hang the banner, trot it through the stadium in front of the UM crowd section. Ask for approval of the banner at the gate if they give U a hard time getting it in.

[86Cane]

We will be bloggin' LIVE during the game so turn on your big screen LCDs and plasmas and charge up your lap tops and get ready to RUMBLE!!!

[OCALACANE]

Lizard Land in the house!!!

Got some Canes over here!!!

UM 27 UNC 10
Strap Up Legion...

[Big Moo]

UM 38 UNC 0

Coop gets his first special teams score today, The D causes 3 turnovers, and the O finishes drives. It'll be a good day to be a Cane. See you Sunday, in the top 25.

[OCALACANE]

Big... UM Wins The reptiles lose We are ranked above UF monday...
It's Great to be a Miami Hurricane!!!

[86Cane]

Ocala...Solar and the gang LOVE the banner U had made up for us deep in the heart of Lizard Land. Gonna get it signed by all the Canespacers at the game then tote it to the GT game next week for more sigs.

[86Cane]

Here is something to think about:

1. Butch is basically installing the U defense in Chapel Hill.

2. Nix when he was at GT tore up Randy and the classic Cane defense by using creative play calling to keep 'em off guard.

3. So today he basically faces the same at UNC. Good play calling today by Nix and bada boom, points galore!!!

[Alex D]

I still have a funny feeling about this offense. The only way the U score over 30 points today is for Kyle Wright to throw for over 300 yards (almost like his performance against A&M).

However, I am going to miss watching most of the game because our youth football team plays in about two hours. We are going to try to put 50 on this team today with our spread offense!

[86Cane]

From www.hurricanesports.com:

THIS WEEK'S GAME
Riding a three-game winning streak, the Miami Hurricanes go back on the road for only the second time this season when they travel to Chapel Hill, N.C. to face the North Carolina Tar Heels at noon Saturday in Kenan Stadium. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

It will be Miami's first game against Butch Davis, the North Carolina head coach who served as the Hurricanes' head coach from 1995-2000, compiling a record of 51-20. But Hurricanes head coach Randy Shannon, who played and coached under Davis, doesn't see it that way. "It isn't me against Butch or the University of Miami against Butch," Shannon said. "It's just a regular football game."

The Hurricanes have won their last four games at home but they have been victorious in only one of their last seven road games, a streak they are trying to end. They also get a chance to avenge a huge upset loss at North Carolina in 2004 when they were ranked fourth in the country and lost 31-28 on a last-second field goal. This is Miami's first trip to North Carolina since that game. The Hurricanes defeated the Tar Heels in Miami each of the last two seasons at the Orange Bowl.

Miami has yet to break into the national polls, but a decisive victory over North Carolina combined with some timely losses by other teams could do that by next week. Currently, the Hurricanes rank 26th in the USA Today Coaches poll and 27th in both the AP and Harris polls.

Miami is 4-1, with victories over Marshall, FIU, then 16th-ranked Texas A&M and Duke. This is only the second road game for the Hurricanes this season. Earlier this season they lost 51-13 at Oklahoma. North Carolina is 1-4 this season. The Tar Heels won their opener over James Madison, but since then they have dropped four straight to East Carolina, Virginia, South Florida and Virginia Tech. North Carolina is quarterbacked by T.J. Yates, who has passed for 1,168 yards and nine touchdowns so far.

Miami is led by quarterback Kyle Wright, who, in his last two games, has completed 40 of 49 passes (81.6 percent) for 505 yards and four touchdowns, with only two interceptions. The Hurricanes have gained more than 400 yards on offense in each of the last three games, their first streak of three consecutive 400-yard games since 2004.

[SOUP]

Zakkee's score of 31-9 got the most votes in our poll on the last blog. Let's see if he is right and can win some T'shirts from Canespace today!

[SOUP]

THE OPPONENT
North Carolina is 1-4 this season. The Tar Heels have not played in a bowl game since 2004 and have not finished over .500 since 2001 when they finished 8-5. Last year North Carolina was 3-9 in their final season under John Bunting.

THE SERIES
This will be the 11th game between the two schools, and each has won five games. Miami has lost both games played at North Carolina, in 1981 and 2004. Since joining the ACC, Miami has a 2-1 lead in the series.

THE COACHES
Randy Shannon is 4-1 in his first season at Miami. North Carolina's Butch Davis is 1-4 this season and 52-24 in seven years as a college coach.

A HURRICANES VICTORY OVER THE TAR HEELS WOULD
Give Miami their fourth straight win and a 5-1 record for the season. It would also give them a 2-0 mark in the ACC and their third consecutive win over North Carolina, as well as their first-ever win in Chapel Hill.

DEFENSE NO. 1 IN THE ACC
Miami is allowing only 290.2 yards per game, which is top's in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Hurricanes enter this week ranked 19th nationally in total defense. UM's rushing defense is 23rd nationally, yielding 97 yards per game, and Miami's pass defense ranks 36th, allowing 193.20 yards per game.

HURRICANES TOUGH ON TOBACCO ROAD TEAMS
Since joining the ACC in 2004, Miami has been tough on teams from Tobacco Road. UM is a combined 8-1 against North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest and Duke. North Carolina is the only team with a victory over the Hurricanes. UNC won 31-28 in 2004 in Miami's only trip to Chapel Hill since joining the league.

[mi@mic@ne]

North Carolina has too many holes in the o and d. Canes will be too fast.

[mi@mic@ne]

We split the te on one side on an iland and the speed receivers on the other,throw the ball up for some big gains.

[mi@mic@ne]

Their d is going to play to Coop. Play soft commit to wherever he goes . We use him to get other receivers open.

[mi@mic@ne]

Its either busting a long run with good blocking down field or playing in the red zone all day long.We bust a couple of runs and the game is ova.

[mi@mic@ne]

We are going to finish today. Go Canes!

[pb]

No drives of more than 60 yds for NC.

We win on two big plays and two sustained drives, one early and one late.

Go Canes.

[mi@mic@ne]

We isolated individuals on their secondary and exploit the lack of speed.

[SOUP]

CANESPACE CONTENT ALERT UPDATE:

New feature: "Name Those Canes". We have been informally applying nicknames to various UM players here at Canespace.

Now we are kicking it up a notch and inviting U to get involved and "Name Those Canes"! Here are some examples:

Glenn "9 O'clock" Sharpe

DajLeon "A Yard Too" Farr

Kayne "U Dig iT" Fraquharson

"Las" Vegas Franklin

Demarcus "DVD" VanDyke

Calais "Rhinestone Cowboy" Campbell

Kyle "I think I Finally Got This" Wright

Kyle Wright = "Justin Timberlake"

[alf]

Anybody have the link to watch the game online. Im stuck at work today.

[mi@mic@ne]

We got to mix it up on d. Man to man, zone. Lbs cant get exploited.

[mi@mic@ne]

They will test our interior d.

[TLuv]

This game could be like the last time they played us at home. They come out with a lot of energy and it took till late in the 2nd quarter and finally the 2nd half for the U ot wake up and dominate.

The U-27
UNC-10

IT'S ALL ABOUT DA U

[Esteban]

alf, you can watch it through ESPN360.com if it works with the companies internet provider.

[pb]

From Bruce Feldman today:

Miami 24, UNC 13: Former UM coach Butch Davis doesn't have the athletes his protégé Randy Shannon has, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The Canes' D-line, led by DE Calais Campbell, can be dominant. Miami's explosive backfield combination of Graig Cooper and Javarris James figures to have a big day against one of the ACC's worst defenses.

[TLuv]

BTW, I think T-Good continues his All-American type season today.

[86Cane]

Read Esteban's breakdown of today's game at:

http://canespace.com/_wsn/page3.html

[86Cane]

See our Canes Fan Of The Month (CFOM) at:

http://canespace.com/_wsn/page4.html

[Esteban]

anybody ready for some football?

[Hurricanedave]

Prediction:
Solar is arrested trying to sneak unautorized Canespace banner into Tar Heal Stadium. Solar is allowed to make one call. Who should he call Ron Mex or 86? Solar I think you have a problem!

[86Cane]

Yeah baby! GO C-A-N-E-S...CANES!!!

[TLuv]

Lee Corso just said that Ohio State is as good as any team in the country! Whatever he's smoking I want some.

[8"]

Why is this no talent girl calling this game? How boring is this gonna be hearing her voice.

[OCALACANE]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
C
A
N
E
S
CANES!
STRAP UP LEGION!!!

[86Cane]

Dave...Solar better call pb or Ron Mex cause I spent all my bail money on Canespace! I got a call from him and he said they would let him take the banner in for sigs but "could not display it" or it would get confiscated?

[TLuv]

Butch davis turn off the mute button!

[OCALACANE]

THE BEAST!!!!

[TLuv]

1 sack on the 1st series. get use to it

[86Cane]

UNC with the ball first. Three and out! SACK!!!

Punt, Canes ball at the 32 yard line.

[86Cane]

Poor throw by Kyle, nerves, poor route by LL, slips. No gain by JJ. Third and long. Canes 3 and out, bad pass by Kyle to DJ, slips. Punt to Carolina 30.

Uh, doctor, we had ordered an early score to silence the crowd?

[TLuv]

KP w/the STICK! thats why he's my fav player

[TLuv]

We look sluggish right now

[86Cane]

UNC 7, Canes 0. Not good. Sharpton blocked twice. Fans on their feet. Uh oh....

[TLuv]

Maybe that TD will wake us up.

[CaneVAStud]

I like how the refs have decided to not call holding...wtf???
- CVS

[mwd]

Yeah, hope it does wake us up.....

[norm]

One of the worst offense in rushing just score on our defense. I don't think that's a good sign.

[TLuv]

Carlos Armour put about as much effort into making the tackle as Willie Williams did in staying out of trouble