How The Competition Stacks up: Week Three

This is the latest installment of a NEW blog feature for 2008.  Each week we will be detailing how the teams that Miami will play this year fared against their previous opponent to determine how the competition that the Canes will face this season "stacks up". 

We will be rating the opposition in terms of difficulty using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane rating scale (1-5) based on each team's previous week's results.  Here are the week one results:

August 28 / Charleston Southern / Tropical Storm: Even though Charleston Southern led for most of their game they wound up losing to Miami of Ohio 38-27.  CSU is now 0-3 on the young season and has now lost to Miami (FL), Miami (OH) and Wofford. It's going to be along year for Charleston.

September 6 / Florida Gators / Category 5: The Gators, all fat and bloated after their big win over in-State rival Miami, did not play this week. Their next game is against Phil Fulmer and the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville at 3:30 PM this Saturday.  As much as it pains me to say this: Go Gators.

September 20 / Texas A&M / Category 1: The Aggies were off this week.  They lost their opener to lowly Arkansas State and then beat New Mexico to even their 2008 season record at 1-1. Game time for the Canes and Aggies has been set for 3:30 EST and will be televised on ABC.  Both teams had a week off to prepare for each other so neither gained an advantage.  It says here that UM Offensive Coordinator Patrick "I got this" Nix will open up the offense and a major can of whoop @%# on Texas A&M. Canes win this game going away 37-13.

September 27 / North Carolina / Category 3: On Thursday night current UNC (2-0) Head Coach and former UM Head Coach Butch Davis schooled and embarassed current Rutgers (0-2) Head Coach and former UM Defensive Coordinator Greg Schiano by a score of 44-12.  Tar Heel QB TJ Yates threw three TDs and the UNC defense picked off four passes in the rout. As a result, UNC jumped up a category to a CAT 3 this week. Hey Schiano, how's life in Jersey these days?

October 4 / Florida State University / Category 3: The Noles beat up on poor little Chattanooga 46-7 this week.  FSU still has talent and a coach named Bowden so we gave them a very generous CAT 3 ranking. This season may be the Noles last hurrah for the Old Man as they face certain NCAA penalties beginning next year for several major infractions including a systematic test cheating scandal. 

October 11 / UCF / Category 1: UCF was off this week after looking horrible in their opener against South Carolina State and then losing in O/T to USF in week two going down the #17 ranked Bulls.  They next face Boston College on September 20.  This should be an easy win for Miami at TNP Stadium.

October 18 / Duke / Category 1: The Blue Devils sunk Navy 41-31.  This just in: Duke QB Thaddeus Lewis is good, really good. Lewis finished 25-of-35 passing for 317 yards and 3 TDs with zero interceptions.  Riley hauled in eight balls for 137 yards and all three TD tosses for the Blue Devils.  In the last two games against Navy, Lewis is combined for 48-of-71 passing for 745 yards and 7 TDs while Riley has combined for 14 catches for 372 yards and all seven of those touchdowns.

October 25 / Wake Forest  / Category 4: Sam Swank's 41-yard field with three seconds left gave No. 20 Wake Forest a thrilling 30-28 victory over Ole Miss in the Deacons home opener Saturday afternoon. The win was the 400th win all-time for the Wake Forest program.  Coach Grobe and the Deamon Deacons start the season at 2-0 heading into an ACC showdown with FSU on September 20th.   

November 1 / Virginia / Category 1: In week one Virginia got spanked by the mighty USC Trojans 52-7. This week they got whallopped by UConn 45-10.  Oh my!  Therefore, UVA drops to a weak CAT 1 storm while barely maintaining hurricane strength. 

November 13 / Virginia Tech / Category 2: Coach Beamer and the boyz beat Georgia Tech 20-17.  After losing to East Carolina 27-22 in week one the Hokies have won two in a row. The two Techs combined for 477 rushing yards on 96 attempts – 278 for the Yellow Jackets (2-1, 1-1 ACC) and 199 for the Hokies (2-1, 1-0 ACC) – in a game that saw only 23 passing attempts. And while the Hokies’ defense bent against the unfamiliar triple option offense – Georgia Tech’s Josh Nesbitt set a single-game school-record for quarterbacks with 151 rushing yards – it never broke and made its biggest play of the game late in the fourth quarter. Is Beamer ball back?  Not so fast my friend!  VT stays at a CAT 2 for this week but with some hope on the horizon. 

November 20 / Georgia Tech / Category 1: The Yellow Jackets lost to Virginia Tech 20-17.  New Head Coach, new offense and a lot of work to do.  We predict that the Canes will win this one in Hotlanta.

November 29 / NC State / Category1:  NC State lost to the other Bowden and his Clemson Tigers 27-9.  We continue to project an easy win to wrap up the season.

Comments

[MidWestCane]

"I am not buying Shannon when he say Canes are not much better this yr. maybe a little more competitive. I do not like to hear that kind of talk, players going for an nc and coach thinks they are a 5/7 team. Something is lost in translation.

Posted by: dlu | September 14, 2008 at 07:44 PM"

dlu,

That article "Randy Shannon lets us in" was written:

July 23, 2008 9:31 AM.

[CoCane]

MW,

Rome isn't a good example. It took decades to build. Shannon & them is building a team. With arguably the most impatient fans in the country. They've got 3-5 years tops...

[CoCane]

Bruce Johnson is the most improved player on defense. If he gets better during the season & the defense remains in the top 20, he could go 1st round...

[Six]

Nix better grasp some sense of O-Coordinating ... maybe lean over and copy the homework of Bryan Harsin, Steve Kragthorpe, Kevin Wilson, Chris Klenakis, and Dave Brock.

[CoCane]

Matter of fact. If BJ can lock down every opponents best WR, they'll have a better chance of winning every game left. He'll DEFINITELY go in the 1st round.

[bg1906]

Darc,

Thanks for the love homie! Yeah, I'm dealing with these dudes on the regular! HAHAHA! I got a little something for Cane360, but I'll take it easy on him since he's a a part of the Legion! HAHAHA!

[hurriphin302]

cocane-I want to believe you, but what has he done to this point to get 1st rnd. consideration? I hope he earns it throughout the year though. we're in agreement about the phins needing like 2 corners within the 1st 3 rounds right?

[solarcane]

mid,
I'm just venting,don't pay any attention to my bellyaching. I'll be fine after that first couple of 30 plus yard TD passes.

peace

[ChunkySOUP]

you cant ask about teases on rivals soup blew up on me on the last blog for asking...but soups argument was that its middle of football season and i shouldnt be asking for tease of the day on here...whatever

Posted by: timcanes | September 14, 2008 at 06:50 PM

Tim...The reason I "blew up" on U for asking about the Rivals tease is because all U do every day is contribute NOTHING and then beg for the Rivals "tease of the day" during the middle of football season.

Get a life, I'll miss U at the Wake Game...

[CoCane]

He ain't done shyt to this point. Last year he was OK. That's why I said IF he improved during the year. He's looked real good so far this year. Other people have taken notice. That's why he's rated 1 of the top 5 SR CB's. He's got good size & speed to burn.

The fins have waaaay too many needs(O-line, WR, S & D-line) to spend 2 of the 1st 3 picks on 1 position. Expect help from free agency.

[dlu]

How about the word patience is examined a little closer as it is used so much in regard to the Miami football program. For me patience signifies that you are working on something. And you keep focused and keep working on it knowing where you are going and what you are building. Tell me now what is the offense building? I sure hope the offense is not on a course to just impress potential recruit running backs this yr. I want to know what the U is building on offense, simple question. Because so far I have no clue.

[CoCane]

dlu,

What's scary is Nix might not have a clue either...

[dlu]

Also specifics, because answers like a balance between running and passing do not mean much.

[dlu]

that is what I am wondering also ,solar and cocane. about does nix know, if so please fill the fans in as fans have a right to know direction and support it also if we only knew.

[CoCane]

Here's a clue for Nix. Start Shields with Hankerson. No other WR on the team has the combination of experience & talent that Shields does.

[CoCane]

It has to be deflating when you do everything the coaches ask & get no reward for it...

[hurriphin302]

I hope your right cocane.I take our draft streak seriously. It's one of the few things I can brag about lately to my peers. I was hoping r.phillips or c.mccarthy could be our savior this year. McCarthy might be able to leave early because we look good at LB right now.

[dlu]

What I would like is for the U to open up the passing game to backs, te, receivers, some new stuff. Let the kids play, use their talent, use the coaching talent to develop plays and let the chips fall where they may. I would be happy with that.

[hurriphin302]

totally agree that the emergence of s.shields would give us a shot at 10-3 or least 9-4 (including a bowl) he is a poorman's mario manningham, abeit a very poor one

[hurriphin302]

one second thought, maybe shields would be manningham, if shannon was willing to overlook his hard-headedness they way lloyd carr did mario.

[dlu]

Will the U have any plays with 4 wide receivers in the game at tam? The U sure has enough receivers to try some dif. things and see who pans out, becomes big play receivers. Throw some guys in the fire and see who turns out to be a hot dog and who roast beef.

[CoCane]

Shields is more physically gifted than Manningham.

[timcanes]

soup i emailed you so we could keep it off of here

[timcanes]

manningham brought all he had everygame and took advantage of what god gave him tho...not saying shields is takin to for granted but he has yet to live up to his original hype

[cnzfnzfanPA]

LOL peeps trying to compare what teams we are going to beat(or lose to) based on the first two weeks of the season is pretty comical...Any team can beat anyone on any given saturday(or thursday,tuesday or which ever day of the week college football is on these days). So far all we know is that we are much better than a 1-AA opponent and not yet at the level of top 5(through 4 quarters at least). So everyone just sit back enjoy the season and take each week as it comes. Stop puckering up your baloon knots over which schools made it into top 25 because honestly it means sh*t right now(just like preseason top 25). We take care of business each week the rest will fall into place. So let's go to Texas AM and do our thing and let the pieces fall as they may. Beacuse honestly nobody on this blog has any control over it.

[busy_cane]

Shields is a third year junior. In many programs, he would be a RS Sophomore just getting ready to arrive at his coming out party.

Now, he's been through 3 quarterbacks, instability with the OC, and he might be a head case. Wouldn't you be?

-cheers

[busy_cane]

As a true freshman, Shields had a ball bounce off his chest - a perfect strike from KW - on the potential game winning drive against FSU.

-cheers

[Calvin]

This is what i do know about nix. He's slow at starting games off being aggressive, he likes to come out and see what the defense is doing an adjust to that instead of coming out forcing the defense to adjust to what he's doing.

Next, he's been real inconsistent building on drives. As it was pointed out, he brings jacory in, calls a slant to kanyne, that goes for a 1st down, that's the aggression we always played with, but aftet that play, he goes right back to being conservative, to many times when our offense is in 2nd and 1 or 3rd and 1, he goes with that 1 wide receiver formation, which automatically forces the line of scrimmage to become crowded.

Against oklahoma last year, made some nice calls, but didn't build off of them in the same drive. For the most part, it's obvious he's out-thinks himself sometimes, but i haven't seen him counter to many defense, one of the only times i saw nix catch a defense off guard was last year when he called that mis-direction hand-off to coop, and than the linebacker ran him down.

Now, i'm hoping nix works out, but more importantly, we'll continue to get defensive recruits, but we really need to start showing some offensive production this year, and have an offense that looks like it's fun to play in, right now on offense, just doesn't look like they're having fun against the higher ranked teams.

[Calvin]

Now, why not put shields and benjamin out their at the same time and just ride out on deep balls against the gators.

[Cat5 Cane]

MidWest...

I was laughing when I quoted... cram it. No worries mate... Blog on!

Cat

[Chinese Punisher aka Cavaleer]

Coke, yeah, if Shields, Hankerson and Cane could pull it together, with help from Khalil and the Youngin's we'll be good to go against EVERY ACC team.

Seriously, I've seen most of them play except Wake and they're aight.

Their strengths are their upperclassmen, especially UNC, and that's basically one or two guys.

Rutgers should've handled them. UNC isn't any more talented or experienced than Rutgers. But Rutgers OC and mental strength is weak. That's what costed them those first two games.

Our biggest challenge is getting it in these kids heads that everyone still circles the date on their schedule that they play The U.

A&M will be jacked up. Ditto everyone else.

So the key will be for the Offense to air it out, work out some kinks and combine run and pass, something Nix knows how to do very well.

For everyone super-worried about Nix, just go to a site and look up his 2006 GT season. Look at their points scored against which opponent. Look at their run/pass totals. Then look at the two games where he had decent QB play last year-- FSU and A&M.

He's solid. He's young and has made some mistakes but even Norm Chow gets shut out every now and then. Haha.

So relax.

[timcanes]

i would think this would be his year too but its tough when hes not seeing the field...for whatever reason that is which none of us really know

[solarcane]

czzfPA,
good post

peace

[busy_cane]

Remember that FSU game. I do. KW and Drew Weatherford were on the pre-season Top 10 Heisman watch list. After the game. We thought that our defense was going to be awesome that year, and we thought that FSU was going to have an awesome defense that year.

Both teams had turd like seasons in 2006 compared with their high expectations, and we know where KW and DW are. At least KW made it to an NFL camp. DW is riding the pine behind Christian Ponder.

My point is that I'm not ready to say UM will win the ACC, and I'm not ready to say that 5-7 is our fate. I saw a lot of good things out of Miami against both CS and UF, but there were also concerns.

Can't wait to see how good Florida is against Tennessee.

-cheers

[Calvin]

On the unc talk, don't get caught up in that mcneese st. score, butch was getting alot of the young guys playing time in that game, that was the old jimmy johnson psychology game. Use those games to work and perfect certain parts of the team, and keep the score modest and than open it up in the so-called big games.

Right now, nix has to be a lil more creative, if somethings not working, go to something else.

[Six]

Busy_cane - no, I wouldn't be. I'd shut my mouth, go out there and do my job, there's no reason to be a head case. I don't think Chris Leak was a headcase and he went through how many coaches .. as the QB? not a WR? Just go out there, bust your ass, run your routes and get your blocks down.

Just like Mark Wahlberg said in The Departed:

"I'm the guy who does his job. You must be the other guy."

Shields - don't be the "other guy".

[Chinese Punisher aka Cavaleer]

Calvin, to me the question about that game was

#1 How many chances do you take with Marve making his first start?

#2 How much do you shelve your original gameplan after JJ goes down?

To me, it could've gone either way but we'll never know. We'll find out a lot more next week.

Personally, I think Marve could've rolled out or threw from play-action after a few of those runs by Derron and Cooper.

It just seemed like Nix/the players never wanted to score. Like they never said, "OK, we're scoring right here, on this drive. Everyone execute and we'll get it done."

[busy_cane]

Shields and Benjamin, that sounds like a great combination.

-cheers

[Chinese Punisher aka Cavaleer]

Now, the question is, was it Nix's playcalling that made it easy for the Gators to stop them or was it a lack of execution from the players?

I'd have to watch the game again to answer that.

Can someone chime in who has watched the game again?

[Chinese Punisher aka Cavaleer]

Busy, Shields is working his butt off on STs and blocking. They have to feed him the rock or he'll get frustrated. Khalil Jones he is not. lol

[Six]

The reason Drew Weatherford is riding the bench is b/c the kid simply can't read defenses.

He had that problem in high school as well at Land O'Lakes - I've talked to opposing coaches around here that stand by that, every time they played him. He got by with his athleticism - well, that sh*t catches up to you quickly when everyone else is just as athletic, if not a whole lot more.

[Calvin]

cav, nix called some plays that can work, at the same time, the plays he's calling are for a more seasoned qb, for instance that play where marve rolled out and and ran for the 1st down, had he looked back across field, i think it was coop who snuck out into the flats and was wide-open, at the same time, marve went and got that 1st down, which i'd take it either way.

The thing i didn't like was, we've been hearign let's get the ball in the hands of the so-called playmakes, i didn't see that effort strong enough. Sure james got hurt, but as an oc, you gotta 1st make sure your qb is comfortable so you call certian plays, than after that, you open it up on em.

[orange 'n green in the vein]

List the proven playmakers on this team offensively:

JJ, Coop, Shields (?), Thomas, Hankerson. That's it as far as game proven guys right now. Everybody else is an enigma and Shields is not reliable so far into his career IMO. Now what do you notice, that's right, a bunch of RB's. So now, if JJ goes down in the Swamp, who's your next most reliable weapon? Coop, so feed him the ball. It's good strategy. It didn't work out the we would like as fans, but it's not like Nix is calling stuff to get the ball away from his proven guys. I agree with busy, there's stuff that does concern me about the offense, but they are a work in progress at this point in the season and I can see the potential is there to be explosive, something you couldn't say for the last two years watching this team. Let the line gel and let the Mr. Football's get some game reps and these things start to iron themselves out. Anybody expecting anything else was tripping.

[busy_cane]

Why isn't Shields returning kicks?

-cheers

[orange 'n green in the vein]

solar, the Costal Division is a big toss up right now. UNC has just as much of a shot as VT or UM to win this thing right now. Duke and Virginia are in for a long years and GT has a dark-horse chance to play spoiler, but to say that UNC is so much better than anybody else is a stretch. Butch still has a LONG way to go there.

[orange 'n green in the vein]

busy, because The Randy is building with his guys and Shields isn't one of them. New coaches like their own recruits, but that's just my guess.

[pb(CSHOF09)]

Has anyone seen who did well this week so we can try and be more like them?

[busy_cane]

Cooper and James are the only proven playmaker on the team. Period.

There are a lot of guys that have a ton of potential, but Coop is the only proven guy who can take it to the house and James is the guy you can feed the ball to.

If JJ weren't related to Edge, would we be talking about how he is "soft," always getting hurt, or would it be the discussion of him being unlucky but tough, playing through pain. It is a questions worth considering!

-cheers

[busy_cane]

Very interesting comment, OGV.

-cheers

[busy_cane]

Has anyone seen who did well this week so we can try and be more like them?

Posted by: pb(CSHOF09) | September 14, 2008 at 10:36 PM

Maryland! Fear the turtle.