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The Short List To South Beach: Week 10

The final month of the regular season begins in college football and only the following teams are left in the running for the top prize in the game:

Texas, Alabama, Penn State, Texas Tech,, Utah, Boise State, Tulsa, Ball State, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida State, Southern Cal, Minnesota, Oklahoma State.

These sweet sixteen schools now have just one last month of games to navigate in order to set themselves up for an invitation to play for the grand prize in the New Year.  Only one team that I called for elimination from the shortlist survived and they keep themselves alive for another precious seven days:

Georgia goes on the road and ends LSU's dreams of a repeat with a solid performance from the preseason number one team.  Injuries and the rigors of the SEC have taken their toll on the Bulldogs and they now head to Jacksonville for another Shortlist elimination game against their hated rival the Florida Gators.  

Four teams fell off the Shortlist to South Beach last week without me calling for them, the defending champs and three also-rans:

LSU drops their second game of the year, but unlike last year, there will be no miracle finish for Les Miles and his overrated defending champions.  The worst BCS era champion ever gave the title defense a try but only an improvement on last years results would have impressed me, a repeat at best won't be worth another tarnished title this year.

Boston College falls on the road to North Carolina as Butch Davis continues to walk the tightrope of the ACC like a virtuoso.  Somehow this man finds a way to get his teams to win the close games after failing to make that breakthrough in his first season on a weekly basis.  I still think he should have lost in Miami this year and is living on borrowed time at the basketball school but for now he looks like the college coaching guru he was at the end of the 90's.

Georgia Tech answers the bell but forgets about the rest of the game and finds their ACC division lead and their Shortlist stay revoked in the rudest possible of manners by visiting Virginia as they are outworked by the Cavaliers over the corse of the game.  Paul Johnson has had success this year with the novelty of the triple option but will it continue to work in this competitive defensive conference routinely?  That remains to be seen.

Northwestern loses a shocker to Indiana as a great season comes crashing into reality at the hands of the Hoosiers.  The Wildcats have won their share of Big 10 games the last decade but to have such a promising start come abruptly to a stop due to a loss to a down year Indiana team begins to border on inexcusable for Pat Fitzgerald.

Tulsa, Georgia.

The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, and yes I got the memo about the name change a few years ago, I just ignore it, is a Shortlist elimination game this week as both rivals are looking to add insult to injury after last years' sideshow in the end-zone. 

I expect the better team to assert themselves over the corse of this game as Florida finds a way to payback the year's worth of frustration with a forceful statement about their readiness to navigate the final month of the season.

The Shortlist to South Beach closes ever closer to a mere handful of teams populating it and next week is guaranteed to see some eliminations and change in order as the season enters it's final stretch.  Enjoy the games this week and come back here next week as the contenders rise to the occasion or fall off in humbling fashion here on the Shortlist to South Beach.

Copyright 2008 Christopher Whelpton for Canespace.com

Bosher Named Finalist for Groza Award

Hot off the press from www.hurricanesports.com:

University of Miami sophomore kicker/punter Matt Bosher has been named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award given to the nation's top kicker. Bosher is one of 20 semifinalists in contention for the award.

Bosher, who won the local Lou Groza high school Place-Kicker of the Year Award in Palm Beach County in 2004 and 2005, is 12-of-13 in field goal attempts with a career-long of 52 yards already this season for the Hurricanes. He leads the team in scoring with 64 points and has connected on two field goals of 50-plus yards.

The Lou Groza Award is sponsored by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission.

2008 Groza Award semifinalists are: Josh Arauco, Arkansas State; Jason Bondzio, Arizona; Matt Bosher, Miami; Ross Evans, TCU; Graham Gano, Florida State; Sam Glusman, Troy; Ryan Harrison, Air Force; Matt Harmon, Navy; Kevin Kelly, Penn State; Dustin Keys, Virginia Tech; Jose Martinez, UTEP; Pat McAfee, West Virginia; Jonathan Phillips, Florida; Jake Rogers, Cincinnati; Louis Sakoda, Utah; Patrick Shadle, Syracuse; Joshua Shene, Mississippi; Leigh Tiffin, Alabama; Phillip Welch, Wisconsin; Jeff Wolfert, Missouri.

Forty Eight To Zero

The last time your Miami Hurricanes saw the Virginia Cavaleers in 2007 they were getting embarrassed at home and losing their last game in the Orange Bowl 48-0.  Recently interviewed Head Coach Randy Shannon says that this year's UM team is not interested in getting "revenge" for last year. 

Yeah, and Sarah Palin and Michele Obama are best drinking buddies, the Red Sox love the Yankees and the the fundamentals of the economy are still strong.

Miami hits the road for its first of three road games in the month of November when the Hurricanes travel to Charlottesville, Va. to take on ACC Coastal Divisional leader Virginia. Kickoff is scheduled for noon at Scott Stadium. The game will be televised on Raycom Sports.

The Hurricanes are coming off a 16-10 win over Wake Forest to run their winning streak to three games. Redshirt freshman quarterback Robert Marve accounted for 209 of the 296 yards gained on offense in the win. He completed 11-of-20 passes for 153 yards and ran nine times for 56 yards with first career rushing touchdown. He was named ACC Rookie of the Week Monday.

Marve became the eighth different freshmen to score a touchdown for Miami this season and 17th different Hurricane overall.  His play has gradually improved while his QB counterpart and best buddy Jacory Harris have traded turns being the Hurricanes Hero of the week. 

Sophomore kicker and hard hitting tackler Matt Bosher connected on three field goals against the Demon Deacons including a career-long 52-yarder. He has made eight field goals in a row and is 12-of-13 on the season. He is a perfect 28-of-28 in PATs.

Defensively, senior linebacker Glenn Cook leads the team with 50 total tackles which includes a team-best seven tackles for loss. Safety Anthony Reddick has 49 tackles while linebacker Darryl Sharpton has 45 tackles on the season.

In four ACC games, UM has been tough to stop offensively. The Hurricanes lead the ACC in scoring offense with 32.0 points per game. The Hurricanes are 38th nationally in scoring offense (30.5 points per game). The Hurricanes did not allow a score in the second half against the Demon Deacons and have allowed just 14 points in the second half of the last two games.

Virginia (5-3, 3-1 ACC Coastal) won on the road at No. 17 Georgia Tech, 24-17, to extend its winning streak to four games. The Cavaliers have rattled off wins against Maryland, East Carolina, North Carolina and the Yellow Jackets after dropping its first and only Atlantic Coast Conference game to Duke on the road.

Junior quarterback Marc Verica threw for 270 yards and two touchdowns against Georgia Tech. Verica is completing 67 percent of his passes. He has thrown for 1,281 yards. RB Cedric Peerman has rushed for 541 yards and seven touchdowns on 95 attempts.  Linebacker Jon Copper leads the team with 67 tackles while Clint Sintim has 49 tackles and a team-high 9.5 sacks.

This will be only the sixth game between the two schools, with Miami holding a 3-2 lead in the series. Virginia has won the last two meetings over the Hurricanes - a 17-7 win in Charlottesville in 2006 and a 48-0 win in Miami last season.

U Have To Show Up

Since Canespace started in June of 2007, we have been to and covered all sorts of UM athletic events.  And after over 1.6 million page views, 700,000 site visits and 125,000 comments we know we have a good thing going that is only going to get better and we have the pictures to prove it.  But to do that, U have to show up!  And, we encourage all Canes fans out there to do just that.

From the baseball team's incredible season and the winning of the Canes first ACC championship under Jim Morris (seen here) to the revived and resurgent basketball program under Frank Haith to the football teams recent struggles and success under Randy Shannon, Canespace reporters, photographers and fans have been there LIVE to cover and comment on the games as they happen. 

This football season we have not only attended road games in Gainesville and College Station but also covered every game at The New Place (TNP).  At TNP we got excited at CSU game, frustrated at the UNC game and soaked like a wet rag at the FSU game before winning the last two in a row against UCF and Wake Forest.  All along we have tailgated, had  a good time and enjoyed the games.

At the Wake game we were joined by two new Canespacers TimCanes and his buddy John (seen here) who came all the way from New Joisey to attend their first UM game EVER. 

They got FREE tickets, a ride to the game and a game day experience that will be very, very hard to match. 

Let's just say we showed them a Canespace good time and may be evidenced by the following photos. 

We would like to formally thank the UM cheerleaders who have been great sports and good friends of Canespace all year long. 

If the UM Athletic Department were smart they would make the players as accessible as the cheerleaders are.  That would help build healthy, positive realtionships with the fan base like never before.  That would fill the stands.  We hope we can help with that mission.

The following pictures are from Canespace photographer OcalaCane from the Wake Forest Game:

 

       

             

 

Wake Up Call

Hey, you there.  Yeah, you in that comfy bed of yours. 

This is your Wake up call.  It is time to get up and busy.  

It is time to win the ACC.

Trailing 10-3 at halftime to 2006 ACC champ and 2008 wanna be Wake Forest, your Miami Hurricanes got their wake up call from Head Coach Randy Shannon and the rest of the Canes coaching staff.  The UM players apparently woke up, smelled the coffee (and probably some of what the Rock was cooking) and proceeded to go to work against the Demon Deacons in the second half of this late October ACC showdown. 

The Canes defense reared it's big ugly head, puffed out its chest and shut down the Wake offense and talented junior QB Riley Skinner.  The ever present Sean Spence along with Allen Bailey, Marcus Forston and even the long forgotten Romeo Davis made tackles and made plays for the Canes defense UM DE Adewale Ojomo had his mojo working in the second half and had a huge hit on the Wake QB, standing him up and laying him out. 

Skinner (see here) was surprisingly ineffective and was held to just three completions on eight attempts on the day.  Riley was asked after the game about the Demon Deacons identity on offense and had this to say: 

"We're not really sure right now. I don't really think we've really found our identity on offense. We've been changing it a lot and doing a bunch of different things and unfortunately, none of them stuck. We're going to have to go back to the drawing board again and figure out ways to put more points on the board."

Who knew that Patrick Nix could be the Offensive Coordinator at two universities at the same time?  Just kidding!  Nix appears to have the young guns headed in the right direction while Wake appears to be headed nowhere in particlar. The Canes two headed monster on offense behind QBs Robert Marve and Jacory Harris was by no means impresssive but got the job done against the experienced and senior-laden Wake defense.  This time it was Marve and not Harris who would save the day for the Canes and come up with just enough big plays to win the game. 

Mr. Marvelous showed impressive speed on his 43 yard run in the third quarter that would lead to a one yard QB sneak, his first TD wearing the orange and green.  Marve completed 11 of 20 passes for 153 yards, helping Miami (5-3, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) win consecutive league games for the first time since October 2006. 

Marve would later hit Thearon Collier with a perfect 25-yard pass on third-and-10 with 3 minutes left, getting Miami to midfield and allowing the Hurricanes to run out the clock.  That pass, which sealed the deal for UM, was as big a play as the Canes have had all season.

After the game Marve had this to say about his long scamper: "We talk about scoring every play and if I have to make a pass to help a guy score or if they give me a wide open hole, I'm going to take either one. I feel like there are just a lot of fast guys around me. I just try to keep going forward and try to make a play. I was happy I was able to show my running ability a little bit this game."

On the big win Marve shared this in the Canes joyous locker room:  "The great feeling about today was that we were in a big dog fight and we came out on top. That's the greatest feeling I think we've had. If you see in our locker room, we have a lot of joy for each other. It's not just another win for us, it's a dog fight that we came out on top."

Matt "I can tackle too" Bosher hit field goals from 36, 52 and 43 yards for Miami.  The Canes have matched last season's win total with four games remaining and have won three straight overall.  UM extended its streak on a day where the 1983 national title team - the school's first of five championship clubs - was honored at halftime.

The Canes came from behind to beat a quality opponent in an ACC game late in the season.  Could it be that this game will serve as a Wake up call for the Canes season?  Will it send the message to the ACC that these young guns wearing "The U" on their helmets are a team to be reckoned with now and in the near future? 

Well, one thing for certain is that the win puts Miami back in the chase for the ACC title this year and offers hope for years to come as these players and their coaches mature and gain some much needed and valuable experience.  Only time will tell if it is the stepping stone to something bigger and better.

Next up for the Canes is a road trip to Virginia for another ACC game against Al Groh and the Cavaleers. 

Virginia was last seen spanking Miami in the Orange Bowl and ruining the Canes' final game at The Old Girl by the tune of 48-0. 

Can U say payback?  I thought U could!

No Wake Zone

Today your Miami Hurricanes face Wake Forest in an ACC showdown at The New Place (TNP) Stadium.  What is it with these seemingly nice universities located in the North Carolina Bible belt that have this fascination with naming their teams after Lucifer? 

First the Canes have to face the Duke Blue Devils and now the Deamon Deacons?   Somebody's been drinking the "Fire Water"!

In fact, the University of Miami is now 33-18-1 all-time versus teams from the state of North Carolina. Since UM joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2004, the Hurricanes are 9-4 against teams from the Tar Heel State. Prior to two late season losses to N.C. teams last season, the Hurricanes had seven straight wins against the state from late 2004 to early last year.

Before Miami joined the ACC, the `Canes rarely faced teams from North Carolina, playing just four games against N.C. teams from the time Dennis Erickson took over the program in 1989 to the team's last year in the BIG EAST in 2003. Over that 15-year span, UM faced East Carolina three times and NC State once.

Todays game features an interesting matchup of contrasting teams. Wake Forest is coming off a 26-0 loss at Maryland and brings a 4-2 overall record and 2-1 record in the ACC Atlantic Division.  Miami is coming off a a 49-31 win over Duke and brings a 4-3 overall record and 1-2 record in the ACC Coastal Division.

This game will determine two facts:  Are the Canes ready to compete against a quality opponent and who will win the ACC championship. 

Both of these questions will be answered today at noon...

Short List To South Beach: Week 9

Only 23 teams find themselves left on the Shortlist to South Beach and while their order remains the same, several teams find themselves closer to the front thanks to a weekend filled with eliminations as the list gets pared down dramatically.  The survivors rank in my opinion as follows:

Texas, Alabama, Penn State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech,, Utah, Boise State, Tulsa, Ball State, Florida, Oklahoma, Georgia, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, South Florida, Florida State, Boston College, LSU, Southern Cal, Ohio St., UConn, Minnesota, Northwestern.

The Big 12 has almost half of the remaining undefeated teams left in college football among it's conference, but all three reside in the same division so at best, only one can survive with an unblemished record if they get all the breaks to go their way.  The home stretch of the 2008 season will test the BCS' mettle as the odds continue to increase that the final week of play will find several unbeaten non-BCS schools left and only one loss BCS schools available for comparison.  This nuclear winter scenario would finally be the opening for a non-BCS school to crash the hallowed gates of the National Title game but even if such an event were to transpire, I'm still not convinced we would see a true Cinderella invite being handed out by the Coach and Harris poll voters.

Two teams, both ACC schools survived a game I called for them to lose and fall by the wayside here on the Shortlist:

Boston College sends the Costal division into a spiral of convolution by knocking off Virginia Tech with a stellar first half at home.  The Eagles have reloaded nicely so far from a breakthrough season last year, but the remainder of the schedule could clip their wings in an instant if they begin to coast.  I think the task will soon end up insurmountable, but for now, the Eagles stay on the Shortlist.

  Georgia Tech continues to defy expectations as a middle of the road team under Chan Gailey installs the triple option in this day and age while somehow finding a way to win week in and out.  By continuing the implosion at Clemson last week the Yellow Jackets have won by walkover and nail-biter and now are in the drivers seat in the Coastal division of the ACC.  This team holds the only victory to date of BC and are halfway home to an ACC title game appearance.  Of course, the other five teams in the division can say the same thing too, but still at this point you have to impressed with what has happened this year in Atlanta.

Only two teams dropped a game that results in their Shortlist elimination last weekend:

North Carolina falls in overtime as the Hakeem Nicks' injury looks to be a major problem for Butch Davis' squad.  UNC has been very fortunate this year so far and with one of their major weapons now sidelined, they need something to stop the bleeding.  It could be another 2nd half collapse for the 2nd year in a row up in Tar Heel country.

California gets dropped coming out of half time on the road at Arizona and find themselves off the Shortlist in unceremonious fashion.  Was it really just four years ago that this program was crying about be unfairly excluded from an at large BCS berth?  What happened to these guys since then?  Oh, that's right, Pac-10 crybabies, I forgot.  Let this be a lesson to you all, the Pac-10 loves to cry bias against it, but in reality it's the post ACC-expansion Big East on weight gainer.  Try not to forget that when it comes time to hand out a one loss National Championship game invitation at the end of the year.

Three teams should fall off the Shortlist this weekend, two from the state of Ohio:

Georgia, Ohio State, Cincinnati.

The Georgia-LSU showdown is a Shortlist elimination game this weekend as both teams need a big time win to validate their arguments for poll positioning.  The pre-season number one travels to the defending champs from last year's stadium and ultimately I think that will provide the difference for the Bayou Tigers as they survive a slugfest by the narrowest of margins and some crazy 4th down conversions.

Enjoy the games this weekend and join me back here next week as the Shortlist to South Beach's order should look dramatically different after the fallout settles and the home stretch commences.

Copyright 2008 by Christopher Whelpton for Canespace.com

We Had A Devil Of A Time

This blog written for Canespace by CanesGirlNC... 

A local told me that Duke used to have a storied football program (you have to go waaaaay back) and was invited to the 1942 Rose Bowl to play Oregon State.  That year the Rose Bowl was going to be canceled due to WWII when it was decided to play the Rose Bowl at Duke. They borrowed bleachers from UNC and NC State to boost capacity.  Duke lost that game to Oregon State.  

Fast forward  66 years.  Two football teams – each with a past storied program met at Wallace Wade Stadium on October 18, 2008.  Believe it or not there are some other similarities here.  Both schools are private research institutions and both schools had quarterbacks from Miami on Saturday. 

“Thad (Lewis QB for the Blue Devils seen here) taught me to play the quarterback position when we were kids in Opa Locka Park”  Jacory Harris said in an interview several days prior to the game, “so you could say he is responsible for me being here”. 

At game’s end when the Canes kneeled in the center of the field there were several blue devil uniforms that joined them.   It was a great game and your Hurricanes have heart, do not know the word “quit” and have faith in themselves. 

The Princeton-modeled campus is beautiful and the pictures capture some, but not all, of its beauty.  The following are pictures of the campus, RM in warm up,  Sebastian calling on a higher power, me and my daughter, a mascot of some type for Duke that posed for a pic and threw up the U without being asked (even he knows)!

   

 

How Do U Spell Relief? H-A-R-R-I-S!

Last Saturday, with the game, their pride and possibly the entire 2008 season on the line, your Miami Hurricanes found themselves trailing the Duke Blue Devils 17-7 late in the second quarter.  Starting QB Robert Marve was struggling and had just thrown another interception, his ninth of the season, leading to a Blue Devil score. 

Now, with the home crowd and the all important momentum squarely behind them, the Duke players were becoming more confident that they not only could, but would, win this important ACC conference game.

Then, the game changer.  In stepped true freshman QB Jacory Harris to save the game, the season and possibly Patrick Nix's job by leading the Canes on a quick scoring drive to make the score 17-14 going into halftime.  Harris' TD pass to TE Chris Zellner with only 11 seconds left in the half helped the Canes narrow the score and more importantly gave the sputtering Canes new life. 

JaScory, as he is affectionately known by Canes fans, was sharp, efficient and effective leading Miami's offense down the field.  He connected with multiple receivers on various patterns and also ran the ball effectively on several designed QB draws. 

In fact, Harris would go on to lead the Canes in rushing on the day with 10 carries for 67 yards.  Some might even claim that it was JaScory that almost single-handedly put the Canes back in business. 

Miami went into the lockeroom with renewed hope, energy and sense of purpose.  The only question that remained was who would head coach Randy Shanon start at QB in the second half?  The shaky and struggling Marve or the sharpe and succesful Harris? 

When the Canes offense took the field to start the third quarter, low and behold, it was #12 and not #9 behind center.  Harris would go on to lead the Canes to a impressive come from behind 49-31 victory and provide a much needed spark for the inconsistent and at times lethargic UM offense.  His masterful display of talent, touch and decision-making had not been seen since, dare we say, a QB named Kenny Dorsey was at the controls.

Harris scored on a 15 yard run and threw TD passes to Aldarius "Sure Hands" Johnson, Travis "The Blur" Benjamin and LaRon "Big" Byrd.  Texas speedster Shawnbrey Mcneal also scored a TD in late action subbing for Craig Cooper who had 64 yards on the day. 

So what's next?  All of the Monday morning quarterbacks and most Miami fans are questioning and clamoring about who should start the next game at home against Wake Forest. 

Trying to avoid or prevent the always impending QB controvery, Shannon stated shortly after the game the Marve would remain the starter and that as per "the plan", Jacory would continue to play in each game on a regular basis.

So Canes fans, what do U think?  What is best for the players and the team?  Who should the starting quarterback be?  Marve or Harris?   Harris or Marve?  Should Shannon make a change?  Does it matter?

For argument's sake, here are their cumulative stats for the season:

Robert Marve	6	101.4	73-133-9	54.9	676	7	36	112.7
Jacory Harris	7	122.9	51-84-3	60.7	497	5	35	71.0

Dancing With The Devil In The Blue Dress

 Your Miami Hurricanes won a huge game today against their ACC rival Duke Blue Devils, 49-31. 

The Duke players, who wore these really pretty blue dresses to start the game, were knocked down and knocked up by the men in with the U on their helmets. 

Well, not really, but if U watched the second half of the game it might have seemed that way.

The Canes took a 7-0 lead early but then proceeeded to stall and go down to Duke 17-7 in the first half after several costly mistakes by starting shaky and inconsistent QB Robert "I Am Not So" Marvelous. 

In stepped true freshman Jacory Harris at the controls and the rest was, as they say, history. Jacory would finish the game 18-28 for 185 yards but the true testament of his performance was not in the numbers or the stats but in the leadership he demonstrated. 

Jacory, who looked as cool as could be in spite of throwing an early INT, and would go on to lead the Canes offense and the team to a much needed victory against a confident and fiesty Duke team.

Harris threw 4 TDs on the day one each to Aldarius Johnson, Travis Benjamin, Laron Byrd and Chris Zellner.  AJ was the star of the day leading the team with 8 catches for 84 yards, several key first downs and a TD.  I told U so!

The bottom line is this: The Canes won BIG to move their season record to 4-3 and keep their season and their ACC hopes alive. Randy Shannon avoided the ultimate embarrassment and now looks to build confidence behind Harris as the starting QB.  All we can say as Canes fans and Canespacers is thank U very much and let's go Canes!!! 

Here are some photos from the game from RoachCane77: