When The Knights Fall

Game Summary: On Saturday night in Orlando the Miami Hurricanes beat the UCF Knights 27-7 in a boring, low scoring scrimmage at some Stadium named after some Cable TV company.  Since we strongly prefer beer over TV we will take Landshark Beer any day over Brightouse Networks thank you very much.

Game Highlights: The were no highlights, only one big play by the UM defense and not much else to talk about so we won't bother you with the details.  If you are looking for stats or a descriptive game summary we suggest that you go to www.hurricanesports.com for that.  If you want to have a good time at a game we suggest you join Canespace at one of our tailgates or get this: at an actual football game! The pictures below will show you why.

As the sun set over Brighthouse Stadium and the cool, no make it cold Autumn air filtered into Central Florida, Hurricane fans from far and wide took over the once calm and quiet UCF Campus and were quick to inform the UCF student body: "We're taking over, we like this place, we're gonna stay a while, y'all need to clear on out."

Well at least that is what our group of about 20-30 orange and green wearing Canes fans led by Canespacer Jamericane (above R) and his friend and former UM DB (1991-93) Kevin Lewin (above L) told the UCF faithful as we walked right through the heart of the campus, right through their Student Union, through a maze of tailgate parties, people, trash and then into the Stadium. 

Led by our campus tour guide AngryCane (seen above in his pimped out ride), who is a UM fan and UCF student, we shamelessly walked across the entire campus shouting and chanting: "We got some Canes over here, whoosh, whoosh" and "It's great to be a Miami Hurricane."  We Cane, we saw and we proceeded to kick some serious, well you know, as we walked over, around and sometimes through the gauntlet of black and gold clad UCF fans on our way to The House (NOT to be confused with The Shark).

If you haven't been to UCF the campus is quite nice, quite large and occupied by some quite lovely looking student bodies.  According to recent rumors spread by the university itself, UCF has grown into the third largest school in the Country with 53,000 students.  On our campus tour we saw what seemed to be about 30,000 of those students some puking, some passed out and some who were just having a good time. 

Then we found some more Canes fans along the way and then this happened:

But enough about them, let's talk about us.  And by "us" I mean the Canespace tailgate party.  Where do we start?  How about with cupcakes?  OK, let's just say that when UM faces an easy opponent like FAMU and UCF Canespace breaks out the "cupcakes" for the games.  Not to be outdone by the now infamous JSQ, Canechic baked up some really nice ones herself, if I do say say myself. 

We visited with Canespacer Canezilla (seen below R), his always lovely wife (at L; she wears killer shoes, trust me on this), her BFF (at C) and their group of tailgating friends just one row over from the Canespace tailgate.  We found them consuming some rum soaked watermelon that they had prepared overnight. We tried a piece (yummy) and took a pic and continued to move on through the raucous crowd of Canes fans.

These guys (below) we found in the parking lot near our tailgate wearing our favorite numbers.  I tried to give them a Canespace card and tell them about our site.  They told me: "Don't be stupid, we already know about Canespace; here have a beer and a cheesburger."  It was deal I couldn't refuse!

That is when the UM fans started to get bent, and the rules got broken.  UCF strictly prohibits the use of a "beer funnel" on campus.  So these guys broke out the "octopus" with eight, count them, eight tubes:

Well as you know it's all fun and games until somebody get's hurt, but that never stopped us before.  So that's when AngryCane got involved (below, lower L) and showed them how Canespacers party and get it done.  For the record, no animals were injured in the filming of this event, at least none that we are aware of, but our memory is a little blurred as you can imagine!

We thought we were pretty hard core until we walked around the RV lot and found this Mexican dude who really hard core and had gone "all in" on customizing his ride.  He was a master at grillin' and chillin' and just insisted we try one of his tortillas with strip steak and homemade pico de gallo.

Angry ate two tortillas, tried to speak some Spanish (orale chamaco) while we took pictures of his pimped out ride, inside and out.  Mi hermano spent $6,000 on the vehicle wrap alone to pimp it and that doesn't even count the custom interior.  And U thought U were hard core?  Child please!

Fran and his lovely wife Jean (seen below) are two die hards who showed up in their Canespace gear just to tailgate.  They brought some mean BBQ chicken and a really comfy tailgating chair to spend some time soaking up the sun and soaking in the experience.  Jean teased her husband when she told us: "I don't know what's gotten into him, he thinks he's a teenager all over again!"

So then as we were leaving the the tailgate, I mean the game, and walking out of the stands we found the REAL Legion Of Doom who were dressed rather appropriately for the visit to The House if we do say so ourselves.  I promised I'd make them famous, so here's part of their 15 minutes: 

Did I mention the Canes won 27-7?  Yeah I thought so!

Comments

[Old Skool]

86
Is pick number 5, Canechic's 18 year-olds or are you holding out on us?

For a cell, that's dam good quality Six.

[Matt Drudge]

Hightlights from Rusty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFidbB2H3fs&hd=1

[Fran]

2 photos I took at UCF parking lot, they were transferred to photobucket so I could post
http://s928.photobucket.com/albums/ad126/out2profit/?action=view&current=Football032.jpg
You can't let 86 near a cupcake

http://s928.photobucket.com/albums/ad126/out2profit/?action=view&current=Football031.jpg
someone built a blow-up 86

[Hurriphin]

If I hear another person say Drew Brees doesn't have an arm, I'm gonna' scream. That was an awesome throw, on that TD.
And to think, the Phins coulda' had him.

Nah......

Culpepper worked out much better.

[True Cane aka Canian]

We're up 1 spot, we're ranked 8 in the latest AP polls. I thought we were going to be 7 but Iowa is undefeated so I have no beef with them jumping us. That should serve as motivation for the boyz. FL is down to no.2 and I think that they will lose a game

[BEERicane]

we are 9 in coaches. jumped by iowa in that poll as well. iowa should be ranked 4th right now anyway so no issue there. fl held onto #1 in the coaches. we will have to see what the bcs says when that comes out. those are the only rankings that matter from here on out.

[Captain Optimist aka Cavaleer]

Nashville, I'm with you on your posts from the previous blob. And that kid who got left waiting on the bus just learned a valuable life lesson: don't play games with your future, especially when there are other fish hungry for what's on the hook. haha

[BEERicane]

what is up with iowa's schedule? no by weeks the entire year...

[Six]

Cav, Hurriphin & Old Skool - thanks, the camera isn't that bad at all on the phone

The screen is smaller than I'd like when viewing pictures sent to me, but when you take a pic, it fills the whole screen ... has lots of nice options on it, including multi-shot where u just hold down the "click" button and it takes 5 shots instantly .. panoramic .. etc.

It was chilly/cold, not going to lie and I think it was in the 50s?

[Aquaman]

I don't remember Aldarius catching any 40 yard+ passes.

[CaniaK aka True Canes]

we should be around 7 in the bcs

[MDCane]

Great pics. Seems like everyone had a ball tailgating.

[Six]

Ya, you want to see me get taken out at the knees by Laron Byrd and then hop right back up, never looking away from my camera the entire time?

Skip to 4:33 - 4:44 ... the guy in the orange shirt, white hat, blue jeans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFidbB2H3fs&hd=1

I didn't realize that I basically did a WWF "frog splash" on him like Eddie Guerrero or Chris Benoit would do off the top ropes

[MDCane]

86, I would like to change my LOF picks. I am changing to the "Glitter Girls". They rep the U hard, even behind enemy lines.

[86Cane]

Is pick number 5, Canechic's 18 year-olds or are you holding out on us?

Posted by: Old Skool | October 18, 2009 at 01:13 PM

Me hold out on you? Never!

LOL

[86Cane]

86, I would like to change my LOF picks. I am changing to the "Glitter Girls". They rep the U hard, even behind enemy lines.

Posted by: MDCane | October 18, 2009 at 01:48 PM

Change noted and processed.

[Lurker]

Six

Saw it. From what I could tell you were the lucky one, it looked like you could have easily blown out a knee just based on trajectory and the fact you did nothing to protect yourself. But thank goodness everyone was ok on that play.

[Nashvillecane]

Bad news on espn cf page bout a uconn fb player being murdered ... He was from miami...I don't mean to be disrespectful to the players family or to uconn but if this was um the sports nation wud be in an uproar... Violence cane happen at any time or any where... Parent of posible recuits shud understand this

[Windy1]

Canes are #8 in the AP poll. I think the Big 10 supporters voted for Iowa because they are in denial about the fact that the Big 10 is not a very good conference. Once OSU lost, I was concerned that the Big 10 supporters would turn and throw their support to Iowa, a team that needed a last-second field goal miss to beat the powerhouse Northern Iowa a couple of weeks ago. Iowa is not an elite team and will loose at least 2 before the end of the year.

Cincy (w/o QB Pike) will also loose. SFla was not ready for that gimmicky running QB, but Pitt, UConn and WVU will all be prepared.

All other Top 10 teams will likely see a loss. LSU has not played Ala. yet, TCU has to play at BYU next week, USC has to play Oregon and Texas showed how vulnerable they are yesterday, when they needed a lot of help from the refs and luck to beat an unprepared Okla.

If the Canes take care of business one game at a time, they will be at worst top 5 BCS team when the dusk clears at the end of the season and noone can change that. The Canes control their own destiny.

[BEERicane]

VA Tech fell hard as well. 15 in both polls.

ESPNU Fan Rankings
RK TEAM
1 Alabama
2 Texas
3 Florida
4 Iowa
5 USC
6 Cincinnati
7 Miami (FL)
8 Boise State
9 LSU
10 Oregon
11 Penn State
12 TCU
13 Georgia Tech
14 Oklahoma State
15 Virginia Tech
16 Ohio State
17 Brigham Young
18 Utah
19 West Virginia
20 Kansas
21 Texas Tech
22 Houston
23 South Carolina
24 Pittsburgh
25 Oklahoma

Those rankings right there are about right...

[canechic]

nashville that story is just very sad and who would have thought that would happen on campus at UConn....Violence is everywhere not just in Miami

[86Cane]

The Canes just need to win all their games.

The rest can do whatever they want, I don't care. Some of them have to lose, we just have to keep winning.

Next question?

[Texascane]

Three losses and OU still in the TOP 25? You got to be kidding me.

The Stoops myth dies hard.

[BEERicane]

the coaches dropped OU from the 25

[Texascane]

So far, OU has beaten Idaho State, Tulsa and Baylor...all at home and lost the rest.

[Hurriphin]

I guess when Coach said, "If we have to score 70, we'll score 70." he was referring to a game where we were down 69-63...???

Randy better be carefull, lest The Whip be lured away to a team where he is allowed to be a jerk. Like UF, Ala., OU, ect.

[Hurriphin]

Yeah MD,

Those Glitter Girls GO IN!!

I think I've got a crush on that copper chick.

[Nashvillecane]

nashville that story is just very sad and who would have thought that would happen on campus at UConn....Violence is everywhere not just in Miami

Posted by: canechic | October 18, 2009 at 01:59 PM

The thing about it is none of us are exempt from it...'it can happen to any one of us at anytime... Matter of fact it SHOULD HAVE been me twice in my life but by GRACE it wasn't

[BEERicane]

What will be interesting to see is where boise state lands in these initial BCS standings. If they land in the Top 4, one of those top 2 in front of them will lose (UF or Bama) and if they can get lucky and have Texas lose, they could get to the national championship unless the voters in the coaches poll and AP decide to slide them a couple of spots in their polls to prevent that from happening....

[shwarma]

Waited to post until I could read though all the comments from during the game last night:

I think you boys are being a little hard on the team as a whole. This unit is still growing and lacks total depth and experience. Texas had it right, we went to there house, won by 20 in an overall dominant performance, and seem to have escaped without any major bumps or bruises.

I was happy with what I saw last night from everyone but the OL, as they are the one unit that I do think deserves critism.

Good conversations about the WRs last night. Points about Byrd and AJ were accurate. Blur has also been a surprise and Pimp a little dissappointing this season. I think our top 5 in order are Hank, AJ, Blur, Byrd and then Pimp/Streeter in a coin flip.

Berry looked good again and I would like to see him and JJ get most of the carries so that way we can use Coop exclusively in creative big play type ways.

And with all the weather conversation, I think you guys need to cut the their not used to it crap. Sure there not, but this is f'n football and all that nonsense is just an excuse.

Stars of the game - O -Jacory/Berry/Hank/Byrd/TB

D - Campbell and Spence (nobody else stood out a day after, and this was the first game I think B Harris didnt look like a stud all season)

[86Cane]

And with all the weather conversation, I think you guys need to cut the their not used to it crap. Sure there not, but this is f'n football and all that nonsense is just an excuse.

Stars of the game - O -Jacory/Berry/Hank/Byrd

D - Campbell and Spence (nobody else stood out a day after, and this was the first game I think B Harris didnt look like a stud all season)

Posted by: shwarma | October 18, 2009 at 02:20 PM

Agree 100 % with the comment above.

[Six]

CanesCanesCanes - ya, didn't realize what it looked like until that clip .. looked a lot worse than it felt, like I said, Byrd got the worst of it. He got tackled out of bounds .. then he got me landing on top of him

But, hey, I got the sympathy from the UCF cheerleaders

[Captain Optimist aka Cavaleer]

Texas, it's all because of how well they played in the losses. Three losses by a total of what 6 points or so, I don't remember the BYU score.

They've looked good and I thought they might pull out the TX game. But like all Stoops teams they just can't get over the hump in crunch time. It's a weird thing with them.

But they could run the tables the rest of the way, something we need actually.

OU and TTU would whoop more than a few of the teams ranked ahead of them, like Iowa, Penn St, OSU, Boisie, Cinci and others.

[canechic]

Saints are for real....Nick thinks Drew Brees went to visit the voodoo dr on Bourbon street and now has all the magic!

Go Canes!

[Captain Optimist aka Cavaleer]

Shwarm, I don't think anyone was making excuses as much as citing the reaction to the cold. And for fresh/soph who've never been in 60 degree weather let alone 40s and cold rain, it could have an impact.

But overall, as Shannon himself stated in a covert way, their minds were in the game during practice the week of. I'd say that had a lot more to do with it than the rain and cold. The weather was just icing on the cake.

[Captain Optimist aka Cavaleer]

Correction^^^^^^"their minds WEREN'T in the game the week of VT practice."

[Six]

Hurriphin - You should go find the doctors that the Dolphins used to check out Brees

2006, Brees goes to the Saints & puts up 4,400 yards passing with 26 TDs in 16 games

2006, Culpepper goes to the Dolphins & puts up 929 yards passing with 2 TDs & 3 INTs in 4 games

The Dolphins had who at starting QB that year? Joey Harrington? and Saban as head coach? Just bad all around

[shwarma]

Capt O - sounded like excuses to me and all I know is that things such as adrenaline should take over about 5 seconds after the initial shock.

Do I believe it was one of the reasons as to why we lost that game - YES - but I would like to think that when we lose its based on the game played on the field (players/coaches) - rather then something like rain and cold weather.

And one more think I think conveniently being forgotten - Didn't we used to play in the Big East (outdoor games include VT, WVA, Temple, Rutgers, BC, Pitt) - All those teams managed to do just fine in the cold the couple times a year they had to play in it.

[SlingBlade]

86, I would like to change my LOF picks. I am changing to the "Glitter Girls". They rep the U hard, even behind enemy lines.

Posted by: MDCane | October 18, 2009 at 01:48 PM

86,
did you get the pic i sent to your cell last night during the game?.....i found the orange and green glitter girl before the game, and took my pic with her...her name is Lauren....

[Aquaman]

Should be mentioned that UCF "fans" trash talk before the game was both comical and delusional. One frat loser kept screaming at me Randy Shannon has AIDS on the way in. Some older woman and her offspring just giving me the finger. And the best one is "Did u go to Miami? Do u have a degree from there?"

Haha feels good to be hated

[86Cane]

Fran and Jean...look at the blog article again, U will like it!

Thanks for coming out to tailgate. We all enjoyed your company, and "that chair". Rock and swivel, rock and swivel!

[canechic]

Aqua we heard the did you go to miami all night.....I told them really that's all you got really...

[86Cane]

86, did you get the pic i sent to your cell last night during the game? I found the orange and green glitter girl before the game, and took my pic with her.

Posted by: SlingBlade | October 18, 2009 at 02:45 PM

Yes! I thought it was U but on my phone it was a little hard to tell. If U email it to me I'll post it on the blog.

[Hurriphin]

Tell me about it Six,

Culpepper was coming off a bad wheel, and Brees was coming off a bad wing.

I guess since Pep' "looked" more like a franchise QB at the time, we went with him.

Anybody ever stop and think that maybe Randy Moss made all those deep jump balls look alot better than what they really were were?
Daunte's ball-handling skills are the second worst in the game. (Only behind Tony "Butter Fingers" Romo)

Wait a damn minute.....

Wasn't Jacory working with Culpepper during the offseason? Didn't Pep' attend UCF......?

OH CRAP!! THAT'S why J12 has been throwing those deep ducks down the field into 2x coverage, lately!!

Get that guy away from our program!!!!

[Six]

When I walked into the Media Room with my Canes shirt on, there was some little guy in a white v-neck shirt that looked like he got it at Baby Gap b/c it was 3 sizes too small .. white sweat band on his head & shorts - he said "What happened to the Media being unbiased?"

I said, "I ask myself that every time I pass by Fox News Channel on the way to Cartoon Network"

Then told him that I'll wear whatever I want to a game b/c I'm a Cane til I die, if he doesn't like it, then go tattle on me. Little man shut up after that, even was trying to play nice with me during the game and halftime

Hate clowns like that. Just mind your own business jackass and take care of your own job for your station, WESH

And dude, why are you wearing a white head band, John McEnroe style with your little faux-hawk hairstyle and dressed like a punk with a white v-collar shirt 3 sizes too small that is see through? I'd be damn ashamed if I sent out an employee to represent my station that looked like that.

[Six]

aqua - I heard a section of UCF fans yelling at a couple of Cane fans sitting in front of them about the whole "did you even go to Miami" .. "show me your degree from Miami" .. bla bla bla

I was yelling at one of them about their very own head coach George O'Leary lying about getting a Master's Degree from New York University, while he was head coach at Notre Dame for about 5 days

Good stuff

[Cat 5 Cane]

Funny read... BCS formula, But skip over it if too long for U to read it.

BCS... charade begins today
By Joe Starkey, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, October 18, 2009

Sounded that way, too, reminding media that the first Bowl Championship Series Standings would be released Sunday (that's today!) "between 4:00 and 4:40 p.m." and that "the official announcement will be made on Fox after the first NFL games, while a national news release will be sent via The National Football Foundation."

I wonder if we become so numb to the BCS circus that we lose sight of how it actually works... Consider this a refresher course.

There are three components to the BCS Standings — the USA Today/Coaches' Poll, the Harris Interactive Poll and an average of six computer rankings. Each counts as a third of a team's overall score.

The most ridiculous aspect of the system is the Coaches' Poll. Never mind the potential conflict of interest — a conference makes millions when one of its teams goes to a BCS bowl — or the possibility that coaching-fraternity friendships and grudges could play out. And please disregard the widely held belief that coaches don't fill out their own ballots but delegate the duty.

The real problem is that there isn't a coach in the country who could cast an informed ballot.

Here's why: None of them have time to watch college football. Anybody who knows a coach knows that he is singularly focused on his team and the next opponent, to the point where he barely eats, never sleeps and often forgets to bathe. The idea that he would have a working knowledge of the country's other 120-odd teams is so far beyond absurd that even our resident rocket scientist couldn't quantify it.

But before we talk computers, let's address the Harris Poll. Like the 59 members of the Coaches' Poll, the 114 Harris-ites are not required to reveal their votes. That is probably a good thing, seeing as both polls had Penn State ahead of Iowa after Week 4, even though Iowa was 4-0, Penn State was 3-1, Iowa had played a tougher schedule, and, oh yeah, IOWA HAD BEATEN PENN STATE AT BEAVER STADIUM!

Again, I ask, can you believe we're subjected to this charade every year?

You wouldn't recognize most of the Harris voters, anyway, though I'm sure it's comforting to know that Brenston Bucker, "Touchdown" Tommy Vardell, Craig Morton, and, yes, Al Del Greco, are among them. So are four Notre Dame guys — ex-players Allen Pinkett and Derrick Mayes and ex-administrators Gene Corrigan and Roger Valdiserri.

Incredibly, the only transparent rankings in the BCS are those turned in by computers. Not that the transparency does any good, because you'd need several advanced degrees to comprehend how the computer rankings are formulated.

Check out how one of the computer guys, Wes Colley, begins the explanation of his ratings theory on his Web site:

"In the sections to follow, many mathematical equations will be presented. Many derivations and examples will be based upon principles of probability, integral conclusions and linear algebra. Readers comfortable with those subjects should have no problem with the level of material."

Fine, but what about the other 99 percent of the human race?

Colley's the rocket scientist, with a Ph.D in astrophysical sciences from Princeton. The other BCS computer guys are: Dr. Peter Wolfe, a UCLA physician who specializes in infectious diseases medicines; Jeff Sagarin, a mathematician from MIT; Kenneth Massey, a math professor at Carson Newman College; Richard Billingsley, who runs the College Football Research Center web site; and Chris Hester and Jeff Anderson, who developed their system while attending the University of Washington in the early 1990s.

Dr. Wolfe's home page includes this helpful nugget: "Five (colleges) have added football: Anna Maria, Castleton State, New Haven, Incarnate Word and Old Dominion."

He doesn't mention that those were Penn State's non-conference opponents.

Massey's methodology throws me off, because one of his key symbols looks like something out of Mayan hieroglyphics.

[Nashvillecane]

Manny's got a blob on the kid at uconn that was murdered... He played for cory bell in highschool

[Captain Optimist aka Cavaleer]

Shwarm, I agree with you, I'm just sayin' after seeing friggin' heating machines on the sidelines in central Florida, something's going on. haha

Cat5, all I can say is, wow, I forgot how pathetic the NCAA is when they agreed to this bullshat.

[86Cane]

From www.hurricanesports.com:

By the end, about 5,000 fans were all that remained from the biggest crowd ever to see a game in Central Florida's stadium.

Seemed like all of them were from Miami.

Jacory Harris survived six sacks to complete 20 of 26 passes for 293 yards and a touchdown, Javarris James rushed for another score on the way to topping the 2,000-yard mark for his career, and No. 9 Miami methodically pulled away to beat Central Florida 27-7 on Saturday night.

Damien Berry added a fourth-quarter touchdown run for the Hurricanes (5-1), who matched their best start since 2005.

"We're on the right track," Harris said.