The Short List: Week Two

After the first weekend of play the 29 teams excluded from the Shortlist right off the bat is as follows:

Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Southern Miss, Marshal, Hawai'i, UAB, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Oregon State, Washington, Cincinnati, Colorado State, UNLV, New Mexico, SMU, Memphis, Utah State, San Jose State, Bowling Green, Miami (OH), Akron, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, North Texas, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulsa, Mississippi and Western Kentucky.

Four teams defied my predictions last week to remain on the Shortlist at least another week longer and they get to have their moment of defying my nay-saying of their abilities now:

1) Minnesota defeats a quarterback deficient Middle Tennessee team on the road 24-17 with an impressive 10 point comeback in the fourth quarter.  The road out of the newest 12 teams to describe themselves as Big with a capital conference is about to get significantly more difficult to travel so Tim Brewster's team is going to have to play better than they did to open the season to remain much longer on the Shortlist this year.

2) Florida Atlantic blocks the potential game winning field goal as time expires to hold on for a road victory over UAB 32-31.  Never doubt the master's ability to work his magic, smoking pipe or no clutched between his teeth, is the lesson this week that Miami's championship legacy founding coach reminds us all of once again.  I'm hoping to see him have at least one shot at his former program before riding off into a well revered sunset at whatever time he decides to call it a coaching career.  The Shortlist is always a little more exciting to look forward to personally when Howard Schnellenburger's Owls remain a part of it as they continue to in 2010 for another week until their trip to Detroit to face Michigan State this week.

 
3) Maryland uses a fourth down stand on the goal-line as time expires to beat Navy in an in-state-showdown 17-14 in a game featuring three Midshipmen fumbles near the goal-line.  The Fridge refuses to go quietly into the night as coach of the Terrapins but Ken Niamalto's team can still make their annual Poinsettia Bowl appearance with just a little more luck the rest of the way than they received in the opening week.

4) East Carolina uses a Hail Mary to beat Tulsa 51-49 at home as Ruffin McNeil proves he learned something about passing the ball down-field after all those years dialing up defenses for disgraced former pirate captain Mike Leach in Lubbock.  For a two time defending conference champ the Pirates have some huge shoes to fill but so far the start has been even more memorable than the recent past in Greenville.

Six teams lost games that knocked them off the Shortlist this week without me predicting them to and the roll call of despair reads as such:

1) Middle Tennessee has starting quarterback Dwight Dasher declared ineligible after I write my pick for their game against Minnesota and then barely comes up short of pulling off an upset.  Now the Blue Raiders go from conference favorite and potential dark-horse BCS buster to hoping to salvage something positive right from the start this year.

2) UAB deflates the home opener crowd in one of the worse ways possible as FAU strikes a blow for Sun Belt recognition when conference play arrives with the aforementioned barn-burner finish to their loss.  Neil Callaway will have to pull out all the stops this year to get to his first bowl game as a coach in four years on the job this season but he still has a team primed to be able to do so.

 
3) Navy comes as close as they can with the triple option of pulling off the upset against Maryland but winds up literally fumbling their win away before coming up a yard short and scuttles their chances at an undefeated year right away.  Has Ralph Friedgen finally gotten his alma-mater back on course?  We'll see next month as they stay on the Shortlist in week two as well I predict.

 
4) Tulsa finds out how the 1984 Miami Hurricanes kind of felt by falling to the prayer last play touchdown pass of the Pirates of East Carolina.  The Golden Hurricane still have an opportunity to turn the season around and make a bowl game this year but their conference schedule is difficult so any more wins escaping like this will ensure that doesn't happen after all in 2010.

5) Mississippi falls in double overtime 49-48 to Jacksonville State at home as the payout for the game isn't the only thing the Gamecocks take home with them from Oxford to start the year.  That's two years in a row Houston Nutt has deflated expectations big and small early in the year for the Rebels now.  Why is David Cutcliffe coaching at Duke again, remind me?

6) Kansas hires a Nebraska legend only to watch him fall 6-3 against North Dakota State at home in Lawrence in his debut.  It's still not as big a disappointment for Turner Gill as the going for two was in the Orange Bowl though (as always).

The 18 teams I expect to be off the Shortlist this week read as follows:

Vanderbilt, UCLA, Air Force, Wyoming, UTEP, Tulane, NC State, Louisiana Tech, Idaho, New Mexico State, Army, Kent State, Buffalo, Central Micigan, Troy, FAU, FIU, and Louisiana-Monroe.

With all the secretarial Shortlist duties out of the way I can now turn my attention to the stage that has been set for the non-conference game of the year between many prognosticator's pick to win it all and your Miami Hurricanes in Columbus, Ohio. 

For a Hurricane fan the question, "Where were you the night Terry Porter finally threw his flag in overtime," is somewhere between the Kennedy assassination and the night the music died on the list of infamous questions to ask of them. 

 
For me, I was at the wedding of my college girlfriend's sister in Laguna Beach, California, not watching and to this day, have never seen anymore of the game than the flag in overtime, the felon Clarrett's score and the final incomplete pass to end it in various hi-light packages in the ensuing years. I will probably never be able to watch that game until Miami wins another national championship and only then I'll finally subject myself to the torture of watching it all the way through, maybe. 

Seven years later, there's still a part of me waiting for the NCAA Reggie Bush treatment to descend on Ohio State and return the title to it's rightful owner as watching the Buckeyes get run out of the building repeatedly in high-stakes championship games since then only reinforces the idea that the less worthy team that night was awarded the championship in illegitimate fashion. 

 
Now a team of Hurricanes who were in middle school mostly when the heist was perpetrated carry themselves into the lion's den as a heavy underdog in an attempt to announce their return to prominence if not complete dominance of the college football landscape. 

You have to go back to 1991 when I was in elementary school to find the last time Miami was able to unseat a top two team on the road.  Doing so this week would give many a Hurricane fan something to lull themselves happily to sleep with for a long time to come but will not, in my opinion, equate to retribution for our 2002 lost championship but business as usual for Ohio State as they get exposed as overrated again early in the year. 

 
Last year, a less "talented" Southern Cal team (see above) stayed close all game and then used a dump pass against a zone to set up the go-ahead score late on the road, then pressured Tyrell Pryor into submission in a humbling game for the egotistical Big 10 resident bully early in the season. 

Now with the ACC reeling once more from high-profile losses among it's ranked teams, the league needs this win just as much as it's member institution Miami does in it's attempt to win a national prize of redemption in Tempe this year. 

 
Some, myself included, think rival Florida State has a better chance this week than the Hurricanes do to win it's national championship defeat rematch with Oklahoma on the road, but I am a proud Floridian who after watching the first week of play has seen with my own eyes the fact that any supposed superiority on the ACC's opponents side is marginal at best and at this point, I'm slightly more impressed with both Floridian schools over their respective competition. 

For me, it comes down to this: If both Miami and FSU can win the battle in the trenches, win the special teams battle, and win the turnover margin battle, I expect both to pull of road upsets of huge proportions in the national title race.

 
Nothing short of NCAA intervention can set right the crime of January 3rd, 2003 now, but this week I expect a new crime to be entered into the record books of college football, as the Miami Hurricanes will be indicted of running up the score as they keep the offense on the field late into the game to score an unnecessary touchdown as time runs down instead of taking a knee thanks to the feet of the running back corps and missing in action somewhere out there on the internetz Hurricane blogging personality Calvin's three year old prediction from this blog's proprietor vault is fulfilled as Randy Shannon is accused of running the score up needlessly, thus showing that yes Virginia, and the rest of America too, the Miami Hurricanes you wake up in the night having nightmares about playing are back on your schedule, ruining your national championship dreams. 

Miami will roar into Columbus to let them know that effective immediately all your horseshoe's belong to us.  On the opening whistle your Miami Hurricanes will unleash hell, and while our head coach may love Westerns, the feature presentation this weekend will be a horror movie splatter-fest on the Shortlist. 

 
Join me back here next week as we sift through the remains of broken dreams and shattered hopes here on the Shortlist to the Site of the Shanghai d 'Ship.

Copyright 2010 by Christopher Whelpton for Canespace.com

Comments

[SlingBlade]

1st

[SlingBlade]

1st

[SlingBlade]

double 1st for 2003 and today

[Coach]

Bobby Bowden just picked us over OSU on college gameday lol Said the southern speed will win out. lol
GO CANES!

[canechic]

That is a long article!

Go Canes!

[Sebastian]

Thank you for kicking off our gameday weekend

3 1/2 hours away!!!!!!

[SlingBlade]

from the previous blog...jacory and pryor on college gameday...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P43cA8A9TqE

[WGT22]

Line up right, protect the BALL, No false starts, NO personal fouls and TACKLE TACKLE TACKLE !!!

Equals Victory !

[86Cane]

Sling ain't no slacker!

Time to get your game face on Hurricane fans. In intiate start up sequence. All hands on deck. Ignite engines. Lock and load.

Today we go deep into enemy territory. We take no prisoners and leave no man behind.

Veni, vidi, vici!

LET'S GO CANES!!!

[86Cane]

"Veni, vidi, vici" (Classical Latin: [ˈweːniː ˈwiːdiː ˈwiːkiː]; Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈvɛni ˈvidi ˈvitʃi]; I came, I saw, I conquered.) is a famous Latin sentence reportedly written by Julius Caesar in 47 BC as a comment on his short war with Pharnaces II of Pontus in the city of Zela (currently known as Zile, in Turkey).[1]

Its form (a three-part sentence or motto) is classed as a tricolon and a hendiatris. The sentence appears in Plutarch and Suetonius (Plut. Caes. 50, Suet. Iul. 37.). Plutarch reports that he "gave Amantius, a friend of his at Rome, an account of this action", whereas Suetonius says "In his Pontic triumph he displayed among the show-pieces of the procession an inscription of but three words, "I came, I saw, I conquered".

"Veni", "vidi", and "vici" are first person perfect forms of the three Latin verbs "venire", "videre", and "vincere".

[Six]

9-11

Don't ever forget to put the excitement away for the amount of time it takes for you to reflect what happened on this day 9 years ago

Also, don't forget it wasn't an entire religion - it was a pack of fanatics that aren't true to that religion as well

[canedolfan386]

well said 6 as a firefighter it does make me feel blessed that im able to see my canes play today it could be different thanks to the people that risk everything to save one soul

[86Cane]

9-11

Don't ever forget to put the excitement away for the amount of time it takes for you to reflect what happened on this day 9 years ago

Posted by: Six | September 11, 2010 at 12:09 PM

Done. U.S. flag is flyin' high and proud out in front at Canespace Central Command.

[canechic]

Amen six to both points!

[Sebastian]

American Flag is flying proudly above our house and the big U flag is waving on our front yard

[_HM_]

"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but
Today is ours to win."
- Lyndon B. Johnson

[86Cane]

Herbal Minded is in da house! Score prediction?

[canedolfan386]

i hope urbies got his doctor on speed dial its gonna be a long year for that wacky dude

[_HM_]

just Win!!

[JUST CANE]

Ohio State 52
Miami 10

OSU too fast, too strong, too much Pryor

[SOUP]

just Win!!

Posted by: _HM_ | September 11, 2010 at 12:26 PM

OK, I'll put U down for 3-0 Canes. LOL

[_HM_]

Excited to see how the O-Line plays today Specifically; Dread Washington. He Played amazing last week at the point of attack and more importantly getting to the 2nd level (LBers). He has the best punch of any O-lineman on the squad. He improved his footwork tremendously compared to last year. Dread has the potential to be the best Guard from Miami ever, particularly in the run block game.

[SOUP]

Ohio State 52
Miami 10

OSU too fast, too strong, too much Pryor

Posted by: JUST CANE | September 11, 2010 at 12:34 PM

Dude, U must have been hangin' around a certain UM baseball player for too long.

Or as bg1906 put it yesterday, "U must be smokin' wooly blunts!"

[Sebastian]

B.J. Daniels looks alot faster and bigger then he did last year

[Six]

“You can’t make predictions when you really haven’t proven anything yet,” says Harris, a Miami native who starred at powerhouse Northwestern High School.

Funny, I remember some people on this blog saying basically the same thing .. now, our fearless stringbean says it as well

Playmaker couldn't have said it any better, when he gave us a sermon on "each man makes a promise to one another .. I will get my job done"

That's what it's going to take. Every single Cane needs to get their job done. You stay with your own assignment, don't try and do someone elses as well

Like in the movie "300" when Leonidas speaks of the strength of the Spartans is their Phalanx and how each man is so vitally important in his one part. One part breaks down, the Phalanx breaks

This blog is going to be in maximum overdrive cocaine speed amphetamine fueled rocket mode once the game starts .... darc is correct in that fact

solar is also completely correct in how things are said on here during a game, never mind an ENORMOUS game such as this, where people make themselves just look ... well .... like an ass, ha, just as he said. Try your best to slow your roll - imagine if Whip or Boss Man Shannon had the type of thinking that is being typed here during a play series or collection of series of plays during the game - that might be actually kind of funny to watch though

I don't feel the size difference between our OL and their DL, or our DL and their OL, or whatever is really that much of a determining factor. Depending on their type of blocking, their OL can be much smaller but still be effect - see the Broncos under Shanahan that allowed "Sheriff Gonna Getcha" Portis to rack up insane amounts of yardage, or Terrell Davis, or even someone like Quentin Griffin. Ohio State doesn't really run a zone blocking scheme such as that, but, what I'm saying is, their size differential of being smaller (if they are) shouldn't be that big of a factor if they have certain schemes they run that can actually negate the size of the Canes DL. Same goes with their DL up against the Canes OL ...... I don't want to bring up the Fiasco Bowl as an example, where Ohio State's DL just basically outplayed the favored Canes OL, all .. game .. long

Give Jacory 3 seconds - that's all I ask. 3 seconds from when the ball touches his hands and I believe he can pick these guys apart. I'll take holding calls, if they're legitimate ones - mainly b/c if it means saving Jacory from taking a blind side hit or a blitz that wasn't picked up and it saves his arm from getting almost ripped off, like Greg Reid did last year in the FSU game

Someone please stick to Sanzenbacher .. and if that means DVD is covering Posey, DVD better have the damn game of his life

I think the only thing that the FAMU QB and Pryor have in common is .. they're both black - and that's it. The FAMU QB was scrambling mainly b/c his pocket broke down and the designed run plays they had for him, weren't exactly in packages that would fool a higher grade high school football team. That FAMU QB doesn't have 1/100th of the athletic ability of Pryor ... and no, I'm not trying to say Pryor is the re-incarnate of Mike Vick in his RSFrosh year in the Sugar Bowl against FSU - I'm just saying that Pryor isn't exactly that bad of an athlete in the ability to scramble or just straight run out of the pocket

This game is a benchmark to see where the program is - I know I just made the ultimate obvious statement, but it rings so true. When Boss Man took over, I was a 5 Year Plan guy ... I said it would take 5 years to get back to the NChampionship. This is the closest we'll see to the 2000 Canes team, expectation wise

Ohio State has to play in the exact same weather the Canes do - no excuses can be used in that aspect. F**k all these people from ESPN, such as Jay Crawford - truth be told, I will guarantee you they really don't know a thing about the Canes team or Ohio State team - and that I will guarantee you is a fact. Why? B/c in their job, they have so many other teams/games to worry about, they basically do a Cliffs Notes version checkup on each team out there. The other day, Todd McShay said that the Canes don't have one pass rusher .... one of the other analysts on the set, talked of how Ohio State really handled Oregon State in the Rose Bowl last year - and he kept referring to Oregon State .. no one corrected him either, not the producer in his ear, not Todd McShay and not the host

The guy to listen to out of every single one of them is Kirk Herbstreit. He knows Ohio State football like no other, while also knowing the Canes like no other as well - simply b/c he's such a huge fan of Boss Man Shannon and the Canes program ... he truly does follow both teams, he doesn't just pick up a Lindy's mag the night before, reads their breakdown and then use it as his own the next day on the air

Make a promise to one another to get your job done, and you'll win. Win each snap.

[Brevardcane]

USF is going to wear daniels out in the 1st qrt

[SlingBlade]

word is that terrelle pryor kept calling jim tressel to his room last night, having him check under his bed and in his closet for Allen Bailey....

[360Cane]

UFluke sucks!

[CGNC]

Six I agree with you on Herbie - he knows his stuff and is right a good part of the time.

GO CANES - GET YOUR GAME FACE ON!!!! PLAY LIKE YOUR HAIR IS ON FIRE!!!!!!

http://steve.wordpress.com/files/2006/06/hair-on-fire.jpg

[canedolfan386]

news alert on cbs news net. a white male running down road frothing at the mouth becareful hes trying to swallow his own tongue haha urbie we got ur number 2013 baby

[SOUP]

Kansas beating GT 14-7, second quarter.

Duke beating Wake 14-7 and just got an INT.

[macjones]

Ohio State 52
Miami 10

OSU too fast, too strong, too much Pryor

Posted by: JUST CANE | September 11, 2010 at 12:34 PM

Dude, U must have been hangin' around a certain UM baseball player for too long.

Or as bg1906 put it yesterday, "U must be smokin' wooly blunts!"

Posted by: SOUP | September 11, 2010 at 12:39 PM

Or, perhaps he's just an ' agent provocateur. ' That's all.

Miami, F-L-A Hurricanes 20

Buckeyes 17

I'm guessing there will be a ' sloppy track ' in the Shoe this afternoon.

[Sebastian]

Kansas-14
G.T.-7
2nd quarter

[CGNC]

86 - Wake will struggle this year without Skinner - LOL they struggled with him let alone without him

[CGNC]

South Florida up 7-0

[Coach]

Glad Central beating Denison (Tx) 31-2 with 8 minutes left in the 1st quarter. A win would make Florida 2-0 so far in the Florida-Texas Showcase.
Miami Central will play Dallas Madison at 3pm and Miramar will play Desoto (Tx) at 7pm for the final two games.

[SOUP]

86 - Wake will struggle this year without Skinner - LOL they struggled with him let alone without him

Posted by: CGNC | September 11, 2010 at 12:52 PM

U are correct. Wake just returned a fumbled snap by the Duke punter for a TD.

I'm not getting the UF-USF game so please keep posting score updates. Thanks!

[macjones]

The S.E.C. football network analyst said... a black in the back. LOL

I believe he meant to say block in the back.

A ' subconcious ' thing I believe with the telly commentator.

[SOUP]

GT scores to even it up at 14-14 against Kansas.

[macjones]

Florida looks like the team with a ' first-time ' starter at QB. The kid took a timeout and disrupted the flow his O-unit was in. LOL

[Sebastian]

No other way to put it

The Gators just look really really bad on both sides of the ball right now

[macjones]

The Gator kid was ' reading ' his main wide out all the way.

Too bad those S.E.C. zebra's can't save the Gators today. Or, will they??

Bulls have one tangible Ohio, Miami didn't. Speed and quickness and nastiness.

In other words, So Fla ain't intimidated with the Gators.

[macjones]

The Bulls probably won't win today on B.J.'s rocket arm. He had two wideout's open and threw them 100 mph fast balls. And to make things worst. Both passes were behind the receivers.

[canechic]

macjones horrible throws but his feet are good.

[macjones]

Here come the S.E.C. zebra's to the rescue of the Gators.

[Sebastian]

Here comes the refs

[AngryCane]

Mac... I have a feeling the SEC refs are gonna give the Turds today's game--as we've just seen with that home cookin' Personal Fowl--to keep the conference viable for the trip to Tempe.

Though they still have Bama, I believe they really want UF & the Tide to play for the SEC Championship.

After the Gators falloff this season I wonder whom they'll set-up to play Bama in Atlanta...

[BahamaCane]

Ohio State is 2hrs away from being 1-1.

[Sebastian]

Missed FG

Still 7-0

[86Cane]

How are U watching Gators? What channel?