Last Saturday Miami Hurricanes fans became reUnited with their long lost love.
And thy name is defense.
It appeared that UM head coach Al Golden and defensive coordinatorMark D'Onofrio became reUnited with the entire concept of an aggressive defensive scheme because they understood that if they did not Hurricane fans just simply would reject them and could no longer support them or the team.
Now, after all these years, we are reUnited and it feels so good.
Defense win games.
Defense wins championships.
Defense is what the Miami Hurricanes have always been known for.
Defense is what we as fans have always loved about our gridiron heroes.
And it is definitely defense that will lead us back to the top of college football.
ReUnited and it feels so good.
ReUnited because we understood.
We're so excited because were reUnited...yeah, yeah.
It was obvious to all that saw the football game that the best coach and the best team won the contest on Saturday at Sun Life Stadium.
Miami and Al Golden beat Duke and David Cutcliffe 22-10 in a rain-soaked affair that was dominated by the Hurricanes.
Here are a few of the key stats of the game:
Quarterback Brad Kaaya finished the game completing 20 of 34 attempts for 223 yards,two touchdowns and no interceptions. This is the first game in Kaaya’s career that he did not throw an interception.
Eight different receivers caught passes for the third time this season.(Herb Waters, Malcolm Lewis, Joe Yearby, Clive Walford, Duke Johnson, Stacy Coley, Walter Tucker and Braxton Berrios)
Running back Duke Johnson surpassed 4,000 career all-purpose yards in the first quarter. He joins former Hurricanes Santana Moss and Ottis Anderson as the only players in school history to surpass 4,000 all-purpose yards.
Johnson surpassed 100 yards rushing for the eighth time in his career and for the first time this season. He finished the game with 155 yards rushing.
With his 155 yards rushing, Johnson surpassed former Hurricane Graig Cooper for fifth on the all-time rushing list. Johnson currently has 2,392 career rushing yards.
Only Miami RBs with a TD catch of 40-or-more yards in the last 15 years: Mike James, Duke Johnson and Joe Yearby.
Running back Joe Yearby caught a 47-yard pass from QB Brad Kaaya in the fourth quarter. This is Yearby’s first touchdown reception of his career.
Wide receiver Herb Waters totaled five receptions for 81 yards. Herb Waters’ 81 receiving yards is the highest all season. Additionally, he hauled in his first touchdown reception of the season and the eighth of his career.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts know a thing or two about living life on the "dark side". When she sang the lyrics to just one of her many popular songs back in the day she basically screamed out loud:
I hate myself for loving U,
Can't Break free from the things that U do,
I wanna walk but I run back to U,
That's why I hate myself for loving U.
After 20 years of complete wedded bliss (1983-2003) the relationship between "The U" and you, the loyal fans, has been an on again, off again relationship.
There have been incredible, yet brief, moments of wild passion followed by long stretches of angst and misery that would drive any lover crazy and probably leave them dazed and confused.
And that summarizes the condition of the condition we are in as Miami Hurricane fans. We love The U, but we want our team back and we want it NOW! It is like someone from Tallahassee or Tuscaloosa simply broke in and stole our team overnight while we were not looking.
I miss Joan, and I miss my team. Can somebody tell me where they have gone?
Tomorrow against Duke it would be nice if Miami showed up and played like the old days. Forget the process, forget the pillars, forget deserving to win.
Can we just open one BIG old can of Whoop A** on the Blue Devils and send them straight home with their tails between their legs.
So please, I am begging U. Just do it, and do it now.
But whatever U do, please do not make me hate myself for loving U.
Duke Blue Devil head coach David Cutcliffe may not be wearing a blue dress when his team faces your Miami Hurricanes this Saturday but as the UM head coach Al Golden found out last year, his offense sure is one heck of a devil to try to figure out and stop.
Last year the Hurricane defenders looked like high heeled boys against Cutcliffe’s masterful strategy and sophisticated offensive scheme. The UM players must kick off their pretty shiny high heels, put on some seriously muddy combat boots, get down and dirty (read: defensive) if they are going to stomp the Blue Devils into submission and generate a different outcome in 2014.
Miami gave up a whopping 48 points to Duke last season in lopsided 18 point loss to their once under-manned and often under-estimated ACC foe. Miami Defensive Coordinator Mark D’Onofrio will have to find a better strategy to slow down the Blue Devil offense if the Hurricanes are going to produce better results in this year’s contest. We have faith and hope that he can do just that.
The Hurricanes return home to the friendly confines of Sun Life Stadium for their ACC Coastal Division opener Saturday night against The Dukies. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be on ESPNU.
Miami (2-2, 0-1 ACC) is 10-1 in its last 11 home games at Sun Life Stadium dating back to the 2012 season. Single-game tickets are still available for Saturday's match-up and you are encouraged to - visit CanesTix.com for more information.
MIAMI HURRICANES (2-2, 0-1 ACC) vs DUKE BLUE DEVILS (4-0, 0-0 ACC) Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014 • 7:30 PM • ESPN2 • Sun Life Stadium
SERIES HISTORY Miami leads the all-time series by a commanding 9-2 margin... The Hurricanes hold a 4-1 lead at home against the Blue Devils, with their only loss coming in the first-ever meeting between the two programs in 1976. Miami lost the 2013 matchup between the two schools in Durham, N.C. by a score of 48-30.
BROADCAST INFORMATION ESPN2 • Joe Tessitore, PxP • Brock Huard, Analyst • Shannon Spake, Sidelines WQAM 560 AM • Joe Zagacki, PXP • Don Bailey, Analyst • Josh Darrow, Sidelines RADIO CARACOL 1260 AM • Pepe Campos, PxP • Joe Martinez, Analyst WVUM 90.5 FM • Neil Dwyer • Harry Kroll • Oliver Redsten
Think about a love gone bad. Think about the loss. Think about the pain.
Then think about back in the day when the lovely Linda Ronstadt sang:
"I've been cheated. Been mistreated. When will I be loved."
From what I can tell, most University of Miami fans say this is exactly how they feel. They feel they have been cheated out of their rightful place among the college football elites.
They toil and anguish about how their intense love for "The U" that has suddenly gone sour. They hope, wish, pray and long for better days ahead in spite of the recent struggles.
Larry Coker got the keys to the Porsche and turned it into a Pinto.
Randy Shannon came along and turned it into a crash and burn pick up truck.
Al Golden now appears to have run into a ditch, is stuck and can't get out.
What happens next is anybody's guess. But unless Golden get's a jump start and his wheels unstuck and out of the mud he may too wind up as just another roadside casualty of the UM coaching conundrum.
It is clear that what happens over the next few weeks will tell you all you need to know about Golden and his future as head coach of the UM football program.
Simply put Miami must beat Duke, Georgia Tech and Cincinnati in the coming weeks before facing down Virginia Tech on a Thursday night on ESPN. Then and only then can Miami Hurricane fans decide which way to go and what to do.
I have run the Canespace blog through some of the darkest times in recent UM football history. I need some love, and I need it now. At this point most of us feel cheated and mistreated. I can fully understand that.
But most of us can forget all of that if this question is finally answered with a few big wins. Then we will know: "When will I be loved?"
Your Miami Hurricanes played hard and played well for most of the game on Saturday but in the end they still got shucked 41-31 by the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln. Last night the 'Canes showed once again on National television that are are simply not (yet) ready for prime time.
Numbers don't lie and the fact is that Miami's recent numbers against quality opponents are not good. According to some reports the Hurricanes have now gone to 1-17 on the road against ranked teams and 1-23 against teams with 8 or more wins over the past several years.
That is simply not going to get it done at UM or anywhere else for that matter.
So what to do now Canes fans? After a week that belonged to "The Bootlickers" last week, this week belongs to "The Haters" who will be pouring out the Haterade in what is likely to be record quantities.
Speaking for myself as a long-time, devout Miami Hurricanes fan (since 1973), I am unhappy with yet another loss in a game in which UM appeared to have enough talent but not enough technique to win.
It has become clear that at some point in the near future that talent, coaching and strategy (and maybe plain old good luck?) must come together for Miami to pull one of these games out.
And that needs to happen soon.
By soon, I mean REALLY soon, like next week against Duke (4-0) and (dare I say) again later this season against a team like #1 ranked FSU.
Still, the way I see things it is time to choke down a few large glasses of Haterade for the next few days and then move on and re-group, re-focus and re-double our efforts to win the Coastal division of the ACC starting with a win over Duke at home in Sun Life Stadium next week.
Tonight when the Hurricanes face the Cornhuskers in Lincoln these two once proud teams will rekindle their fierce rivalry that dates back over 31 years.
It was back in 1983 that the underdog's of the century beat the team of the century at the magical Orange Bowl in what was called "The Miracle in Miami".
That game would lead to the first of five National Championships for the UM and begin a run unprecedented in college football for the next 20 years.
But now we are both far and removed from that magical moment when UM DB Kenny Calhoun tipped the 2 point conversion away in the east end zone of the Orange Bowl on that memorable night.
The Hurricanes and Cornhuskers have fallen off of the top of the college football world over the last 10 years and are looking to return to their championship ways. Based on one of our blogger's predictions we think that red zone offense and red zone defense will win it for the Hurricanes.
That's right, it says right here that Miami will surprise (and maybe even shock) the Nation tonight in front of 87,000 screaming fans in Memorial Stadium.
This excerpt comes from a "Stadium Spotlight" article from Sports Illustrated:
The importance of tradition at Memorial Stadium passes down from generation to generation. From fans who don’t have to be told to wear red in what becomes the state’s third largest city at 87,000 capacity every time it fills up (only Lincoln and Omaha are larger on game days), to the Husker Tunnel Walk serenaded by the tunes of The Alan Parsons Project’s “Sirius,” to the thousands of red balloons that release following the first Huskers score, Memorial Stadium fills with tradition. And it started that way too.
The original stadium opened in 1923 with 31,000 seats. It bumped to 48,000 in 1964 and within the next couple years had reached 65,000. A major 1999 addition boosted seating to over 74,000 and more recent north and east stadium expansions have grown Memorial Stadium to 87,000, one of the 15 largest NCAA homes in the nation.
Read more here: http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/09/19/stadium-spotlight-nebraska-cornhuskers-memorial-stadium
Miami will have to effectively deal with this hostile environment if they are to come away with could amount to one of their biggest wins in recent years.
This weekend at the Schiff Tennis Center, the Miami Hurricanes women's tennis team will host Pittsburgh, Baylor, Auburn, USF and UNF in a 3 day tournament.
There will be orange and green flights in both the singles and doubles brackets. Matchups for each draw is expected to be released Thursday.
Don't miss out on your chance to see freshmen Sinead Lohan, Yolimar Ogando, Silvia Fuentes, Judith Bohnenkamp and Wendy Zhang compete for the first time at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
Along with the rookies, The Hurricanes have a true doubles team national championship contender in third-ranked Monique Albuquerque and Clementina Riobeuno and two players ranked in the preseason singles poll -- No. 18 Stephanie Wagner and No. 71 Lina Lileikite.
For more information on the women’s tennis during the fall,, follow @HurricaneTennis on Twitter and Instagram.
The NCAA "Cloud" (as some have put it) definitely affected recruiting, but not necessarily the players who were already or later wound up on campus.
It is a factor, and to think otherwise would demand that we expect Nebraska, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina to be strong national championship contenders. They have relatively similar amounts of talent as the Canes, with VaTech I believe now with a slightly higher total of 4 and 5 star players.
Here's how the Cloud affected us, and I'm not even including the players that did not qualify:
Again, keep in mind this includes people who did not qualify or transferred. Golden did well in 2012 and 2013, but not quite at the level as Coker or Shannon (2008-2009).
Normally this would not be an issue, except that transfers and failures to qualify ruined the 2010 class, and uncertainty about Shannon obliterated the 2011 class. That created a terrible roster imbalance where the majority of the best players were first or second year players in 2012 and 2013.
What he has done well is lay a groundwork for recruiting success going forward. When I said earlier that we would never be back, I meant to the level that FSU and Alabama are at. And in addition to good coaching, that requires that each recruiting class feature more 4/5 star players than 3/2 star players.
Look at the Crimson Tide and Seminoles classes, and you'll see that is exactly where they have been. Unusually high roster attrition on the part of the Hurricanes will keep them from getting to that level.
An example is that Miami had 23 four and five star players last year. After adding in the 2014 class and subtracting departures, that total rose to 27. We only have two such players guaranteed to leave after 2014, so when factoring in the present 2015 class we would rise to 31 total four and five star players.
That's still below FSU, but the highest level that Golden has had since 2011.
However we've lost three players outright since signing day (Hester, Olsen, Bunche), which lowers us back to 24. So presuming the 2015 class stays the same, and we only lose Chikillo and Heaps, we only rise to 28.