Canespace

A Huge Step In The Right Direction

That is exactly what your Miami Hurricanes took when they beat #20 Virginia on Friday night under the lights at Hard Rock Stadium.

It was definitely Miami's reinvigorated defense, now once again under the direction of current head coach and former DC Manny Diaz, that gave the Hurricanes first win over power 5 team this season and their first win against a ranked opponent since they beat #24 Pitt last season in November of 2018.

Virginia was held out of the end zone for four quarters by an aggressive, attacking UM defense. Lightly used DL Gregory Rousseau was everywhere all the time during the game as he saw his first significant playing time of the season. Diaz raved about Rousseau after the game and we think he will be playing a lot more from now on. Yeah, we like that, and we like that a lot!

Buy others may argue that it was also a key change at Quarterback, apparently due to a should injury to starter Jarren Williams, that may have been the tonic or medicine that cured what was ailing Miami's offense. In stepped last year's part-time starter N'Kosi Perry to add the spark the Hurricanes needed to generate just enough offense and scoring to win the game against the Cavaliers.

And really, that is all we can ask at this point in time of Manny Diaz's young career as head coach at the University of Miami.

Winning pretty would certainly be nice but winning ugly, or any way possible, is certainly acceptable at this intersection of the old and The New Miami. It has become obvious that the current talent, roster and motivational problems may run much deeper than simply changing a few coaches and schemes could fix.

It has become clear that "The Process" may take a little longer than expected and even longer than Manny had planned and many Canes fans first imagined. As a result, we are being asked as UM fans to be positive and patient.

As long as the Hurricanes keep winning, and keep improving, we do not feel that is too much to ask, is it?

Game Day Blog: Miami vs Virginia

You know the routine around here.

It is game day here at Canespace!

Your Miami Hurricanes will be on ESPN tonight at 8 PM to face the Virginia Cavaliers at Hard Rock Stadium.

For UM it is another chance to get their season turned around and headed in the right direction. We think they will.

CANESPACE PREDICTION: MIAMI 34 - VIRGINIA 13.

Halloween Horror Show

Your Miami Hurricanes had a chance to set the 2019 college football season right on the first Saturday in October with an easy victory over struggling Virginia Tech at Hard Rock Stadium.

The contest set up to be an easy home game for the Hurricanes who were favored by a solid 14 points over a shockingly weak Hokies team that had lost the previous week to Duke 45-10.

Of course, that was all before the game actually kicked off.

Then a Halloween horror show happened a few weeks early.

Suddenly, before you could get a cold beer, slap some mustard on your hot dog and find your seat, UM would find a way to turn the ball over four times and trail VT by the neat and tidy score of 28-0.

The fans in attendance must have felt as if they had been run over by a truck.

Justifiably the fans started booing or heading for the safety of the tailgate in the parking lot, the cheerleaders stopped cheering and Manny Diaz was soon seen looking for some serious smoke to cover his emergency exit from the stadium to avoid having to explain another embarrassing loss by his completely unprepared team to the media once again.

Now granted, Miami made a valiant effort to fight its way back into the game and even managed to tie the score 35-35 late in the fouth quarter behind backup QB N'kosi Perry.

Apparently, when Manny Diaz proclaimed after the fourth game of the season that he still didn't know who his best players were at several positions he was obviously including the QB position. Perry clearly outplayed starting QB Williams, who managed to throw several picks before blaming a "sore shoulder" and sitting down.

But alas, it was not to be as the once stoudt UM defense could not muster one more stop and let VT drive right down the field and score the winning TD for the final score of 42-35.

The game, and Miami's 2019 season, basically ended at the same time.

To be brutally honest Miami fans attending the games really have no idea if their team is going to give them a trick or treat on any given Saturday.

On the first Saturday in October it was clear that the trick was on them.

Game Day: Miami vs Virginia Tech

So Miami enters this game with VT with much preparation and time to fix what needs fixing. Apparently, former UM WR Andre Johnson likes our chances.

And we do too. So we will make our game call very confidently and strong.

Canespace Prediction: UM 34 - VT 13