Miami

If you have any hair that is gray popping out of your scalp, there were green and orange ghosts all over Doak Campbell on Saturday night. Visions of Micheal Irvin prancing, Jeremy Shockey uncovered, and that ugly duck twisting his mouth in unimaginably painful ways.  So, there was some indeed some mild concern when touchdowns were overturned, fourth downs were stuffed, right uprights bedeviling us, and please God is that really a 6 point lead in the 4th quarter? But, here is the new reality. The hideously decorated Cane ghosts are gone. Not a single player on the field was even alive when we went for two in 1987. The two wide rights in '91 and '92 are not a distant memory. They are not a memory at all. They are only available on fuzzy YouTube clips and seeing as they are longer than 30 seconds and 140 characters, have absolutely no shot of holding limited attention spans. The last time Miami won this game, these boys were taking a bus to middle school, and the Noles have now taken 9 of 11 from their "rival"...Folks, when you look at the completely wrung out downtrodden faces of the kids on the other sideline early Sunday morning, the ghosts are wearing Garnet and Gold now. The new reality is that Miami expects to lose this game, somehow, some way. They played at the absolute top of their potential ceiling, left everything on the field and the realization is that it still should have been a 20 plus point blowout. Tough pill to swallow for the hundreds or so of actual Miami fans in this State.

 I love our guy. I would not trade him for anyone out there. Not Saban, Peterson, the sobriety challenged head man at USC or the spectacularly ethical coach in Columbus. His players love him, he takes the blame when it goes bad, and praises the kids when it goes good. And, he can flat out coach the boys taking the snap. Our guy is the same dude that was the every-down whipping boy for the video crew killing head leprechaun who had an awe-inspring 22 turnovers last year. He seemed to clearly devolve as the season went on in 201, but is now visibly growing up like time-lapse cheopet under Jimbo. Granted, as we had all secretly hoped, we had held back about half the playbook for a night like this. Uncorking the first spread option of the season was fun, and using Bobo and Kermit as Arena Football orbit motion men simply befuddled the Golden Boys. But, it was the decisiveness that showed up with #6 that was the most impressive. His quick checkdown on the second drive resulted in a touchdown. The massive 3rd down conversion on the winning march to Bobo was an absolute British dart in a tight window. Even the misses inspired confidence. The overturned touchdown was a perfect throw. low and away. Kermit also had a chance on the perfectly thrown bomb to close the first half, and he stepped up in the pocket in the 4th and delivered an eminently catchable strike to Bobo over the middle. Oh, and that #4 kid seems like a keeper.

A two yard Vickers run on the field and the entire West Stands in Doak is going nuts. Why? Because Dalvin has exited the oh-so-secretive training tent of mystery and is running wind sprints in front of us. Little girls in cheerleader outfits are inexplicably hugging their parents and old men are readjusting their pacemakers. Cook is ok...he is coming back! Have we ever been so reliant on one player not at QB before? Well yes, but it has been awhile since Peter Warrick or the man whose single season records Dalvin is about to obliterate - Mr. Dunn - prowled the sideline. He is special. Tough, elusive and effortlessly fast. When he popped a clutch in the second period heading to the endzone, the most surprised guys in the stadium may have been the 3 Canes who unexpectantly rear-ended him. With Pender probably out for the season, we have got to find a way to crash course Jacques Patrick to give Dalvin a meaningful blow and not have the defense take everyone out of the box when Dalvin is on the sideline.

How do you explain Dalvin rumbling for 220, Everette playing his best game of the season, holding Miami to about a yard a carry and yet hanging on by a thread? The answer is the Irish law firm of Kelly and Hunter. The young attorney Tyler is simply not fast enough to cover, and the Senior Partner Charles is either too stubborn or just not smart enough to make a change and win the case. We have a five star cover corner in Tavares McFadden on the bench. I have to believe that he could operate in the slot and cover better than poor Tyler. Miami's game plan was ridiculously simple. They just looked at whomever lined up against #1 and locked in on that guy until he broke free. With the exception of the Brutus oskie whiff in the first half, and the Jalen pick six that wasn't in the 4th, the rest of the defensive backs played very well. Especially considering that Trey Marshall was ejected for making an incredibly legal shoulder-first hit on Kayaa, and our best cover LB was wearing a limping boot. What all this did was allow us to see the future, and he wears number three. Wow, was Derwin impressive back there. He is physical, fast and instincts that are uncoachable (thank goodness).

The line was just terrific. The aforementioned lack of a running game from the opponent is just one facet. TV may not have done justice to the fact that, although we only had two sacks, we had constant pressure on Kayaa. This, despite the fact that Miami's overmatched lineman wish they were Seminoles so much that they can not help but grab, clutch, hug and generally mug our boys in an effort to get even a piece of Garnet & Gold on their body. Josh Sweat is getting better every week. He is going to simply wreck some postgame plans for quarterbacks that did not include ambulances. We are still struggling with depth at LB, but Miami was not the team to expose that weakness.

The special teams film room must be a treat for all the Jalen fans out there. He would get drafted to play on Sunday based simply on how he destroys gunners on the punt return team. It is just not fair to allow someone that fast and physical to be the man lining up against you. You start to run and then a cement truck knocks you out of bounds. You redirect your now wobbly legs and start again downfield, and then it happens again, and he ain't breathing or seemingly even running hard. Why Bobo has not broken one yet with this type of support is a little befuddling. Cason ripped one 58 yards when he was 55 away and hit it 31 when we needed a 40, but fortunately, he did not get that many at-bats. Roberto discovered that no one is immune to a left to right Miami tradewind, but nailed his three other attempts to continue his otherwordly perfect mark from inside 40 yards. He also hits his kickoffs like a Mickelson lobwedge. He can place them anywhere he wants, and you can tell after each kick when the coaches sprint to him and let him know just how important that is...

Always fun to beat Miami. Let's hope we have a chance to see them again in 2015!