Miami

 80,000 souls with elbows bending and guttural chanting together with one solitary purpose. That unity of  thought is to vanquish a rival that has broken our collective hearts more times than any of us over 40 will ever care to recall; especially in our beloved home. There has never been a two score lead against these southern invaders that has been truly safe. In fact, if you did not have Michael Irvin flashbacks when our two db’s smashed into each other and reheated a frozen Cane second half offense as that ugly uniform danced untouched for 85 yards; I am so happy for your ridiculous inner peace. Then the universally besmirched reclamation project qb jumps off the bench for the final drive that was sure to add another amazing disaster chapter to our home Ibis issues. Umm, nope. These kids ain’t over 40,  have none of our scar tissue, and simply won the damn game. Ok, then. Let’s drink.

This was probably the final Seminole wind for for what we knew of this version of Doak Campbell. I am not begrudging change, because the beams of this old barn are broken and what is happening in the concourses is completely unacceptable. But, it will never again be what we collectively experienced on Saturday night. The people that sit in the first 30 rows on the West side earned those seats through three or four decades of giving, sweating, swearing, crying and hugging. These thousands of the hardest of hard corps Noles that feed the home sideline with love will be replaced by 5,000 Thurston Howells that might not know how to collectively lose their minds chanting until their voice is gone. Sure, the odds of an occasional SMU sideline handshake after a big play is now possible, but what made Doak one of the most intimidating places for someone wearing orange to enter might never be the same again. I sincerely hope we oversell the club to force the seats to be full. We don’t need tv to show 2,000 empty seats on the fifty for every game. Make no mistake, this place was absolutely awesome on Saturday. So, let’s hope that the new moneyed Noles can show up and show out in 2025, because I want what we had this weekend - and I also want better bathrooms and the ability to get a water in under an hour. Yup, I am a greedy dreaming bastard. Regardless, some years from now, when we reminisce about the absolute perfection that was another Nole win over Miami in the  old place, - just like the Choke at Doak when 135,000 people claim they were there and none of them left at the end of the 3rd quarter (gotcha!) - you can say you were there in the last…great…night.

Miami was gifted 10 second half points. One was an awesomely timed and (almost perfectly) executed onside kick. One first down later, and their offense was done for the next hour and a half. That field goal was all they mustered until the aforementioned miracle when Knowles smashed into Cypress and delivered points. One of the 47 texts I sent to Coach Fuller (again the Wi-Fi in this place needs help - C’mon 2025 upgrades!) apparently finally got through just as he came on the field for the second half kick, and magically three linebackers appeared on the field. Better than the secret sauce on a Big Mac, Miami’s running game was wiped out with every gap filled. Farmer, Fiske and Lovett were doing incredible A and B gap work but without help and always getting doubled made it impossible to stop this downhill running attack. Whether we want to admit it or not, both of the Cane lines were winning big in the first half. This Seminole ‘23 team is defined by response, and nobody can argue about this entire seasons second half adjustments. Once we made the change to the 4-3-4 on early downs, the Hurricanes hit cold water and El Nolo blew them offshore. I know that their freshman quarterback was not the second coming of Bernie Kosar with his accuracy, unless you count the absolute frozen rope that he nailed the ref with. But, do not take credit away from AZ Thomas and Renardo for the incredible work they did with slants. The hard slant with outside leverage is unquestionably the toughest pass to cover with the exaggerated outer hashes in the college game. Both of these dudes shut that down, and the leading receiver in the ACC had a bagel for dinner. Zero catches. Greedy Vance showed on at least two occasions why he is playing defense, as he could not grab either of two handsewn oskies. But the player of the night was again Kalen. Two more team leading sacks and his timing on delayed blitzes and finish are money. The first sack cost Miami a FG and the second ended a drive and turned momentum garnet. Hope he was not seriously hurt late when he entered the tent. 

Trey is a conundrum, isn’t he? When he bursts through the line and hits level 2 at top speed…Yowza. Another game where half the secondary thought they had an angle on him. Nope. Touchdown and hurt feelings on the East sideline. But, there are a half dozen times a game where he still tiptoes to the line, or just fails to plant a foot and blast upfield. He would be a Heisman shoein if he played at Wisconsin or Michigan with all that OL talent. But, we still love him. Welcome back to the Miami game, 4 and 14. Keon actually dropped a 50/50 TD for only the second time this season, but he recovered late to embarrass another corner for a score. The punt brainfart he had where he called for a fair catch, then let it hit his feet was forgiveable not only because he fell on it, but he decided to bring one back 50 yards later. He is no Deion or Pete though. With only the punter to beat, I don’t think either one of them would have just dropped his head and lowered the boom for extra yards. I think they would have laughed as they cut to paydirt. Oh well, I like the Greg Jones or Nick O”Leary approach too…

The line is still a MASH unit and I guess 2023 is not the season that we ever see a healthy five. Mo Smith is a warrior, but he is struggling to be competitive with pass pro and his ability to handle blitz reads is a mess. Roddick and Jones are swapping almost based on assignment, and Bless Harris is apparently only healthy enough to play 3 or 4 series a game. Although, gotta love Bless on Trey’s first score. He picked him up on the 1 yard line and literally threw his 220 pound friend over the goal line. Morlock and Bell are still cheat codes and are playing so well with so much impact that Mike has 3 of the best 4 TE’s in the country lined up in the recruiting pipeline. 

With all that he went through this season and in his career, I wanted JT to score on that whirling dervish run so badly so that we had the forever Miami highlight to bookend the 4th and 14. As the only qb in Seminole history to beat Miami 3x, you just wanted that video montage for posterity. Starting with hearing Miami baseball fans mock his brother when he was 10 years old, and finishing with yet another missed targeting call, getting stepped on after a sack and having his jewelry ripped off his body two feet from a zebra, this kid hates the Hurricanes way more than you do. And we love him for it.  He knew that he missed about a half dozen blitzes, and had a hot route wr open every time. He knew he overthrew Keon and Jaheim on surefire touchdowns. He knew that he needed to throw the damn ball away rather than take a sack on the goal line. He does not care now and neither should we. The Hurricanes have lost three in row to the good guys after an absolute embarrassment of a beat down in Norvell COVID-gate 2020. There were just under a zillion recruits in the stands that loved it right along with Jordan. There were 80,000 Noles all living their best life and chanting their way to late night celebrations all over Tallahassee. Remember it, box it up and feel as good as Jordan does today. Your Noles are unconquered and Doak this night will be in memories forever.