Miami

 I know it feels like you stepped on a sand spur, but it was pretty great to "feel" that again, wasn't it? This late game BS heartbreak or abject relief is what Miami / Florida State is supposed to be, and for one glorious night in this wandering 1000 days in the Gobi, we felt that again. We were pissed. Not because we did not lose by enough to justify a coach getting let go. No, we were pissed because the damn ACC officials again unjustifiably took away a chance to win this f'n rivalry game and wipe the smirk off of Michael Irvin and permanently instill constipation on Mario's collective faces. The first call was far and away the worst, because it was simple incompetence. A double team on an exhausted Miami defender resulted in this dude just giving up and falling to the ground with no attempt or effort to continue rushing the passer. Meanwhile, in full view of the moronic striped equine, a Hurricane blasted Ashton in the upper body well after the pass to Danzy left his hands. At this juncture, the flag came out and it had to be for a late hit and a free first down, right? No, my sweet seminole cherubs, it was a hold from 5 seconds ago that never happened.  

We pick ourselves up off the mat and somehow on 4th and forever again, we toss another perfect Hail Magdalene where our suddenly fully engaged Duce leapt up and grabbed a ball he never let go of. He fell to the ground with the ball in between his hands while it rested un-handed in the lap of a Miami player. Clear and obvious touchdown or at worst, dual possession touchdown. The same crack officiating crew that were with us at Stanford last season and failed to rule an utterly obvious touchdown on the final play took 30 seconds for all the bodies to unpack and then ruled (What!) an interception on the field. Then those at home got to hear beavers at work for the next 60 seconds as the home office in Charlotte (with the multiple FSU lawsuits staring them in the face)... "Is that a stick...I think it is a stick...Is it wood, indeed it is wood. I think that stick will make a good dam. Me too!" They never even considered that ummm, dual possession is a clear touchdown or that there was no call on the field because the idiots could not see it.  Yuck. 

Now I know that if either of these situations were ruled correctly, we would not have instantly won the game. We still had to convert a two pointer and Lord knows how incredibly effective we are in these situations (i.e. any of the myriad of wildly successful attempts since last Friday night at around 8 pm). But, at least in this scenario, our head coach would not have a choice. Since so many were texting me last night on the two latest 4th down failures, my opinion was split last night. Early on, assuming this was a Panzer through Poland scenario, trying to get 7 on every possession seemed defensible. In the second period, when the defense had displayed a pulse and we were shockingly still in the game, I would have taken the free points. But, even that decision became a touchdown thirty seconds later after a good Lopez punt return and two Caney Caney boo boos later put this ball on the 15. Soon, just before the score, we would again be slapped with the reality that we can never have nice things when our best player just blasted a Miami defender into the night, rumbled another five yards and then with 600 pounds on top of him saw his ankle get shattered. I say it again, that kid is an NFL star, and will probably be a better NFL player than a collegiate. I just hope he is with us next year. Good luck with the surgery Ousmane. 

Mike Norvell called an incredible game last night. Once again proving on the scale of game day coaches, he is roughly 200 notches in a 100 notch belt better than the smarmy sweatbox on the other sideline. The screens were perfectly timed and the TE screen to Riles that he dropped in the first half would have scored too (and nullified one of the fruitless red zone trips). He recognized in the third quarter that Boggs was open on crossers and if Ashton had accuracy, we might have won going away in regulation. Our coach can flat out call offense, and he will be on the Oregon sideline doing just that about 2 minutes if / when he leaves FSU. Think about all the absolutely uncompetitive balls Ashton threw to Duce before finally connecting late. They were all the right decisions. If he ever (again) has a quarterback that can sling it, that mind can dial up some touchdowns. His offseason is his undoing. He goes to the grocery store and comes home with nothing but generics and thinks his desserts are gonna win the bake-off. 

The defense gave incredible effort last night despite our coordinator swooshing in 3 feet of soft powder with cross country skis. Our edge technique is just horrific. We have yet to teach these guys to engage blocks on the outside shoulder, so backs are forced inside. We must have had some serious injuries because there was literally no excuse for Rawls to not be on Toney all night. Instead, we had a parade of freshman flailing at this dervish. Chris Jones, in what was a breathtaking Marvin Jones flashback, had his third straight game with a fourth down stop. At times, Miami was truly flustered, but in the late stages, the number of dudes they had outnumbered ours and there was simply nothing left. Recruiting matters, and they have been hitting us like heyday Tyson on the trail for three years. Their fat guys are simply way better than ours, and that shows up after the emotion slows and the bodyblows land. 

I was secretly hoping that this game came down to a kick. The Canes had our reject as their guy, so I had full faith that he was slotted for a high profile flub. Our guy has simply never missed a kick in college, and I was begging for the announcers jinx to blow up in their face and watch as the winning kick sailed a little right, hit the upright and bounded through to send this stadium full of non graduates home despondently unhappy. Alas, none of this came to pass, as it was a touchdown crazy day. I am still not sold on our crazy kicking Aussie. My son screamed last night that he should stick to Instagram full time after another 30 yard bounding mess. However, as we chronicled, Jason Lopez is real, and is getting more active on offense as well, and for a one night special engagement we had the right number of players on the field on every special teams play (yay!).  

In my opinion, and I write this on a glorious Fall Sunday morning, there is nothing to be gained from a head coaching move right now. If the season progresses like we imagine it will all take care of itself. Again, this was everything you could hoped short of a win, but that is the issue. It is another ACC loss which takes our three year mark to 4-16. Every kid on this team signed up to play for Mike Norvell, not a temp for six weeks. The keyboard experts out there are also not taking into account the new rules that allow players to instantly hit the transfer portal when you fire your head coach. How would everyone like this club to look like the decimated group we had in the Orange Bowl against Georgia up at Boston College...or worse home against the Lizard. Speaking selfishly as a fan that is planning on traveling to both Pitt and BC in chilly November, it would be nice to recognize the players and numbers on the field as we play out the season. I absolutely understand that a change may be coming and needed, but let's see if the second half of Louisville quit mentality shows up again. That is the signal that this era is done. Enjoy the bye...