I hardly thought before this season started I’d be posting such a rhetorical question. Then, I considered Duke a cupcake. Now, I’m not so sure who the cupcake is.
Duke should have defeated North Carolina. They certainly played them as well as we did. In their last game, they unexpectedly were beaten by Georgia Tech, and if they lose to the Canes, they’ll have suffered a three game skid.
What disturbs me and gives me cause to worry was Miami’s inability to put a single score on the board during the second half against Va Tech. In the first half, we looked imposing running out to a twenty point lead. Then, what in the hell happened to us. During the last four minutes of the game, I was expecting Va Tech is win the game, delivering to us yet another humiliating defeat. Were it not for two great plays by TVD in the closing minutes, I think we’d have lost the game against a rather poor team.
Suffice to say, I am not sold on the Hurricanes. It’s a matter of consistency. Will we play as we did in the first half of Va Tech or will we see another MTSU swoon. Duke has a mobile QB which to date has been our third down nemesis. The Dukies also have completed a substantial number of long chunk passing plays. These two factors to me are worrisome.
So what kind of Hurricane team are we to see on game day? Will we eventually come to the realization that we simply cannot rush the football. Will Van Dyke take deep drops and be running for his life? Will we play as if we’re in slow motion. Or, will we finally up the tempo, throw quick slants, flairs, and outs, pulling in the defense. Let Van Dyke settle into a rhythm, then start throwing it deep. It’s awfully damn hard to sack a QB who releases the ball in 1.6 seconds.
I don’t think I could stand the despair of watching another FIU or MTSU debacle, but I’ve learned after more than sixty years as a Hurricane fan never to underestimate our ability to lay an egg. Pray that it doesn’t happen against Duke.
Duke is much better than the last 2-3 years…Maybe not as good as Cutcliffe’s best teams (2012-15ish)…But maybe about 2 TDs better than last season. They were VERY bad by end of season last year.
Seem to be headed right direction and Elko was obviously a respected defensive mind.
I have no opinion with the point spread, although I have UM as a SLIGHTLY bigger fav than Vegas does. (injury report pending as ours is getting pretty full)
It’s definitely losable.
As of right now, I have Duke pick em on a neutral field over VA and GT (believe they were favored when they lost at GT in OT) …And a favorite on a neutral field over VT and BC
I always liked Cutcliffe. His teams always outperformed expectations given the recruits with which he had to work. Let’s hope Duke doesn’t take the field and play like the Bills or Chiefs.
The worst thing about a season not living up to expectation is that it impacts recruiting. I hope that we can land this recruiting class without decommitments. Plus, I’d love to see us land a WR with world class speed. So nice to have a player who can run a Go route leaving the defenders in the dust. I thought that Dilliard the kid might be the one. Where do we stand on him.
Lastly, I wonder whether Gattis has arrived at the conclusion that Miami must go up tempo offensively. If he hasn’t, I fear for the Canes the remainder of the season.
I don’t actually give a hoot regarding beating Duke. I want our guys to beat teams like TAM, FSU and Clemson. Until they can accomplish that I consider us to be a team that can be beaten by anyone. I feel there’s no real accomplishment if we squeak by the likes of Duke. Beat the hell out of them and, yes, I say we’re maybe on an improvement roll, but this team, this year, is failing miserably at keeping anyone excited. What’s new? Our excitement seems to come in the off-season when we read glorious write-ups, promising podcasts, etc. That all goes away just a while after the season starts, most years. The end product equate to the hoopla. Being bulldozed by MTS makes Mario a bit questionable to me. A lot has to change for me to have confidence in him. I don’t care what the press says about him. I’m not seeing the awesome coach they say he is. If he thinks he’s going to do top recruiting here with the show we’re seeing, he’s crazy. This isn’t the Alabama magnet where prospects line up at the door and he can choose from whoever he likes while lounging in his desk chair, smoking a stogie and downing a beer, I have news for him. This is not Alabama and we lost our magnetism many years ago. No good wins = poor recruiting. Guys don’t want to sign on with a loser. They have a career to consider. Sorry, I’m just sour today. I get that way almost every Saturday this time of year.
Just finished watching the first half of the Duke game. What a debacle The Keystone Kanes turned the ball over four times, and just as predicted, the Duke mobile QB is rushing the football and scoring with impunity.
Tyler Van Dyke has been knocked out of the game. Jaylen Knight has established himself as the key Hurricane fumbler, one of his bobbles resulted in a short cakewalk Duke touchdown. As usual, our purportedly improved offensive line hasI been like Swiss cheese against Duke who have tallied three sacks of Tyler Van Dyke who has looked “clumsy” trying to dodge defenders. In the rushing department, we’ve been as feckless as usual; we’ve rushed for fewer than thirty yards in the first half.
Being a Miami fan, you learn rapidly to lower your expectations of football success. To this end,I feel like we’re dancing an expectations limbo dance to determine how low can we go. .
Now in the 2nd half, Miami showed signs of life, and looked like a winner. However, it didn’t take Miami long to reestablish itself as a loser. We can neither rush the football nor stop the rush. We were supposed to be more physical this year, but we can’t even match up with the Dukies. So far, Miami has 17 yards rushing in the 2nd half. Additionally, we chalked up our 6th turnover. Miami is showing that it is possible to have an entire season worth of turnovers in just one game, and the game isn’t over yet. What do you know, we just notched Turnover No. 7. Seven turnovers, can we get eight? Yes, I knew they could do it! We fumbled and notched Turnover No. 8. General Custer did better against the Sioux than we’ve done against the Blue Devils. Getting ready to write a new thread post: “Can we beat Virginia or any other team on our schedule?” In more than sixty years as a Hurricane fan, I have never witnessed a worse game.
You were save a huge disappointment, Canesfan. It was awful, and I had to pay extra to watch it. The inverse should have been true. UM should have paid me to endure it. What a fail.
This season is a write off. I guess we all knew that after Middle Tennessee.
I haven’t watched a game this year. Caught a few highlights on Youtube but that’s it.
Some Saturdays, I even forget Miami is playing.
Yes, the team he inherited from Diaz had some major flaws but Mario isn’t impressing anyone with his coaching so far. I guess the only way Miami wins again is if he recruits lights out for several years in a row and he can simply out talent every other team. It sure doesn’t look like he can out
scheme anyone on game day.
I imagine some significant changes will be made at season’s end. Gattis for one. I imagine Mario is pissed off out of his mind about losing this much and he will take corrective actions.
The honeymoon is over and then some. It got late early.
