The way that Indiana is destroying their opponents (Alabama, Oregon) is certainly a cause for concern. Our D will be their biggest test to date, IMO. However, we don’t rotate a lot of guys upfront, our LB’s are decent, but our secondary (overall) is suspect on the edges and prone to “targeting”…I think the Ole Miss game was our “worst” D performance in the playoffs…which I hope we got out of our system.
Cignetti and crew will do their part, as Ole Miss did, to keep Bain and Mesidor at bay…so these two guys will have to not be as sack happy, set the edges and plan for the run. Our LB’s will need to have really good gap assignments. IU tight ends are legit (Schott left us for them). RB’s are good. WR’s are also legit.
On offense we need to ground and pound and chew the clock…we dominated the clock vs Ole Miss but stupid mental errors almost cost us the game. We can ill afford to make these mistakes against a fundamentally sound team like IU. I just don’t see IU having a “bad” game or mental collapses, so we can’t either. If we do, it’s over. That’s my biggest concern, honestly. Dawson will also need to call his best game…NO MALICAT!!! Just keep doing what’s working…
Guys, IU is just a better coached and more fundamentally sound team than we are. Although, I have been very impressed with how Mario and Co. have turned the corner in their focus and approach in beating THREE very good football teams.
Our sideline will be loaded with ‘Canes legends…we need our crowd to vastly be in the majority…home field will help but how much?
So, based on how we both have played the last two games…
Well that sucks. If we’re staying within 3, why not just win the damn game? I’d rather lose 31-14 and know at half who the better team is. So no, your ending isn’t a good one.
Is there really a home advantage with crowd numbers? I thought it was like super bowls these days, each school gets a handful of tix and its all corporate after that? I figure there may be more IU fans than Miami if this is the case, am I wrong?
I refuse to get down about whatever happens if this ends up a loss. I was elated on December 7th when seeing that Notre Dame didn’t make it at all. I won’t lie, I drank! But never thought we’d make a dent in this field ourselves. I hoped we wouldn’t get embarrassed in College Station and make the committee look bad in our selection. We’ve MORE than done that. It would have been criminal had we not got in. Three wins when we’ve only won ONE STINKIN’ BOWL GAME since Coker’s finale in 2006? Beyond what I expected.
I don’t see us winning this however. Seems to be Indiana’s year. A truly amazing story and I’ve loved watching them go about it. I just had no idea we’d be the final opponent. I never thought it possible. They were 3-9 two years ago. If form holds, we’ll have more mistakes than they’ll have. They will take advantage and win the title by more than a TD. But again, I refuse to be too disappointed.
Not to pile on the vibes here but I think UM’s undoing will be the usual penalties, turnovers, and generalized undisciplined play. For whatever reason looking back over the years Miami players get too hyped for big games and cannot stay levelheaded. Against a team like Indiana ice has to run through your veins, you have to know your job and just execute on that. Don’t try to do too much, be the hero.
Indiana is very arguably the most disciplined team in college football this year. It is what has gotten them this far. They will not deviate from this in the championship game. I agree with TMC that the crowd factor is being over-imagined.
I can also see Cristobal being indecisive on field goals vs. go for it on 4th. Things like this might tilt the first two quarters and put extra pressure on one team during the second half to keep up. I can’t see Miami scoring enough to win.