Remaining 3 Games

Hurricanes Football
1

Miami should be favored in all 3 games.

  1. NC State in Miami Gardens. 11/15

NC State is a decent team with a couple of good wins and a couple of bad losses.

If Miami phones it in Miami-style like they did against L-ville and SMU, this could be a loss.

If Miami shows up, they should win by 14 or so.

  1. VT away. 11/22

VT is awful this year. Miami should curb stomp them.

But, we are talking moody Miami so who knows?

Assuming they beat NC State, Miami should be a heavy favorite, 21+ points.

Of the three games, this is the one Miami should absolutely win.

  1. Pitt in Pittsburgh. 11/29.

Pitt is about a good as Miami. Not great but good.

This could easily be a loss. Assuming Miami beats NC State and VT, Miami should be a slight favorite, 3 or 7 points-ish.

I’ll be surprised if Miami doesn’t lose this game but I will hope for the best.

I guess they dump at least one of the three games and finish 9-3. Maybe if we are lucky, they will win all three and go 10-2.

With a better QB, who could run and see opposing DB’s Miami would have gone undefeated this season and finished in the Top 5.

But, we have Beck so … (He did play well against Syracuse though.)

Even at $4M, Beck is something like the 14th highest paid QB in the NCAA.

Welcome to pro college sports with endless free agency. I can’t tell you how much I hate this.

2

Unfortunately, Miami is a 2nd half team, at least of late. ANY of these three teams are capable of beating us if we come out slow in the first half. I’m not concerned about NC, but VT is a tough place to play and I agree, Pitt is THE one that scares me.

It’s really up to our guys at this point. Gotta find the on-field leaders who challenge each other, heck, at least have some pride and play FOR each other.

3

Not concerned about NC?

They put up 48 on GT last week and were off getting ready for us yesterday so no worries, right? I sure hope this team doesn’t share your outlook.

I mean, I have to assume there’s some competency on their coaching staff and that they know what to do with 14 days to prep for an opponent.

Wouldn’t overlook them, folks.

4

I think we lose to NC State. They’re a team that can score a lot of points as TMC pointed out, and I envision them outscoring us, especially if they jump out to a big early lead. We just can’t put teams away, and I see us losing to another inferior team as we did with Louisville and SMU. While I root for Miami to win, I have very little confidence in this team.

Dawson seems to be getting the message from fans, but Dawson’s rushing offense still lacks a component part necessary for it to be successful, and that is the element of deception. QB Beck fools no one though he was modestly successful in the counter jet sweep plays, but in general Beck does not hide the ball well. I’d like to see Miami line up in an I formation which they actually did ONCE this year, and it resulted in a TD. Maybe, it would give the offense good practice deceptively fooling a few people on the other team’s defense. I enjoyed seeing young Pringle getting a few touches.

There is some evidence that Dawson has discovered the slant even though it is one of the cardinal basic plays of football. Skeeter is right that a slant pass can be a difficult reception as is any crossing patten, because it requires significant QB timing. Slant passes where the length of the pass is ten feet to achieve a first down is a very easy pass to achieve, especially when thrown quickly after a fake to a RB. I have yet to see a shuffle pass which would be a great addition to the insane rush-into-the-middle offense. I wish Dawson would discover Josh Moore who is a total mismatch on deep patterns, and when he’s not receiving the ball, is a great decoy that will draw defenders into deep er coverage. Moore IMO is a young Andre Johnson. I still like Trader even though he dropped a few passes. If my mind serves me well, I still remember even Paul Warfield ONCE dropped a pass which was a stunning happenstance. Upshaw and Johnson are also excellent receivers. Our problem is not the quality of our receivers.

Damn, I didn’t think I’d be this depressed even though I have come to expect it late in the season. I just hope I can live long enough to see Miami win another NC, or perhaps I’d settle for a conference championship before I check out.