Miami vs FSU, Sept. 7th 2009

Well, the first weekend of college football is over and it was a doozie! A week that started with the punch heard round the college football world, to the Canes defeat of their rival Seminoles on the road in what will go down as an instant classic. This is my first blog of what will be many and I'm taking a page out of Canes305 book and I've created a blog for them Hurricanes. Well, 1 week can teach you a lot about your favorite team and I was very happy with what I saw from Miami. They traveled to arguably one of the toughest stadiums in the nation and beat the Seminoles in front of a sell-out crowd. The stars of this game were undoubtedly the QBs. Christian Ponder once again put up great numbers against the Canes D, but failed to put up the rushing yds he did last year. Miami didn't know what to expect from Ponder last year and the option killed the D. This year...not so much. Jacory Harris stole the spotlight from Ponder in this game by going 21-34 for 386 yds. By the way, 386 yds is the most a Miami QB has ever put up at FSU since the rivalry began, not too shabby for a true sophomore. Miami fans got a little bit of a scare late in the game when Jacory went down with a shoulder injury that couldn't help but be compaered to Sam Bradford's injury two days earlier. Jacory fought through the pain and led the Canes next drive for a td. There were plenty of lead changes in this game and just when one team thought they had the momentum, the other team made a big play. On our side, it was either the fantastic 1st down passing or the great kick returns by Graig Cooper. On the FSU side, the kick returns were also a momentum killer. After one long return, Miami decided to kick squibs the rest of the game which often came back to haunt them...apparently Randy Shannon has no faith in his coverage team. Although Miami put on a great performance this week, they need to prepare for a tough home game against Georgia Tech. The first thing they need to work on, DEFENSE! Defense came through late in the game and Miami was great against the run once again but the pass coverage is lacking. Too many times I saw Miami defenders who couldn't read Ponder and waited to see what decision he made before making a move. Another thing Randy and the coaches need to focus on is getting these guys stretched and hydrated because there is no excuse for a Miami defender going down with cramps every other play. The last thing Miami needs to work on is not committing penalties. Every team is going to have some penalties but some just shouldn't happen ever. Like chop blocks, offside penalties, and late hits out of bounds. But there was one thing in this game that I was really surprised to see and that was the sportsmanship between the Canes and the Seminoles all game long. I have never seen a game in the rivalry where Canes players are helping up Seminoles players and vice versa. After the game, it was great to see all the players from bith sidelines crouched in the middle of the field together. A great show of respect for one another and a great way to end the Bobby Bowden-era (if it is his last year) against Miami. Well, week 1 is in the books and it looks like it should be an interesting season. After what I saw 10-2 and a trip to the ACC Championship is looking possible. 11-1? A dream. 12-0? Probably a fantasy.