“I heard the rain storms ain’t nothing to mess with, but I can’t feel a drip on the strip.” Yes we’ve come to the Miami Hurricanes, and you what that means, the obligatory cliche reference to 1.) the cheesy Will Smith song and 2.) the greatest ESPN “30 for 30” ever, “The U. It’s all about the U.”
Really, I’m sure all you Canes fans will agree that movie was AWESOME!
Ok enough bread and circuses, let’s talk COLLEGE FOOTBALL! I’m taking my analysis to South Beach for this installment of the 77 in 77 (oh, c’mon you didn’t think you’d escape without the infamous Lebron James platitude, did you?)
2010 was: like the music of Miami Sound Machine, a mixture of highs and lows. The Canes won five of their first seven, but dropped their last three, and their head coach was a casualty. Like their NBA brothers, the Miami Heat, there was a postseason showdown with a Chicago team but the result was the complete opposite. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish whipped the Hurricanes in the Sun Bowl; making them look like the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals. The U. led the nation in 27 interceptions last year. A dubious distinction for QBs Jacory Harris and Stephen Morris.
BMOCs: RB Lamar Miller could be the next in a line of great Hurricanes runners. Mike James could complement him to give the Miami an offensive backfield version of the Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett combination, OL is the strength of this team, led by top recruit out of Minnesota Seantrel Henderson and Malcolm Bunche. The D line is solid too; led by Marcus Fortson and all name team member Micanor Regis. Star strong safety Ray-Ray Armstrong joins him on the team
2011 will be fruitful if: all that talent comes together, and the quarterbacking doesn’t ruin it. New Coach Al Golden is running a lot of high intensity practices, and he’s doing his best to make sure there’s no knuckleheads on this team. Or at least minimizes it. Both the running game and defensive line should be stellar
2011 will be awful if: Golden’s talent base does not glitter, and becomes undone from lack of discipline. Most of the time, the Hurricanes biggest enemy could be themselves, not the opponent.
Bottom Line: Anything short of a ACC Title game appearance will disappoint fans of this marquee program. Yes, even though Va Tech stands in the way of that goal. With so much talent everywhere else but QB, Sebastian the Ibis or even Gloria Estefan could take the snaps and guide this team to a bowl game. Even though it’s the ACC, and therefore the schedule is not difficult, Miami’s slate is still actually not easy. If they don’t rank near the bottom in turnovers and penalties again, Miami should get to nine wins.
SC Rankings: #19 Athlon, #26 Lindy’s, #26 Phil Steele
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
He does regular weekly radio spots in Chicago and Cleveland and has appeared on live shows all across the world from Houston to New Zealand. You can follow him on Twitter
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