With Jacory Harris back in the lineup for the Miami Hurricanes, an upset could be brewing in Coral Gables.  The Ohio State Buckeyes and Miami Hurricanes have both had a lot of internal problems involving NCAA investigations and suspensions over the past year, which certainly puts a damper on this game.

This game should have pitted two Top 20 potential BCS teams against each other, but instead it features two teams that will need a miracle to reach a BCS game.

The Buckeyes will be without DL Solomon Thomas, OL Mike Adams, RB Dan Herron, and WR DeVier Posey in part due to the suspensions handed down by the NCAA last year, while WR Aldarius Johnson, DE Dyron Dye, SS Ray Ray Armstrong and DE Olivier Vernon are all suspended for the Hurricanes.

DE Nathan WIlliams willl also miss the game for Ohio State with a knee injury.  Jacory Harris sat out the team’s opener against Maryland, but he returns to the starting lineup for the game with Ohio State, which should drastically improve the Hurricanes offense.

Without Dan Herron leading the rushing attack for the Buckeyes, they are going to have to rely on Carlos Hyde to carry the team’s ground attack. Hyde is only a sophomore and has struggled a bit so far this year. He rushed for only 70 yards on 20 carries in the team’s game against Toledo, and cannot afford to do that against Miami.

Not having a strong ground attack is really going to slow the Buckeyes’ attack, especially with Joe Bauserman leading the way for the Buckeyes. He was extremely inconsistent last week against Toledo and if he puts up a similar performance this week, Ohio State will have no chance.

Harris struggled at quarterback for the Hurricanes last year against Ohio State and is bound to use that as motivation for this year’s game.

Harris is extremely talented, as he can make plays with both his legs and his arms. They will need the defense to step up, especially the secondary without Ray-Ray Armstrong, but the suspensions for Ohio State are more devastating than the suspensions for the Hurricanes.

The Miami Hurricanes and Maryland Terrapins are both trying to refocus the attention for this game onto the actual football being played and not the Nevin Shapiro scandal.  As you are abundantly aware by now, Miami will be without eight of its best players including Jacory Harris, Sean Spence and Ray-Ray Armstrong.

Both teams will be showcasing their new head coaches in this Labor Day battle, Randy Edsall for Maryland and Al Golden for Miami.  Running back Lamar Miller looks to establish himself as one of the best in the ACC and will be a leader for the Hurricanes in this game.  Quarterback Danny O’Brien won the ACC Rookie of the Year award last season and hopes to continue that success in 2011.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN tonight at 8 p.m. and promises to be a closely contested match between two underrated teams that could sneak into the Top 25 with a dominating performance.  Danny O’Brien was the ACC’s best kept secret last season. As a freshman, he led the Terps to a 9-4 record and over 32 points per game while throwing for just under 2500 yards.  His top receiver, Torrey Smith, is gone to the NFL but four of five offensive linemen return and they averaged 1.69 sacks allowed per game in 2010.

Randy Edsall employs a pro-based offense that, much like Michigan, could damper O’Brien’s results. But don’t count on it. “We’re passing the ball a lot more,” said senior wide receiver Quintin McCree.  There may not be a receiver quite like Smith but the Terrapins are now apparently three-deep at that position which is even better.  And if it isn’t, Danny is always up for a challenge. He had to battle a severe case of poison ivy and mono before winning the starting job and without Da’Rel Scott, the pressure will be squarely on his shoulders to guide his team to victory at home.

His job will be easier without Ray-Ray Armstrong in the secondary but may not matter much considering how much he impressed in the offseason.  The ACC is debuting more quarterbacks than any other BCS league this year. The offense may look different but don’t expect Danny O’Brien’s results to change much from his Rookie of the Year campaign last season.  Forget Jacory Harris. The biggest losses Miami has to overcome are on defense.

Ray-Ray Armstrong and Sean Spence were both voted first team All-ACC this preseason at safety and linebacker, respectively. Add to that a defensive line that will only be returning one starter from last season against a veteran offensive line and you have a very serious problem.  Before the suspensions, Miami’s defense figured to be one of the best in the conference but now they are squarely the underdogs against Maryland.  Once all of the players come back, expect the Hurricanes to dominate opponents defensively but for this game, Maryland has the definite advantage.

That’s not to say the players replacing them don’t have experience but they simply aren’t as talented, especially when talking about Spence and Armstrong who are projected as early-round draft picks. They also haven’t had as much time to practice with the rest of the defense.

Expect Miami to have a couple of blown assignments this game based on a lack of communication.  Al Golden worked a lot of magic while he was at Temple but he will need a lot more in order for his defense to keep up with Danny O’Brien and the Maryland offense.

How The Scandal Was Exposed

It’s very simple a man running a Ponzi scheme that bilked people out of almost a billion dollars, who used that money to buy access to young football players between the ages of 18 – 23 years old was finally caught.  When he did get caught his assets were frozen by the government, and he reached out to those same players he tried to buy friendships with and they told him they would not give him money for his legal defense.  So, as a result he decides to blow the whistle to “take down” the Miami Hurricanes football program purely for the purpose of revenge.  He stated all of this as much that this quest has nothing to do with “doing the right thing”, but a vindictive play designed to punish the people he sucked into his dealings using stolen money.

The Allegations and or Facts

This article could go on all day talking about his allegations, but here is a quote from Shapiro taken from the Yahoo article written by Charles Robinson:

“Hell yeah, I recruited a lot of kids for Miami,” Shapiro said. “With access to the clubs, access to the strip joints. My house. My boat. We’re talking about high school football players. Not anybody can just get into the clubs or strip joints. Who is going to pay for it and make it happen? That was me.”

The truth is Miami Football players already get into a lot of clubs and parties for free, just because they play at a big time college football program.  Any player over 21 can get into a strip club, and if you are known around town generally for free.  High school football players are always wooed by players from the schools they visit.  At an unnamed school that plays in a major conference I remember a quarterback recruit coming in and his host on the team took him to the strip club and got him a few lap dances.  It happens all over the place, so what Shapiro did is not anything new.

If you look at the body of what Shapiro is claiming, he does not have many hard facts to backup his sensational claims.

• Reported Abortion – Does not name player, and said he did it on his own without player’s knowledge.  (No Proof)

• Various Lunches & Dinners – Only has credit card statements and witness testimony, but no pictures or a paper trail proving who was at these lunches and dinners with him.  (No hard proof)

• Hotel Floors Full Of Hookers – If a guy rented the entire floor of a hotel and stocked it with prostitutes someone would notice, and from the players perspective if you go to a party and a young woman offers herself, is there knowledge that someone paid for her services?  The players probably did not even know the women were hookers (if it even happened), there are a lot of women who throw themselves at football players all the time.  If the players did not pay the hookers and had no knowledge that they were “working girls” how can this be considered a violation?  Most football players don’t have to go out and give prostitutes money to have sex, they live on a college campus and the reality is playing college sports yields certain benefits in that environment. (No hard proof, and if that were the case how do you even begin to asses the value of what was given?)

• $50,000 payment to Vince Wilfork – No hard evidence of this has yet to be produced, as in no bank statements or transactions showing Wilfork spending large amounts of cash.

Most of Shapiro’s claims consist of players hanging out at his mansion and on his Yacht playing pool, and swimming.  If Shapiro provided lunch and drinks for the players then yes that is a violation, but nowhere near the blatant abuse tales he is spinning from jail.  How much is a game of pool at a persons house worth as an actual extra benefit?

Current Events

The NCAA came out with a ruling on the status of 12 Miami football players as the first game of the season against Maryland approaches.  Miami ruled those 12 player ineligible, and asked the NCAA to begin the process of reinstating the players.  The NCAA came out with their ruling, and eight of those players will miss games.

• Jacory Harris – One Game Suspension, $140 In restitution
• Olivier Vernon – Six Game Suspension, $1200 in restitution
• Ray Ray Armstrong – Four Game Suspension, $788 in restitution
• Dyron Dye – Four Game Suspension, $738 in restitution
• Travis Benjamin – One Game Suspension, $150 In restitution
• Sean Spence – One Game Suspension, $275 In restitution
• Marcus Forston – One Game Suspension, $400 In restitution
• Adewale Ojomo – One Game Suspension, $240 In restitution

These amounts are a far cry from what Shapiro is claiming, and the reason people need to stop jumping to conclusions.  A few hundred bucks for most players, with one getting over $1000 is nowhere near justification for the death penalty people are talking about.  These are the real numbers that can be proven, and for all we know these players only hung out with Shapiro a few times.

If you remember Miami graduates over 85% of it’s football players, and all of the players listed are in good academic standing with the school.  Between practice, games, school, and film study it would have been difficult to roll around town with Shapiro as often as he claims they did.

The Reality Going Forward

People are making a bigger deal out of this than it really is because everyone loves to hate Miami Hurricanes football.  People still can’t get over the fact that the Hurricanes revolutionized how college football was played, and has had one of the quickest ascensions to the elite status in college football as any school in recent memory.  The Hurricanes will not get the death penalty, but they will get sanctions which will cripple the program for several years.

If Al Golden stays in place then the Hurricanes will bounce back quickly assuming the scholarship losses will only last for about three years.  The odd thing is the message the NCAA is sending basically says it’s okay to commit real crimes and have players arrested, but taking a few hundred dollars is one of the worst things you can do.  We are referencing the University of Florida arrest situations over the past few years.  This is all about Shapiro trying to buy 20 year old friends, and when he needed help they turned their back on him.  It’s all sour grapes and a man who is in prison for 20 years after tricking people out of $930 million dollars, he has an axe to grind and the NCAA will have to make sure they take that into account.

Players at the University of Miami did break the NCAA rules as crazy as those rules might  be, and they will pay the price for breaking those rules.  The amount of scandals the NCAA has dealt with over the past two season, shows that there is a problem with the system and punishing the schools and players does not really solve anything.  Harsher penalties will not solve the issue as the dealings will just go further underground, and for the NCAA to expect a school to control what a kid is doing 24 hours a day speaks to a new age form of indentured servitude.

Al Golden says this second depth chart is a result of off-season dedication, so apparently Jacory Harris has been putting in work in the off season to recover from an abysmal season.  That should be nothing new if you look at the body of work Jacory Harris always wins the job or impresses in the off season and practices, even after Randy Shannon was fired Jacory won the starting nod for the Sun Bowl.  How did that work out for the Hurricanes?  What this story says is Harris probably has a great grasp of the offense and is confident in practice, but when the game rolls around he looks impatient and confused in the pocket.  The interceptions are somehow being blamed on Randy Shannon’s coaching staff, who openly took the blame for Harri’s interception woes.

From the fan perspective large majorities are ready to see the Jacory Harris era at quarterback come to an end, and were looking to Stephen Morris to mature and take over the reins at quarterback.  The question remains will Jacory Harris start and finish the season as the Miami Hurricanes starting quarterback?  If the 2009 Jacory Harris shows up then that is a strong possibility, people forget that Harris was in the running for the Heisman trophy his first year starting and showed flashes of being the next great Miami quarterback.  The 2010 season he seemed to regress and started to let things distract him from football, everyone should be familiar with the Twitter incident the week of the Ohio State game and subsequent banning of Twitter for all Hurricanes players.  Then the Oakland Raiders overall’s incident among other odd things Harris was known for other than performance on the field.

If you look at Harris’ stats from 2009 (13 Games):

242/406 (59.6 comp %)

3352 Yards

24 Touchdowns

17 Interceptions

140.10 QB Rating

Now if you compare those stats to his 2010 numbers (9 Games):

148/270 (54.8 comp %)

1793 Yards

14 Touchdowns

15 Interceptions

116.60 QB Rating

It is very easy to see that there was a clear decline, but the truth is Stephen Morris’s numbers were not better than Harris even in a down year.  Morris had a lower completion percentage, lower QB rating, and nine interceptions in six games worth of action.  In Morris’s defense he did play against the tougher competition on the schedule than Harris did.

With a clear decline in Harris’s production, fans clamoring for someone other than him to start, and his interception issues it does not seem that this change by Al Golden will be a permanent one.  Even if Harris makes it to the beginning of the season as the starter it just does not seem likely that he is going to be able to shake all of his old issues and keep the starting job for the full season.  All Golden will probably have a very short leash with Harris and will not put up with excessive interceptions if he shows no improvement over last season.

Al Golden made what some would feel is a controversial decision by only having three open practices this spring, and only allowing players to be interviewed before practice and not after.  It has reminded some of how Randy Shannon ran the program, and there are a lot of fans who are clamoring for more access to the team.  Al Golden knows what he is doing he has opened up the program more, but has not totally swung the doors wide open because eventually that leads to problems who is around your players.

On that note a total of six Miami Hurricanes football players are suspended for the season opener against Maryland.  Seantrel Henderson, Keion Payne, Devont’a Davis, Storm Johnson, Dyron Dye, and Kelvin Cain are the six players in question.  The initial report from insidetheu.com stated the the players violated team rules, and there has been no other explanation for the suspensions from coach Golden or anyone in the Hurricanes program.  It sure seems like Golden is running just as tight of a ship as Randy Shannon did, and it’s needed because there are too many distractions in South Florida that can take players minds off of school and football.

It seems for all the talk these had when the coaching change was made about how things are so much better, and how much they respect coach Golden it sure isn’t showing.  Aside from the six players who are going to be suspended for the first game, Hurricanes starting linebacker Ramon Buchanan has been suspended indefinitely by coach Al golden after a run-in with police.  He faces several charges, including felony resisting a police officer with violence, according to court documents.  The incident occurred in Coconut Grove, minutes from campus, according to various reports.  Buchanan, 21, was charged with resisting a police officer with violence and battery on a police officer, firefighter or emergency medical care provider, both of which are felonies.

Buchanan is the first UM football player to be arrested since Robert Marve who eventually transferred to Purdue.  It seems that Al Golden has a problem on his hands, players are acting out and getting in trouble at the start of the Golden era.  It seems all the positive energy that was generated when Shannon was replaced has stalled, and with Hocutt leaving as well it looks like things may be a little unstable in Coral Gables at the moment.  The good news is that this is only spring time and the time when fans should start to pay close attention is in August when the season is about to start.  Golden does need to get some of these players back in line and fast otherwise these distractions are going to prevent this team from winning much of anything next season.

Quarterback:

The Miami Hurricanes Quarterback play has been one of the weaknesses of this team over the last two years.  In games against average opponents they have played decent football, but the games against the tougher opponents on the Hurricanes schedule their quarterbacks have not played very well.  The Miami Hurricanes new offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch has stated that the slate is wiped clean for Jacory Harris, and that he and Stephen Morris will compete for the starting quarterback spot.  Stephen Morris showed signs of being the quarterback of the future, and played big in a lot of games for the Hurricanes.

The truth is Morris and Harris are remnants from the old regime, and realistically Morris has the best chance to make this team a winner.  Hurricane fans have seen enough of Jacory Harris to make the conclusion that he is not the guy to put Miami back on top.  This recruiting class Miami currently has no quarterbacks committed, but are fiercely going after Kevin Sousa and Jacoby Brissett at the last minute to see if they can land a commitment.  On the second tier they have Marcus McDade and Stephen Weatherford waiting for that phone call that the Hurricanes will offer them scholarships.  If Miami is can land Brissett or Sousa then the Hurricanes will be deep at the quarterback position for the next three or four years.

Departing Players

None

Current Targets

Kevin Sousa

Jacoby Brissett

Marcus McDade

Stephen Weatherford

Offensive Line:

The Offensive line for the Miami Hurricanes started off shaky last season, but the unit started to come together as the season moved along.  They still suffered from too many mental mistakes in big games, as the Hurricanes were the most penalized team in the ACC.  Most of these penalties came from false start or holding which seemed to kill drives all season.

Orlando Franklin and Joel Figueroa were two of the biggest offenders when it came to racking up penalties on the offensive line, and Figueroa was eventually replaced by freshman star Seantrel Henderson.  Those were the only two seniors on the roster at offensive line which showed the Hurricanes had a bit of an issue with leadership on the offensive line.

You can never have too much depth on the offensive line, and the Hurricanes already have 14 offensive linemen on the roster even with Franklin and Figueroa leaving.  This class will be light on offensive lineman, but if they can land another top level commitment then they will have enough depth and versatility to be one of the best offensive lines in the country.

Departing Players

Orlando Franklin

Joel Figueroa

Current Targets

Taylor Gadbois (Committed 1/07/2011)

Antonio Richardson

Cyrus Kouandjio

Wide Receiver:

Coming into the season the wide receiving corps was thought to be the strength of this team coming into the season, but over 60 dropped passes indicated that it was not.  The only consistent player the entire season was Leonard Hankerson, who is going to be moving on to the NFL.  Travis Benjamin, Laron Byrd, Aldarius Johnson, and Tommy Streeter all had relatively subpar seasons, and none look like they are going to be the dominant force that Hankerson was next season.

The wide receiving corps need an upgrade because they will need to get separation from defensive backs in order to reduce the amount of interceptions thrown by Morris or Harris.  Al Golden and staff have picked up where Randy Shannon left off by going after top receiving talent.  The receivers in this class will upgrade the quality of that position especially if the Hurricanes can get Patrick Onwuasor and Devin Lucien to commit to them.  If you add that to the commitments of Phillip Dorsett and Rashawn Scott, and the returning receivers will have competition this year.

Departing Players

Leonard Hankerson

Current Targets

Devin Lucien

Phillip Dorsett (Committed 6/19/1010)

Rashawn Scott (Committed 1/25/2011)

Patrick Onwuasor

Shane Wynn

Defensive End:

Allen Bailey is leaving the University of Miami for the NFL, and that will be a big blow to this Hurricanes football team.  Even with Bailey here the Hurricanes have lacked a consistent pass rush for the last few years, and that needs to be resolved because pressure on the quarterback will take this defense to the next level.

Anthony Chickillo is the prized recruit of this class, and if you watched the Under Armor All-star game you saw him getting constant pressure on the quarterback and making plays.  Chickillo even had a better game than the #1 recruit in the nation Jadeveon Clowney who was playing across from him, and if Ricardo Williams can put some size on him he can be an effective speed rusher for Miami.  Olivier Vernon, Adewale Ojomo, and David Perry will be pushed for time at defensive end by Chickillo.

Departing Players

Allen Bailey

Current Targets

Anthony Chickillo (Committed 09/09/2010)

Ricardo Williams (Committed 1/09/2011)

Jadeveon Clowney

Bryant Dubose

Special Teams:

The Hurricanes need to replace one of the best kickers in their history in Matt Bosher, they have Jake Wieclaw on the roster, but need other options in case Wieclaw is not good at certain aspects of the special teams game.  They Hurricanes have already signed two kickers in this class, so that need should be filled.  The Hurricanes also needed to find someone to return punts and kicks with Travis Benjamin and Lamar Miller, and this class is going to address that need by the signing of Roscoe Parrish clone Kevin Grooms.

Departing Players

Matt Bosher (K & P)

Brandon Harris (KR)

Current Targets

Dalton Botts (Committed 12/29/2010)

Matt Goudis (Committed 01/16/2011)

Linebackers:

One of the biggest weaknesses on this Hurricanes football team has been the linebacker play.  They shuffled linebackers around trying to find a good person to play in the middle, and they settled on Colin McCarthy by moving him from his Outside Linebacker spot.  Sean Spence and McCarthy were the two constants at the linebacker position, but gave up big runs up the middle on several occasions this season.

The University of Miami has always been known for it’s strong linebacker player, and is looking to return to that with the signings in this class.  Gionni Paul, Antonio Kinard, and Denzel Perryman all look like solid prospects, and the type of players that can really solidify this linebacking corps for years to come.  If the Hurricanes are able to land Curtis Grant and/or Tony Steward they would be getting some of the top recruits in the nation, but they are unlikely to sign with Miami.  The current commitments we already have are enough, if any more sign this season they will just be a bonus.

Departing Players

Kylan Robinson

Colin McCarthy

Current Targets

Gionni Paul (Committed 1/28/2011)

Antonio Kinard (Committed 1/17/2011)

Denzel Perryman (Committed 1/21/2011)

Curtis Grant

Tony Steward

Stephone Anthony

Curt Maggitt

Randy Shannon won’t have much to be thankful about during Thanksgiving dinner, despite what he said about him “receiving support” from the university he has to be worried about his job.  From Shannon’s history though he is not worried about himself as much as he will be about his players, who have staunchly supported their coach several times.

Football at the University of Miami is at a cross roads, going into the final game against USF the Hurricanes have turmoil swirling around the entire program.  The Virginia Tech game seems to be the straw that broke the Camel’s back even though the Canes played well for most of the game, the fourth quarter left a bad taste in the mouth of a large number of fans.  Long time Shannon supporters are starting to jump ship, and former players are coming out in droves and firing pot shots and the head coach.

It's Cold In Coral Gables For Randy Shannon Right Now.

You can tell Shannon is feeling the heat because he has named Stephen Morris the starter for the game against South Florida even though Jacory Harris is healthy enough to play.  Morris has looked good in the games he has played save one quarter against Virginia Tech, and Shannon has decided that he needs to move some of his investments to the Stephen Morris portfolio.   Shannon seems to imply it will be good to have a true quarterback competition going into the spring, and Jacory Harris will have to earn the starting job back.

Shannon has already started locking up recruits for the 2012 class, and commenting on the difficulty of the schedule being the only team in the ACC that plays FSU and VT every year.  Shannon is waging political warfare like he never has before in an attempt to stem the tide rising against him.  Some of these are great moves by Shannon for self-preservation,  but there is one problem it may already be too late to save his job.

There is virtually nothing Shannon can do to save his job at this point if that decision has already been made, but if there is a spirited discussion going on behind closed doors he has only one option available to him.  Miami has to go out and beat USF 56 – 7 or something along those lines, the type of beating we have not seen at Miami over an FBS opponent in a long time.  Then if he makes it past Monday whomever the Canes play in a bowl game better get blown out as well, that is the only way to buy back some sort of confidence that things might be able to change.  That still would not be enough to get back any good will from the critics.

With the chatter of John Gruden being interested in coming to Miami seeming to gain steam very quickly, one has to wonder if his interest is true or not.  It’s all rumor at this point, but it has desperate Hurricanes fans clinging to the idea because they have lost hope.  Over at allcanes.com/blog an article was written recently about the Gruden situation, and there were a lot of good points made.  Shalala and Hocutt have not gotten where they are by being stupid and reactionary, if they listened to emotional fans they would make knee jerk reactions and that would not be good.

They are not going to make a change for the sake of making a change to appease fans whining on message boards and blog posts, whatever they decide to do will surely be calculated and planned properly.  Sure we don’t know how much money Miami has in the coffers to spend on a head coach, but a private school with no state funding and a smaller student population is at a disadvantage financially in some areas compared to public universities.    The John Gruden discussion could have an extremely positive effect on the program, or plummet it to a point that it may be hard to recover from.

Gruden won a Super Bowl in his first year with Tampa Bay (some would say with Tony Dungy’s team), and some consider him the Larry Coker of the NFL.  Gruden only had one other double digit win season after the Super Bowl year, and he had a continuous carousel of quarterbacks he collected and messed around with.  Gruden is a big name, but there is not enough there to say he is a sure thing to lead the Hurricanes back to glory.  These are the things Hocutt and Shalala have to look at when they make a decision on the coaching situation.

It is not an easy decision on what to do next, and the decision to fire Shannon is going to be based on what coaches are available to take the job and want to come here.  Gary Patterson, Chris Petersen are two names Canes fans would love to have in Coral Gables, but who says they would leave the god like situations they are in right now?  Firing Shannon for another young coach or an unproven assistant has a lot of risk as well.

Regardless of what decision is made Hurricanes fans will be waiting anxiously on Sunday to see if there is movement in Coral Gables.  The fan base is split by those who want Shannon gone, and those who want to give him one more year.  If the Hurricanes convincingly win the last two games of this season, then some of that bad taste won’t taste as bitter.

There is a great debate raging right now in Coral Gables, and it is obvious that it would come to this at some point when Jacory Harris was injured.  Stephen Morris has played like a veteran out there in the game and a half of action he now has under his belt.  Of course he made some freshman mistakes, but the overall body of work is very promising.

But even with that being said those performances were against Virginia and Maryland, and the quality of competition has to be taken into account.  Maryland is having a good season, and let’s face it playing Miami was Virginia’s bowl game for the year and they pushed all their chips in the middle and lucked out.  As expected people are making knee jerk suggestions that Stephen Morris should be the starter, and Jacory Harris is done at Miami.

First of all it is easy to see that Harris has not played his best football this season, and there are times where he looked like he has regressed in his development.  But, this player has led the Miami Hurricanes to a lot of wins since he has been the starter, to the point where he was being mentioned in the Heisman trophy conversation.  Although some of the blame should fall on Harris, there is plenty of blame to go around that contributed to losses.  Miami receivers have dropped plenty of passes this year, and there are times where the offensive line has not been stellar.

Many will point to Harris as the number two problem next to Randy Shannon, but the real problem lies in one simple word “approach”.  Mark Whipple’s approach to the game plan on offense has been the cause of many of the other issues that have plagued this team.  It seems like Whipple has given Harris a pass to throw the ball deep almost every play, and calls plays with multiple deep routes which encourage Harris to go for the big play.

Longer and deeper routes lead to lineman having to hold their block longer, which leads to false start and holding penalties as the lineman try to get an edge.  Add in the fact that Miami does nothing with snap count or cadence change when they drop back almost 40 times a game, and you have defenders timing the snap count almost perfectly.

Enter Stephen Morris, and all of a sudden Whipple decides he is not comfortable with a true freshman throwing the ball deep like Harris.  So, Whipple changes his play calling and emphasizes the running game against Maryland to the tune of 49 carries, and he called shallow to intermediate routes sprinkled in with play action passes to keep the defense off balance.

This enable Miami to move the ball against Maryland almost at will, they just kept stalling and settling for field goal attempts.  If Whipple took this same approach with Jacory Harris, and called less deep routes you would see the similar or better results potentially.  Whipple needs to dispense with the idea that Harris is an extension of the coach on the field; Harris takes too many unnecessary risks at inopportune times.

So before the fans go crowning Stephen Morris as the next great savior, they need to realize that if Whipple gets pass happy again we could be headed down the same path.  If Morris wins the job hopefully he will play within himself, and use his feet to scramble when he gets out of trouble rather than making errant throws.  One thing is for sure Morris brings another dimension to the game that Harris does not have, and if Whipple can stay committed to the run this team may be able to salvage this season after all.

The Miami Hurricanes are coming off a bad loss at Virginia, 24-19, where anything that could go wrong, did go wrong for the Hurricanes.  The Hurricanes started off slow on offense, which has been a common theme for them recently, and on defense, they shut Virginia out in the first quarter.  The second quarter is where things started to go south, as the Hurricanes gave up a touchdown after Virginia converted a fourth down.

After that, Miami started pressing a bit on offense, and Jacory Harris threw the ball deep to Travis Benjamin, only to see his pass picked off.  What makes matters worse is that Harris was hammered on the play and knocked out of the game after lying on the field for about 10 minutes.

In comes the unproven Spencer Whipple, and after a few series that saw two interceptions and probably the worst arm strength in college football, he was removed at halftime.

Freshman Stephen Morris came in and started slowly but caught up to game speed in the fourth quarter while leading the Hurricanes on a fierce rally that came up short in the end.  The aftermath of this is predictable, with droves of fans calling for Randy Shannon and Mark Whipple to be run out of town.

There are rumors that Miami’s president Donna Shalala has assured Shannon that his job is not in jeopardy, and Shalala is even calling angry fans that emailed her to talk about the situation.  It was allegedly revealed that she is somewhat content with eight- or nine-win seasons on a consistent basis, as long as the players are graduating, and there are no off-the-field issues.

Miami was recognized as having the second-highest graduation rate for its football program among the BCS Top 25 schools prior to last Saturday’s games, behind only Stanford. That only bolsters the direction Shalala wants to take the program.

While Hurricane fans continue to focus their ire on Shannon, they do not realize that Shannon is handcuffed and has to run the program the way Shalala directs him to.  I am sure Shannon would like to take some pages out of Jimmy Johnson’s book and run this program a little more like he did.

Shannon is in the same situation that coaches at schools like Stanford, Notre Dame and Duke are in, where the academic standards dictate the direction of the program. The University of Florida is not graduating players at a high national rate, but up until this year, they were winning tons of games on the field.  In the meantime, their football players had over 30 run-ins with law enforcement, and players were let back on the team after being arrested.

Shannon does not have that type of wide berth when it comes to his players or his program. He is not even allowed to recruit players who may have a questionable background or who might not graduate.  What that means is Shannon has to get the best athletes that will stay out of trouble, attend class and get it done in the classroom.

Then Shannon has to hope he gets enough of them to be able to win a national title. Stanford has never won a National Championship in football, and Notre Dame has not done so since 1988.  The balance between winning and having top-flight academics on a football team is hard to find, and that is why this is uncharted territory for Miami.

It’s interesting that Bob Stoops lost his quarterback in the first game last season, and Oklahoma lost to BYU when the backup came in.  Miami had the exact same situation happen, and the fans are all over him?  If fans think that things will be different by bringing in a new coach, they will be sorely mistaken as Shalala will impose the same strict guidelines on them as she has on Shannon.

Couple that with the fact that the administration does not want to pay big money for coaches, and you will not see a Gruden-, Stoops- or Spurrier-type coach come in here.

Stephen Morris sure looked like he was well-coached though, as he did very well considering he is a true freshman coming into a sticky situation.  Fans will continue to blast this team, potential recruits will see how the fans do not support their team and they may choose to go other places.

Recruits can read and see what fans are saying, and that attendance is always an issue with this program. The players will be turned off as much by the fans as anything else.

The Miami football program is at a crossroads right now, and while Shalala has realized the academic success she was hoping for, it remains to be seen if a National Championship can be won under her watch.

The Miami Hurricanes were dismantled by the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday 45 – 17, and it was that bad maybe even worse.  The Hurricanes put up one of the most underwhelming performances in the history of Miami Hurricanes football, and against their biggest rival no doubt.  As usual the fan base and sports media are up in arms calling for Randy Shannon’s head, and the benching of Jacory Harris immediately.  The fans should take a minute and relax; the knee jerk reaction whining is helping no one.

It's Cold In Coral Gables For Randy Shannon.

We all wanted to believe that “The U” was back, but the truth is we have all chosen to ignore the stark reality of college football.  The game of College football has changed over the past decade, and it has left the Hurricanes behind.  Fans fail to see the bigger picture here, get mad at Randy all you want.  Firing Randy Shannon and bringing in a head coach like Mike Leach is the dumbest thing I have heard in a long time, if Leach came in as an offensive coordinator maybe, but definitely not the head coach.  The administration led by Donna Shalala has a clear mission to have clean cut players who graduate, and carry themselves with dignity and respect on the field and off.

Sure Shalala would love to win a national championship, but her focus is academic accolades and proving that you can be at the top of college football while having a high graduation rate and no arrests.  Her marching orders to Shannon first and foremost were no off the field issues, and clean the program up.  Goals which Shannon has achieved with flying colors, why do you think they gave him a four year extension?

Back on Leach people do desperate things in desperate times, and I hope that Hocutt is smarter than that.  If Leach was such a great coach why has he not gotten a head coaching offer from the many that were open?  He interviewed for several jobs, and rather than coaching this year he is enjoying his time off from coaching.  Here is Leach’s coaching record at Texas Tech:

Year    Team             Overall    Conference
2000    Texas Tech    7–6        3–5
2001    Texas Tech    7–5        4–4
2002    Texas Tech    9–5        5–3
2003    Texas Tech    8–5        4–4
2004    Texas Tech    8–4        5–3
2005    Texas Tech    9–3        6–2
2006    Texas Tech    8–5        4–4
2007    Texas Tech    9–4        4–4
2008    Texas Tech    11–2      7–1
2009    Texas Tech    8–4        5–3
Texas Tech:                  84–43   47–33

In nine years at Texas Tech leach only had one 10 win season, and three nine win seasons.  He only won one conference title in nine years, and did not consistently beat Texas or Oklahoma.  Many will say well Leach had less talent and would thrive at Miami, but the fact is can we really say that Miami has elite talent now?  That is the perception, and it is true at some positions, but the quality of talent is unknown throughout the team.

Bring in Leach who may not be able to recruit the state of Florida, has no propensity for putting together good defensive squads and all Miami ends up as is Florida Tech.  If fans are complaining about mediocrity, then that is all you will get with Leach as well.  Randy Shannon has only been a head coach for four years, and maybe the Miami job is above his head.  But Leach’s first four years as a head coach are no better than Shannon’s record, so the Mike Leach talk needs to stop.  It’s a lateral move at best.

This administration is not going to bring in a $3 million dollar a year head coach, so forget a Saban or Meyer type coach coming in to save the day.  Miami makes coaches and does not pay them, why do you think we can never keep a great coach for long?  Then they decide to pay Coker of all people?  If you want to see what life will be like after Randy, look at what happened to Michigan when they switched systems.  Unless you get a coach who has a system to match the talent level on the team, then expect to struggle for two or three seasons as the team starts from scratch.  Maybe Shannon is not the answer, but outside of the top 5% what coach is going to come in that will guarantee success?  It’s all a roll of the dice, and if you are willing to risk three years of exchanging recruits, attrition, new systems and new coaches while the team struggles in hope of winning something in year four be my guest.

The bottom line is you have to have the horses to be in and eventually win the race.  The Hurricanes may not have the horses they need to win the ACC race, and changing jockeys will not necessarily fix that problem.  Robert Marve did not prove anything except that he is spoiled, and who is to say he would have worked out here.  Jacory is not the answer although he looked like he had potential last season, in contrast what is Meyer without Tebow?  Mediocre.

Drastic moves and changes hardly ever solve problems, Alabama and Florida hit lighting in a bottle.  Name another program that replaced a coach all of a sudden they were winning national titles?  That Paul Johnson move for Georgia Tech worked for one season, and they sure look like a power house this year (sarcasm).  I bet the probation, embarrassment, and NCAA sanctions heading Butch’s way at UNC are desirable as well, and for such a great coach he has not sniffed a conference title.

For all the panic and complaining this team can still win the ACC, and make a BCS game.  Should they pull it off then that may redeem Shannon and prove he is worthy of being the coach of this team.  One thing is for sure, no coach will ever take a demotion, if that is put on the table Shannon will leave the program.  Good luck finding good coordinators for the paltry salary Miami pays its assistants, Mark Stoops (FSU Def. Coordinator) makes more money than Randy Shannon.  If Miami is a big time program they need to pay to get the coach’s that will make them one, until then good luck attracting anyone big time to come to Coral Gables.