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.

Fans were clamoring for Johnson to see more playing time, and claimed Randy Shannon was a fool for no playing him as he was one of the “best” players on the roster.  Johnson showed a flash of greatness by busting out for a 71 yard touchdown run late in the game against South Florida when the Hurricanes offense was really struggling.  That made fans even more adamant that Storm Johnson needed to see the field sooner rather than later.

When Al Golden took over he instilled some new rules and some new ways of doing things and at the end of Spring Practice Storm Johnson was third on the depth chart behind Lamar Miller and Mike James.  Now Johnson has asked for his release from the university of Miami for reasons his father states is because UM’s backfield is too crowded.  He also mentioned that Storm has a desire to play closer to his mother in Georgia as another deciding factor.  Coach Al Golden indicated that Johnson was not doing the things required of him as a Miami Hurricanes Football player, and that it was a mutual decision to let him go.

The Hurricanes are loaded at running back anyway, as they have players you already know in Lamar Miller and Mike James.  They also have several players Darion Hall, Maurice Hagens, and Kevin Grooms who are waiting in the wings who are more than willing to step in and make an impact at the Miami.  You have to wonder about Johnson though, he knew how loaded the Hurricanes were at running back when he signed, and he knew how far it was from his mother.  This is more than a simple case of someone getting homesick, but only people inside the program can really say what the real issue was.  The Hurricanes aren’t going to miss a step at running back, but what school will Storm Johnson end up at?

Keion Payne – Redshirt Freshman (5′ 10″, 185 lbs.)

Payne came to the Hurricanes after being, named to the All-Broward third team by the Miami Herald and All-Broward honorable mention by the Sun Sentinel.  He was rated as the No. 19 cornerback and four-star recruit by Scout.com, the No. 29 cornerback prospect by Rivals.com, and No.72 prospect on the Bill Buchalter’s Florida Top 100 State List.  As a senior in high school he had three interceptions, one returned for a touchdown and was part of a Ft. Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas secondary that allowed opponents an average of only 100.7 passing yards per game.  His 33 recorded tackles, 14 passes broken up, and four interceptions as a junior at Dillard High School showed the versatility and potential of Payne at the next level.

Payne has bulked up in his redshirt year at Miami as he came to the Hurricanes weighing about 168 lbs., but he is now in the 180 pound range and runs a solid 4.46 forty yard dash.  He has great ball skills and consistently shows the ability to make plays in the secondary, but will need to work on his speed and quickness to better handle quicker and faster wide receivers.  Payne is rumored to be suspended for the first game of the season next year, and no reason has been given for the suspension.  This is not a good display of leadership for Payne, and he will need to mature a bit before he can be considered great because off the field is just as important as on the field.

Brandon McGee – Junior (6′ 0″, 190 lbs.)

In 2010 McGee played in 11 games starting the season opener against Florida A&M, and recorded 15 tackles on the year with two pass break-ups.  He had his best game against Pittsburgh, and was one of the top cornerback prospects in the country coming out of high school.  McGee has shown flashes of being a dominant player, and was one of three true freshman to appear in double digit games for the Hurricanes during the 2009 season.  McGee has the speed to be a shut down corner, and has all of the tools to turn into a top tier defensive back.

Thomas Finnie – Freshman (5′ 10″, 170 lbs.)

A graduate of Miami’s Central High School, Finnie was a three-star prospect and rated as the nation’s No. 39 cornerback. He will be on campus and in classes at UM this week.  This fall for the state champions, the 5-10, 170-pounder tallied 45 tackles and recorded one interception as a high school senior.

Finnie originally committed to South Carolina, but settled to Miami after he met with Al Golden and his staff. He has been clocked at 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash and was a track star in high school, where he finished second in the state in the 100-yard dash.  Miami Central defeated Dr. Phillips high school to the win the 2010 Florida State 6A Championship.  Finnie has the potential to be a great player, but it is too early to tell how he is going to develop.

Tyrone Cornileus – Freshman (6′ 2″, 195 lbs.)

Enrolled in January 2010 … Ranked the No. 39 outside linebacker prospect in the nation by Rivals.com and three-star recruit by Scout.com … Finished his senior season with 108 tackles, an interception, two forced fumbles, two blocked punts and eight tackles for loss and helped lead Stephenson to an 11-1 record and the second round of the playoffs … As a junior tallied 118 tackles, three interceptions (one returned for a touchdown), two forced fumbles (one returned for a score), four sacks, 11 tackles for losses, a blocked punt and three safeties … Named a first-team all-state selection by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and Associated Press … No. 28 player on the AJC Top 50 List.

Vaugn Telemaque – Junior (6′ 2″, 200 lbs.)

In the 2010 season Telemaque was one of seven `Canes to start all 13 games, he was fourth on the team with 59 tackles.  Telemaque tied for the team lead in interceptions with three, and he led the team with three fumble recoveries.  Telemaque was also awarded the Nick Chickillo Most Improved Player award by the team.  Telemaque has an aggressive nose for the ball, and is also great in run support which you can’t say about a lot of DB’s.

He has been one of the most consistent players for the Hurricanes since he started playing at Miami, and Telemaque has started to emerge as the emotional leader on defense.  In a game against North Carolina last season when the Hurricanes were struggling to put away the Tar Heels, Telemaque went over and challenged the players on offense to score.  He was so adamant about it that Hurricanes offensive coordinator Mark Whipple started to bark back at Telemaque, that kind of passion hasn’t been displayed by a player since Ed Reed.

Ray Ray Armstrong – Junior (6′ 4″, 215 lbs.)

In 2010 Ray Ray Armstrong was third on the team in tackles with 79, and recorded a team-high tying three interceptions for the Hurricanes.  Armstrong contributed 4.5 tackles for loss, and scored one of the team’s two defensive touchdowns with a 22-yard interception return against Florida A&M.  Armstrong was one of the prize recruits of the Randy Shannon Era a 5-star recruit blessed with that rare combination of size and speed.  Armstrong was ranked the #2 prospect in the state of Florida in 2009, and has played a lot during his Miami career.  He is now poised in his Junior year to mkae the type of impact many have expected of him when he signed with the Hurricanes.

Ray Ray Armstrong is going to be the next great Hurricane defensive back because he can has the size, speed and athleticism that reminds us all of Shuan Taylor.  Armstrong has one thing holding him back, which is his conditioning, but new Hurricanes defensive backs coach Paul Williams says that will be resolved.  Armstrong is a freak, and has already taken on a leadership role getting teammates lined up and in the right position to make plays.  This will be a breakout year for Armstrong.

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.

The Miami Hurricanes created a “U Tough” video that gave a glimpse inside the Spring workouts the Miami Hurricanes have been doing.  It shows Al Golden and his coaching staff putting the players through a rigorous set of workouts that had them sweating and gasping by the time it was all over.  Golden and his staff have instilled some new philosophies during spring workouts as well, like many schools there is a practice Jersey tradition where players are awarded a certain jersey for effort.  Miami has never really had this, but under Al Golden there are now four levels of jersey color a player can earn for their level of effort in workouts.

Black, Green, Orange, and White are the jersey colors that are used, and if you are wearing a white jersey then that means you are giving atrocious effort and need to step it up.  An interesting note on the workouts is that many people criticized Randy Shannon for conducting 6:00am workouts, but on Wednesdays and Fridays Al Golden has the team out there at 6:00am as well.  What people fail to realize is practices that early are designed to make you go to bed earlier, and to get you out of a comfort zone and make you work harder.

The effort this new coaching staff is putting into getting the players to be more tough and well-conditioned is a good thing for this program, but the truth is do the returning players have enough heart to make a difference with it on the field?  What Golden is hoping it will do is make practice so much harder and grueling than the games that in the fourth quarter the Hurricanes will be fresh while the other team is bent over gasping for air.

There does seem to be a new air of excitement and high expectations around the University of Miami football program.  Golden has opened up the program for the public to look into with a heavy social media blitz, and various video clips showing coaches meetings and workouts.  It seems apparent that Golden is in fact trying to reverse the tone of the Randy Shannon Era which was restrict the flow of information and keep the media and fans from getting a glimpse inside the program.  It was not something that people understood at the time, but it’s clear now that fans are enjoying the increased access to Canes football.

There is a large debate at the University of Miami about whether Shannon was as good of a recruiter as he was reported to be.  There is no denying that Shannon left some talent on this team, but some of the players did not pan out to be as good as once touted which is one of the reasons Shannon is not here anymore.  Since Al Golden has taken over the Hurricanes have been in scramble mode trying to put a staff together, prepare for a bowl game, and fill out the recruiting class.

At the under Armor All Star game in St. Petersburg, Florida the University of Miami was only represented by one player Anthony Chickillo who was one of the best players on the field at the right defensive end position.  Al Golden and his staff getting a late start did something innovative, they had a letter addressed to every player at the game waiting for them at Check-In.  Here is an excerpt of what the letter said:

At the top it read “From: MIAMI HURRICANE FOOTBALL STAFF”.

Below that: “U Put In The Work, U Paid The Price, U Earned It All”.

No other colleges did that, and it received a positive response from all of the players.  It does not seem to have initially swayed any players to change their commitment, but what it did do was let players know that the University of Miami is still a top dog in college football and is not quietly sitting in the corner satisfied with mediocrity.

Golden in his short time has solidified the commitment of Anthony Chickillo, and although he lost recruits Teddy Bridgewater and Eli Rogers to Louisville it has not affected what he is building at Miami.  Golden has received five commitments since he has taken over the head coaching position, and Miami is now in the mix for about 5 – 10 players who are committed to other programs.  Whatever Golden is doing on the recruiting trail it seems to be working as you are starting to hear kids putting Miami in their top five again.

Here are the commitments Golden has picked up so far:

Olsen Pierre 3 stars DE

Fork Union, VA Fork Union Military Academy

6’6″  280 lbs.

Dalton Botts 3 stars K

Moorpark, CA Moorpark C.C.

6’3″ 200 lbs.

Thomas Finnie 3 stars DB

Miami, FL Miami Central

5’10″ 170 lbs.

Taylor Gadbois 3 stars OL

Dallas, GA East Paulding

6’8″ 295 lbs.

Ricardo Williams 3 stars DE

Homestead, FL Homestead

6’5″ 210 lbs.

In the case of Thomas Finnie he was scheduled to fly to South Carolina to finalize his commitment to the Gamecocks, but Al Golden and staff never let him board that plane and by the end of the day he was a Hurricane commit.  Ricardo Williams was leaning heavy to sign with the North Carolina Tar Heels as he was not being recruited by Randy Shannon, but Al Golden locked up this commit who says he wanted to be a Hurricane all along.

Golden has targeted three QB’s in this class one who he has offered a scholarship already, but he is currently committed to Wake Forest.  The other two targets are waiting on an offer from the University of Miami and said they would commit if offered.  This could be one of the best salvage jobs of a recruiting class when it is all finished because Golden is getting players to de-commit form other schools to come to Miami.  That is not an easy thing to do, and one thing is for sure every living room that Al Golden and his staff sit in the parents and players have been impressed with how Golden conducts business.

Miami and Notre Dame are hard in preparation for their matchup on December 31^st in the Sun Bowl renewing one of college football’s best rivalries.  There have been mixed emotions regarding the game among Hurricane fans, with some commenting that this is merely a game against two irrelevant programs living off past glory.  The fact that the game sold out relatively quickly is an indication that most people are excited about this matchup between two of college football’s historic programs.

Miami has a lot of things riding on this game contrary to what some may think about the game being irrelevant.  The Hurricanes have a new coach in Al Golden who has already spoken to the team about how important a win over Notre Dame is no matter what the record of the two teams are.  Players have said they are going to win this game for fired coach Randy Shannon to show their support for the things he did for them during his time as coach.  Then there is the national attention this game is going to bring because of the two teams involved in it, and it will have implications as to which program is headed up and which one is headed spiraling further downward.

What does a win in the Sun Bowl truly mean for the Hurricanes though?  If Miami goes out and has a dominating performance against the Irish many will say that Randy Shannon was the problem and his removal motivated the players to reach their full potential.  If the Hurricanes have a lackluster performance and lose the game then people will blame it on the coaches left behind by Randy Shannon.  The truth is this game is all on the players, you have a lame duck coaching staff with motivation being provided by the new head coach.  The Randy Shannon scapegoat will not be an excuse if these players do not come out and perform at a high level, but the truth is this is still a bowl game that has no bearing on the season for these players.  If there is a lackluster effort or motivation people should not be surprised even though many will agree it is always a big game when Miami and Notre Dame meet.

These players have not shown much pride in the “U” on the side of their helmet all season, so why should we all of a sudden expect them to care about it now?  If you can’t come out motivated against your arch rival Florida State at home in front of a sold out crowd and Sun Shark (whatever they call it these days) stadium, then how can you put that helmet on with any dignity?  Wearing that emblem goes beyond coaching, players should want to excel because they want to continue the winning tradition that attracted them to Miami in the first place.

If they come out flat against Notre Dame that just means this group of players was never championship material to begin with.  If the team plays horribly it may almost be a vindicating force for the fired Hurricanes coach because the players did not respond to the new coach’s speech about how important it is to beat Notre Dame, or the fact that competition is going to be open at all positions.  It is really difficult to gauge anything from a bowl game when dealing with young kids, but it’s Miami vs. Notre Dame, Catholics vs. Convicts it does not get any better than this.

This is huge for Al Golden in the sense that if the players do not respond to him he is going to have his work cut out for him until he can get players in the program who do not make excuses.  Also, Golden has not exactly been making a splash in recruiting as of yet coming in during a tough period trying to salvage this recruiting class.  If the Hurricanes come out and look like an energized team that exemplifies what the Hurricane football was known for on the field, then that could energize potential recruits because Miami may be headed back in the right direction.  Even though Golden is not coaching the game this is his team, and he has already started to instill his persona throughout.  If the Hurricanes lose Golden will not be blamed of course, but it may signal that changes need to be made at some positions going forward.

This game is big because it is a potential turning point for Miami football, if the cupboards are truly stocked with talent as most seem to think then this game should not even be close.  If Randy Shannon truly was a prohibitive force then that there should be nothing left holding these players back from unleashing the full weight of their talent on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.  Players like Adewale Ojomo and others who pointed the finger at Randy Shannon, will now have to produce and prove that their claims have some validity.  The Hurricanes should handle the Irish in the Sun Bowl, but we will see how this team responds to all that has gone on this season, and if they have the mental toughness to play to their full potential.

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.