Miami Football: The Beast Unleashed-Slow Down Everyone
Photo Courtesy of the Miami Herald
I knew this was going to happen. I knew it from the moment Duke Johnson crossed the goal line on his second TD run against Boston College.
“Give Duke the Heisman.”
“He’s the next coming of Clinton Portis.”
“He’s the best athlete in town.”
These are all legitimate Tweets I saw after Duke’s dazzling performance on Saturday. The kid, and he is still a kid, had barely pointed to his mom after scoring that second touchdown before he was already anointed to be the next great one.
Look, in the end, he may just end up being that next great one. But one game, seven carries, a tough first down and two TDs in, let’s just relax for a minute of two. I’m not saying Duke Johnson isn’t really good. I’m not telling you that even I am not pumped up by his performance and having dreams of him flying through the FSU secondary on the way to a winning TD run. I’m telling you that it was just one game and we have to calm our corpuscles a bit.
The same could be said for the rest of the offense. Stephen Morris looked as good against Boston College as we’ve ever seen him. He played with in the offense, was accurate and most importantly didn’t make a ton of mental mistakes. It was extremely refreshing to not have to worry every time our QB let the ball go. I almost forgot what life was like before the Jacory Cringe.
Freshman RT Erek Flowers graded out at 94% for the game. I’m going to guess that’s pretty unusual for a true freshman, making his first start, on the road, against a physical team like BC. But, again, before we turn Erek Flowers into Joaquin Gonzalez or Leon Searcy, let’s get him to his second game first.
We so tend to over react as ‘Canes fans. One day Malcolm Lewis is just another freshman on the roster. The next day he’s the next Santana Moss.
We so badly want our ‘Canes to be back. We so want the players of now to be as great as the players of yesterday that any glimmer of hope turns into much more than a glimmer. The one thing I’m going to always try to do is be Mr. Reality. Now, granted, I’m going to be Mr. Reality with orange and green pupils, but still Mr. Reality.
When I predicted that this team would be around .500 this season, I got lambasted like a fire marshal that just shut down a Guns ‘n’ Roses concert. I continue to tell you that I would give every bone in my body for this team to get to 8 or 9 wins etc. Maybe I’ll change my outlook, but it’s going to take more than one game to do that.
The defense was flat out miserable against Boston College. Ok they made a good goal line stand, there were three turnovers and they did pretty well against the run, but 441 passing yards can’t be ignored. Now I’m not going to panic. If I’m not going to get too high after one game, I’m not going to get too low either. However, journalism is predicated on finding answers to questions. When things are going well, there are less questions to get answers to. When things are going bad, there are question galore. How many times can Al Golden be asked about how good Duke Johnson is? It’s much more important to get to the bottom of why guys were allowed to roam free against Boston College. I mean I’m a cheerleader in a fan’s body just like you, but my brain needs answers to questions, and sometimes tough questions. Would it surprise me if Miami’s defense was exponentially better next week? Not at all. It wouldn’t surprise me if Duke didn’t look like a Heisman candidate either. We’ve only played one game.
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If they win Saturday (I don’t think they will) does your .500 winning percentage change at all?
Yes, I think so…
Good job Debbie Downer! We have been on the crap end of the stick for way too long. It’s not ok for us to indulge just a lil in the ecstasy that is a really good win on the road when we normally crap the bed on the road against physical teams. Now I agree that anyone calling for Duke to compete for a Heisman had one too many orange and green jello shots but to not live in the now at all is also doing the fans a bit of a disservice. Look I am not sure how this season is going to turn out. I have us just about repeating our record from last year with an additional win or two added. Hoping for a 8 win season. So there are going to be many many low days where we have a collective meltdown in the forums and on twitter. I doubt I see another article instructing the fans to “Slow Down”. Rather we will probably see an in-depth analysis of why we played so poorly. Hell none of us are promised tomorrow so if some fans want to cook up a vile of Cane Crack and have a good time, I say to each its own. I am cautiously optimistic about this season for the Canes. I think the team will continue to improve game after game as the new guys get more acclimated to game speed and situations. We have a tough schedule too but we lost EVERY GAME by less than a touchdown last year with the Maryland game being a touchdown and 2pt conversion. We were weak and out of condition which caused us to falter at the end of games. This team just by the results of Saturday shows us that if we are in the hunt in the final minutes of a game, our chances of pulling out a victory is vastly improved. So Canes fans who were sipping on the Orange and Green Kool-Aid before the Spring session even let out, keep drinking my friends and stay thirsty. Good times are ahead of us and being passionate bout your alma mater is Cool in my book.
Excellent perspective. Whole lotta truth in that article. It has been one game, but remembering what it was like watching Randy’s last game with USF and watching them now – wow, light years ahead where I thought they would be. Add the wonder of sanctions hanging over the program and it is truly amazing. Drinking kool-aid? Yeah, brushing my teeth with it too.