Kaaya, Canes defense
shine in Russell Athletic Bowl victory as Miami exercises its bowl
demons
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| Jamal Carter celebrates a Miami victory at Ga Tech in October. Photo/Todd Forrest |
And while junior
quarterback Brad Kaaya may have picked up some well deserved
post-game hardware after being named the MVP, it was the play of the
Canes' defense that proved to be the game changer.
The credit belongs to each
and every member of UM's defensive unit. Starting at the top with
Head Coach Mark Richt and Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz to Coach
Kool and the position coaches, the starters as well as their backups.
From the opening
possession, when D-linemen Chad Thomas and Kendrick Norton teamed up
for a strip and fumble recovery, to senior defensive back Adrian
Colbert's upending of a Mountaineer late in the fourth quarter –
bringing back memories of Vaughn Telemaque vs Georgia Tech in 2009 -
until the dust settled and the Canes held one of the top 20 offenses
in the nation to a season-low in yardage.
Mountaineer senior
quarterback Skyler Howard was sacked four times by a vicious Canes
D-line, harassing Howard into an anemic passer rating of 32.9. The
Orange & Green limited WVU to 229 yards of total offense with
Howard throwing for just 134 yards – and this was one of the top
offenses in the pass-happy Big 12. Yes, I realize WVU is a run-first
offense, but they managed just 95 yards on the ground with most of it
coming on QB scrambles when the pocket collapsed and the youthful
Canes pass rushers were breathing down Howard's neck. And BTW, the
Mountaineers entered the game churning out more than 220 YPG on the
ground and they equaled that number against The U – when you add
the passing yards.
While Richt's offense was
dysfunctional early on – unable to convert excellent field position
into points on the early fumble – the defense kept Miami in the
game.
Later in the first, the
'Neers were on the verge of putting UM into a two-score hole, until
the D went old-school-Canes, pinned their ears back and knocked West
Virginia out of field goal range.
Eventually, freshman
Ahmmon Richards proved why he's the most electrifying freshman in
college football (doing my Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson voice, while
failing at the People's Eyebrow) and took an 8-yard completion to the
house from 51 yards – knotting the score at 7-7.
On the ensuing Mountaineer
possession, Diaz's crew forced a three-and-out, then Kaaya roars to
life and the Canes were dancing, celebrating, playing the way Miami
is supposed to play, and bringing a giant smile to my face.
Malcolm Lewis and Braxton
Berrios hauled in scoring tosses from Kaaya, showing off their
dance moves afterwards.
21-7.
Before I forget, how was
there not a targeting penalty on Berrios' TD catch? Watch the replay
and tell me the WVU didn't launch himself into BB helmet-first.
OK, moving on.
Following a quiet first
half, redshirt-sophomore tight end David Njoku showed the nation what
Cane fans have known for two years: when 86 gets the ball in the open
field, he looks like a grown-@$$ man playing against children. (Njoku
announced after the game that he is turning pro. That was expected.)
Remember, Kellen Winslow,
Mountaineer fans? I'm certain Miami tight ends already weren't too
popular in Morgantown, WV.
28-7, Canes!
A read-option keeper by
Howard made it a 28-14 game but Michael Badgley answered from 30
yards out and Miami led 31-14.
A 17-point lead with a
little more than a quarter to play... more than enough for the UM
defense.
Kaaya may have played the
last game in a Canes uniform, and if he did, he went out on a high
note following a rocky start.
He opened by missing on
eight of his first 13 passes.
He finished 24-of-34 with
282 yards and 4 TD's to four different receivers. Mark Walton was
bottled up most of the night and tallied a pedestrian 52 yards on 17
carries. However, his punishing first down run to keep the drive
alive late in the game was one of the game's underrated plays. That
allowed UM to burn several minutes off the clock and essentially put
the game away.
Finally I would like to
point out that entering Wednesday, Miami was among the nations best
in protecting the football and once again, played turnover-free
football. Someone remind me, which team was talking smack to Corn
Elder and the Miami DB's earlier in the week? 134 passing yards for
WV. Nothing more to say.
AFTERMATH – I
tweeted a few days ago that this year's bowl game was going to remind
Canes Nation of the Gator Bowl following the 1999 season when Miami
disposed of Georgia Tech, before they were Coastal Division foes, to
finish the year at 9-4.
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| Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz with a pair of his young linebackers. Photo/Todd Forrest |
The following year, Miami
was robbed of playing for another NC by a computer in a dark room
somewhere. I'm not saying Miami is back to it's early 2000s level,
but we're closer than we've been in a decade.
The last two times folks
were asking if UM was back, we played less than stellar
(Understatment alert!) in the Russell Athletic Bowl in 2009 and 2013.
The following season (2014), we took a YUUUGE step back (in my Donald
Trump voice) after getting embarrassed by UL. Bigly.
(For more on UM struggles
in the Russell Athletic Bowl and the downward spiral that followed,
scroll down a few paragraphs).
I see the Canes building
on this win and playing for their first ACC Championship in 2017.
There are still a few too many holes to compete for a playoff spot,
but if we continue recruiting savages that are dedicated to putting
The U back on top, we'll be there very soon.
Speaking of young savages
tearing it up in Coral Gables, I will touch on what I've vented about
on Twitter a few times, HOW WAS JOE JACKSON NOT A FRESHMAN
ALL-AMERICAN?!?!
How many freshman
defensive lineman are better than #99? Please, show them to me!
And while I'm at it, how
did Miami NOT have more representatives on the All ACC teams? Maybe
we should hold a separate vote at the conclusion of bowl season.
Russell Athletic Bowl
has been unkind to Canes
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| Freshman Joe Jackson returns a fumble for a TD at Georgia Tech. Photo/Todd Forrest |
What makes this Russell
Athletic Bowl victory so darn sweet? The last two times the
University of Miami rolled into Orlando to take part in the Russell
Athletic Bowl, they did so with high hopes. The only problem: they
forgot to show up mentally.
In 2009 the Hurricanes
spent the majority of the season in the top 25 following a shootout
victory in Tallahassee on Labor Day that propelled sophomore
quarterback Jacory Harris into the national spotlight and briefly
into the Heisman Trophy conversation.
The Canes climbed into the
top 10 before inconsistency returned to Coral Gables and Miami found
themselves watching the ACC Championship game from home. However, a
Russell Athletic Bowl match-up with an athletically inferior
Wisconsin squad awarded UM the opportunity to win 10 games for the
first time since 2003.
Unfortunately, what the
Badgers lacked in speed and overall talent, they made up for with
toughness and superior coaching. Most fans of the Orange & Green
remember the sight of Miami players gathered around the sideline
heaters when the temperatures plummeted into the 50's (yes, the 50's)
while Wisconsin, wearing short sleeves and cramping from the heat,
mocked and laughed at the Canes acting like they were suffering from
frostbite and hypothermia.
Randy Shannon's bunch
didn't show up until they found themselves trailing in a
two-possession game, late in the fourth quarter. Their frantic rally
turned out to be too-little, too-late as Wisconsin held on for the W.
That loss, unlike the loss
in 2013, wasn't quite as devastating to Canes fans since Shannon
fielded an extremely young team in 2009 and the mood remained
optimistic for the future.
Fast forward one year:
Shannon is fired, Al Golden is hired, and the Miami players are
throwing snowballs at each other in El Paso during a beatdown at the
hands of hated rival Notre Dame, after opening the season in the top
10 and finishing 7-5 with a humiliating loss to Florida State and an
overtime loss to South Florida, who was playing with a 3rd
string freshman QB.
Three years later, the hot
topic on the UM message boards and social media was a guy named
“Nevin” and talk of the “death penalty” when the NCAA “drops
the hammer.”
Just like the 2009 season,
2013 opened with promise, highlighted by an ugly turnover-filled
victory over the hated Gators. While Head Coach Al Golden and players
celebrated in Landshark (or whatever the stadium called itself that
year), that's one of the rare moments that I was proud of an Al
Golden accomplishment.
After climbing high as No.
7 in the polls and Shapiro-gate in the rearview, Miami was
embarrassed by Jameis “Crab Legs” Winston and the eventual
National Champs. To add injury to insult, the heart-and-soul of that
Hurricanes team, Duke Johnson went down with a broken ankle, and the
season went down with him.
Three consecutive losses
dropped UM into irrelevance once again. But they did wrap up the
regular season with a pair of wins to improve to 9-3 with a chance to
win No. 10 in the, you guessed it, Russell Athletic Bowl.
Back in 2009, the Canes
didn't show up until the fourth quarter against Wisconsin. Facing
Louisville and all-world QB Teddy Bridgewater in the 2013 edition of
the Russell Athletic Bowl, Miami didn't bother to show up at all. To
make matters worse, during his recruitment, Bridgewater dumped The U
because he didn't want to become the “next Jacory Harris” (I'm
paraphrasing).
Not only did he beat the
Canes, Bridgewater humiliated his hometown school in a rout that
caused me to turn off the TV before halftime and retire to bed for
the evening.
In the offseason, likely
starting QB Ryan Williams blew out his knee, forcing Golden to turn
to true freshman Brad Kaaya. While getting Kaaya that extra year of
experience only benefited the program, the excuse of playing a
true-freshman QB probably bought Golden another year when even Stevie
Wonder could see it was time to part ways.
Although, had Golden been
canned following the 2014 season, we'd probably be stuck with
Cristobal or Schiano right now instead of Richt, so it was probably
worth another year of cursing at Golden through the television screen
to land a coach worthy of taking the reigns of The U.
To summarize: Every time
we've been close, the Russell Athletic Bowl has b!#%h slapped us back
into mediocrity and it took us years to recover each time. This is
the year we finally take that next step following a bowl victory.
31-14: How sweet it is!
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| Ahmmon Richards celebrates with the defense following a Shaq Quarterman scoop-and-score at Ga Tech. Photo/Todd Forrest |
I have faith in Mark
Richt. Being a UM fan in Georgia, sometimes I get tired of hearing
about UGA from my friends, but the one thing I always respected about
the Dawgs was UM alum Coach Richt. I would root against UGA in hopes
they would fire him and last December, the stars aligned and they
parted ways with MR while we were looking for a coach. (DISCLAIMER:
Nothing against Butch. I wanted the BOT to bring back Butch because I
didn't think UGA would be stupid enough to fire Richt. I wanted Butch
ever since I knew Golden wasn't the man for the job, but Richt was
the best coach available at the time, and for the first time, the
school opened up its checkbook and went out and hired the best).
My argument remained
constant: if MR can win 9-10 games annually in the SEC, he should
average 10-11 wins in the ACC, and more often than not, 11-1 with an
ACC title is going to get you into the CFB playoffs.
September 2017 can't
get here fast enough
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| Canes fans had a lot to celebrate in 2016 and 2017 should be an even better year after the bowl victory. Photo/Todd Forrest |
This will be an exciting
offseason as we wait until signing day. Up next is spring practice,
then the preseason magazines will come out in the summer as we count
down the days to opening day.
Living in Georgia I don't
get to attend a lot of games but I plan to be on the sidelines taking
pictures at UNC and at Duke games in 2017. And even if Kaaya doesn't
return in 2017, I have faith in Malik Rosier as a junior.
He was impressive when he
saw action as a freshman and I trust he's only improved, and will
continue to improve, the more time he works with a top-notch coaching
staff. His mobility will add a wrinkle that opposing defenses will
need to prepare for. He is a solid thrower and if it wasn't for the
defense giving up a late score and forcing the 8-lateral miracle in
Durham, we would have been praising Rosier for winning that game for
us, with an interim coach, only days after Golden was canned.
That game proved he can
sling the rock, not on the level of BK, but his legs will add another
dimension that BK never possessed. And with a suspect offensive line,
a mobile QB is a gigantic plus.
I also have faith in Chris
Herndon to fill in for Njoku. He's no Njoku but I expect he can
replace Njoku as well as Kevin Everett replaced Winslow. Herndon will
be playing on Sundays, joining the long line of UM tight ends in the
League.
The defensive front-7 will
be downright nasty, the only question mark will be replacing the
losses in the secondary. That's where corners Sheldrick Redwine,
Malek Young, and safety Jaquan Johnson will pick up the slack left by
Elder and Co.. Also, watchout for the upcoming freshmen on that side
of the ball.
Happy New Years Cane fans!
Isn't it wonderful to enter the offseason with a WIN! Leave me a
comment or holler at me on Twitter. I appreciate the feedback.
Peace, love, and Miami
football,
Todd
