With the well known youth movement that happened in Coral Gables, it is obvious that Randy Shannon and Co are trying to accomplish two things:

a) Realizing the talent at UM when he got there was not good enough and the team had to start freshman to rebuild faster.

b) Try to fast track the upper classmen’s development by throwing freshmen ahead of them in the depth chart.

What Happened?

For some juniors and seniors we saw marginal improvement in response to this influx of competition, and for others we saw them crack under the pressure and transfer.  Coach Shannon has certainly benefited from his style of coaching.  The program appears squeaky clean, everybody now seems to be embracing the family at the U, which has been absent since the days of Coach Davis, and slowly but surely, improvement is happening on the field.  Most UM fans will say the latter is the most important and it isn’t happening fast enough, but Shannon is making a long term adjustment to the program and doing it the right way.  UM fans should rest easy knowing results are coming.

2008 Review

The 2008 season saw improvment from the 2007 season but still left a bitter taste at its end.  The Canes started out as predicted, hanging 52 in a payout game, losing to UF in the Swamp, and handling Texas A&M.  We got glimpses of both young quarterbacks, we saw a nice running game, and a defense that definitely needed to be worked on.  The next part of the season was more of a reality check than anything else.  After beating Texas A&M, expectations rose a little too high going into a game against Butch Davis and UNC, after starting strong in that game, the offense evaporated and the defense fell asleep and couldn’t contain probably the best receiving core in the ACC (check the draft for proof).  Then following that loss, FSU came to town, and the defense was gashed for 281 rushing yards, 150 by QB Christian Ponder.  Then, UM had UCF at home the next week and again had an invisible offense sqeak by the Knights.  This low part of the season didn’t really end until about 1:25 remained in the 2nd quarter at Duke the following week.  With UM trailing the Blue Devils 17-7 (really?…..Duke?……trailing?) Jacory Harris took the field and put on a clinic.  He led UM to a quick score before the half, and then tossed three more touchdowns and ran for another in the second half to blow the game open.  This was a turning point in the season.  The next week UM took care of a good Wake Forest team in a defensive struggle, and then in the following week, at Virginia, Jacory Harris was the savior again as they came from behind in very dramatic fashion (95 yard, 15 play dramatic fashion).  This followed up with a huge statement win over Virginia Tech.  It was after this stretch that Miami hit the wall and began to falter.  Whether it was freshman reaching the limit, or getting ahead of themselves from a little success, the Canes got whalloped by Georgia Tech’s Triple Option, then lost to NC State in a game that meant the world to NCSU and not much to Miami.  But the great improvement for UM was they won 7 games and were now heading to a bowl game.  After losing some key players due to injury (Dedrick Epps was a HUGE loss), and one quarterback being suspended, UM lost a close game in the Emerald Bowl to a team boasting a 2009 Heisman Candidate in Jahvid Best.  This finished the Canes at 7-6, improvement from 2007, but marginal at best.

Related posts:

1. The U Report: Camp Finally Begins
2. The U Report: Schedule Analysis
3. The U Report: Roster Analysis – Quarterbacks
4. The U Report: Shannon Doing it Right
5. The U Report: Miami Disrespected