Miami-FSU thoughts
posted by LW, Tuesday, September 08, 2009
The ACC just got a lot more interesting ... and maybe a lot better.
Neither Miami nor Florida State looked like a Top 5 team last night, particularly on defense.
And it was just one game. So any "they're back" talk is premature at this point.
But it's hard not to think both programs are on their way back. And that's what the ACC so desperately needs.
Parity is nice and all, but people won't start taking the ACC seriously until the conference produces more national contenders.
And FSU and Miami, with their history and their access to gobs of talent, might be in the best position to rise up and represent in that fashion -- not necessarily this year, but in general.
We saw last year at Florida State how much good coaching can mean to a program. The Seminoles' offense wasn't a juggernaut in Year 2 under Jimbo Fisher, but his creativity and sensibility made that offense formidable for the first time in a while. And the 'Noles appear to be even better on that side of the ball in his third year.
It's early, but Mark Whipple's replacing of Patrick Nix as Miami's offensive coordinator appears to have made the 'Canes a lot better on offense. Once again, far from a machine. But it's amazing what smart, rhythmic play-calling can do.
It's also amazing what talent can do, and there was gobs of it all over the field last night. Talent, and speed.
Were there issues at secondary on both sides? Absolutely. Significant issues.
Otherwise, though, plenty to be impressed about. And plenty of reasons to think these programs could be done slogging through mediocrity.
That's nothing but a good thing for the ACC, because said mediocrity from these two former powers has been the biggest contributor to the conference's overall inferiority.
I didn't think of this until reading this story, but last night's final sequence was eerily similar to the 1991 game between the Canes and 'Noles. Remember Florida State's sideline erupting -- albeit temporarily -- before they realized the field goal was wide right?
Same deal last night when they thought Jarmon Fortson made the TD catch.
Speaking of Fortson, kid looks like the real deal. But his drop at the last second wasn't the only costly miscue. He dropped a perfectly-thrown pass by Christian Ponder inside the 5-yard line in the third quarter as the 'Noles were poised to drop the hammer. Soon thereafter, Ponder lost a fumble to allow Miami to get back in it.
Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel says not so fast on the FSU return-to-glory thing.
Shannon's Miami team won the game and stays alive in the arduous ascension back to respectability and relevance. Only time will tell, but Bowden's Seminoles might now be in for another season of obscurity and mediocrity.
Not saying it's impossible, but does anybody see the Seminoles recovering from this devastating home loss to an unranked Miami team and still having the type of season fans expect? Florida State goes to BYU in two weeks. Then hosts South Florida. Then it's conference games against Boston College, Georgia Tech and North Carolina. None of those are gimmes.
While it's true FSU's Ponder looked better than he ever has Monday night (he completed 24 of 41 passes for a career-high 294 yards and two touchdowns), it's hard to imagine the Seminoles winning nine or 10 games after their young, bumfuzzled defense yielded a career-high 386 passing yards to sore-armed Miami QB Jacory Harris.
You simply cannot allow a young quarterback like Harris in his first start against FSU to throw for nearly 400 yards -- the 10th-highest total a UM quarterback has ever recorded -- and expect to challenge for any type of championship.
Man ... hard to believe the big game in Atlanta is the day after tomorrow.
In the AJC, Paul Johnson says Georgia Tech will kick it deep despite the presence of Spiller and Ford.
“Planning on kicking it,” Johnson said. “Got to kick it and cover it.”
Here's a story on Georgia Tech's biggest question mark: the defensive line.
Looks like the new guys are confident, though, and have more experience than you might think.
As the Yellow Jackets enter Thursday night’s ACC opener against Clemson at Bobby Dodd Stadium, there is reason for fans to take comfort, end Robert Hall said. Because the players facing the Tigers’ offensive line this week have done it before.
“If anybody goes back or anybody remembers the last game we played against Clemson, you’ll see the same line in there that’s playing Thursday,” the Hawkinsville native said. “We rotated a lot, and a lot of those guys were already in there. We obviously came up big last year and won. I don’t know if you can equate that to success this year, but hey, same guys, we should be the same.”
While Walker, Richard, Morgan and Michael Johnson got the start against Clemson last October, Hall, Peters and fellow fresh face Ben Anderson came in and played in relief at points during Georgia Tech’s 21-17 road victory.
Peters had one tackle, while Hall finished with two, including a tackle-for-loss and a fumble recovery.
Boston College's 54-0 win over Northeastern left this writer talking division title for the Eagles. Seriously.
The Post and Courier has a piece on Clemson's offseason preparation for Georgia Tech, complete with a mug shot of Kevin Steele that looks kinda scary:
I did raise my eyebrows at this quote from Kavell Conner:
"There is not too much misdirection."
The Georgia Tech I've watched has plenty of misdirection.
Brad Scott gives the OL high marks from Saturday's game, and that's a bit puzzling to me.
Speaking of Conner, he said sitting the opener was a humbling experience.
Here's a story on Brandon Maye reining in his emotions, leading with a good anecdote:
A long, lonely walk summoned the inspiration for Clemson linebacker Brandon Maye to rein in his fiery temperament.
During a scrimmage last spring, Maye got into a skirmish with offensive lineman Antoine McClain, after which Maye was sent to the sidelines.
Maye's hairpin-trigger disposition was already well-established within the program, but it exceeded the boiling point when the Mobile, Ala., native sustained his theatrics in a 10-minute tantrum with coaches.
Dabo Swinney then banished Maye to the locker room, located a distant walk across the Memorial Stadium parking lot in a building on the other side of the road.
"That's when the bell finally clicked," Maye said.
Maye turned around at one point during the walk, calmly returned to the stadium and was permitted to rejoin the team on the sidelines.
Jamie Harper is still gnashing his teeth at the botched swing pass that led to an interception.
More on Harper here.
Harper indeed looked pretty good, but I was more impressed with Andre Ellington.
LW
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The ACC just got a lot more interesting ... and maybe a lot better.
Neither Miami nor Florida State looked like a Top 5 team last night, particularly on defense.
And it was just one game. So any "they're back" talk is premature at this point.
But it's hard not to think both programs are on their way back. And that's what the ACC so desperately needs.
Parity is nice and all, but people won't start taking the ACC seriously until the conference produces more national contenders.
And FSU and Miami, with their history and their access to gobs of talent, might be in the best position to rise up and represent in that fashion -- not necessarily this year, but in general.
We saw last year at Florida State how much good coaching can mean to a program. The Seminoles' offense wasn't a juggernaut in Year 2 under Jimbo Fisher, but his creativity and sensibility made that offense formidable for the first time in a while. And the 'Noles appear to be even better on that side of the ball in his third year.
It's early, but Mark Whipple's replacing of Patrick Nix as Miami's offensive coordinator appears to have made the 'Canes a lot better on offense. Once again, far from a machine. But it's amazing what smart, rhythmic play-calling can do.
It's also amazing what talent can do, and there was gobs of it all over the field last night. Talent, and speed.
Were there issues at secondary on both sides? Absolutely. Significant issues.
Otherwise, though, plenty to be impressed about. And plenty of reasons to think these programs could be done slogging through mediocrity.
That's nothing but a good thing for the ACC, because said mediocrity from these two former powers has been the biggest contributor to the conference's overall inferiority.
I didn't think of this until reading this story, but last night's final sequence was eerily similar to the 1991 game between the Canes and 'Noles. Remember Florida State's sideline erupting -- albeit temporarily -- before they realized the field goal was wide right?
Same deal last night when they thought Jarmon Fortson made the TD catch.
Speaking of Fortson, kid looks like the real deal. But his drop at the last second wasn't the only costly miscue. He dropped a perfectly-thrown pass by Christian Ponder inside the 5-yard line in the third quarter as the 'Noles were poised to drop the hammer. Soon thereafter, Ponder lost a fumble to allow Miami to get back in it.
Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel says not so fast on the FSU return-to-glory thing.
Shannon's Miami team won the game and stays alive in the arduous ascension back to respectability and relevance. Only time will tell, but Bowden's Seminoles might now be in for another season of obscurity and mediocrity.
Not saying it's impossible, but does anybody see the Seminoles recovering from this devastating home loss to an unranked Miami team and still having the type of season fans expect? Florida State goes to BYU in two weeks. Then hosts South Florida. Then it's conference games against Boston College, Georgia Tech and North Carolina. None of those are gimmes.
While it's true FSU's Ponder looked better than he ever has Monday night (he completed 24 of 41 passes for a career-high 294 yards and two touchdowns), it's hard to imagine the Seminoles winning nine or 10 games after their young, bumfuzzled defense yielded a career-high 386 passing yards to sore-armed Miami QB Jacory Harris.
You simply cannot allow a young quarterback like Harris in his first start against FSU to throw for nearly 400 yards -- the 10th-highest total a UM quarterback has ever recorded -- and expect to challenge for any type of championship.
Man ... hard to believe the big game in Atlanta is the day after tomorrow.
In the AJC, Paul Johnson says Georgia Tech will kick it deep despite the presence of Spiller and Ford.
“Planning on kicking it,” Johnson said. “Got to kick it and cover it.”
Here's a story on Georgia Tech's biggest question mark: the defensive line.
Looks like the new guys are confident, though, and have more experience than you might think.
As the Yellow Jackets enter Thursday night’s ACC opener against Clemson at Bobby Dodd Stadium, there is reason for fans to take comfort, end Robert Hall said. Because the players facing the Tigers’ offensive line this week have done it before.
“If anybody goes back or anybody remembers the last game we played against Clemson, you’ll see the same line in there that’s playing Thursday,” the Hawkinsville native said. “We rotated a lot, and a lot of those guys were already in there. We obviously came up big last year and won. I don’t know if you can equate that to success this year, but hey, same guys, we should be the same.”
While Walker, Richard, Morgan and Michael Johnson got the start against Clemson last October, Hall, Peters and fellow fresh face Ben Anderson came in and played in relief at points during Georgia Tech’s 21-17 road victory.
Peters had one tackle, while Hall finished with two, including a tackle-for-loss and a fumble recovery.
Boston College's 54-0 win over Northeastern left this writer talking division title for the Eagles. Seriously.
The Post and Courier has a piece on Clemson's offseason preparation for Georgia Tech, complete with a mug shot of Kevin Steele that looks kinda scary:
I did raise my eyebrows at this quote from Kavell Conner:
"There is not too much misdirection."
The Georgia Tech I've watched has plenty of misdirection.
Brad Scott gives the OL high marks from Saturday's game, and that's a bit puzzling to me.
Speaking of Conner, he said sitting the opener was a humbling experience.
Here's a story on Brandon Maye reining in his emotions, leading with a good anecdote:
A long, lonely walk summoned the inspiration for Clemson linebacker Brandon Maye to rein in his fiery temperament.
During a scrimmage last spring, Maye got into a skirmish with offensive lineman Antoine McClain, after which Maye was sent to the sidelines.
Maye's hairpin-trigger disposition was already well-established within the program, but it exceeded the boiling point when the Mobile, Ala., native sustained his theatrics in a 10-minute tantrum with coaches.
Dabo Swinney then banished Maye to the locker room, located a distant walk across the Memorial Stadium parking lot in a building on the other side of the road.
"That's when the bell finally clicked," Maye said.
Maye turned around at one point during the walk, calmly returned to the stadium and was permitted to rejoin the team on the sidelines.
Jamie Harper is still gnashing his teeth at the botched swing pass that led to an interception.
More on Harper here.
Harper indeed looked pretty good, but I was more impressed with Andre Ellington.
LW
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