Notsince1985

I think anyone who was a college football fan during the 80s should have the same feeling. It's a pretty disgusting program. I'd like to know why it's a disgusting program? Anymore so than other programs. Please provide facts, and not just "Thug U." http://espn.go.com/30for30/film?page=the-u Seriously? That was a great film. I show it in my sports history class. Do better, please.

I think anyone who was a college football fan during the 80s should have the same feeling. It's a pretty disgusting program. I'd like to know why it's a disgusting program? Anymore so than other programs. Please provide facts, and not just "Thug U."

As I said before, he's not the backup, he's currently the 3rd string, and with Williams back, he was going to be the 4th string behind Kaaya, Heaps and now Williams. Not a loss at all.

Obviously, but since Kaaya is a true freshman, I'm looking for 2 things. Improvement, and opening up the playbook. I saw both last weekend. Whether that translates into playing well in Lincoln remains to be seen.

I mentioned this in the other thread, but since I did the in depth analysis here, Ryan Williams has been cleared by team doctors as of today. Don't know if he plays against Nebraska, but he can.

Kaaya has grown up a lot since Louisville, and a lot of that was on the offensive coaches too. He was still 17-29 in that game. It's not like he was 7-29. Also, Ryan Williams, our senior QB who supposed to start this year, has been cleared to play.

Olsen was running with the scout team anyway. He was 3rd string behind Kaaya and Heaps, and would have been 4th string when Williams came back. Not a loss at all. Most Miami fans were counting the days until he transferred to Rutgers anyway.

There's more, but I already felt dirty having seen a few threads on their site. And frankly, this Miami team has a good defense, a weapon on Special Teams...but a very inconsistent, suspect offense. If our defense does our job, and Beck doesn't Beck ourselves out of the Becking game on offense, we'll wear down their defense and win. FWIW, the guy who wrote that is mentally challenged, and I'm actually being serious, not even making a joke. He's also been ripped apart on our boards for his "redneck" comment about your fans,

san diego st iirc, they had a nice little brawl with them too. Yes, in 1990, they started it though. We also had one with South Carolina in 1987. We got around back then. oops, i just meant that was who miami was playing when "the rock" went chasing after the mascot. didnt mean to accentuate the brawl just that it was part of it. No worries, we weren't innocent back then. Just pointing out that it takes two to tango. A lot of fans bash Miami, and rightfully so, but they make it out like we were out there fighting ourselves.

I think Nebraska wins because of Miami starting a true freshman on the road, but hopefully (for us) game 4 is different than game 1. For Miami to win, they'll have to protect Kaaya, and open up the playbook, two things they didn't do against Louisville. Your defense can limit Johnson by stacking the box, unless Kaaya goes off. I know that sounds like football 101, but since he's a true freshman, Louisville stacked the box, and Miami ran the ball right into 8 and 9 man fronts. It didn't work for 90% of the night. Johnson finished with 90 yards, but it was on 20 carries, and 2 of those were for like 40 of the 90 yards. If Kaaya hits a couple of big passes to Dorsett and Coley (if he plays), it'll be very hard to stop Johnson.

Now that it's officially game week, and I got to see the Canes in person yesterday, here is a breakdown of Miami this year: Offense QB: Brad Kaaya is the QB right now, but Ryan Williams, who was the incumbent after Stephen Morris graduated, is expected back soon. He partially tore his ACL in the spring, but had the Nebraska game circled as his comeback date. He has dressed every game this year, and has been practicing for a month, but the coaches say they won't play him until he's "fully mobile." He's a 5th year senior, and not amazing, but very reliable. He started as a true freshman at Memphis and threw for 2,000 yards with 13 TD and 10 INT before transferring to Miami (he's from the Ft. Lauderdale area). In 2 years as Morris' backup he was 37-52 for 456 yards with 4 TD and 1 INT. IF he can't go, it'll be Kaaya. Kaaya was a 4-star recruit from the LA area that chose Miami over USC, UCLA and Stanford. He has a huge upside, but many (myself included) were shocked he won the job as a true freshman. He looked like a deer in the headlights against Louisville for some of the game, though he did make a couple of nice throws. It wasn't all his fault, as Golden and the OC, James Coley didn't open up the playbook, and didn't really give him a chance. He looked ok in the second game against FAMU, and looked very good yesterday against Arkansas State, going 16-24 for 342 yards with 4 TD and 1 INT. He's not very mobile, but has very good size (6-5, 220). The backup, unless Williams is healthy, is Jake Heaps, the transfer from Kansas and BYU, who was the #1 recruit in the nation coming out of high school, but he couldn't beat out a true freshman in the summer, so that's pretty much all you need to know about him. RB: Duke Johnson is one of the better RBs in the nation. He's fast, but isn't one of the fastest RBs around, and not even one of the fastest guys on the team. Don't get me wrong, he'll break long runs, but he'll also get caught from behind. He's 5-9, 206 and he's really, really strong. He has one of the best stiff arms I've ever seen, and he doesn't go down easy. He has 277 yards on 43 carries this year, playing in 2.5 games (he sat the 2nd half against FAMU, as did most of the starters). He also has 3 catches for 25 yards, and is a great receiver out of the backfield, but our OC refuses to use him, which is another story I'll get into below. For his career he has 2,144 yards in 23 games. He's a great kickoff returner, but he's been taken off kickoffs to save his energy. His main backup is true freshman Joseph Yearby, a 4 or 5-star recruit (depending on the site). He's 5-9, 190, so like Duke, but a little smaller, but he runs like Duke, strong for his size. He has 127 yards on 24 carries. The other RB who gets carries is Gus Edwards. He was the #1 FB coming out of HS, but was moved to RB. He's 6-2, 230, but runs smaller than Johnson and Yearby, which is something he needs to change. Most Miami fans would rather have Yearby or Johnson in for short yardage. He has 9-70 on the season with a couple of TDs. As for FBs, Walter Tucker is the starter, but he got hurt yesterday, and we don't always have a fullback. We go 1 back a lot and 3 wide or 4 wide. WR: This is probably the deepest area on offense. Before the season, if you would have asked me who the best of the group was, I would have said Stacy Coley. Last year as a true freshman, Coley was the only player in the nation to score a TD on a pass reception, a rush, a kickoff return and a punt return. As a receiver he had 33 catches for 591 yards and 7 TD and he had 1,461 all purpose yards. This year he got hurt on the first punt return against Louisville, and while he finished the game, he didn't look "right" the rest of the game. He had 3 catches for 9 yards. He played the first quarter against FAMU and Golden said he held him out of the last 3 quarters because he "dinged" his shoulder and it was just FAMU and it was precautionary. Well, he didn't play against Arkansas State. Now, if I had to bet, if we were playing you guys yesterday, he would have played, but I guess we'll find out later this week. Phillip Dorsett is our fastest WR. He was clocked at 4.19 in the summer. I know he won't run that with the laser timers they have at the NFL combines, but he's a sub 4.3 guy. He's a track star too for Miami. He had 4 catches for 204 yards and 3 TD against Arky State and for the season has 8 for 284 and 4 TD. He was hurt most of last year, but his sophomore year (2012) he had over 800 receiving yards. Herb Waters is another good receiver. He leads the team with 10 catches for 112 yards this year. He's bigger, 6-2, 200. We also have Malcolm Lewis, and true freshman Braxton Berrios, who looks like a Wes Welker clone (minus the drugs). He seems to be Kaaya's safety blanket on 3rd down. He has 10 catches for 106 and a TD. TE: Clive Walford is the starter at TE. He was a basketball player in HS who moved to football. He's 6-4, 260. He's good, not great, but has 82 career catches and had 34 last year. He had some ridiculous stat where 23 of 25 catches were either first downs or TDs. OL: Our OL is G-d awful. It was supposed to be good, but, damn, they're bad. Now, we have a very good LT in Ereck Flowers, and we have 2 good true freshman, that once they take over starting jobs, will be good, but the two guys starting now, Isadora and Gadbois should be playing for Miami of Ohio (maybe). Defense DL: For years this the weak spot on the team. Last year they were historically bad, as was the entire defense. It was so bad that Golden brought in 2 graduate transfers, one David Gilbert, who was a stud at Wisconsin until doctors told him he couldn't play anymore, and another guy who rode the bench at Virginia. We also had a 6th year senior who basically had bionic knees. Anyway, this year they're playing a lot better. At one DE we have Anthony Chickillo. He was a big time recruit out of HS. He was up there near (not as good) Clowney. We had high hopes for him. He came in at 6-4 230 and played as a true freshman. He had a good freshman year, but his next two years were about the same, no progression. He's now 6-4, 282 and rotates between DE and DT. He never lived up to the hype from HS, but he's been solid. 12.5 sacks in 3 years 20.5 TFL, 129 tackles. This year in 3 games he has 17 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 FF and 1 FR. His dad and grandfather played at Miami, and he's all heart. The other DE is Tyriq McCord. He's the polar opposite of Chickillo. He's very small for a DE. Sometimes we play a 3-4 and he's a rush DE or OLB in that scheme. He's 6-3, 248 on the official site, but no way does he weigh that much. He has 7.5 sacks and 11.5 TFL in his career (2 years) playing mostly as a reserve or only on 3rd downs. Also at DE we have true freshman Chad Thomas, who chose Miami over Alabama. All Miami fans think he will be one of the best to play at Miami before all is said and done. He hasn't done much so far, but he did play a lot against Arky State. Arguably our best pass rusher, Quan Muhammed was suspended for the season by the school for beating up his roommate. He said it was self defense, the roommate said it wasn't. Anyway, he'll be back in January. At DT we have a JUCO transfer in Calvin Heurtelou, who is 6-3, 315. He has been very good so far plugging up the middle. Starting next to him is either 6-5, 300 Olsen Pierre, who is good, not great, or Ufambo Kamalu, who plays some DE, but a lot of DT at 6-6, 295. He's looked really good this year, with a couple of sacks, TFL and 8 tackles. We also have Michael Wyche, a JUCO transfer who was supposed to be a stud, but he he came in at 350. He's down to 340 and plays a couple of series a game, but still needs to get into better shape. Also rotating in is true freshman Courtel Jenkins, who wasn't a big name recruit, but has surprised everyone. LB: We are very thin at LB, largely because we've had 4 players kicked off the team in the last 2 years, 3 of them starters. Our best defensive player, Denzel Perryman, is our MLB. He's one of the hardest hitters in college football. He's 6-0, 242. He's great in run support, but not amazing in pass defense. He was still 1st team All-ACC last year after putting up 108 tackles, 5 TFL, 1.5 sacks and FF. This year he has 25 tackles, 4 TFL and a sack in 2.5 games. The other starters are Raphael Kirby, who looks the part (6-1, 240, fast), but isn't consistent, and Thurston Armbrister. Armbrister is having a monster year so far, which came as a shock, since many wanted him benched last year. He's 6-3, 241, and has 17 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 TFL, 2 FR and 2 FF. Jermaine Grace, an undersize LB, also sees a lot of time. CBs: The secondary was supposed to be the strength of the defense, but they've underachieved so far. At one corner is Tracy Howard, a 5-star recruit, who has ok speed, but great cover skills. He had 4 INT last year, but this year he's been beaten a bunch already. The other corners are Ladarius Gunter, who was a JUCO, but in his 3rd year at Miami. Solid, not spectacular. Corn Elder might end up being the best CB. He was Mr. Football and Basketball in Tennessee. He's small (5-10) but has great speed (was a RB in HS). Artie Burns was a big time recruit and is lanky and has good ball skills. Also, Antonio Crawford sees a lot of action. We rotate 5 CBs. Safety: Rayshawn Jenkins, staring SS from last year is out of the year (hurt his back in the summer). Many thought he wasn't going to start this year anyway, but it hurts depth. The starters are Deon Bush, who was a HUGE recruit and chose Miami over Bama. He had a great freshman year (2012) but had a sports hernia last year, missed 3-4 games, and was never "right." He hasn't looked great this year either, though he had a sack yesterday. The other safety is either Dallas Crawford, who as a RB last year, and started when Duke Johnson got hurt, or Jamal Carter, another big recruit, who is an athletic freak. Carter is the big time hitter, and Crawford is the QB out there directing everyone. They all have potential, but they also whiffed on A LOT of 1 on 1 tackles yesterday against ASU. Special Teams They're horrible, and Golden is the ST coach, so I kind of wish he'd fire the ST coach. So far in 3 games we've given up a kickoff for a TD, snapped a punt over the punters head for a TD, missed 2 FG and an XP. Coley, when healthy is a great return man. If he's not returning punts, it's Berrios, who is solid, but not spectacular. Kickoffs, without Duke, nothing special. The punter, Vogel, is good, 45.8 yards per punt. The FG kicker, Goudis, was 13-17 last year. This year he's looked terrible. He's 4-6, but the misses were bad, and the makes didn't look good. Then it came out after the FAMU game that he has a hurt back. We all thought it was an excuse, but he didn't play against Arkansas State. His backup was ranked #1 kicker in the nation by 247 sports in HS. He shanked an XP against Arkansas State, so, who knows. Now, you might have read all of that (or, who am I kidding, most of you probably didn't read all of that) and were thinking, either Miami is good, or this guy is delusional, and pumping up his team. Neither, and here is why. Miami is one of the most talented teams in the country. I think we're more talented than almost everyone on our schedule (player for player). So why will we go 7-5? Coaching. Al Golden: Great "face" for the program, but, in reality, he's a more articulate Randy Shannon. Horrible gameday coach. Can't win the big games. Heck, can't beat teams with a pulse. Has won 3 games over ranked teams at Miami, and those teams were ranked at the time, like Ohio State and Florida, but finished 6-7 and 4-8, respectively. James Coley: Offensive Coordinator. Worst OC I remember at Miami. And that includes Patrick Nix under Shannon. Coley is a GREAT recruiter, but, wow, calling games?!?!? He was OC at Florida State, but Jimbo didn't let him call plays. Now we see why. Now idea what he wants to do. Offense has no identity. Are we a spread? Pro-style? Who freaking knows? Ran 3 trick plays (all failed) in the first half against Arkansas State when we were up 20-7 and moving the ball at will, and it killed our momentum. Also, ran a reverse pass inside the 10 against Louisville when we were down 14-10 that failed. Mark D'Onofrio: Defensive Coordinator. We've had historically bad defenses the last 2 years. Like, really, really, really bad. Like #115 in the nation, bad. No one can convince me it's lack of talent. Anyway, he runs soft schemes, a lot of zone, doesn't bring a lot of blitzes, has the CBs playing 10 yards off the WR and then backpedalling immediately. It'll be 4th and 1, and I'm not kidding, we'll come out in a base defense with the LB 8 yards from the LOS and the safeties 15-20. It'll be goaline defense and the LBs and safeties will be way back in the endzone. Teams will go 4-5 wide, and we'll stay with 4 DBs and 3 LBs. He even has DEs out covering slot receivers. Golden won't fire him because he was the best man at Al's wedding, his roommate in college, etc. Also, he runs Al's scheme, which is Al Groh's defense. Most of the other coaches are better recruiters than Xs and Os coaches too, which is a MAJOR problem on Saturdays. Anyway, if you guys have any other questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

No, he was hired by Kirby Hocutt, who is now the AD at Texas Tech. Eichorst was our AD for like 9 months.

I googled it. What I found was that it was the Aztec mascot that he chased up into the stands. I agree I bet the SEC is dirty as hell. Theres no way money wasn't exchanged in the Cam Newton deal. I'm willing to bed that the SEC is acting like home the Southwest Conference did. Almost all teams if not all of them cheating and paying players. Mainly due to egos of boosters with to much money. Sad thing is with how popular the SEC is. I doubt we see anything coming from the NCAA on sanctions about them. The worst part, for me at least, is living in Chattanooga, right in the middle of SEC country. Everyone here is either a Bama, Tennessee, Georgia or, in the last 4 years, Auburn fan.

NCAA messed up the investigation by trying to pay his attorney....seriously. We ended up self imposing 2 bowl bans, which was actually 3 postseason bans, because when we self imposed a bowl ban in 2012, due an ACC rule, we also had to forfeit the right to play in the ACC Championship game. Then when the NCAA finally ruled, they basically gave us time served, plus 9 scholarships taken away over 3 years. They also limited some recruiting visits and stuff like that.

san diego st iirc, they had a nice little brawl with them too. Yes, in 1990, they started it though. We also had one with South Carolina in 1987. We got around back then.

We didn't play USC when he was there, but he was on the '93 Miami team that got into a brawl at Colorado. Now, I doubt he chased the Buffalo anywhere, but if anyone did, it would have been him....or Rohan Marley. That dude was nuts. As for the "Thug U" name, what bothers me, is how people use the name, and just think all Miami players were gangsters and criminals. They weren't. Not even close. They danced and talked trash, but they weren't getting arrested. At least no more than other schools. They were going to class and graduating way more than the national average. When Miami went on probation in the 90s it was a Pell Grant scandal, but people have this notion it was for players pillaging and raping. Even this last scandal with Nevin Shapiro, while it was "bad," the kids were getting free meals a Benihana, and trips on his boat, and going to strip clubs, they weren't getting arrested, they weren't killing people, raping people, they weren't cheating like at North Carolina or Florida State, but, since it's Miami, people just take it and run. Did Miami do stuff that was against NCAA rules? Of course. But it was one booster. Let's not pretend the SEC doesn't have 50 Nevin Shapiro's. Again, not condoning it, but, the "Thug U" does get tiresome.

IANAFC, but, in my estimation, Al Golden got roasted. Buchanon's comments seem measured and analytic, too, not just some "mad former player." Add DL coach Jethro Franklin to the list of coaches we want fired....yesterday

I get the feeling, especially with Miami fans, that we could get a few "fun ones" over here... I just feel that your fanbase might have some cockier ones.... Yes, probably so. These are the fans that think Miami football started in 2000, or 1991, or that the University of Miami is, not in fact, a University, but a professional sports franchise. Half of them probably root for Miami football and Kentucky basketball.

Trust me, there are plenty, but I doubt most are afraid to venture out these days.

1. split it even further. The Golden supporters will use it to show that he should stay, but those who want him gone are past the point of no return. 2. you guys will win, so it doesn't really matter 3. A lot of people blame President Donna Shalala who is stepping down after this year, but I can't blame her. If anything it was the AD, Paul Dee (a Gator) who bowed to the players who wanted Larry Coker as coach after Butch Davis left, then hired Randy Shannon, when Coker bombed out. Golden wasn't Dee's choice, but he was a bad decision by the next AD. We've had 3 bad coaches in a row since Davis left. 4. Yeah, pretty much 5. Bad recruiting, and bad coaching. The last good QB we've had was Brock Berlin, or at least the last really good season by a QB was Brock Berlin in 2004. Aside from that, it was Dorsey in 2002. We've had bad offensive coordinators to boot as well. We had one good one, Jedd Fisch, but he's with the Jaguars now. Anyone that can make Jacory Harris look somewhat decent is a miracle worker. I have high hopes for Brad Kaaya, but not with James Coley as his OC. 6. Of course I will. Hattiesburg was a trip in college to see Tulane-USM, and a 90 minute drive from New Orleans. 7. We all think it was the right move, and not because it gave us the title, but because it was the right decision. 8. Steve Taylor, Tommie Frazier (for the run against Florida alone), Irving Fryar (I'm a Dolphins fan), Turner Gill 9. Yes and yes. Unfortunately it often reflects poorly on the coaching when a undfrated or low drafted Hurricane turns into a pro bowler. 10. Go Big Red (except for Sept. 20...unless if it gets Golden fired).

If it were up to me, I'd build a statue of him on campus tomorrow. It's amazing what he's done. To me, his best coaching job was last year. That team lost it's top 7 scorers from the team that went to the Sweet 16 and won the ACC and he was able to keep them above .500 and win 6 ACC games. This year they'll be really good. He brought in Kansas State and Texas' leading scorers as transfers, both of whom had to sit out last year per NCAA rules, along with some very good recruits. We did just lose a rising sophomore for 4-6 months to an injury, but I'd be shocked if we didn't make the NCAAs this year.

Are you of an age where alcohol consumption is permitted by law? Also, remember, its only a drinking problem if you think it is. Well, I went to my first Miami game in 1984, so....

Yes, we do have that reputation, and some of it is earned, though some it is not. It does get annoying when people still refer to Miami as thug U, when if you look at our arrest records and classroom and graduation rates, we're basically choir boys compared to a lot of college football (at least the SEC), but I doubt we'll ever shed that image. Unfortunately a lot of Miami fans embrace the image and are "tough guys" on the internet and in the stands. You'll usually find much "better" Miami fans at away games or bowl games then you will at home, and, as bad as our home attendance can be, we usually travel well. Some schools are shocked because of our reputation for having horrible home attendance, but we're great on the road, largely because 55% of the student body is from out of the state. Since I live in Chattanooga, I go to all the games at Ga Tech, and the Tech fans have said that we've brought the most fans of any school aside from Georgia, Clemson and Auburn. Each time I've been to Atlanta (2004, 2010, 2012) Miami has had over 10,000 fans. I remember Miami bringing over 5,000 to Seattle in 2000 to play Washington. I know you guys travel well, but for a school the size of Miami to have 5K+ fans all the way in Seattle was pretty impressive. As for my parents, mother was an English professor at Miami before moving to FIU in the 90s, and my father teaches a class a semester at the Med school, and as much as I love Miami, I never wanted to attend school there. Not anything about the school, but growing up in Miami, I needed to get away for school.

If I can survive our board, I think I can make it here

No, I can't make it for the game, but I wish I could. I've always wanted to make a game in Lincoln. I've been to Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Southern Miss, Cal, Clemson, LSU and, of course, Tulane where I did my undergrad. I had this game circled since the series was announced, but when the schedule came out, if fell on my anniversary. Now, usually I can fight about this, and win about half of the time, but after last year, I decided it wasn't worth the fight and $ to go and watch Miami likely get killed. I already spend enough on season tickets when I live 800 miles from Miami. And, Landlord, I know that's a jab, but I'm not delusional, our fanbase sucks. I'll admit it. I won't defend it (unless you're a Gator or Seminole, then I will).