A quick glance at Miami's opening month of the college football season generated raised eyebrows. At Florida State, Georgia Tech, at Virginia Tech and Oklahoma, oh my. Many believed the Hurricanes would be OK if they split the games, two up and two down.
Don't look now but the expectations in Coral Gables, Fla., are rocketing skyward. UM players appear to have once again taken ownership of the program, pointing to opening victories over Florida State (38-35) and last Thursday against Georgia Tech (33-17).
While the undefeated Hurricanes are getting love from fans and the media, stoic UM head coach Randy Shannon says the hype won't affect his players. Shannon believes his team has learned its lesson from the past few years. He also credits players for their ability to stay focused and demonstrate a trait that some may not associate with UM teams -- humility.
San Francisco's Emerald Bowl: not known for highlighting college football's best teams. But the bowl has been the lucky recipient of some formerly great ACC programs hitting the skids and adding some marquee value. Florida State won in 2006 against a terrible UCLA team. And in 2008, 7-5 Miami showed up to face a pretty marginal Cal squad led by Nate Longshore, a quarterback with "issues" to say the least.
But unlike FSU, Miami found a way to lose the game. They lost despite Longshore's utter ineffectiveness (10-21, 121 yards). They lost despite getting good play from freshman quarterback Jacory Harris -- the over-enthusiastic ESPN commentors were calling it his 'coming out party' which might warrant an excessive celebration penalty -- and good running from Graig Cooper, who averaged 5.3 YPC, but received only a mystifying 12 carries.
It came down to turnovers and terrible clock management. At the end of the first half, down 14-7, Miami was intercepted at their own 43-yard line; Cal promptly went four and out. Getting the ball back with 1:18 remaining and three timeouts, Shannon appeared to be running out the clock: fair enough, given that his freshman quarterback had just turned the ball over in Hurricane territory. But wait... no! After three passes resulted in a first down, Shannon called a timeout with :04 remaining. Hail Mary time, right? Nope: Harris completed a 3-yard pass to Graig Cooper. Miami walked off the field with two timeouts remaining with the ball on Cal's 49-yard line.
Turkey Legs to Go is FanHouse's complete travel guide for all of the 2008-2009 college bowl games. Here, we cover the Emerald Bowl (San Francisco, California), which pits Miami against California.
Overview/Matchup: While the Emerald Bowl isn't an ACC Championship, much less a BCS berth, give Randy Shannon credit -- this Miami team looked completely and utterly doomed heading into October following devastating losses to North Carolina and Florida State. Sure, ending the season with back to back L's against Georgia Tech and NC State wasted the good run, but he certainly saved his reputation. The news gets worse for him though, as the 'Canes were horrible against the run during their last two games, and guess what Cal running back Jahvid Best ran for over the final two weeks of the season? Yeah, just a casual 512 yards. Ouch, babe.
Hotels: The Ritz-Carlton at Nob Hill is one of the finest hotels in the United States. Our reviewers, as well as our CEO, have always been impressed with the property. The Hilton San Francisco is also a fine establishment for those in the midrange category. The hotel is positively enormous, designed primarily for conferences and large groups. Although its size may be a detractor, it does have its advantages. There are a number of stores and restaurants in, or attached to the property. For bargain rates and great proximity to the stadium try the Civic Center Inn.
As I went over yesterday, the Miami Hurricanes weren't very happy with Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators decision to kick a field goal with twenty-five seconds left in a game they led 23-3. After the game, Canes coach Randy Shannon questioned the ethics of the move, and said he was hopeful that it would help his recruiting when players see what kind of guy Meyer is.
Ex-Canes star Warren Sapp, on a Showtime conference call Tuesday for Inside the NFL, called UF coach Urban Meyer ''a classless dirtbag'' for kicking a field goal late in Florida's 26-3 win against UM. ''But it's coming back in a big way'' when the teams meet in 2013, he said.
We're making threats about games that aren't going to be played for another five years now? Seems rather pointless, no? I'm pretty sure that with the way things have gone at The U in recent years, Randy Shannon won't even be coaching the team come 2013.
Seriously, guys, it's not Urban Meyer's fault you got your butts kicked. It's your fault. The sooner you understand this, the sooner you might start winning these games again.
University of Miami coach Randy Shannon wasn't very pleased after the Hurricanes got whipped 26-3 in The Swamp on Saturday night, but his anger wasn't just with his team for their performance. Shannon wasn't very pleased when the Gators kicked a field goal in the closing seconds to cap off the win, going as far as saying that Urban Meyer's decision might actually help his recruiting.
"Sometimes when you do things and people see what kind of person you really are, you turn a lot of people off," Shannon said. "Take from that what you want. It helped us more than you will ever know."
You know what else helps recruiting, Randy? Winning football games and national championships.
"I'll have Coach Meyer's back on anything. To say something like that about Coach Meyer isn't true at all," Tebow said after Monday's practice. "If you want to talk about him, you should definitely talk about a lot of other coaches before Coach Meyer. You can talk about running the score up, I don't care. They are paid to stop us; [offensive coordinator Dan] Mullen is paid to score. They don't do that, oh well. But you don't have to talk about Coach Meyer as a person and getting into recruits and all that stuff. That's not necessary."
Those with even a passing familiarity with Miami football last year know full well what an absolute horror show the offense was, especially at quarterback. As listless as the offense was under departing senior Kyle Wright, co-starter Kirby Freeman was absolutely brutal. We're relatively sure that had Freeman not transferred to Baylor, they would have locked them in the Orange Bowl before its demolition.
So this leaves head coach Randy Shannon with something of a quandary: Miami has three quarterbacks, all of whom are freshmen (Robert Marve a redshirt, Jacory Harris and Cannon Smith true). Of them, Harris and Marve are the only real threats to start; while Cannon Smith has a legendary name for a quarterback (topped only by, like, "Rocketarm Throwball-Manning"), the three-star prospect from Hargrave isn't "there" yet. So the question to Randy Shannon is, who's it going to be: Marve or Harris?
Sunday College Football Hangover is a (hopefully) regular feature from a groggy FanHouse writer recovering from 16+ hours of watching as much college football as humanly possible. The Big Story
What else but perhaps the greatest upset in college football (sports?) history. As our own Ryan Ferguson wrote, Appalachian State is a very good lower division football team. They're the defending I-AA national champs, in fact. But Michigan's loss is absolutely inexcuseable and mind-bending in its implications.
A I-AA team beat Michigan. This shakes the foundation of my comprehension of the world to such a vastly greater extent than any upset, sighting, conspiracy theory, apparition, miracle or act of nature I could possibly cite. This is frogs raining from heaven. This is physically impossible
Indeed. I don't know whether this is a good or a bad thing for the sport. On one hand, we have a celebration of the underdog and further proof of why style and scheme matters so much in college football. The NFL is a robotic operation with 32 teams all doing the same thing over and over again with people paying them hand over fist to see it. College football's got soul, though, and it's expressed in Appalachian State's defensive effort and utilization of overlooked athletes.
On the other hand, this is clearly the story of the season. How does college football come down from this? There is simply nothing that can happen in the next 14 or so weeks that will come close to matching this upset. Nothing. USC could lose nine times and yet the event everyone will first recall from this season is Appalachian State's upset of Michigan.
New Miami coach Randy Shannon is bucking tradition these days, bucking it big time. Remember all the individualism and swagger of the 'Canes of old?'. The new coach (and former 'Cane) wants none of it.
Shannon's other well-publicized rules include no firearms, no cellphone use of any type in classrooms and meetings and maintaining a minimum 2.5 cumulative grade point average to live off campus. Sophomores, unlike in the past, have also been told they must live on campus.
''A 2.5 GPA is average. It's average,'' Shannon said. ``It doesn't matter in any way if you're a star on this team. It doesn't make a difference.''
So there you go.
I prefer nameless uniforms, but also get why a place like Miami would revere something like that. Winning tends to cure all ills, but sometimes the little things like that help distinguish a school in recruiting and attitude on the field. If Shannon restores the team to its former prominence, this will be forgiven. But if not? These are the kinds of things alums and boosters start to nitpick at and justify as reasons for a continued decline.
Alabama officials would not comment on reports that coach Nick Saban might have violated NCAA rules limiting contact with potential recruits.
The Miami Herald and canesports.com reported that three south Florida junior prospects described conversations with Saban during his recruiting trip last week that might have exceeded NCAA rules limiting face-to-face contact with recruits to "exchange of a greeting" between April 15 and May 31. Coaches are allowed to evaluate high school players at their schools during that period.
If violations occurred, they were likely secondary and wouldn't lead to significant penalties.
This situation, distilled, is Miami and coach Randy Shannon sending a stern broadside to Alabama to stay away from their recruits. And perhaps (speculation alert) some getback at Saban from the Herald for whatever sins he committed with the press while head coach with the NFL's Miami Dolphins. Ahhhh the intrigue.
The coaches at both programs are in their first year at high-pressure jobs. It's no surprise they're sparring for recruits given unusually high expectations on both to produce and produce early. Besides, Miami has to defend its local recruiting turf and picked a huge target in Nick Saban to publicize allegations of fairly modest recruiting violations.
New Miami head coach has made few friends in the media with his universally dull answers to questions put to him. This isn't a shock. But he must be giving really spectacularly unresponsive answers to get this sort of response:
Asked about the quarterbacks, Shannon claimed he wasn't looking at their play. After a couple of additional nonanswers, CSS' Allison Williams seemed fed up. ''So what are you looking at?'' Williams asked in exasperation. ``You're not looking up in the stands!''
Killer professionalism there. The media needs to get over itself, of course. It's frustrating to sit there and get nonanswers from a coach, but Shannon isn't saying appreciably less than coaches who blather platitudes, he's just being more direct about it. Ironic that the media often accuse bloggers of being derivative, then freak out whenever they have to fill copy with something other than wildly interesting press conference quotes.
Side note: it's kind of odd to watch Shannon develop into a southern version of Lloyd Carr at Miami. I mean... it's Miami! They're supposed to be the opposite of Michigan, fire Larry Coker for being Lloyd Carr, basically, and then hire... Lloyd Carr. (Almost to a T: Carr was also a not-widely-heralded defensive coordinator who kind of backed his way into the job.) Go figure. Previously On The Fanhouse: Randy Shannon Gets Tough On Crime Apparently FIU Does Just Come Into The O.B. Good God, Miami Used To Be Terrifying
A quick glance at Miami's opening month of the college football season generated raised eyebrows. At Florida State, Georgia Tech, at Virginia Tech and Oklahoma, oh my. Many believed the Hurricanes would be OK if they split the games, two up and two down. 
San Francisco's Emerald Bowl: not known for highlighting college football's best teams. But the bowl has been the lucky recipient of some formerly great ACC programs hitting the skids and adding some marquee value. Florida State won in 2006 against a terrible UCLA team. And in 2008, 7-5 Miami showed up to face a pretty marginal Cal squad led by Nate Longshore, a quarterback with "issues" to say the least.
Turkey Legs to Go
As I 
University of Miami coach 
Those with even a passing familiarity with Miami football last year know full well what an absolute horror show the offense was, especially at quarterback. As listless as the offense was under departing senior Kyle Wright, co-starter Kirby Freeman was absolutely brutal. We're relatively sure that had Freeman not transferred to Baylor, they would have locked them in the Orange Bowl before its demolition.
New Miami coach Randy Shannon is bucking tradition these days, bucking it big time. Remember all the individualism and swagger of the 'Canes of old?'. The new coach (and former 'Cane) wants none of it.
New Miami head coach has 
