An Absurdly Premature look at FSU and Miami

Like many Gator Fans, SNL was hoping for a ‘Nole victory last night for several reasons, some obvious, some not.  The obvious were rooted in the transitive property of playoff-less CFB, which means that all fans are bound to root for teams they play to boost their own team’s SOS.  The inobvious include harrowing trips to the OB in the 90’s which brought SNL close to scores of fans of Da’U sporting mouth jewelry, giant gold-plated chains purchased from the pagoda at the Dadeland mall, and driving $2,000.00 cars with $6,000.00 worth of accessories.  In sum, it’s easy to hate Da’ U (or what’s left of it), irrespective of who is coaching, playing, or rooting for them.  For fans of Da’ U who may be hard of reading, here’s a pictorial summation: 

Hatred aside, it’s hard to argue with Miami’s performance last night against a top-20 opponent on the road.  Jacory Harris was better than good, especially when considering the impotence of Miami’s offense in the previous years.  Dr. Saturday placed this fact into perspective with the following quote:  “…especially when you consider where Miami’s offense is coming from after four years of arch conservatism from coordinators Greg Olson and Patrick Nix. Under Nix the last two years, Miami averaged 6.4 yards per pass, a little over 11 yards per completion and just shy of four passes of 15 yards or longer per game. Against FSU, Harris averaged 11.4 yards per pass, over 18 per completion, and had 12 completions of at least 15 yards, all but one to players who should be back in 2010.”

The ‘Canes hopes for 2009 are further bolstered by the unfortunate demise of OU and its star QB, Sam Bradford, which seems to make the upcoming game with the Sooners (who bludgeoned the ‘Canes last year) a winnable game.  In sum, after 1 weekend of football, the skies are opening for the ‘Canes, who have a de facto 2 game lead over the onlydecent team in their division, at least for this week.

If there’s a plus for an avowed Cane hater, it’s that Miami may become relevant much quicker aniticipated and therefore, hating Da’ U will be back in fashion before you know it.  A la the title of this post, this assessment is absurdly premature and will be all but forgotten if the Canes continue to give up points and yards to their ACC peers (who dropped 2 games to bowl subdivision teams this past week, bye the bye).

Things are not so sweet in Tallahassee, home of the hated ‘Noles and the cadre of gorgeous co-eds who love them.  Bowden has been characterizing this game as the “3rd Greatest Game” he’s been associated with, with the other 2 being the loss to the Holtz-led Irish in the early 90’s, and one of the several narrow defeats to the ‘Canes in the mid-90’s.  For thos who claim no affiliation with the ‘Noles and in fact, revel in their recent mediocrity, Bowden’s take does little other than confirm that he’s an affable old fella’ that’s difficult not to like.  That said Bowden’s willingness to categorize this game as one of his “greatest losses” has to be grating for the FSU-loyalists.  For comparative purposes, imagine the hyper-competitive generals in Tuscaloosa or Gainesville uttering such blasphemy.

True, the future for FSU is not entirely bleak, the ACC looks worse than advertised after 1 week of football, and FSU’s offense is clearly much improved.  That said the FSU defense has clearly regressed and with games at BYU and Florida, along with road dates with NC and BC, FSU looks to be a team that will end much this year much the same as last, with 8 wins and an afterthought bowl game.  That said the conference looks weak enough to allow FSU win 9 games, but provides only 2 viable opportunities for FSU to redeem itself; 1 in Provo and 1 in Gainesville.  The latter seems wholly unattainable and therefore, in effort to stay within the theme of this post, SNL will make an absurdly premature assessment:  FSU’s date with the suddenly chic Cougars of BYU is a “must win” in order to reinstate the ‘Noles into the stream of consciousness and make them a viable BCS game contender. 

Elsewhere….Ohio State has opened as 7 point underdog to the Men of Troy.  Given that both are top-10 teams and factoring in that this game is a night game in The Shoe , this line is remarkable and shows just how little faith the masses have when it comes to OSU playing top-notch programs outside the Big 10-which really isn’t so “Big” these days…Florida managed to pack The Swamp for Charleston Southern, a 70-point underdog, which should tell us a little about why UF and other SEC heavyweights refuse to scehdule home-and-home series with better teams…Georgia’s hobbled running back, Caleb, will suit up when UGA visits the OBC this weekend…UT fans are giddy like sugared up 12-year old girls at a slumber party in the wake of their throttling of WKU….

-So Sayeth the Shepherd