Al Golden will remain at UM

Al Golden has announced this afternoon that he will be staying at UM. You knew this wasn't going past tomorrow with this. I'll be interested to hear his presser at 12:30 tomorrow and Rose's interview with him in the morning on WQAM.

What happened at the 11th hour that Golden decided to stay?
One clue comes from one of the PSU insiders on their Scout Board: According to someone very close to the spouse of Al's wife, Kelly, Her parents moved down to Florida this past year to be closer to her and to get away from the cold weather, as you can see the last few days, it makes perfect sense. There was serious interest from Al in the Penn State job, however, with the family not wanting to back to the cold of the Northeast, that was a major stumbling block that PSU could not overcome in the end. This same person with knowledge of this that live in Lock Haven, PA and that are close the Hanna's said that any deal was never   close and\it was 100% a family decision, which was suspected was going to be the case. 


If it turns out to be Franklin, then I have to believe either Al pulled out at the 11th hour, or PSU brass told him that they were going another direction, and PSU probably let Al know that. This is a big blow to PSU who went all-in on Al and came up snake eyes. I believe another reason why Al likely said no was because of the sanctions PSU still has because of the horrors of Sandusky and the cover-up of JoePa in Happy Valley.

With Al now staying, he's going to have to make changes on the staff, and you can better believe, that's going to be something Blake James is going to tell him, namely canning D'Onofrio, ASAP. I still believe that as long as D'Onofrio is still running the defense, we will not get to the elite level, we will be a 9 to occasionally 10 win level team.

With Al now staying, its back to work. GO CANES!

Final Report Card and MVPs for 2013 Season

Here are the final grades for the 2013 season.

Offense: C-
Defense: D+
Special Teams: C

Now for my team MVPs

On offense, it's gotta be Duke Johnson. Before getting hurt in the FSU game, this guy was our big play threat and one that opponents feared. He was well on his way to a possible 1,500 yard season before getting hurt @FSU. Next year, a healthy Duke, could be a darkhorse Heisman contender.

On Defense, its tri-MVPs, Denzel Perryman. 106 tackles, 5 of them for a total loss of 15 yards. Shayon Green with 68 tackles, a team 10.5 of those for a total loss of 30 yards. Tracy Howard with a team leading 4 INTs.

Well, in the end, it was a rollercoaster ride of ups (7-0 start, #7 in the country), and downs (2-4 down the stretch). 

Report Card vs Louisville (Russell Athletic Bowl - Orlando)

When the matchup first came out, we knew going in that this was a very good Louisville Team we would be facing in the Citrus Bowl. Defensively, this was a Top 10 Defense in the country we were going to be facing here. They won't beat themselves. I thought one of the keys going in was to try and force some mistakes

For all the storylines going in: Teddy vs UM. The QB we have in Morris vs the one we could have had if Golden had not told him to take a hike when he told he wasn't being promised the starting job like Randy did. We could have had Teddy, Eli, and a couple of others we let get away to Louisville.

What I saw last night was nothing like the Miami Hurricanes I used to know. What I saw in Louisville was the CANES of yesteryear when we would dominate every opponent and beat every opponent down.

The performance Teddy had last night was a microcosm of how this Defense has been a failure on Mark D'Onofrio's watch and why many people believe that Teddy will be possibly the #1 pick in May's NFL Draft. He went 35-45 447 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs. He surgically picked apart our secondary. If there was a bright spot with the D, its the fact that we held their running game to 107 yards total. The bad news was that we once again allowed over 500 yards total offense (551 to be exact). They scored on 8 of their 11 possessions. They were 8-14 on 3rd Downs, including 6-8 in the 2nd half (75%).

As for Louisville's D, they are the real deal. They swarmed, they pressured Stephen all night, they sacked him 4 times for a total loss of 39 yards. He did go 12-27 160 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs. We went three and out 5 times. Our offense was 0-for-11 on 3rd Downs,

I was very disappointed in the Offensive Line's lack of protection for Stephen. They looked lost, confused, and not knowing who to block at times. It was like a Chinese Fire Drill. Utterly disappointed in the O-Line, and that's on Kehoe, whom I've been one of his biggest supporters, but not last night.

Now to the Report Card:
Offense - F (174 yards total offense the whole night, and only 14 yards rushing)
Defense - F (554 yards total offense allowed, could not get stops on 3rd Downs, allowed Teddy to pick it apart all night).
Special Teams - D (Really, one of the few bright spots from Last night, our first points of the game was on Patty O's Punt downed at the 1, which leads to Deon's safety a few plays later. We only had their punter punt just once the whole night).

If you listen to Golden after the game, you can tell how disappointed he was on last night's performance. Listen to Golden's answer at the 6:14 mark. Here's what I take from it, there are going to be changes made in the off-season, make no mistake about it. Also, listen to his answer at the 10:50 mark on that.


He also mentioned there is no timetable for us to be back as a National Power. That to me is a little disturbing. As I said the other night, the #CANES are at a crossroads. Which way do we go from here? That's going to be one of the questions that MUST get answered between now and Spring Practice in March.

Win or Lose, I still stand behind the U.

CANE Bowl Opponent: Louisville

Its official, we will be facing the Louisville Cardinals in the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando on December 28th.

Here's a comparison of each opponent by the numbers: 

CANES Total O vs Louisville Total D

446.8 (39th) vs. 257.9 (2nd)

Louisville Total O vs CANES Total D

453.1 ypg (34th) vs. 415.8 (76th)

CANES Scoring O vs Louisville Scoring D

35.9 ppg (24th) vs 12.4 ppg (3rd)

Louisville Scoring O vs CANES Scoring D

35.1 ppg (29th) vs 26 ppg (58th)

CANES Rushing O vs Louisville Rushing D

172.5 ypg (63rd) vs. 86.3 ypg allowed (2nd)

Louisville Rushing O vs CANES Rushing D

150.2 ypg (80th) vs. 182.3 ypg allowed (81st)

CANES Pass O vs Louisville Pass D

274.3 ypg (29th) vs. 171.7 ypg allowed (8th)

Louisville Pass O vs CANES Pass D

302.9 ypg (18th) vs 233.4 ypg allowed (71st)

CANES 3rd Downs vs Louisville 3rd Down D

56-148 [38%](T-85th) vs. 46-161 [29%] (2nd)

Louisville 3rd Downs vs CANES 3rd Down D

90-161 [56%] (2nd) vs 75-184 [41%](75th)

CANES Pass Efficiency vs Louisville Pass Efficiency D

152.67 (20th) vs. 99.55 (5th)

Louisville Pass Efficiency vs CANES Pass Efficiency D

170.64 (4th) vs. 119.19 (34th)

CANES Sacks vs Louisville Sacks Allowed

28-173 [2.33 pg](T-39th) vs. 25-184 [2.08 pg allowed](T-67th)

Louisville Sacks vs CANES Sacks Allowed

39-271 [3.25 pg] (T-1st) vs 13-108 [1.08 pg allowed](T-14th)

CANES RZ O vs Louisville RZ D

43-52 [83%](T-59th) vs. 25-35 [71%](8th)

Louisville RZ O vs CANE RZ D

47-53 [89%](23rd) vs 20-37 [82%](T-51st)

CANES TFL vs Louisville TFL Allowed

59-243 [4.9 pg](109th) vs 70-287 [5.83 pg allowed](T-57th)

Louisville TFL vs CANES TFL Allowed

94-410 [7.8 pg](9th) vs. 57-236 [4.75 pg allowed](T-25th)

CANES KR vs Louisville KR D

51-1282 1 TD [25.14 ypr](8th) vs 59-1317 [22.32 ypr allowed](88th)

Louisville KR vs CANES KR D

26-603 1 TD [23.19 ypr](28th) vs 40-800 [20 ypr allowed](38th)

CANES PR vs Louisville PR D

27-305 1 TD [11.3 ypr](T-29th) vs. 13-15 [1.15 ypr allowed](2nd)

Louisville PR vs CANES PR D

27-206 1 TD [7.63 ypr](70th) vs. 16-196 [12.25 ypr allowed)(108th)

Net Punting

CANES 38.92 NET (24th)

Louisville 37.25 NET (52nd)

Turnovers Lost vs Turnovers Gained

CANES vs Louisville

21 TO's Lost (14 INTs, 7 Fumbles Lost)(T-68th) vs. 26 TO's Gained (16 Picks, 10 Fumbles Rec.)(T-19th)

Louisville vs CANES

10 TO's lost (4 INTs {2nd Fewest}, 6 Fumbles Lost)(2nd) vs. 27 TO's Gained (18 Picks, 9 Fumbles Rec.)(T-13th)

Turnover Margin

Louisville +16 {1.3 avg} (2nd)
CANES +6 {.5 avg} (T-29th)

1st Down O vs 1st Down D

CANES vs Louisville

233 yards total (T-88th) vs 169 yards allowed (Leads Nation)

Louisville vs CANES

276 yards total (40th) vs 259 yards allowed (T-77th)

Completion %

Louisville 276-394 (70%)(3rd)

CANES 214-357 (60%)(57th)

Time of Possession

Louisville {33:00 pg}(6th)
CANES {26:00 pg}(118th)

Bottom Line, when you break it down. This is a very very good Louisville Team we will be facing in the Citrus Bowl on December 28th. Defensively, this is a Top 10 Defense in the country we're going to be facing here. They won't beat themselves, so if we force some mistakes and looking at the numbers, they don't make many, we'd better take advantage because this is a team in Louisville that forces a lot of turnovers.

For all the storylines going in: Teddy vs UM. The QB we have in Morris vs the one we could have had if Golden had not told him to take a hike when he told he wasn't being promised the starting job like Randy did. We could have had Teddy, Eli, and a couple of others we let get away to Louisville.

Anyway, it's going to be a nice matchup here and we'll see what happens. 

Report Card and Game Balls @Pittsburgh

Here's my report card and Game Balls to give out for yesterday's regular season finale win @Pittsburgh

Special Teams wise, we force a turnover on the opening kickoff, when Patty forces a fumble and we score 3 plays later. Of our 4 penalties yesterday, just one on this unit, (the block in the back on Walter in the 1st quarter on a Kick Return by Jamal). Matty had a solid game yesterday with 2 FGs (one from 29 in the 1st, and the other from 39 in the 4th). Another solid return game with 92 yards of total return, like last game, all on KR's. What a game from Patty overall. it was rock solid with 3 of his 4 punts being inside the 20 and zero touch-backs. On Kickoffs, he was good there. The Kick Return Defense in my opinion, regressed yesterday, allowing 176 yards of returns (all on KR's). Garrett Kidd had a very good game, recovering a fumble and making a tackle. We started drives on Average from our own 30 and Pitt started drives from their own 25, which is still ok, but we could still do better pushing the average back a little more.   Grade: B

Offensively, we were outstanding. we had 476 yards of total offense. 296 yards passing 180 yards rushing. The big games here on the ground came from Stacy and Gus the Bus with 73 and 64 yards respectively. We had contributions from Dallas and Eduardo. We had a big and historic game out of Hurns here having 173 yards on 9 catches and finished the regular season with 1,183 yards, the first since Andre Johnson in 2002 to go over the 1,000 yard mark for receiving in a season. Stacy had a big game as well with 73 yards receiving on 3 catches, and 2 TDs. Very solid game from Stephen here going 17-28 296 yards, 3 TD, but the big numbers are 0 INT and wasn't sacked at all. However, that said, we still need to be better and clean up those silly mistakes. Of the 4 penalties yesterday, 3 were on the offense (Two false starts (one on Ereck, and the other on Stacy), and the holding call on Danny). What a job by the OL, not allowing a sack in this game and giving Morris time in the pocket to throw and opening holes in the running game. Bottom line, ok, but this type of performance won't cut it in a bowl game vs a very good opponent, and especially not going 4-11 (36%) on 3rd Down conversions. Need to do a better job on 3rd down conversions. Grade: B+

Defensively, we forced a turnover (Pick). The pick was by Artie. However, we did allow 501 yards of total offense to a so-so Pitt team, and we allowed another 100 yard rushing game from an individual standpoint (Bennett with 141 yards on 21 carries and 1 TD). In the 1st half, we allowed 104 yards rushing, and 109 passing. At times we made Tom Savage look like a Heisman candidate. In the 2nd half, we allowed 116 yards rushing, and 174 yards passing (147 yards alone in the 4th Quarter). It did step up and make the plays that had to be made. I seem like a broken record here, but again, lack of a pass rush reared its ugly head as we only had 1 sack, their receivers had nice games as a team (Boyd had 98 yards on 9 receptions, and a TD). Pitt on 3rd downs were 6-14 (43%). We did better on 3rd down Defense, but we can do better there. However, we forced Pitt into 3 three and outs. The good part here was that of the 4 penalties we had in this game, none were on the D. We still allowed a little too many X-Plays yesterday (namely the 45 yarder by Bennett on Pitt's first TD). Again, against a good team that we'll face in a bowl game (likely either Louisville in Orlando, or an SEC team in Atlanta [Texas A & M or LSU], those types of errors come back to bite you. Still a work in progress here. Grade: C-

Now, to Game Balls. This week, I'm going to give out four game balls. 

1. Garrett Kidd - 2 tackles, 1 fumble recovery
2. Pat O'Donnell - 4 punts, 3 inside the 20, no touchbacks. 1 FF.  
3. Allen Hurns - 9 receptions, 173 yards (1,000 yard season, just the 4th in CANES history to do that)
4. Stacy Coley - 171 all-purpose yards, 3 TDs (73 rushing, 73 receiving, 25 KR yards).
5. Stephen Morris - 17-28 296 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs, sacked 0 times. 

Overall, we got the big lead, but we again got sloppy. In the end, we again kept grinding and got it done. That being said, again there were still some ME's (Mental Errors), that still need to be fixed, namely the penalties, which are still issues that have to be fixed. We don't know when our next game is. That will depend on what happens today (Saturday 11/30) in both Chapel Hill and Charlottesville. Regardless, it'll be nice to have the 15 extra practices this year and not have our season end too soon. We'll see what happens and GO CANES!

My take on Beckham's new stadium in Miami and what it means for UM

The following is per the Herald on the new MLS Stadium in Miami and my take on it

The following is from Alyce Robertson, chief executive of Miami’s Downtown Development Authority, who said and I quote in reference to a stadium at the Port of Miami:

“If we think in a traditional manner, then there’s going to be some challenges on the transportation,” This was in reference to the cars that people are used to taking in for games. Robertson added that you can walk and take the Metromover to Heat games. 

The questions on whether UM should get in with Beckham on sharing a new stadium are these:

1. Gameday Traffic - Now, picture Game Day vs FSU, and you have 45-50K fans for a Noon game. You have a potential for a nightmare as some on Twitter have mentioned already, especially the Saturday Morning cruise ship arrivals at the Port of Miami. If I'm Donna, one of the questions I'm asking myself: "Is it worth it? "
2. Parking - According to the City officials, "limited parking" could be built underground, like the AAA. Another question, UM officials would have to ask here: How much more parking space would be available? How much parking would be set aside for Hurricane Club donors? Would tailgating be allowed at the lots? If you believe Deputy Mayor Chip Iglesias,  he says that "some fans could park in the same Biscayne Boulevard lots they use for Heat games and then walk over the bridge to the port." 
3. Capacity - Now Iglesias thinks that 25 acres could be available, enough for a 25,000-seat stadium with expandable seating for various events. My thinking on the various events would be yes, that stadium could be expanded for UM football, if we join in with Beckham and his group. The question, I would be asking if I were Donna is how much expansion could work at the new stadium? I would believe 35K for UM football?, with expansion to 45-50K for big games like FSU. Also, he says that there would be a  mega-yacht marina and perhaps a waterfront promenade. Another question would have to be asked here too. How much boat parking would be available on gameday?
4. Mass Transit - I'll go back to Alyce Robertson's quote and believe that for this to work, Tri-Rail needs to have more trains for Night games in the new stadium going back to Broward and Palm Beach. This has to be an effort with BCT and Palm Tran in order for this to happen. MDT can make this work without question. 

If I'm Donna, those are a few things I would be asking Beckham and his group if I'm going to have UM join in. 

You can read the story in its entirely:  http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/26/3780446/beckham-group-consider-soccer.html#storylink=cpy

Feel free to chime in on this. What are your thoughts? Should we (CANES), join Beckham in his new stadium? 

Report Card and Game Balls vs UVa

Here's my report card and Game Balls to give out vs Virginia. 

We set the tone with the pick 6 by Tracy 6 seconds into the game. Virginia hung around because of two things:

• They were 11-20 (55%) on 3rd downs
• A balanced offense (243 rushing, 240 passing)

Offensively, we had 304 yards of total offense. 214 yards passing, but just 90 rushing. Dallas Crawford had a decent game with just 55 yards on 16 carries, but 2 big TDs. We had a big game out of Hurns here having 126 yards on 6 catches, with 1 TD. Stacy had a big game as well with 81 yards receiving on 5 catches, with a TD. Decent game from Stephen here going 13-26 214 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT. However, that said, we still need to be better and clean up those silly mistakes. Of the 7 penalties yesterday for 70 yards, 2 were on the offense (Both on Brandon, one for holding and the other was a false start). The OL did allow a sack in this game. Bottom line, ok, but this type of performance won't cut it in a bowl game vs a very good opponent, and especially not going 5-14 (36%) on 3rd Down conversions. This unit, especially Stephen, has to play better if we are to win. Grade: C

Defensively, we forced 4 turnovers (1 FF and 3 Picks). The FF was the TD by David. We allowed 483 yards of total offense to a very bad UVa team, and we allowed a 100 yard rushing game from an individual standpoint (Parks with 130 yards on 26 carries and 1 TD). In the 1st half, we allowed 208 yards rushing, but 32 passing and their QBs were gashing our defense. However, In the 2nd half, we allowed just 45 yards rushing, but 218 yards passing. It did step up and make the plays that had to be made. Something that's been disturbing all year, lack of a pass rush. We only had 1 sack, their receivers had nice games as a team. UVa on 3rd downs were 11-20 (55%). However, we forced UVa into 4 three and outs. Of the 7 penalties we had in this game, 3 were on the D (One on Rayshawn for the Targeting, PF on Luther, and a Roughing the Passer call on David). We did allowed a little too many X-Plays yesterday, and if it weren't for the fact that the Cavaliers committed 10 penalties yesterday and were -2 in TO Margin, they maybe win yesterday. Against a good team that we'll face in a bowl game, those types of errors come back to bite you. there were some ME's here as well that need to get fixed before the Pitt game on Friday in a short week. Grade: C

Special Teams wise, of our 7 penalties yesterday, just one on this unit, (the hold on Ronald Ragula in the 1st quarter on a return). Matty had a FG in the 3rd from 33. Another solid return game with 60 yards of total return, all on KR's. What a game from Patty overall. After the long return allowed, it was rock solid with 5 of his 7 punts being inside the 20 and zero touch-backs. On Kickoffs, he was rock solid with all 6 of the 8 KO's he had being Touchbacks. The Return Defense was a little off yesterday. UVa had just 80 yards of returns (41 on KR's, and 39 on PR's). We started drives on Average from our own 35 and UVa started drives from their own 26, which is ok, but we could do better pushing the average back a little more. We have one more game to get this improved. Overall, very good, but need to clean up the penalties here. Grade: B-

Now, to Game Balls. This week, I'm going to give out four game balls. 

1. Pat O'Donnell - 7 punts, 5 inside the 20, no touchbacks. 8 kickoffs, 6 touchbacks.  
2. Allen Hurns - 6 receptions, 126 yards, 1 TD.   
3. Stacy Coley - 5 receptions, 81 yards, TD, 2 KRs, 50 yards. 131 all-purpose yards.  
4. The 2013 Senior class - Thank you for staying around when the times were very bleak. You are the foundation for future classes to measure up against. 

Overall, I felt we were sloppy, however, we again kept grinding and got it done in the end. That being said, there were still some ME's (Mental Errors), that still need to be fixed, namely the penalties, which are still issues that have to be fixed. I'm glad we finally got the UVa monkey off our backs on Senior Day. The penalties are still a problem, and still a little bit too many of those for my liking. Nice to get back on the winning track here. Let's finish strong on a short week vs Pitt on Friday at 3:30 up at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh and will be seen on ABC. GO CANES and Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!