This is one of the most interesting games I have seen in a while. While the game probably caught many college football fans off guard, If you knew all of the facts, then the way that the game went shouldn't have been that surprising at all. I will break this article into 3 main sections:
1. What we knew coming into the game
2. What happened
3. What we learned
So what did we know going into this game?
Here is what we knew about Miami:
- Miami struggled offensively last year, but were a pretty good team defensively last year.
- Miami had a great recruiting class, but it was considerably better on the defensive side of the ball. The amount of talent that they brought in on defense is unprecedented.
- Miami was starting a QB who had not played in a real game in almost 2 years, and his first game was going to be in the swamp.
- Miami has a bunch of great RB's. Cooper and James are considered by many to be one of the best RB duos in the nation. James was hurt, though.
- Miami had been preparing for this game all off season. They saw this game as a measuring stick to see how far Miami was from being back to its glory days.
- Miami is not scared of Florida, and they do not respect Florida.
Here is what we knew about Florida:
- Tebow's #1 goal has been to develop as a pocket passer. Tebow has been working on looking to his primary options, then his secondary options, then as a last resort running the football.
- Florida struggled running the ball last year, and they do not have a featured RB without Moody. They have an abundance of speed, but now need some power to compliment that speed.
- The Florida coaches have been very cautious with Percy Harvin. He had not played contact football since the Capital One Bowl loss to Michigan.
- Florida struggled defending the pass last year, but were pretty outstanding against the run ranking #1 in the SEC in rush defense.
- Louis Murphy is a great WR. At a height of 6'-3" with supposed sub 4.3 speed, could there be another WR with as much potential as this guy. Don't take my word for it, though. Just ask Todd McShay, who said that Louis Murphy is the #2 overall NFL WR prospect for the Class of 2009.
- Aaron Hernandez was one of the best TE's in the nation coming out of high school, and he would need to live up to the hype after Cornelius Ingram went down with an ACL injury.
- Florida was missing starting RB Emmanuel Moody, starting OL Jim Tartt, and two others in the 2-deep on the offensive line.
So what happened, and why?
1. Robert Marve played well, though, completing over 50% of his passes, not making any critical mistakes. The Gators did not have a single turnover against the Miami offense.
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2 months ago
A very fair analysis. I wish you would have mentioned Coach Shannon's post game comments which basicly refered to Meyer as a bad person for kicking the late field goal. When you are inside the redzone and you have a senior kicker who had yet to make his first career field goal as a Florida Gator with a gruesome SEC schedule ahead, the smart thing to do is to get the kicker in to make that kick. We could have easily gone for a touchdown to make it 30-3, but leave it to the classless Hurricanes to disrespect the Gators even after the game is over. It's a shame that in Shannon's only game against the Gators(doubt he is around in 2013), he went 0-1 and then made some stupid comments afterward. Go Gators!!
from 2 months ago
I agree Brian. Any coach that ever complains about running up the score is insecure in my opinion. Real men lose like men, and you would expect a guy who has had it tough like Randy Shannon to be a little bit more mature about the whole thing.
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