The Good, The Bad And The Ugly: Why The Hurricanes Aren't Ready To Dominate

Okay, so here is the good. The Miami Hurricanes are a very talented football team. At nearly every position on the field they have the talent to play with anybody in the country. They have speed, athleticism and enough game experience to compete against the best.

The bad, however, is that competing against the best just isn't good enough. Not when you're talking about Hurricane Football. Playing against the best and winning or losing at the wire might be acceptable at other programs, but not at Da U. There are no moral victories. No pats on the back for showing effort. When you've spoiled the college football world with the mix of dominance and flair as the Canes did in the 80's, some of the early 90's and at the turn of the century, you can't expect fans to be happy you're "competitive."

"More wins than your school since 1983" - was what a Canes fan wrote on a sign during the last game played in the Orange Bowl on November 10, 2007.

But the wins he was referring to were not the NCAA-record of 58 consecutive home victories Miami put together from 1985 to 1994. It was the championships. The dominant seasons when the only 2 games Canes fans had to worry about were Florida State and the National Championship, which Miami won 5 times.

Da U dominated and they did it with style.

Which brings us to the ugly. As talented as Miami is and as great of a job as Head Coach Randy Shannon has done in regaining dominance of recruiting in the South Florida area, this Hurricane Football program just isn't what it used to be - on the field. It's true that there hasn't been as many off-the-field incidences in Coral Gables as there used to be, and in the recent waves of NCAA violations by prominent programs - Miami has somehow avoided a pink slip. But with this good news comes the bad news that Miami just isn't Miami anymore when they take the football field.

And if you're a true Miami fan you know what I mean.

When old Miami teams were outmatched in experience, they made up for it with attitude and intensity. When they were evenly matched, they separated themselves from the competition with effort and grit on both sides of the ball. And when they played a lesser opponent, they demoralized them on the field as well as on the scoreboard.

Simply put, as an opponent, Miami made your fears a reality. Their X-Factor was always their swagger and they brought plenty of it.

But this isn't the case for Miami anymore. Their calling-card and the brand that was Da U is now just a team with a "U" on their helmets. When you watch their games, you see a plethora of mental mistakes, penalties and a group of athletes who, half of the time, don't seem to be on the same page. As if they haven't been practicing with each other for the last - I don't know - 3 seasons.

Take Saturday's game against Clemson for example. How does a team turn the ball over 6 times, play horribly on offense, yet still have a chance to win with 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter?

Play against Miami - a team that lacks the killer mentality their predecessors had in years past. A team that seems to go on cruise-control whenever they have a lead. And a team that waits for momentum to come to them instead of creating it.

As the saying goes though - the fish stinks from the head down. Yes, Jacory Harris has to protect the football and not throw it to the guys in the other jerseys so often. And Miami's wide-receivers have to learn to run the routes Harris calls in the huddle. And for crying out loud, someone, anyone (on defense and on offense) needs to step and be the bell cow every championship team needs in crunch time. But penalties, mental errors, missed tackles and clock mismanagement are problems Randy Shannon's staff should've addressed a long time ago. Those are things that fall under "Football Basics 101."

In almost every other industry, when the talent isn't executing management has to fix it. They have to fix it either by properly training their talent or by finding new ones who can execute. 

In Miami's case, there's no excuse for the constant miscommunication we see between the staff and its players in game situations.Too many times are momentum-gaining drives being stunted by delay of game penalties; the wrong personnel on the field; or a receiver running towards Kansas as Harris is throwing towards Cuba.

In essence, it's a lack of preparation and concentration on Miami's part; something this program got away with in the 80's and 90's when they had bell cows like Ray Lewis, Warren Sapp, Ed Reed or Andre Johnson to step up and take over a game. But in today's college football, most teams have some of the old Miami pedigree. Speed, talent and attitude is no longer Miami's monopoly.

Yet, they can still win in spite of it. Miami can still regain what they themselves invented if they just went out and did it.

Old Miami teams where brash, bold and damn near insulting at times. But they didn't shoot themselves in the foot. Not on Jimmy Johnson's clock and not even on Dennis Erickson's - who by most former Canes accounts was as laid-back of a coach as any player could have. In those days, if a team was going to beat Miami they were going to have to go through hell, or 3 overtimes in the Arizona desert to do it. (Ask  Jim Tressel and Ohio State how hard it was to win that National Championship in Tempe in 2003.)

But those days seem further away than most people will want to admit. For years now, Miami has been the biggest enigma in college football rather than the sure thing. Able to beat anyone on a given Saturday, they're also at risk of losing to anybody too. They're like a nice sports car with a faulty engine. They look good on the surface, but can break down at any given moment. And for die-hard Canes fans it's a tough pill to swallow.

The college football world is waiting for them to rise again, and there are many who believe the program is close to regaining national dominance.

It would be great for the sport after all. Every story needs a renegade. Every season needs a spoiler. But all one has to do is watch a Miami game and find too many moments when you're wondering: how did he miss that tackle? Why can't they get the play off on time? Rather than moments like in the old days when the challenge was how many points will Miami put up on the scoreboard.

Only then does it become painfully clear that the Hurricanes are further than we all think, and that they can never dominate college football again until they master themselves.