Vaughn Telemaque Invokes Ed Reed; Miami Demolishes North Carolina, 33-10

It has been a rough two weeks for Randy Shannon and his Miami Hurricanes. After being dominated by Florida State, and struggling to beat the Duke Blue Devils, the critics were out in full force and as vocal as ever. 

But despite all of that, Shannon remained confident that his team would be able to come out and play well enough to beat North Carolina.  Although the Canes were favored by seven points, there were many doubters who believed that North Carolina would win its fourth straight game over the Hurricanes.

Saturday night told a different story as the Miami Hurricanes started slowly, but ended up dominating North Carolina, 33-10.  You could tell something was different about this Miami team when it came out of the tunnel. The lifeless, lethargic, seemingly unmotivated team that fans watched the last two games had suddenly seemed to find life. 

The Hurricanes seemed to invoke a little bit of that old Miami attitude that put this program at the top of college football.  They incurred some penalties as a result, but the results on the field were more than worth it.

The Hurricanes seemed to be ignited when Vaughn Telemaque got into it on the sideline with some of his teammates, attempting to get them going.  Telemaque was so animated that even offensive coordinator Mark Whipple started barking back at him. 

Whatever Telemaque said worked. The Hurricanes reeled off over 20 unanswered points, and the defense smothered the Tar Heels for the rest of the game.  Watching Telemaque on the sideline bought back memories of Ed Reed's locker room speech at halftime of the 2001 game against Boston College, when he got on his teammates for not playing well up to that point. 

Jacory Harris threw three touchdowns and one interception, while Damien Berry chipped in 109 yards rushing on the night. 

Those stat lines don’t tell the full story as Mark Whipple continued a trend he started at Duke by slowing the offense down, and setting up the pass by running the ball with authority.  Duke was an adjustment game, and North Carolina was where the Canes executed it almost perfectly. 

With this approach the offensive line almost looks dominant rather than porous, because defenders have to hesitate on the play action, which gives Harris just enough extra time to get the ball off. 

Speaking of Harris, he was efficient and looked much more confident and decisive throwing the ball, and most importantly he looked for receivers other than Leonard Hankerson.

The receiving corps stepped up and made amazing plays catching the football, especially Travis Benjamin, who had four receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown.  With 37 drops on the season, the Hurricanes receivers did drop a sure touchdown pass, but they caught just about everything else.  Add in 3.5 sacks by Allen Bailey and interceptions by Brandon Harris and Ramon Buchanan to cap off the total team effort put forth.

As for Randy Shannon, it seems that he “out-coached” Butch Davis, who critics are hailing as the guy who should be back coaching the Hurricanes.  Davis’s offense looked inept with the exception of about four big plays given up by the Hurricanes defense, and the Tar Heels defense looked okay in the first quarter.  After that the Hurricanes offense did whatever they wanted, and ran the ball right down their throat. 

It looks like Shannon is able to motivate his players after all, and the coaching staff is finally adjusting the playcalling to the strengths of the team.  One good win is not going to silence Shannon’s critics, and surely they will say that Miami beat a depleted team. 

But Shannon can only beat the teams in front of him, and the Hurricanes have an opportunity to win the ACC.  If the Hurricanes play like they did on Saturday night for the rest of the season, then it could be a goal that is very attainable, and a rematch with Florida State may be a possibility.