Previewing the Game Against Maryland

Miami starts the season against a very good Maryland Terrapins team on September 5th. 

It marks the second time in three years that the Hurricanes start the season on the road against a very good conference team (at Florida State in 2009).

Miami is coming off a roller coaster offseason that included players taking money from a booster, a new coaching staff, and a lingering question mark at quarterback.

Despite all the problems they have faced, Miami still has the talent to surprise a lot of people in the country.

Here is a preview of what to expect against Maryland.

Suspended Players and Miami's Depth Chart

By now, everyone knows about the allegations/convictions against the current Hurricane players that took gifts from ex-booster, Nevin Shapiro.

Today brought big news as the NCAA responded to coach Al Goldens reinstatement request.

The Hurricanes will be without a total of eight players, Jacory Harris, Sean Spence, Adewale Ojomo, Travis Benjamin, Dyron Dye, Ray Ray Armstrong, Olivier Vernon, and Marcus Forston, for the first game against Maryland.

Out of those players, Vernon must sit out six games, while Ray Ray Armstrong and Dyron Dye will have to sit out of four of them.

The rest of them only have to miss this game against Maryland.

There were originally 13 total players that were involved in Shapiro's claims, but Vaughn Telemaque, JoJo Nicholas, Brandon McGee, and Micanor Regis did not get suspended as they took less than $100.

Lastly, Marcus Robinson, was cleared of all violations and will not face any penalties.

With the release of the suspensions, Golden quickly revealed his depth chart for Maryland.

The offense has been pretty much intact, except for Benjamin, but the defense will definitely hurt from the suspensions.

Note: Aldarius Johnson violated team rules and has been suspended indefinitely by coach Golden.

Stephen Morris vs Danny O'Brien Part 2

Last year against the Terrapins, Stephen Morris got his first collegiate start for the injured Jacory Harris and performed very well throwing for 286 yards and a touchdown.

Down 20-18 with just 37 seconds left, Morris threw a 35 yard touchdown pass to Leonard Hankerson capping the comeback victory.

Maryland's starter for the game was Danny O'Brien, who didn't fair as well as Morris, as he finished the game with just 134 yards passing, a touchdown, and an interception.

Both quarterback were true freshman.

Although Morris won the game, O'Brien had a better season throwing for 2,438 yards, 22 touchdowns, and just nine interceptions.

Morris ended the year with 1,240 yards passing, seven touchdowns, and nine interceptions.

With Harris suspended for this game, Morris has been named the starter.

Miami Must Run Like They Did Last Year

The Hurricanes had a pretty good rushing attack last year against the Terrapins as they ran for a total of 218 yards.

Red-shirt freshman, Lamar Miller, lead the Hurricanes with 125 yards and a touchdown on just 22 carries.

Backup running back, Mike James, also had a good game rushing for 51 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.

This year Miami is expected to be even better in the running game behind a very deep and talented offensive line.

Running the ball consistently will help offset the erratic play of Jacory Harris and Stephen Morris.

Although Maryland returns seven starters on defense, I am not sure they will be ready to handle the revamped rush attack of Miami.

No Better Time Than Now for Tommy Streeter

With the graduation of Leonard Hankerson and an eligibility issue with Travis Benjamin, the Hurricanes really need a wide receiver to step up.

The way Tommy Streeter has been playing of late, Miami might have finally found their man.

In the first two scrimmages of the fall session, Streeter caught 12 passes for 199 yards and five touchdowns.

Streeter came into Miami a physical freak, standing 6'5" and weighing 215 pounds, all while running a 4.4 40.

Although Streeter has been named the second string receiver, he will be able to give Miami a huge spark, especially with Travis Benjamin suspended for the game.

There is not a better time than now as Miami will need all the receivers they possibly can against Maryland.

Cornerbacks Are a Concern

The Hurricanes lost both their starting cornerbacks, Demarcus Van Dyke and Brandon Harris, to the NFL draft this year.

What made matters worse is they also lost their primary backup as well, Ryan Hill, leaving only one returning cornerback that had any real experience, Brandon McGee.

Miami made drastic moves this spring converting both JoJo Nicolas and Lee Chambers to cornerback positions.

Nicolas started 10 games at safety last year, but with the great play of Ray Ray Armstrong, Golden was able to move Nicholas over.

Chambers, a backup running back for the last three years, has been playing extremely well at corner.

With the news of Armstrong's suspension, it leaves a hole in the starting safety position.

Golden decided to move Nicholas back to safety until Armstrong comes back.

With a good passing offense that Maryland should have, the defensive backfield better be ready.

Need to Cut Back on Penalties

The Hurricanes ended last season as the fourth most penalized team in the country with 107.

Miami has always been known for being a highly penalized team, especially in the 80's, but this is not the same team.

This Hurricane team cannot score like teams of past, so they must rely on great field position.

Holding penalties and false starts plagued Miami and killed many drives last year.

On the road in the ACC makes it even harder and if Miami can not stop with the stupid penalties, it is going to be a long night in Maryland.

Must Stay Focused

With the suspensions of eight players for the Maryland game, the Hurricanes have enough to worry about.

I guarantee you many of the players and coaches are having many sleepless nights thinking about what will happen come Monday.

Players that are not suspended and have been moved to starting positions, Andrew Smith and Darius Smith for example, have an opportunity to prove they belong.

Although there is a huge sigh of relief for Miami, that doesn't mean the loss of eight starting players is going to be easy to replace.

This is not your typical first game against a subdivision football team, this is an ACC game that means everything.

Every player has a job to do and they must remained focus at the task in hand, Maryland.