Canes Performance Against Duke Acceptable

"The Sky is Falling" seems to be the refrain on the message boards of various Canes fan websites following what appeared from the scoreline to be a game on high upset alert versus Duke. However, reality is that the Hurricanes were not almost upset and that this years Duke Blue Devil team is the best Duke team in years. ( that is of course not saying much.)

With ACC play beginning and the Hurricanes not expected to be among the favorites for the league title, why should fans be so down after a conference victory? Coach Randy Shannon and Offensive Coordinator Patrick Nix have made it a point to not to show their hand future opponents who could potentially defeat Miami. That is why the three home games which the Hurricanes were clear favorites for saw a very limited game plan which basically consisted of running straight ahead and resorting to very little in the gimmick department in the passing game. Miami scored on its first two possessions of the game and after that basically played as conservatively as they could and tried to make sure everyone was ready for the trip to Chapel Hill.

Thaddeus Lewis has proven several times this year that even if the supporting cast around him is subpar, he is one of the most electrifying players in the ACC. Lewis had a career game two weeks ago at Northwestern and followed it up with another career game against Navy. Lewis who is a local product who spent most of his life cheering for UM, but someone whom Larry Coker chose not to recruit was always going to get up and have a big game against the Hurricanes, just as he did last year. Lewis played like a man possessed Saturday, but the Canes defense made the stops they had to when they needed and Duke fell short of the upset.

Bottom line: Miami is not a national title contender and Duke isn't as bad as they have been in recent years. A 24-14 scoreline tells us very little about Miami, because as we learned last week, Miami's struggle against FIU didn't indicate anything as far as the Canes chances versus Texas A&M. This is the same picture as 1987 when Miami struggled against Toledo before crushing Notre Dame. Or 1988 when Miami struggled against Tulsa before traveling to Baton Rouge and crushing #6 LSU 44-3. Or 2001 when after looking lethargic against Troy, the Canes traveled to Tallahassee to bomb Florida State. Now I'm not claiming this Miami team is anywhere near in class to those squads, but over reacting to this particular game demonstrates why many think Miami's fans are among the worst anywhere in the nation.