ATLANTA -- Miami was starting to look sinister again.
If you carry the football, it was time to get your head on a swivel because the Hurricanes were playing through the whistle on defense, not to it, just like the old days. Stay busy near the end of the play, look around, because you are going to get clobbered by a green and white replica of Bennie Blades or Micheal Barrow if you are not paying attention.
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| Lucas Cox's 32-yard TD run is another dagger in Miami's heart. (US Presswire) |
I just have one thing to say.
Can I have my money back?
Wherever you looked Thursday night, there was more green grass in front of the Georgia Tech running backs than the green jerseys of the Hurricanes. Cows could have grazed on the space available without being disturbed by a defender.
Once upon a time, there was never a safe spot on the field for an offense, no room to graze, no room to breathe against a Miami defense.
The Yellow Jackets had all kinds of breathing room and bashed Miami 41-23 in an ACC game. Georgia Tech rushed for 472 yards and confused the ACC Coastal Division race even more by making Miami the fifth division team with three losses.
There was supposed to be some pretense to these green Miami guys again, a sharp stick, but it is obvious they can't play with the Gators, yet, or the Trojans, or the Sooners, or Crimson Tide. That's our fault. We said, "Miami's back." They're not back, not even close. We rushed them.
The Hurricanes over-pursued, lost their contain, and were muscled up front by a Georgia Tech team that was missing two starters on its offensive line.
Before the game, former players Kelvin Harris, Ryan McNeil, and Coleman Bell were standing on the Miami sideline in a glow of hardware. They counted up their haul of seven national championship rings.
Harris declared it would not be long before the Hurricanes were contending for rings again.
"Next year, it's going to be back to where it was," Harris said. "It's going to be harder for schools to get the good kids to leave South Florida. We're close."
Harris said the game with Georgia Tech was a pop quiz.
It was an "F", of course because the team that wears green is too green with inexperience.
The Hurricanes were back in the Top 25 for the first time in two years, creeping in at No. 23 and the stay was short-lived, especially this week because it was a Thursday night game. Only four days of glory and then back to the beach to wonder what happened.
Miami was too young to deal with the offense it ran up against, Georgia Tech's option maze. And the 'Canes were too slow, which was really a shock. Dwyer can run, but since when does a 228-pound fullback out-run a Miami safety?
Coach Randy Shannon called timeout early in the third quarter when the beating continued, attempting to rally his team, but there wasn't much he could do with a team that tried to tackle too high and forgot its assignments while trying to make a big play.
Somebody out there might be ranking the ACC higher than the SEC, but that is foolish with what was on display here Thursday night. Miami had won five games in a row, four against conference teams, and if a top-tier team can get skewered for 41 points, the conference has an issue.
As for Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets (8-3) at last remembered to hold on to the ball while trampling a defense. Tech has lost 18 fumbles this season, which put it 118th out of 119 FBS teams.
If the ball is secure, you are talking about a ferocious ground game. Dwyer had 128 yards, Roddy Jones ripped off 97. The quarterback, Josh Nesbitt, had 93 yards. Lucas Cox, a fullback, managed 73. Dwyer, Jones, and Nesbitt are sophomores -- Jones is a red-shirt freshman.
Paul Johnson's option offense, which features misdirection and triple option, will no longer face ridicule after this performance on national television. The scheme can be baffling to a college football team and Johnson has been around only one season so it can be polished even more.
You can bet the red and black clad Bulldogs, 60 miles east in Athens, were fixed to the TVs trying to get a handle on Tech's shell game, which they will face a week from Saturday.
That's why we should cut Miami some slack. Shannon is 42, but not even he is old enough to have seen something like the Tech offense. His squad is young and only in his second year.
You remember that stare the 'Canes had, the one that said, "You sure you belong out here on this field with us?" Miami doesn't have it back -- yet. It doesn't belong with the teams of the 80s and 90s. Maybe someday, but not now, and it didn't look like they were close here Thursday night with all those young players.
