Lots of people are talking about The U. Let’s see what they’re saying

Bruce Feldman profiles Canes Defense

A National CFB writer with a long history of solid work, Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman wrote an article about the dominating Miami Hurricanes defense from this early season.

Feldman, a Miami alum who authored the best-selling book ‘Cane Mutiny in 2004, took a good look at the Canes defense. Under the sage direction of Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz, Miami’s defense has been absolutely lights out in the first month of the season.

From looking at the stats — 3rd in rushing yards per carry allowed (1.57) in 2016 versus 115th (!!!!) in yards per carry allowed (5.26) in 2015 — to profiling Diaz’s return to Dade County, to talking about the Freshmen Linebackers (did you guys know Miami is starting 3 true freshmen LBs?!?!?!?), to profiling the meteoric rise of Chad Thomas, finally embodying the 5-star potential he had as a recruit, this piece has pretty much anything and everything a Canes fan could want to read. Check it out, guys.

Analytics love Miami, too.

SBNation’s Analytics guru Bill Connelly spent the first 397 words of his weekly column The Numerical to wax poetic about, you guessed it, the resurgent Miami Hurricanes.

Connelly has a couple different analytics-based ratings models, and both of them are really, REALLY high on what Miami did in the first month of the year. No, Miami didn’t face top competition in that span, but the Canes handled inferior opposition the way they should: beating them soundly across the board.

In addition to Connelly’s piece, which goes on to further praise Miami as a team whose performance is better than the computer models projected heading into the season, charting master Daniel Gould offered this on twitter relative to a few stats from the Appalachian State game:

If you need a quick course on “success rates” (something both Connelly and Gould — and others — use as they evaluate performance), click this link right here for definitions of tons of advanced metrics.

So, basically, whether you want the narrative with a bit of numbers from Feldman, or you want the numbers heavy approach of Connelly and Gould, you’ll find that Miami is being held in high esteem as the calendar moves from September to October.

ProCanes setting the standard in the NFL as per usual

Just a quick one, but ProCanes scored more touchdowns than alums of any other school BY FAR this week. As in, Miami alums scored TWICE as many TDs this week as the next closest school. And that’s not even taking into account stellar performances from the likes of Ereck Flowers, Artie Burns, and Calais Campbell.

Just another snapshot to prove the point yet again: Miami is NFLU, and it’s not even close.

Blake James: The App State Color Guard situation is over

Yesterday, I wrote about how a member of the Appalchian State Color Guard said that Miami players had “inappropriate contact” with one of her Guard-mates. Later in the day yesterday, Miami Hurricanes Athletic Director Blake James closed the chapter on that situation, as per a report by Matt Porter of The Palm Beach Post.

In short, Miami athletics found that there was no wrongdoing or malfeasance as alleged by the App State Auxiliary members. James went on to have the following quote in the above linked story:

“Unless someone finds something new,” James said, “to me, it’s over.”

The Band Auxiliary member who was allegedly contacted, Mariah Martin, said James apologized to her in a letter. James disputed that point, in no uncertain terms. I quote again:

“I didn’t apologize in the letter, so I wouldn’t classify it as an apology letter,” James said. “If that’s what she wants to go with to allow her to move forward, I’m not going to sit here and argue semantics in the media.”

Translation: She can think what she wants. We’re done here.

I know that I’d previously spoken of my displeasure with some of the things Blake James did early on in his tenure as AD, but man, he’s making me like him more and more with every move he makes. This was flawlessly handled.

Bravo, Blake.

Quick Hitters

Our Daniel Tummeley took a look at the history of 3-0 starts for Miami, and what that could mean for this season moving forward.

Christy Cabrera-Chirinos of The South-Florida Sun-Sentinel wrote about Brad Kaaya, Mark Richt, and the pressure of playing QB at QBU.

Michelle Kaufman of The Miami Herald updated a previous story, reporting that Canes Hoops PF Dewan Huell will not be suspended after his recent arrest.

Kaufman also wrote about former Canes Hoops PG Angel Rodriguez and his transition to playing professionally in France.

Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald wrote about RB Mark Walton, who is on pace for a historic season after 3 games for the Canes, and other Canes notes.

InsideTheU had a great article about the very odd recruitment of 5-star G Bruce Brown, a top 30 player who signed with Miami in the spring.

Remember Derrick Griffin? The 6’6” 220lb All-American WR and 4-star basketball player who signed with Miami in 2015 but didn’t qualify and ended up at Texas Southern? After a standout football season on a bad team (2nd team All-SWAC, conference-leading 11 TDs), and a freshman basketball season that saw Griffin named the SWAC Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, 1st Team All-SWAC AND named an Honorable Mention All-American, Griffin was recently kicked off the Texas Southern Football Team. He says he’ll stick around hoop at Texas Southern again this year, but won’t be back on the gridiron in 2017. Griffin has ALL THE TALENT IN THE WORLD, but just can’t seem to get out of his own way. Such a shame.

In his recently updated 2017 NFL Mock Draft, CBS Sports analyst Dane Brugler projected Canes QB Brad Kaaya to be selected 14th by the Chicago Bears.

2 more videos from Jersey Unveiling

Canes Baseball gets some new swag in the form of new adidas gloves.

Per Bovada, the Canes’ National Championship odds have gone from 66/1 pre-season to 33/1 after 3 games. Movin’ on up!

4-star ATH commit DeeJay Dallas has set his official visit to Miami. One guess which game he’s coming down for....

I’ll touch on this in a Recruiting Radar piece soon, but October 8th vs FSU is going to be a HUGE recruiting weekend for Miami.

Last but not least, get all the news from yesterday, headlined by the unveiling of those AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL Legend of the U throwbacks the Canes will be wearing for the rest of the year, starting with the Florida State game.

Man. That’s a LOT of stuff today. On the Wednesday of a bye week.

And they said Miami wasn’t relevant anymore. YEAH RIGHT!!!!

Have a great day, Canes!!