Hello, friends! Back at it again to start the week.

Miami announces lead gift, plans to built Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility

This was the big news from Friday evening. Miami Athletics, along with the Soffer family, announced a $14M lead gift for the Carol Soffer Football Indoor Practice Facility at an invite-only event at the Fountainebleu Hotel on Miami Beach.

This is a huge move for Canes Football. Prior to this announcement, Miami was the only P5 school without an indoor practice facility, or plans to build one. Now, that’s in the past, and Mark Richt is well on his way to accomplishing action item #1 on his list.

Take a look at the renderings and virtual tour in the piece above. This really is going to be a state of the art facility.

Miami is still looking for donations to comprise the remaining $10M of projected project costs. You can make a donation to the IPF fund by clicking this link.

Canes move up in the polls

Several polls and rankings moved the Canes up, even on a bye week.

Football Outsiders’ S&P+ ratings bumped the Canes up 9 spots from 15th to 6th.

The Amway Coaches Poll moved Miami up 5 spots from 19th to 14th.

The Associate Press moved Miami up 1 spot from 15th to 14th.

One more interesting stat I came across:

Up next: at Georgia Tech

So, it’s time for the ACC opener at Georgia Tech. If you missed the gametime and TV info, here it is:

For those interested in the line for this game, hope you got on it early

If you wanted to learn some of the basics about the GT flexbone triple option (that cursed, infernal, frustrating offensive system that grates on my last nerve), check this out:

That’s good to get you started with GT week. We’ll have plenty more for you as this week progresses up until kickoff (and even after).

Georgia Tech Week video

Our video guy Josh Forbey makes his triumphant return with a hype video to get the Canes back into the flow of a game week following the bye

Hard Rock Stadium looks to boost fan experience

This is admittedly a Dolphins article, but the Canes share Hard Rock Stadium with them, so this applies for The U as well. Last week, there were articles talking about the new food options and street art that would be integrated into Hard Rock Stadium. Now, the Dolphins are saying their goal is to increase the entertainment value of a trip to the stadium for all fans.

This stuff is good, and I appreciate the attention to the details of a full day game experience at HRS. But, for me, the main attraction has to be good football. And, at least through 2 home games and 3 games total, the Canes have provided that for the fans in spades. Now, they just have to keep it going.

Quick Hitters

ProCanes continued to dominate the NFL. Check out Blain Bradley’s ProCanes Preview for a good look at the Canes in the NFL. Devin will be chiming in with his ProCanes recap later today.

Are the Canes back? Justin Dottavio ponders the question

Miss Friday’s News and Notes? Got it for you right here

Enjoy the day, Canes!