Let The October Onslaught Begin for the Hurricanes

And now the fun is about to begin. Let the gauntlet that is to be the “October Trial by Fire” begin in earnest this Saturday with the afternoon kickoff in Atlanta against the triple option running Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Hopefully during the bye week Miami was able to get a little healthier, a little more rested and get mentally ready to chomp down on the meat of their schedule.

Yes, a lot of pundits are starting to backtrack on how truly “difficult” the October slate is going to be with GT looking more like last season’s squad compared to the dominating run game from two seasons ago. Continuing down the listing of opponents: UNC could best be described as a sieve of a defense (they sure as hell can throw the ball though), VT really hasn’t played anyone of note (Tennessee, in my mind, has played two good quarters all season) and for FSU please see the note for UNC. Notre Dame? Well, they just did what Al Golden “shoulda-did” a year or two into his regime at Miami which was to fire his defensive coordinator. Oh, be tee dubs, the reeling Fighting Irish are 1-3 and just lost to the less talented Duke Blue Devils at home.

When looking at the October opponents I personally don’t feel as pessimistic as I did before the season. However, the college schedule is really a week to week review. In Miami’s second outing against FAU Kaaya and the passing game were out of sync on their home turf. In week three, facing a hostile away environment for the first time Kaaya and the passing game got on track and were dropping dimes all over the field. If Miami plays like they did in week three the rest of the way.. you’re looking at a top bowl selection at the end of the season. If Miami somehow reverts back to week two… well.. sad face.

Taking a slight tangent to end our discussion… boy am I happy Mark Richt is our coach! After yesterday hearing that both Ron Turner and Les Miles being let go from FIU and LSU respectively it made me flashback to last season after the Clemson bloodletting we suffered. The land of the unknown is not a strong suit for me and definitely not a good look for each program. LSU could very well lose the crown jewels from their current recruiting class over the coming weeks and the person who steps into Miles’ recently vacated office will have almost unattainable goals set forth by the administration. I love the passion that many of the athletic departments and their fan bases have in trying to be as competitive as possible in the win-loss category but dear lord.. Miles won 8-10 games a year almost every season. Do you honestly believe the next coach will do better? Georgia is three weeks into that experiment and even though the results won’t be out for another few years, last weekend’s dismantling to Ole Miss had to leave them wondering if the grass is truly always greener.

Sometimes when you make a choice it opens Pandora’s box. I’m just happy that Miami may have gotten both a program builder and a program stabilizer wrapped up in one with Mark Richt at the helm. I guess we’ll see if that’s true over the next few weeks.

Here goes nothing.