As we continue our early look at the Miami Hurricanes’ 2018 schedule, we come to a game that should be little more than a glorified scrimmage in week 2 as the Savannah State Tigers come to Hard Rock Stadium to battle the Canes.

This game, the week 2 tilt following the top-tier opener against LSU in Arlington, TX will give Miami the chance to work on some fine details, try out some new stuff, and earn their 2nd win of the season in easy fashion.

One of my first pieces as a SOTU contributor in 2013 was, you guessed it, the summer game preview for Miami-Savannah State. I subtitled that piece “Empty Calories” and well...that’s still the case. Basically, Miami is going to win in a blowout, and we should just hope to make it out with no injuries.

The last time Miami and Savannah State played, Miami won 77-7. That’s the most points the Canes have scored in a decade or more. Against an FCS team such as Savannah State, that kind of extremely lopsided result is to be expected.

Since Miami beat the brakes off Savannah State in 2013, the Tigers have gone 7-37 over the last 4 years, and that record is 7-45 if you include the remainder of the 2013 season into the equation as well. An also-ran team from the MEAC conference, these are the teams that Savannah State has beaten in the last 3 years (they went 0-12 in 2014, so no teams apply from that season)

1. 1-10 FAMU (2015)
2. 4-6 Bethune Cookman (2016)
3. 2-9 Howard (2016)
4. 4-7 Norfolk State (2016)
5. 4-7 Norfolk State (2017)
6. 2-9 Delaware State (2017)
7. 3-7 South Carolina State (2017)

/end list

On the other side of things, since losing to Miami BY 10 TOUCHDOWNS in 2013, these are the scores of Savannah State’s games against FBS competition:

1. 83-9 loss at Georgia Southern (2014)
2. 64-0 loss at BYU (2014)
3. 65-13 loss at Colorado State (2015)
4. 52-9 loss at Akron (2015)
5. 54-0 loss at Georgia Southern (2016)
6. 56-0 loss at Southern Miss (2016)
7. 54-7 loss at Appalachian State (2017)

So, over the last 4 years, Savannah State has lost games to FBS competition by an AVERAGE of 61.1 to 5.4. AND, if I were to add in the 77-7 loss to Miami or the 55-0 loss to Florida State (THAT WAS STOPPED DUE TO LIGHTNING WITH 9 MINUTES LEFT IN THE 3RD QUARTER IN 2013!!!!) that number would be worse.

See why I call this game “empty calories” yet?

I could give you the name of Savannah State’s coach, and look up some stuff on a couple of their players, and talk about their scheme, but why? This is a pay game for a low-level HBCU FCS team, and Miami is going to win by a million.

There isn’t a single player on Savannah State’s roster who can cover Ahmmon Richards. Or Jeff Thomas. Or Mark Pope. Or Brian Hightower. Or Brevin Jordan. Or Lawrence Cager.

There isn’t a single player who can contain Travis Homer. Or DeeJay Dallas. Or Lorenzo Lingard.

There isn’t a single player who can block Joe Jackson. Or Jonathan Garvin. Or Gerald Willis III. or Pat Bethel. Or Gregory Rousseau. Or Jon Ford.

I could give you more analysis, but this one is simple: We’re Miami and they’re Savannah State and this one won’t be close.

tl:dr? The HBCU sacrificial lamb this season is Savannah State, one of the worst teams in the MEAC, and Miami is going to win by a million. No hyperbole. An ACTUAL million points.

Have fun at the tailgate. That’ll be the most exciting thing happening on this gameday, because this game is going to be a blowout from the first play of the day until the last.

Go Canes