I was walkon on 74 team and that defense was 3rd or 4th top ranked total defense in the counry. Very different game. Players are bigger in general but plenty of big guys in 74. Hard to compare eras.
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Iâve been a fan since stepping on campus in Fall 2004. Iâve seen 3 conference championships and while this is clearly the least fun offense of the 3, I think this season may be my favorite of the 3. The UC game will go down in legend as a streak breaker and the FG block when all hope was lost. The Brett injury into the win over OU that no one saw coming. The team winning out and winning the title game.
As I said in a previous thread, this season is the reason you keep supporting a program that honestly most Miami students and alums couldnât give a ratâs ass about. This is the type of season you wait a decade for.
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Hoping we donât have to wait a decade for another one.
WHAT THE FUCK!
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The D Line this year really impressed me compared to years past. For the last 10 years or so it always seemed like our D line got manhandled by other teams. We consistently pressured the QB, and we would have gotten a lot more sacks today had Finn not been so slippery. It seemed like Woullard was always making plays.
At LB, Salopak and Wise were rock solid all year. And we get both of them back next year. Salopak is a studâŚvery JoJuan Armour/Curt McMillan-esque. Throw Hondru into the mix, and our LB corps is going to be âcrazyâ good. Dowellâs presence will be missed though.
This is one of the best special teams units weâve had in a while between Nicholson and Bevelhimer. And I really like watching Mcdonald play. Heâs a smart player and runs hard every single playâŚreminds me of how Luke Clemens used to run.
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Long Snapper and Holder are key ingredients of that ST Unit that mostly get overlooked.
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Add Matt Robillard into your list of linebackers from years back. That dude was brutal over the middle and his hit on the Buffalo QB, where theyâre both parallel to the ground and a couple feet in the air, is perfection.
Also, smart guy in the classroom.
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Another comparison might be Did the coach of one of these excellent Miami teams move up in the coaching ranks?
Weâd better try to extend CM asap.
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IT IS SUNDAY MORNING. WE ARE STILL MAC CHAMPS! WE STILL BEAT UC! WE STILL BEAT OU! WE STILL WON THE MAC EAST! WE STILL BEAT A TOP 25 TEAM! MENS BB STILL BEAT MARSHALL!
WE ARE STILL WINNERS!!
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Legendary
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Richard, youâre a marvel! I looked forever for this picture, thank you! I canât press like or love enough times. I was at this game and the hit looked like it was in slow motion. The crowd was just stunned and then roared. Tell me if this story doesnât sound familiar. Matt arrived on campus as a safety and he was converted to linebacker. This picture is also for those on here who didnât get to campus until after Hep left for IU. Miami had some pretty bad ass players on those late 1990âs - early 2000âs teams.
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Miami comes in 30th in the AP poll. Disappointed they didnât get the votes to crack the top 25 for the first time since Ben.
Hopefully we get a decent bowl matchup and a chance to crack it in the final poll.
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Toledo just had another kick blocked.
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I am not surprised
âŚvery tough to move from getting one vote to cracking the top 25 in one week, even with a win over a 23rd ranked team in Toledo.
If we win our bowl game, we have an outside chance of cracking the final top 25 poll, but based on history, itâs more likely we moved up to 26 or 27th. Of course, two other factors are how the teams in #20-#29 spots do in their bowls (some may play each other), and how impressive is our bowl opponent. If we were matched up w a G5 conference champ and then beat them, that would certainly help.
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That was a great reminder of what kicking is like for most MAC teams. Our kickerâs âroughâ moment was finally missing a FG attempt for the first time and this is now December. Meanwhile, Toledo looked like it had never watched football before and didnât understand the concept of kicking for points. Or punting. Or covering punts. Or knowing when to return a kickoff.
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My FIL was at the game with my wife and I yesterday. He hasnât watched us play this year, so it was fascinating seeing him realize in the first quarter or so how much our ST was outclassing theirs. By the 4th quarter he was saying stuff like âbig mistake!â when the Toledo returner took it from out of the end zone, or sarcastically âgood luckâ to UT when they lined up for the final FG that we blocked. It is no exaggeration that if our special teams were merely FBS average this season (let alone MAC average) that weâd be 8-4 tops with no division title.
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One other stat that nobody else has mentioned that is really impressive is that we won 6 true road games, I think the best in the nation. And that is not counting the MAC championship game. It is not easy to win on the road.
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Iâm looking through Athlonâs college football preview magazine to see how we did compared to their projection. They predicted we would be 8-5 (6-2) with the win at OU to break the tie for the division before losing to 9-4 (6-2) Toledo in the MACC. Perhaps the most bizarre portion is the âScouting the [insert mascot]â quote that is published for each team. The anonymous opposing MAC assistant coach said, quote:
It really all comes down to their offensive line and their QB play. Theyâre hard to predict. Iâd consider them a swing team this season. Could be awful; could be bowling.â
Could be awful? What was that moron thinking? At worst, we were likely looking at 2-2 in OOC games, so even being a mediocre MAC team would have been enough to get to bowl eligibility. I could see âcould be 6-6; could win the Eastâ but Iâd love to know what wouldâve had to have happened for this team to have an âawfulâ season.
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FWIW based on SP+ preseason rankings, it predicted a record of 6.4-5.6 (4.5-3.5), so it wouldnât have been crazy to say there was a realistic path to not bowling (though not to being awful for a MAC team). Obviously the team proved that wrong.
Also, reading BillCâs preview blurb for Miami is spot on. Essentially he said the defense should be great, the offense might suck, but we still could be the MAC East favorite regardless.