First, there was Al Golden’s orange tie that fans wore in 2011 to say Miami was back. Remember? Then Mark Richt’s 10-0 start in 2015 had people daydream maybe, just maybe, they were back. That collapsed.
Manny Diaz brought the Turnover Chain in 2019. That brought back some a few days of fun and energy. But wins?
Mario Cristobal didn’t go to Gainesville with some tie or chain on Saturday for his third, desperate season opener.
He went with quarterback Cam Ward, who on his season-opening touchdown drive became the best Miami quarterback in two decades. He went with a Miami defense that played a dominant game right out of 2002.
Miami delivered a 41-17 win at Florida that confirmed all the off-season optimism, underlined the only thing that can stop them is if they don’t kneel down in the Victory Formation and demands the question in search of the right answer gets asked again.
So, are they back?
Did you see how Ward completed 26 of 35 passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns? Did you watch how this defense rolled up Florida’s pop-gun offense and knocked its quarterback from the game?
And did you see that receiver-reverse pass early in the fourth quarter with Miami leading 38-10? So, Xavier Restrepo overthrew a touchdown. So what?
No one’s seen something like that in decades. It was right out of Jimmy Johnson’s pour-it-on playbook. You wanted Florida alum Jesse Palmer to channel Ara Parseghian from the mid-1980s as Jimmy slapped around Notre Dame’s golden brand and ask Cristobal to not run up the score.
They’re so back.
Playing like this, they’re in line to take the ACC and host a game in the 12-team college playoff. They aren’t ready for the likes of Georgia and Ohio State right now. Not for a national title from the looks of the last day of August.
But there’s four months of football left before…
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/dave-hyde-miami-puts-college-233400277.html
Author : South Florida Sun Sentinel
Publish date : 2024-08-31 23:34:00
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