I have to start by saying that it is fantastic that Florida, Miami and Florida State essentially have a round robin to determine the best team in the state this year. The Gators and Hurricanes are both coming into this one off victories that didn’t force them to sweat too much.
Florida state bragging rights will be on the line when the Florida State Atlantic Owls travel to Miami to take on the Hurricanes to open the 2013 college football season.
Miami is one of the most fearsome programs in college football. Sure they have been down of late and there are some questions surrounding future penalties but everyone in college football knows that if, and when, they get things going again they will be a force to be reckoned with.
There has never been hoops expectations like there are in Miami this year. A team that was considered middle of the pack went on to win regular season and tournament ACC titles to earn a #2 seed.
The Wolfpack were able to get the game flowing and had a relatively easy time in beating Virginia, beating by 20 a team they lost to earlier in the season.
Being a top ranked team is dangerous territory this season. More than half of the top 5 teams in the nation have already lost this week so a win by the Canes will push them back up into some rarified are.
There are currently 7 teams with a chance to have a perfect conference season but the Miami Hurricanes have to be the least likely among that group to have been considered a candidate to do so at the beginning of the season.
The Blue Devils are back on top of the polls after several teams joined them with a loss recently. Funnily enough Duke is not at the top of their own conference, a spot occupied by Miami who has yet to lose in ACC play.
I have to admit that I am bullish on Miami this season. I didn’t get to see a ton of their opener against Boston College but they won in hostile territory and that is what this program needs wins…they just need to get their confidence back – the swagger.
Miami was once long a power on the college football scene, but its last national championship occurred in 2001. The program has been in a really trying time of late; coaching changes have gone hand-in-hand with scandal (I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of hearing that word as it pertains to NCAA football) and Miami fans, frankly, aren’t used to seeing a .500 ballclub.
Minnesota really struggled down the stretch in the regular season, which cost them a shot at the Big Dance, but they looked good in their opening round win in the NIT.
It isn’t always pretty but the Miami Hurricanes do play some pretty good basketball.
North Carolina (21-4) got over their home loss to Duke with an 18-point thrashing against a ranked Virginia team in their last game and now travel to the Sunshine State to face Miami (15-8), who recently had their 5-game winning streak snapped.
This season has not gone according to plan with these 2 teams from the Sunshine State, as Miami is still one win away from being bowl eligible at 5-4 and FSU is at 6-3 and had legit BCS hopes this season.
“The U” was once a proud, self-proclaimed football factory perennially among the country’s elite. Much like Miami’s in-state rival Florida State, history hasn’t been so kind in recent years.
Here we go with today’s sports water cooler talk. Here, you won’t just find the straight news; you’ll find the stuff everyone is talking about – the ice breakers, the Twitter Sports Picks and topics…well, basically all the stuff you discuss at the water cooler.
