Happy College Football Playoff week, errrrrbody. Miami and Texas A&M will finally do battle on Saturday after almost two weeks of hype. I rearranged my travel plans, so I’ll be able to get to my hotel by kickoff and watch that sucker. I wasn’t about to be stress listening while driving on the interstate, so I’ll be there, ready to watch (and hopefully not get hurt again, but I’m prepared).
And so, let’s get to those Cane thoughts rattling around inside my head.
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1) The Miami Hurricanes are trendsetters for college football in the state of Florida. And they can be again on Saturday if they beat Texas A&M.
The Hurricanes are the state’s first ever national champion, claiming their first title back in 1983. They nabbed the first undefeated national championship in school history in 1987 (something Florida has not yet done). They have the most national championships of any school in the state with five.
And on Saturday, they can become the first program in the history of the College Football Playoff to win a playoff game. Florida State has been in the playoff one time – in the first year of the playoff in 2014. Oregon blew their doors off in the first game 59-20. Florida has never been to the playoff. Neither has UCF nor USF.
But that’s what Miami does; knock door barriers for the state. Walk so others can run.
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2) And winning a playoff game would be an enormous achievement for this program.
I don’t want to say that I’m just happy to be there, and I hate saying anything after would be gravy, but knocking off Texas A&M and claiming that first program playoff win would really vindicate what Mario Cristobal is doing on a national level.
I think, with a good number of Canes fans, this playoff appearance alone gives Mario a lot of goodwill, and it lends credence to the belief that he’s really building this program slowly but surely in the right direction. There is still a lot to get better at, and week-to-week consistency needs to be better as a team, but man, advancing to a quarterfinal matchup against Ohio State would be a huge feat for this program.
3) Now, on to the game itself. We’ll have a lot of coverage this week to discuss, but there is something I love and something I’m worried about going into the game.
I’ll go over what I’m worried about first. Miami’s defensive line is as good as any in the country, and it’s been an engine that’s helped drive the team over the last month. However, A&M’s offensive line is particularly good at pass blocking. Trey Zuhn III, the loudmouth who ran his trap about Bain on selection Sunday, is a damned good offensive lineman. One of the best pass blockers in the nation with an outrageous 96.9 PFF pass blocking grade in 382 pass blocking snaps this season. He’s allowed just one sack and just eight pressures. That’s pretty sick. If Miami’s line struggles to get Marcel Reed off his spot, I have some worries about what he, KC Concepcion, and the A&M passing attack can do.
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But what I love about Miami’s matchup on the other side of the ball is A&M’s tendency to allow explosive plays in the passing game. They can get gotten down the field with the deep ball and have been boom or bust at times, and Miami is back and healthy among their pass catchers and have been firing on all cylinders in recent weeks. The Aggies have a hell of a pass rush, highlighted by AP first team All-American Cashius Howell (11.5 sacks), but if Miami can protect Beck, I really think they can hit on chunk plays, and I don’t think we’re going to see ground-and-pound duo all day long. Miami’s resurgence has started with a more versatile and creative playbook that’s implemented some Malicat (Shannon Dawson’s term for the wildcat with Malachi Toney) and been more aggressive since the stinky mid-October/November 1 run.
Pick to come later in the week after I stew over it some more.
4) Transfer portal-mania is at its apex now, and there’s a new name that’s been added to the fold: Florida quarterback DJ Lagway.
Lagway announced on Monday he’s entering the portal, after an apparent meeting with new Gators coach Jon Sumrall where things didn’t go peachy keen, per reports.
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And On3 Sports’ Pete Nakos mentioned Miami as a team to keep an eye on regarding Lagway.
I’ll say it. I have major hesitations there. I’ve been told he’s super talented, but I’ve had DJ-Uiagalelei-at-FSU vibes with him lately. Like, by that I mean very physically talented but completely lost on the field and not nearly capable of playing up to the hype he received. I have zero clue where he was throwing the ball on some of those 5 interceptions against LSU this year. And Miami’s defense is very good this year, but he went 12/23 for 61 yards against the Canes. Like, bro, that’s Bethune-Cookman-level play.
If Miami lands an impact QB from the portal, a Brendan Sorsby or Sam Leavitt would be higher on my list. I would be shocked if the Canes don’t get someone, but I’m not sure Lagway is someone I’d be super excited about at this point in time.
