IT'S A 'U' THING

I mean this wholeheartedly, but what happened to this @CanesFootball fan base as of late? It feels like U-enthusiasts went from this living-in-the-past bunch who lived by this unattainable '80s-era—where nothing but pure dominance and being in the title hunt every year was accepted—to a bunch of betas who pontificate and doom-post non-stop in these social media groups. I saw more logic, reason and common sense on message boards in the late '90s when Miami was down 31 scholarships and in the throes of NCAA probation that wrecked half a decade—than I am seeing now with this undefeated team that is No. 1 in the country. All of these pages are flooded with a doom-and-gloom bunch trying to hold court; acting like they see something the rest of us don't—their daily warnings that this isn't a championship-caliber defense. Thanks, Lombardi ... the rest of us SO wouldn't see these defensive weaknesses without your incessant rants on Facebook. "WE SO WOULDN'T BEAT GEORGIA IF WE PLAYED THEM TOMORROW!!!" Well thank God that the Hurricanes wouldn't face the Bulldogs until a quarterfinals two months from now, a semifinal in mid-January or a finale weeks after that. I mean is it not lost on this same bunch that a year ago this week Miami was 6-2 having just lost at SMU on November 1st and for all intents and purposes, the season was over—out of the ACC hunt and zero margin for error as it was going to take 10-2 to even have a shot sneaking in as an at-large? Months back half this fan base wanted to give #CoreyHetherman a lifetime contract—petrified he's going to take some head coaching gig next year—yet these same emotional wrecks are ready to pack his bags and run him out of town after #BobbyPetrino picked apart his defense like a buzzard on some roadkill on a hot South Florida day. There's such a difference between what has become this bitching-to-bitch, taking to social media with this non-sensical and say-nothing, "this team is in trouble if it doesn't clean up this defense" venting—which always feels like fans trying to get ahead of rivals shit-talking them—the embarrassment that these fans ran their mouths about Miami's greatness, so it's sort of self-protect mode to start ripping the Canes' flaws before rivals throw it back in their faces. The complete opposite is how I've gotten hooked on @RomanCane's "Student Of The Game" breakdowns—listening to someone talk Xs and Os about what happened in Chapel Hill, the predicament Hetherman found himself in and what Miami will have to do moving forward to overcome these tendencies and to counter future offenses who know your style and tells. Take 20 minutes as he unpacks what went down in Chapel Hill: youtube.com/watch?v=Dq2gGA2D… Petrino has always been an offensive mastermind and he had Miami’s tendencies figured out. Ro breaks it all down here; motion to identify coverage ... quick throws exploiting safety rotations ... running backs isolated against linebackers or a defensive end ... counter looks that forced pass rushers to honor the run, buying the head, son-of-a-coach #BillyEdwards valuable time, and he made the Canes pay. Yes, sometimes Miami got exactly the matchup it wanted and simply lost the rep—guys not winning the one-on-one up front or defenders getting sucked underneath, leaving receivers wide open behind them. Screens again hurt this defense and it's been a common theme that coverage and tackling weren't up to the standard; sometimes it was bad angles, other times guys just weren't wrapping up as they are constantly taught. Does anyone whining in these social media groups really think the see flaws that the staff doesn't see? Do they not grasp that while they peck away in these groups on a Sunday morning, coaches and players are back at the facility breaking down film, talking about the mistakes and heading back out to Greentree to get back to work fixing them? I saw one guy ranting and raving that coaches "need to be accountable" for these mistakes. Is there any coach in the country who preaches accountability more? Anyone who carries themselves as less satisfied with not living up to the standard and not executing—a "back to work" mantra every week with the same angst, win or lose? A head coach who won two national championships as a player at Miami—who fully understands not just the challenge and responsibility of getting this right; but knowing the outside-noise is coming non-stop as the standard is the standard. Ro called it out; Hetherman knows the assignment—disguise the rotations, break the tendencies, reconsider who you’re asking to cover whom—and get guys executing when they ARE in position to fucking do something about it. None of this guarantees a fix—and as last year proved, it all needs to go your way just to make the playoffs, stack some win and reach a title game—which is why you simplify it all with "1-0 every week" and this relentless "back to work" quest that never ends. Many of us have said it for weeks now; at any time over the past two decades, Miami loses that game at Wake Forest ... loses that game to Florida State ... and especially would've lost this showdown at North Carolina; this back and forth road battle where the difference was pretty much the Tar Heels holding the Canes to three before the half an then #MarquiseLightfoot getting is strip-sack that #JustinScott recovered. Is a portion of this base so jaded that they can't take anything good from Miami finding way to dig deep and get a comeback win in a house of horrors; losing seven of the last ten in Chapel Hill before Halloween night—where even the three wins (2011, 2013, 2017) were all dogfights—while North Carolina rode a five-game win-streak into the rivalry? I get it; a lot of the jaded fans talked their shit on Facebook all week that Miami would roll 45-17, so when it's a 38-35 squeaker, you're dealing with shit-talking rivals and the embarrassment causes this whole get-out-in-front-of-it, wake-up-call energy in these social groups to mitigate damage. At some point, don't y'all look across the college football landscape this season and see that it's a wild year, with no true juggernaut—a bunch of conference teams beating up on each other, where traditional powers go down every week? Does it not open your eyes a bit when you see an average Auburn team—3-2 at the time, with losses to Florida and Tennessee—rolls into Athens to upset No. 1 Georgia, only to lose back to back games against LSU and Ole Miss, falling to .500 and losing three of their last four? No. 8 BYU upsets No. 2 Notre Dame in Provo ... only to go to Orlando to get bounced in overtime by Central Florida ... and then a week later the Knights got on the road to get wrecked 41-9 by a Baylor team in their first game with an interim head coach? No. 2 Ohio State loses #JulianSayin—yet somehow their defense takes the biggest hit and gets rolled by double-digits at Southern Cal, giving up 69- and 70-yard video game-like touchdowns? No. 8 Kentucky is hot shit right now, but we're going to ignore them getting rolled up 45-17 by Alabama? The same Crimson Tide who let Florida State ring them up for 36 points while #AshtonDaniels carved them up for 377 passing yards—but when he goes for 298 at Miami it's sound-the-alarm time for the Canes' defense? At what point do we look at college football for what it's become; a game of parity and a dozen one-game seasons en route to a conference title game and playoffs? What happened one week doesn't dictate the next and the transitive-property game fans love to play; we're seeing week-in and week-out right now just how that has never mattered less. I really don't give a shit if other fans have full faith or zero confidence in this defense week-to-week, but you have a coaching staff—and specifically a head coach—who understands the assignment and who won't be out-worked trying to solve these issues. Miami had three timely second-half sacks on Saturday night, including Lightfoot’s strip sack when the defense desperately needed a play—forcing the game's only turnover—and what about Dawson's offense continuing to answer, creating opportunity after opportunity? Weren't we all just bitching about this offensive line, a well as how the fourth year coordinator sort of disappeared late at Wake Forest? We can trash him for that, but not showing up and out big again #BillBelichick squad, while trading blows with Petrino all night? Sometimes the offense has to carry you. You’re allowed to win those games, too. And what about only three penalties for 30 yards after hearing all week about how penalized this team is and how a penalty-heavy night would've been a disaster on the road? Long story longer, there’s too much parity in college football to treat every conference dogfight as evidence that your season is a fraud. The other sideline has players, the ACC has good coaches and they both have week’s worth of film on you—Wake Forest, Florida State and North Carolina all threw the kitchen sink at Miami trying to win, too—but the Canes prevailed in all three cases. Miami has a final regular-season month to improve while continuing to win. Earn a top-four seed and its first playoff game is nearly two months away. Fans can demand better defense without pretending the November version is all this team can ever be—again, look at November 1st and the emotions after losing at SMU versus where things landed two months later when Miami was taking on Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, between that road win at Texas A&M and the Fiesta Bowl shootout with Ole Miss. Months ago, many of those bitching today were ready to give Hetherman needed a lifetime contract. Now it's "For Sale" signs in the yard and a moving truck. The defense needs more consistency? Sure. But so do a lot of you.

I’m not the guy who posted a claim that only my fan base called controversial, saying anyone who disagreed with me is some biased fan of the other team. You want to bitch about the call, go right ahead—but the whole “anyone arguing otherwise is a Miami diehard” and implication that any unbiased party would absolutely agree with you—that’s where you went off the rails. ✌🏽

Yes, let’s start there. Which stage of grief are you currently in? I’m guessing “denial”.

Sooo … a guy at TarHeel247 ISN’T biased when he says it’s not pass inference, but anyone disagreeing is a Miami apologist. Wild take. Now show the other angle where homeboy is clearly grabbing Toney’s jersey with his right hand.

My guy, at least I’m a paid writer who writes. You have a WWE header and post questions about khakis. Kalshi odds you’ve seen a naked woman in real life?

Yup, and that was just funny to the masses—Miami “deserved” the bad call because Cristobal was foolish to run there. And yes, he was, but that shouldn’t been a bullet-dodged and fourth down, without having to take another snap, and a 20-17 Miami win.

Seen some back and forth about @CanesFootball and that final possession after the failed onside kick (after that first onside attempt was almost a disaster for #Miami.) A few #Canes fans mentioning Sean McDonaugh on the @ABCSports broadcast with his little quip about @Coach_Cristobal running there—and shoehorning in a play call from over three years ago against Georgia Tech in disparaging fashion. Cristobal and Shannon Dawson absolutely handled that final series to perfection—and we’ll get to that—but not before a reminder of what we’re all watching when we tune into “sports entertainment”, which is always going to pander to its biggest audience. ABC’s numbers aren’t out as I post this on Sunday morning, but if 4.6-million tuned in for Miami at Clemson weeks back—this match-up will get better numbers—so we’ll call it 5-million for the sake of the argument. Let’s talk about the pecking order of those who tuned into this football game—of which ABC Sports and ESPN are well-aware of the demographics: 1. — 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘪, 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱-𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘵. 2. — 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢, 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘯𝘪 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘪’𝘴—𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘛𝘢𝘳 𝘏𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥. 3. — 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘪 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯. Knowing this to be true—and accepting that you are watching sports entertainment and listening to commentators who are going to pander to their audience—can you not see that McDonaugh saw an opening to bring up that boneheaded Georgia Tech play so he squeezed it in there, even though from a football perspective he proved he’s a total egghead? To the point that Cristobal and Dawson played it to perfection, look at the numbers—as there was 1:35 on the clock and North Carolina had one final timeout—so three kneels was mathematically not an option; not unless Miami wanted #DarianMensah to run for his life for about ten seconds going into fourth down. 1𝘴𝘵-𝘢𝘯𝘥-10 — 1:35 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬; #𝘑𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬, 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘴𝘪𝘹 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘢𝘳 𝘏𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘵—𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 2𝘯𝘥-𝘢𝘯𝘥-6 — 1:29 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺—𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦—𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘵. 3𝘳𝘥-𝘢𝘯𝘥-4 — :44 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘸𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 #𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘔𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘩 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬—𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 :40 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. Had Miami just kneeled three times with 1:35 on the clock and North Carolina with one timeout, Miami is going into a 3rd-and-14 with around :51 left on the clock—meaning Mensah would’ve have to scramble for for over 11 seconds, or face a fourth down where they had to snap the ball one more time and make sure that the clock hit 0:00 so North Carolina didn’t take over on downs. For inquiring minds that have mocked the Georgia Tech game in 2023; yes Miami could’ve and should’ve kneeled that out on 3rd-and-10 with :34 remaining—and depsite #DonChaney NOT fumbling that ball—it was a terrible call by Cristobal that drew understandable ridicule, while arguably costing Miami a road game at North Carolina the following week (rolling in a 4-1 laughingstock instead of 5-0 after a comeback, gritty win). Miami is now 31-6 since the start of the 2024 season; a 10-seed that made the national championship game last year and came one throw away from upsetting No. 1 Indiana, after taking out No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 6 Ole Miss along the way. Yet here we are a season later and it’s nothing but ridicule for the top-ranked team in the country, because that’s the narrative the masses want in this world of sports entertainment. There’s a reason every podcast can’t leave the Miami Hurricanes out their mouths; a reason there’s this centralized messaging around the schedule. Why so many had selective outrage over a Hail Mary gone wrong for Florida State—while not giving two shits Notre Dame worked by Big 12 home cooking in Provo with a missed pass interference call and robbed out of :01 on the clock—because in one case the bad guys (Irish) lost and in the other, Public Enemy No. 1 (Canes) lost. It’s why the low IQ folks are screaming about ACC home cooking for Miami; a blue-blood redneck conference that not only shit on Miami from day one—North Carolina and Duke both voted against expansion in 2003, not wanting to let the Canes in. Yet now we’re to believe this same conference is running cover for Miami; despite the fact there is zero financial upside—as the ACC gets its guaranteed $109-million from the CFP as a partner regardless of a team getting in, or not—while the Clemson and Florida State lawsuits years back guarantees that ACC teams keep all their post-season money, which is why the ACC didn’t get a dime of the $20-million #TheU took home in 2025 after that title game run. (Side note; where was that “protection” late last November when a quirky tiebreaker rule about opponents’ total combined score was the differentiator in Duke reaching the ACC title game at 7-5 over Miami at 10-2? If that’s the SEC needing to “protect” a team, there is an emergency meeting to explaining and amendment to their tiebreaker—but the ACC wasn’t going against the old boys club in Durham.) And this is also why late in a ball game on October 31st, 2026 as Miami is working to close out North Carolina in this dogfight—Dr. Evil McDonaugh is pandering to an anti-Canes crowd with is little, “Remember when Mario Cristobal did that stupid thing back on October 7th, 2023 in his second season at Miami??”—knowing that zinger would stick and that a dumbed-down football audience would turn it into a, “See, I told you Cristobal sucks and he learned nothing from that Georgia Tech loss!”—when in reality Canes coaches played that final series to perfection. The holes with #CoreyHetherman’s defense are another conversation for another time, as #BobbyPetrino picked him apart like a buzzard on roadkill on a hot summer day—but McDonaugh’s reference to Georgia Tech was cheap theatre and a pandering effort to an anti-Canes crowd—clown show behavior from a total bozo.

Jaded little Ole Miss fan still ass-hurt from the Fiesta Bowl.

Jesus Christ; THIS is who I am arguing with? We’re done here.

God gave me the gift of words and at 52 years old, some wild life experience ... as well as discernment and an ability to process information ... and it's never a waste of time (for me) if just one person gets something out of it. We're living in crazy times and I think there's such a real-time life-lesson in this pop culture moment—so many things just hit me with that video. I'm sure 98% of people will hit me with the standard meme ... but I write for the 2% that gives a shit.

Fuck that. Going to some rich kid’s neighborhood and getting those big dog Snickers were the end game….