Published Oct 26, 2007

A Building Block for Shannon

No, it certainly wasn't the most artistic thing you'll ever see this past Saturday afternoon at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Both Miami and FSU seemed to take turns trying to give this game away, and in terms of this particular series’ magnitude and importance, it wouldn't even make this proud rivalry's top 25. After all, for the first time in three decades, neither the Canes nor the Noles came into the game ranked. There was a reason why this game was just another regionally televised game on ABC.

But make no doubt about it, Miami's rousing 37-29 victory over the Seminoles is huge. Bryant McKinnie huge. Freeman Brown huge. Ian Symonette huge.

Never mind that this was a battle between two ACC also-rans who are scrambling to stay bowl eligible. Or
that 'The U' broke the Noles two-game winning streak against them. With the struggling Hurricanes coming in on a two-game losing skid - to hapless North Carolina and struggling Georgia Tech, no less – and rival recruiting jackals out in full force ready to poach any high-schooler having second thoughts, not to mention the growing dissent festering in impatient fans, Randy Shannon needed this victory badly. Lose this one, and he may have lost the team for the rest of the year.

But instead, an inspired Miami team would overcome turnovers and themselves (mostly) to gut out a classic come-from-behind conquest behind back-up signal caller Kirby Freeman, who hit back-up tight end Dedrick Epps for the game-deciding points. A Colin McCarthy fumble return to the paint a moment later would seal the deal.

Yeah, yeah, I know - beating an FSU squad that will struggle to see the postseason doesn't seem like much
to trumpet. But consider this: it's been about a year since Miami - once college football’s road warriors - had won as the visiting team. They ended this dubious streak against their archrival. Progress is sometimes hard to quantify, but make no doubt about it - after the backward steps taken against UNC and GT, this was a huge step forward for this new regime.

Perhaps one day Shannon will have a whole trophy case full of BCS births, ACC titles and crystal footballs. But until then, it's victories like this that will lead to that destination.

You don't just suddenly win big games. As you build a program, you work up to that point. Before Howard Schnellenberger upset Nebraska in the classic 1984 Orange Bowl, his teams had beaten ranked opponents such as Penn St., Houston, Florida, and FSU - while also taking their lumps - in the previous campaigns. Winning programs are not just born, but rather made and shaped from hardened experience.

Sometimes, as history has shown, the victories that are long forgotten are the ones that are looked back
upon with great fondness in the turning around of a program.

You guys have heard of Pete Carroll, right? He's had a pretty decent run at USC the past few years. Back in 2001 his hiring was met with great derision and doubt (sound familiar?) by a throng of supporters that believed that a once-proud franchise needed a more established college coach to lead them back to greatness (again, sound familiar?). His first season as the Trojans’ head man did not start well. After
seven games they had a mark of 2-5 and they went into Tucson, Arizona to take on the Arizona Wildcats, after a 27-16 loss to Notre Dame, where they had blown a 13-3 lead.

USC would find themselves tied at 34 after squandering a 31-13 halftime advantage, with the Wildcats driving late into the fourth quarter. But a Kris Richard interception and return for 62-yards to the paint
would give the Trojans a 41-34 victory. After blowing several leads that year, they had finally secured a
win after withstanding a comeback. The Trojans would win their remaining three regular season contests and then lose to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl to finish 6-6.

But to this day Carroll points to that Arizona victory as being the game where they started to turn things around. Yup, a win over an Arizona team that failed to make a bowl game, themselves. The rest has been Trojan history.

Before the Reggie Bushes, Lendale Whites, Matt Leinarts and Mike Williamses jump-started the USC
dynasty, it was a Kris Richard who saved Carroll's initial season.

Who knows how this latest Miami victory over FSU will be viewed in retrospect? It could turn out to be an aberration or a stroke of luck. But history suggests that it could be a significant step in the rebuilding of a once-glorious franchise. Moral victories are all well and good, and Shannon's greatest job presently is in changing the culture of the Miami program; all that is understood. But wins, well, those are tangible and give obvious proof that things are headed in the right direction. To the fans, prospective recruits, the administration, to the current players, and maybe most of all, Shannon himself.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

- Speaking of 'building block' wins, this latest win was awfully reminiscent of the 1998 victory at Morgantown against a very talented WVU squad led by Marc Bulger, Jerry Porter, Mark Becht and Amos Zereoue. Coming into that contest, Miami was 3-2, having lost home games to Virginia Tech and FSU, sandwiched around a Rutgers blowout victory.

Behind the inspired running of Edgerrin James, who was actually struggling up until that point in the season, and a late drive that was capped off by a Darryl Jones touchdown toss from Scott Covington, the Canes pulled out a thrilling 34-31 victory. From there, Miami would win all but one of its remaining games, which included a huge upset over top-ranked UCLA to finish out the regular season.

Looking back, it was one of Butch Davis' bigger victories at UM.

- Graig Cooper has been everything he's been advertised to be. But it was good to see Javarris James get back into the flow of things. He ran hard and got the tough yards, even without much of a passing threat for much of the second half.

- For my money, Tavares Gooden is my defensive MVP, so far. Offensively, I think Darnell Jenkins makes a strong argument for himself. Both are coming up huge in their senior seasons.

- Anyone else intrigued to see what offensive coordinator Patrick Nix can do with better talent?

- Teraz McCray is currently Miami's best defensive lineman, isn't he?

- I'm not saying he's James Lewis or Charles Pharms, but can we see more of Randy Phillips as the safety
opposite Kenny Phillips?

- Don't look now but USC is getting healthy. I think they go up to Autzen and beat the Ducks. I wouldn't
count this team out of the national title picture, just yet.

- My coach of the year? It isn't even close: Jim Harbaugh of Stanford. Forget their record - the difference between this Cardinal team is night and day from last year’s squad that quit on Walt Harris. I just wonder how long he'll be in Palo Alto, though. You have to figure some powerhouse will offer him some big money in the near future.

- The plight of Charlie Weis shows why you can't judge a coach/program on their first year or two. It
wasn't long ago he was a genius. Now, he's the guy whose offense struggles to put up 200 total yards per
game. That's why I find the criticism of Randy Shannon at this point so puzzling. If Miami looks like Notre Dame does currently in 2009, I'll lead the charge in denigrating him. But for now, all bets are off.

 

Steve Kim is a frequent contributor on CanesOverHere.com and runs his own website, Maxboxing.com. He can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com

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