AirForceBuck
No mercy
Going through some websites and reading up on teams and this was too funny to not post on here. We all know that Miami has been connected to "criminal" behavior and what not, and the quote from this story doesnt help much at all with the recent stories surrounding the program.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/gatech/stories/0726miami.html
Hurricanes still struggling in ACC
By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/26/06
Jacksonville — ACC expansion was supposed to be all about Miami football.
The Hurricanes blew into the league as one of the most feared teams of the 2000s, with four consecutive Big East crowns, two Bowl Championship Series title game appearances and a national championship. They won 34 games in a row, won at least 11 games every season and went 46-4 from 2000 through 2003.
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They haven't won a championship since.
While fellow Big East imports Virginia Tech and Boston College were winning the 2004 ACC title, the 2005 Coastal Division title and a share of the 2005 Atlantic Division title, Miami was losing more conference games in two seasons than it had lost in its last six seasons in the Big East. Miami mystique gave way to Miami mistakes.
Things reached a new low Dec. 30 in Atlanta when LSU ripped Miami 40-3 in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The Hurricanes finished the season ranked 17th, their worst finish since the 1990s.
Players couldn't bear to watch the bowl game film.
"I don't think I made it to halftime," linebacker Jon Beason said. "After awhile, you just turn it off."
Miami heads into this season having to prove itself all over again. Coach Larry Coker hired seven new assistants, including offensive coordinator Rich Olson, to try to return Miami to the days when each year brought new trophies and new rings.
The Hurricanes are likely to begin the season ranked among the nation's top 15 teams, and reporters at the ACC's preseason news conference voted Miami as the favorite to win the Coastal Division. But the bad news keeps coming, too.
Sophomore Willie Williams, the nation's most highly recruited linebacker two years ago, has told coaches and teammates he plans to transfer.
Backup safety Willie Cooper was shot in the buttocks last week by an unknown assailant, who fled after Cooper's teammate and roommate Brandon Meriweather returned fire with a pistol. Cooper's injury wasn't serious, and police said Meriweather used his gun legally, but the incident steered media attention away from the upcoming season and toward the topics of armed players and off-the-field incidents.
As if Miami didn't have enough problems on the field. Two seasons ago it lost a road game at North Carolina and a homecoming game to Clemson, its first back-to-back conference losses since 1997. The 2004 season ended with a home loss to Virginia Tech.
Last season, Miami lost its opener by three points at Florida State and yet another home game, this time by four points to Georgia Tech.
"It's disappointing to look back at that and know we were seven points away from being undefeated and playing in the national championship game," Miami linebacker Jon Beason said. "It's just something you have to remember and keep in the back of your mind and work to make sure it doesn't happen again."
But the 37-point debacle in the bowl game was impossible to shrug off.
"I can't explain it," Miami quarterback Kyle Wright said. "I still can't put my finger on it."
Coker compares the loss to another blowout, the 66-13 loss at Syracuse in 1998 that Miami people consider a turning point in their history. The LSU game could be what Miami needs to fuel a return to championship football.
"I hope it is," Coker said. "We can talk about it, but we've got to see it. I think when you get humiliated like that a proud program like ourselves, it's definitely going to have some kind of effect. Hopefully, it's a motivator."
Most of Miami's problems have come from an offense that couldn't protect Wright. Florida State sacked him nine times; Georgia Tech seven. The 'Canes averaged 1.7 yards per carry in last year's losses.
Beason, a defensive player, guaranteed Miami's offense will be better this season. And he said that two seasons without a championship shouldn't make the Hurricanes any less intimidating to opposing teams.
"We've still got the U on our helmets," Beason said. "People know we're probably going to be more talented than you are, faster than you are. It's just a matter of us going out and proving it.
"If we don't [scare people anymore], good. Let me sneak up on you and hit you in the back of the head with a bat. And if you want to see it coming, then I'll hit you in the face with it."
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/gatech/stories/0726miami.html
Hurricanes still struggling in ACC
By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/26/06
Jacksonville — ACC expansion was supposed to be all about Miami football.
The Hurricanes blew into the league as one of the most feared teams of the 2000s, with four consecutive Big East crowns, two Bowl Championship Series title game appearances and a national championship. They won 34 games in a row, won at least 11 games every season and went 46-4 from 2000 through 2003.
<!--endtext--><!--endclickprintinclude-->
They haven't won a championship since.
While fellow Big East imports Virginia Tech and Boston College were winning the 2004 ACC title, the 2005 Coastal Division title and a share of the 2005 Atlantic Division title, Miami was losing more conference games in two seasons than it had lost in its last six seasons in the Big East. Miami mystique gave way to Miami mistakes.
Things reached a new low Dec. 30 in Atlanta when LSU ripped Miami 40-3 in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The Hurricanes finished the season ranked 17th, their worst finish since the 1990s.
Players couldn't bear to watch the bowl game film.
"I don't think I made it to halftime," linebacker Jon Beason said. "After awhile, you just turn it off."
Miami heads into this season having to prove itself all over again. Coach Larry Coker hired seven new assistants, including offensive coordinator Rich Olson, to try to return Miami to the days when each year brought new trophies and new rings.
The Hurricanes are likely to begin the season ranked among the nation's top 15 teams, and reporters at the ACC's preseason news conference voted Miami as the favorite to win the Coastal Division. But the bad news keeps coming, too.
Sophomore Willie Williams, the nation's most highly recruited linebacker two years ago, has told coaches and teammates he plans to transfer.
Backup safety Willie Cooper was shot in the buttocks last week by an unknown assailant, who fled after Cooper's teammate and roommate Brandon Meriweather returned fire with a pistol. Cooper's injury wasn't serious, and police said Meriweather used his gun legally, but the incident steered media attention away from the upcoming season and toward the topics of armed players and off-the-field incidents.
As if Miami didn't have enough problems on the field. Two seasons ago it lost a road game at North Carolina and a homecoming game to Clemson, its first back-to-back conference losses since 1997. The 2004 season ended with a home loss to Virginia Tech.
Last season, Miami lost its opener by three points at Florida State and yet another home game, this time by four points to Georgia Tech.
"It's disappointing to look back at that and know we were seven points away from being undefeated and playing in the national championship game," Miami linebacker Jon Beason said. "It's just something you have to remember and keep in the back of your mind and work to make sure it doesn't happen again."
But the 37-point debacle in the bowl game was impossible to shrug off.
"I can't explain it," Miami quarterback Kyle Wright said. "I still can't put my finger on it."
Coker compares the loss to another blowout, the 66-13 loss at Syracuse in 1998 that Miami people consider a turning point in their history. The LSU game could be what Miami needs to fuel a return to championship football.
"I hope it is," Coker said. "We can talk about it, but we've got to see it. I think when you get humiliated like that a proud program like ourselves, it's definitely going to have some kind of effect. Hopefully, it's a motivator."
Most of Miami's problems have come from an offense that couldn't protect Wright. Florida State sacked him nine times; Georgia Tech seven. The 'Canes averaged 1.7 yards per carry in last year's losses.
Beason, a defensive player, guaranteed Miami's offense will be better this season. And he said that two seasons without a championship shouldn't make the Hurricanes any less intimidating to opposing teams.
"We've still got the U on our helmets," Beason said. "People know we're probably going to be more talented than you are, faster than you are. It's just a matter of us going out and proving it.
"If we don't [scare people anymore], good. Let me sneak up on you and hit you in the back of the head with a bat. And if you want to see it coming, then I'll hit you in the face with it."
