It’s time for Miami to embrace expectations

The team is in a place to have the success that has sorely avoided them over 20 years. Don’t shy away from that spotlight. Lean in!

As we head toward the 2024 Miami Hurricanes football season, there’s been a lot of chatter. Whether it’s this website, other Miami-centric outlets, or even National sites, podcasts, and YouTube shows, the overriding sentiment is that, for many reasons, the Miami Hurricanes are poised for a big season.

Joel Klatt predicted Miami to go 11-1. Same for Josh Pate, who has been one of the loudest voices in the space telling people Miami is among the best teams in the country. Even the Cover 3 podcast, with a pair of FSU-alum co-hosts, has been bullish on Miami’s talent and outlook heading into this season.

But, there’s a downside to all this external praise: historical doubt.

We all know the story. Miami has a singular 10-win season in the last 20 years. And that season, 2017 for those who don’t immediately recall, was much more “smoke and mirrors and find a way to survive” as opposed to “dominant team steamrolling through everyone.” I mean, except the Notre Dame game. We beat the shit outta those bums lmaooo.

Anyways, back to the lecture at hand: due to Miami’s repeated failings in the face of potential success, it’s reasonable that when hearing about this season’s potential, Miami fans are a bit gun shy:

And that hesitance leads us to the question of the day:

No, Matt, you’re not the only one. But you, and all those who are hesitant with you, need to stop looking back, and start looking forward.

Miami has sky-high expectations for this year, internal to the program and external in the CFB universe. And for good reason! This is a good team, with a stacked roster, and a schedule that’s ripe for the picking.

Miami won out over everyone for the most-coveted play-now QB transfer last portal season by getting former Incarnate Word and Washington State QB Cam Ward to come to Coral Gables instead of hoping to be a mid-late round NFL draft pick. Ward has come in and immediately become the leader of this team, and brings a level of talent and on-field success that Miami has seldom had at the QB position in the last quarter century.

Not only did Cam Ward pick Miami as a transfer, so did highly coveted players like RB Damien Martinez (Oregon State), S Mishael Powell (Washington), DE Tyler Barron (Tennessee), WR Sam Brown (Houston), DT Simeon Barrow (Michigan State), CB Dy’oni Hill (Marshall), LB Jalin Alderman (Louisville), DE Elijah Lofton (Marshall), C Zach Carpenter (Indiana)…and more. All of these players helped Miami address their roster issues at the top of the roster, and improve the team not for the future, but for today.

The schedule Miami faces this year is tailor-made for a double digit season. Florida State, Louisville, Virginia Tech and maybe Cal are the toughest games on the list. But there’s no Clemson. There’s no North Carolina (who has beaten Miami 5 consecutive times). There’s no Notre Dame (a non-ACC team who plays a full ACC opponent schedule lol). And, the biggest non-conference game is against a Florida team coming off consecutive losing seasons and whose coach is fighting to keep his job.

That should be enough to set and embrace some high expectations for this season.

Not enough? Fine, I’ll continue.

One of the biggest gaffes in the history of college football was Mario Cristobal’s refusal to take a knee at the end of the Georgia Tech game last year. That led to the stupidest loss, snatched from the hands of victory, I’ve ever seen. And what did Mario do as a result? Addressed the issue.

I get that people wanna joke that Mario needs a time management coach, but as Brody Logan added in the quote tweet, NFL teams do this, including Super Bowl winning coach Sean McVay. So, there was a gap (CLEARLY) and Mario moved to address it. That makes me more comfortable, not less.

And, if you look at what Cristobal has done here, he’s been himself — a tough nosed, power at the line of scrimmage, high standards task master — but he’s also admitted when things haven’t gone to standard, and made changes to improve the program.

Remember when Josh Gattis and Kevin Steele were the offensive and defensive coordinators? That went poorly. And, to Crisotbal’s credit, he immediately moved in a different direction at both spots.

Remember when Miami’s offensive and defensive lines were largely bereft of elite talent? Cristobal and company have come in and recruited their asses off, to the point where each unit is among the handful of best at their respective positions in the entire country.

This year’s Miami Hurricanes reminds me of another team I know and love: the 2023 Detroit Lions.

Heading into last NFL season, I knew the Lions were going to be good. And, even when an NFL fanatic friend tried to tell me the season-opener — at Kansas City on Thursday night football when the Chiefs were receiving their Championship Rings — was a sure loss, I pushed back, and told him that while the Lions might lose, there’s not a single game on the schedule that’s a SURE loss. He laughed. I stood my ground.

The Lions beat the Chiefs in the opener.

I knew that the Lions had the coaching staff, team, and schedule to have sky-high expectations. And I, the team, and the City of Detroit embraced them. And it was a great run (until Josh Reynolds, who is paid to catch passes, let one fall incomplete after hitting him in BOTH HANDS on 4th and 2 in the NFC championship game, costing the Lions their first EVER trip to the Super Bowl……BUT I’M NOT STILL MAD ABOUT IT OR ANYTHING), and the team hit, and exceeded expectations.

Miami is poised to do the same.

Miami will be favored in 11 if not all 12 regular season games. This coaching staff has 99% continuity. The team has great continuity, is built the right way (80+% HS recruiting, 15-20% elite portal additions) and has elite talent at every level in all 3 phases of the game. The schedule is very soft when compared to what many championship contending teams have had to face. And, with the new 12 team College Football Playoff, the path to a championship exists.

So yes, I understand why some Miami fans are hesitant based on the past, but let the past be the past.

In the words of Ice Cube “if you’re scared, go to church.”

Embrace expectations.

Do it now.

Go Canes