Saturday night, prime time top 10 teams, Gameday, Florida State and Miami… It has it all, except the Hurricanes have almost no chance of beating Florida State. Miami is more than a 20 point underdog, and they have to go to Tallahassee and try to beat a Florida State team that hasn’t played a single digit game this season. What does Miami need to do to beat Florida State? Here are 3 things the Hurricanes can do…
1) Pray to whatever deity they subscribe to.
2) Kidnap Jameis Winston
3) Build a time machine, and run out the 2001 Miami Hurricane National Championship team that featured Kellen Winslow Jr, Andre Johnson, Jeremy Shockey, Jonathan Vilma, and Clinton Portis.
There you go.
Ok let’s be realistic. I’m going to try again… Miami might do all of these things, and still not win. Florida State is that good, but the Canes need some of this to stay in the game.
1) Get a couple of early turnovers
The FSU crowd will be ready to explode from the get go. The Noles went to Death Valley got an early turnover against Clemson and never looked back. The Canes won’t run way from the Seminoles no matter what, but some early turnovers could slow things down. If the Canes get down early it’s over.
2) Run for over 200 yards
The Seminoles are better at just about every position on the field, but at running back the Canes may have an edge. Miami has a good offensive line, maybe the best Seminoles have seen all year. Duke Johnson is the ACC’s premier running back, and Dallas Crawford has proven he can carry the load even in Johnson’s absence. This is a great 1-2 punch. They must have a strong night for the Hurricanes to have any shot.
3) Limit the Seminole’s to 2 or fewer 40+ yard gains.
Obviously you can say pressure Winston, but the Seminoles offense is going to score and Winston is going to play well. The Hurricanes just don’t have the defensive personal to control this game. In fact no one in the country might be able to totally stop the Seminoles offense. Miami has to try and limit the number of big plays. Obviously easier said than done.
I can’t see Miami coming out of Doak Campbell with a win. That’s not a knock on Miami. I like the way the Hurricanes are trending, but the Seminoles have arrived. I’ll be curious if Miami can achieve these 3 goals how close the game will be. That said, I see Florida State 45 Miami 20.
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