Written by Philip Rossman-Reich on 26 November 2011.
The last four weeks of the college football season could have been a celebration of the Sunshine State. There's today's Thanksgiving weekend battle between Florida and Florida State, and with Florida State and Miami playing each other later in the year, it set up a classic slate of games for fans in the state.
NINTH GRADE: Brandon Boehm, Amanda Brandeen, Braeden Callis, Shelby Capel, Alexander Cauneac, Liam Connolly, Jennifer Cook, Elizabeth Fare, Connor Feick, Samuel Giacinto, Jenna Guglielmini, Casey Handwerger, Kadie Hartman, Madeline Haughton, Samantha Haughton, Sara Henke, Lauren Johnson, Paul Kalafos, Andrew Keith, Madolin Keller, Greta Kintzley, Tec Lee, Timothy Lentz, Anna Linthicum, Sarah Lotlikar, Abigail Mandelblatt, Brendan Martin, Jessica Martin, Connor Meyers, Alexander Nolte, Isabella Pazaryna, Allison Penna, Matthew Praley, Bridget Rabaglia, Joseph Robinson, Cemre Sahinci, Matthew Scarborough, Adam Schaeffer, Julia Selle, Cameron Stadlin, Brennen Stevenson, Catherine Storch, Emma Trew, Olivia Turner, Jessica Valvano, Alexander Weatherford and Noah Windsor.
BY SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN and MANNY NAVARRO The Miami Herald
Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Otto returned to Sun Life Stadium on Saturday to serve as honorary captain. It was his first return to the stadium since he was inducted into the University of Miami Football Ring of Honor in 2008.
Otto, 73, was a center and linebacker at Miami from 1957 to 59, and played with the Oakland Raiders. He became the first Hurricane inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1980.
As the Dolphins lug the embarrassing yoke of an 0-7 record into Kansas City Sunday, longtime Dolfans desperate to escape the current malaise might use this game as an excuse to cast the memory back to one of the franchise’s shining, halcyon moments.
It was Christmas Day, 1971, in Kansas City. Miami would earn the first playoff victory in club history, 27-24 over the Chiefs in double-overtime. It finally ended on a 37-yard Garo Yepremian field goal.
Obviously, I’m proud of our effort today. I thought we really prepared hard this week and it showed in the game. I think we ran scared all week. We really weren’t trying to figure out who we were playing or how we were going to playing, and it was really just about getting better and I think we got better this week. Clearly we played a lot of people in this game even before eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter. So we played a lot of people and found out a lot about our team and clearly we’re excited about the opportunity we have moving forward.
Photos: Miami Hurricanes vs. Duke Blue Devils" />The senior completed 24-of-30 passes for 202 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. All three of his TD passes – to Chase Ford, Phillip Dorsett and Tommy Streeter – came in the first half.
It's time to start talking about Florida State.
Miami quickly put its home loss to Virginia in the rearview mirror with a 49-14 drubbing of Duke, but the test now is if Miami can play that well two weeks in a row. Miami's offense was unstoppable against Duke, racking up 467 yards, 265 on the ground. Lamar Miller scored twice. Mike James scored twice. And Jacory Harris threw three touchdown passes to three different players.
Oakland Raiders former center Jim Otto reacts during a halftime ceremony to honor the late owner Al Davis. (Kirby Lee/US Presswire)
Jim Otto, seen here at a ceremony for late Raiders owner Al Davis, has endured 73 surgeries including the amputation of his right leg.
A handy recap of who really won and who really lost that you won't find in the box score.
NC State's head coach entered the rivalry weekend with plenty of buzz around his name. The Wolfpack needed a win to keep bowl eligibility hopes alive, and O'Brien's less-than-stellar record against competition was starting to come up in potential "hot seat" discussions. In addition to that pressure, North Carolina interim head coach Everett Withers and O'Brien made headlines with their verbal sparring on the topics of academics and who is the state's "flagship" school.
TV Movies: Oct. 30-Nov. 5 MOVIE RATINGS = Poor = Fair = Good = Excellent G = General audiences PG = Parental Guidance PG-13 = Not recommended for preteens R = Restricted audience CC = Closed captioned for hearing impaired ALPHABETICAL LISTING A
Mike Tuck's Top Twelve College Football Rankings (10-10-2011) Just two BCS busters remain
It is not the topic of conversation yet, but it will come into play by the time October ends: Who will bust up the BCS?
Unusually, only 2 teams remain in the conversation. Over the last 5 years, more and more teams attempted to create the double-bust scenario. In 2008, Boise State and Utah each went unbeaten (Ball State was 12-0 before being upset by Buffalo in the MAC Title game), but only Utah busted the BCS, and then Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Boise State was sent to the Poinsettia Bowl, where the lost a 17-16 game to TCU. In 2009 however, Boise State and TCU pulled it off, and upset many by being paired against one-another in the Fiesta Bowl, a game won by the Broncos.
Next year's show will again air live on NBC coast-to-coast from 5-8 p.m. (PT) and 8-11 p.m. (ET) from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. [via press release from NBC]
THE HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION AND PRODUCER DICK CLARK PRODUCTIONS BRING "THE 69TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS" LIVE COAST-TO-COAST ON NBC SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 2012
Capsule previews of Sunday's and Monday's season-opening college football games. All times EDT and all rankings Associated Press.
SUNDAY:
FAVORITE: West Virginia by 23.
COACHES: Doc Holliday (5-7 in second year at Marshall) and Dana Holgersen (first year at West Virginia).
The names Nevin Shapiro and Jose Canseco wouldn’t seem to go together. Canseco was one of baseball’s most gifted and feared young players in the late 1980s. Shapiro is just a University of Miami booster.
Then again, Shapiro is to be feared, too. Much as Canseco rattled the baseball establishment by naming names of alleged steroid-users in a highly controversial 2005 book, Shapiro for months has threatened to drop bombs on the Hurricanes football program by identifying scores of former players who he says received illegal benefits since 2001.
Report: NCAA investigating claims by former UM booster LaRon Byrd: I will break Leonard Hankerson’s receiving records UM D-coordinator Mark D’Onofrio: Freshman Anthony Chickillo “everything we hoped for” Read more blog posts, share comments
'Canes headlines » Miami Hurricanes are searching for their next big receiving target 4:21 p.m. Monday NCAA questions Miami Hurricanes officials about rules violations alleged by imprisoned felon 8:28 p.m. Monday Hurricanes coach Al Golden: Quarterbacks were 'excellent' in scrimmage Sunday, Aug. 14 Hurricanes' first fall scrimmage set for Sunday but closed to public Saturday, Aug. 13 Ex-Miami Hurricane Warren Sapp and coach Al Golden smooth over differences Friday, Aug. 12 More UM headlines
Sunday’s scrimmage (closed to the media) turned out to be a great day for the quarterbacks, receiver Tommy Streeter and linebacker Jimmy Gaines .
• According to UM, Jacory Harris and Stephen Morris combined for 407 yards on 38-of-52 passing with five touchdown passes and only one interception. UM coach Al Golden called the quarterback play “excellent.”
After little output from the position in 2010, tight end is an area of focus as UM aims to improve in the red zone. By MANNY NAVARRO
How rough was 2010 for tight ends at the University of Miami? Well, there’s a few unattractive statistics that shed light:
• Last season marked the first time in 16 years a Hurricanes tight end failed to make double-digit receptions (Syii Tucker and Gerard Daphnis each had nine catches in 1994).
by rayrayrayrayrayrayrayray on Aug 14, 2011 7:12 PM EDT
Here are stats and highlights from the scrimmage, from Hurricane Sports.
Here are some quotes from Al Golden, as well as some other highlights, from Manny.
Here are some interesting bits that I heard about today's scrimmage.
The lone interception of the scrimmage was thrown early in the day by Stephen Morris. Though both quarterbacks (as well as Ryan Williams) looked good overall, I was told that Jacory Harris looked far better on Sunday, and I'd be shocked if he was not named the starting quarterback.
CORAL GABLES – The Hurricanes held their first scrimmage of fall early Sunday afternoon and are now headed to Coach Al Golden’s house for a barbecue and pool party before their first day off in camp on Monday.
The scrimmage was closed to the public and media, but Golden talked afterward about it in a video interview released by UM, which also provided some stats/highlights.
The Miami Hurricanes are coming off of a 7-6 season which saw them lose the Sun Bowl to Notre Dame by a score of 33-17.
Randy Shannon was fired after the team's loss to in-state rival South Florida, and Al Golden was hired to take his place to try to rebuild the Hurricanes and get them back into the country's top echelon in college football.
