Miami entered the season as the pre-season ACC Coastal Division favorite. I never understood that to be honest, but I guess the ACC Media saw something there. The schedule was always too tough, but they should have better than this. In the end, and if you’re being honest, the season was basically a disaster.
The year ended on a 4 game losing streak, a loss in the Independence Bowl to South Carolina, and a 6-7 record. Duke Johnson at RB is likely gone, and your best defender LB Denzel Perryman is definitely gone. The Hurricanes are 8-11 in their last 19 games. Head coach Al Golden has been given some leeway due to the NCAA investigation Miami had to deal with prior to this year, but you see things happening that make you question whether Golden can really get things done.
Take Saturday’s bowl for example…
South Carolina is a slow team on the ends and at linebacker. They’ve struggled stopping the run all year. Clemson ran sweeps at will against South Carolina, but Miami was determined to run between the tackles. They still had some success there, but they never exploited the advantage they had athletically. You could say that for Miami in several of the games they lost.
They simply don’t utilize what they have, the way better coached teams do. This is what concerns me about Golden. No Miami is not top 15 caliber, but the talent is far better than a 6-7 record would suggest. When you see what a Paul Johnson or David Cutcliffe do with clearly less talent to me, I really question the future of Miami under Al Golden.
Miami will return a nice QB in Brad Kaaya, but do you get the feeling Miami is any closer to turning the corner? Golden will now enter his 5th season at Miami, and even with a little more leniency given the NCAA troubles, it is a critical year for him.
Golden must give the Miami fanbase a reason to keep thinking he can get it done. You don’t have to win your bowl game to do that, but you can’t lose your final 4 games either.
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