| |
If the Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles aren’t sick and tired of each other yet, come Labor Day night, they sure just might be. The archrivals are set to square off for the fifth time in the last 33 games, the most any two NCAA teams have met in that timespan.
There are many reasons to why the Hurricanes and Seminoles are rivals, whether it be the fact they are in the same state, many of the players on each roster attended high school together, or the mere fact that each team is a perennial winner, but now with Miami trying to make its presence felt in the ACC, the two teams are conference rivals.
Last season’s version of the rivalry was nothing to write home about, for either team. Although the tables turned and Miami was the team to botch a late field goal, Florida State had never looked as dominated on their home field before. This year, Miami will look to start a new winning streak against their in-state rivals, after Miami’s six game streak came to an end Labor Day 2005.
A lot has changed since the last time the two teams met, and most of that change has come on the Hurricanes’ sideline. Faces that had been part of the rivalry for decades are gone, and in steps new blood who will learn very quickly what the battle for the State of Florida is all about. Miami will debut a new offensive coordinator, Rich Olson, a new offensive line coach, Mario Cristobal, and a new QBs coach, Todd Berry, among more. If you include the suspensions that head coach Larry Coker has handed down to his team’s starting running back Tyrone Moss and top wide receiver Ryan Moore, one who would compare game tape of Labor Day in Tallahassee a year ago, to that of Labor Day in Miami 2006, would see a lot of change.
Miami will certainly be hurt by the suspensions, yet that will not be the case when it comes to running back. Junior Charlie Jones showed that he can carry the load for Miami last season, once Moss was out for the rest of the year with a devastating knee injury. If Jones has a second-year slump, look for Edgerrin James’ cousin, Javarris James, to make an impact.
The Hurricanes are not so lucky when it comes to wide receiver, though. With Moore out, and Sinorice Moss in the NFL, Miami is left pretty thin at wideout. Junior Lance Leggett will need to return to his freshman form if the ’Canes have any aspirations of defeating the Seminoles. Add the fact that four of the five Hurricanes up front on the line are new, it could certainly be a struggle offensively for Miami in Week 1, especially with one of the annual leaders in team defense across the line. But even if the offense struggles, Miami’s defense could rival some of the best that the team has seen in recent years, which is saying quite a lot.
Florida State lost a lot this off season as well, including six of the top seven tacklers from ’05. One defender that will be back in granite and gold is Freshman All-American Tony Carter, who will anchor the defense from the cornerback position.
Sophomore QB Drew Weatherford learned a lot in his first collegiate season. Although the FSU offense had some dry spells throughout the season, Weatherford ended up leading the ACC in passing in his first campaign. Returning with him are plenty of solid wideouts, including Greg Carr, who led the ACC with nine TD catches, and Chris Davis. Lorenzo Booker returns as the Seminoles tailback, and is looking to have a breakout year. Booker finished 2005 with 552 yards and four touchdowns, mostly because he had to share the load with current New York Jet, Leon Washington.
With both teams ranked just out of the top ten to begin the year, a win Monday will catipult them into the mix, and give the winner momentum for the rest of the year. But it isn’t a guarantee that the winner will roll through the rest of the schedule and to the Fiesta Bowl, nor is it a guarantee that the loser will just roll over and die. The one thing that is a guarantee come Monday night: the Orange Bowl will be rockin’ and rollin’ come 8 o’clock.
The game can be seen on ESPN at 8 o’clock Monday night.
Douglas Kroll can be reached at dckroll@hotmail.com
|
