Usually, I wait until the Monday of the week of that game to give my thoughts and prediction, but I may temporarily lose power at some point on Monday morning when Tropical Storm/Hurricane Erika barrels into Broward County. lol... So, I'm giving my thoughts and prediction today.
First and foremost, I think that EVERYONE is ready for the START OF THE SEASON. Regardless of whether you either support Al Golden or do not support Al Golden, the level of intensity, anxiety, and stress about this season seems to be at an all time high. lol. There is no doubt that the start of the season will be good for EVERYONE because we as fans can finally start making most of the focus on the actual product on the field, instead of a lot of the side issues which we have been discussing all off-season.
Now, as far as the opening game against Bethune.
First and foremost, the ONE thing- ONE THING I caution fans of ANY team is to NOT OVERREACT to the outcome of the FIRST GAME. It is the FIRST GAME. The game against Bethune is a de facto pre-season game, as if we were an NFL Team. Our players are going to be a bit rusty and the timing will take time. You can scrimmage all you want, but there is NO COMPARISON to ACTUAL game play, REGARDLESS of the opponent. So, more mistakes are probably going to happen against Bethune than against Florida State when we will have had a lot of games played and more guys will be on the same page. You watch these NFL Pre-Season games, and they are sloppy, and players are rusty, and the timing of plays and patterns and all of that other stuff simply isn't there from the get-go... So, BE PATIENT with this team and understand that it will take a good FOUR GAME SAMPLE SIZE to really UNDERSTAND what this team will be about this year. Cinci ON THE ROAD and a QUALITY Nebraska team AT HOME will SOLID TESTS for this football team, and at THAT POINT IN TIME, we will have played FOUR GAMES, which in my opinion is enough of a sample size to get a good feel on how things will play out for the rest of the season.
Second, one thing I have noticed about these provberbial "warm up" games against the Bethunes and FAU's of college football is that the coaching staff almost always "keeps things close to the vest". Okay. I know we have hammered the coaches for not being aggressive on both offense and defense, but even I understand that "vanilla" is the flavor when it comes to these cupcake games, and the primary reason for that is the coaches do not want to give away anything on film for future opponents. EVERY team has that mentality, and the fans have to live with a "boring gameplan" against a team like Bethune. It is what it is, so I'm not looking for double-reverses, unbalanced formations, or other unique sets/formations on either side of the ball.
What I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO is TAILGATING- getting back together with FRIENDS and FELLOW HURRICANE FANS and simply being back in the "swing of things" when it comes to college football. Tailgating is a great American invention, so take full advantage of it. lol. There WILL be a time to hammer Golden and the coaching staff for piss-poor coaching and game plans and adjustments and all of that other stuff- Bethune, Game 1, is NOT THE TIME for it. lol... I'm also looking forward to basic things- catching the football, protecting the football, blocking assignments, quality tackling, and individuals stepping up. BASIC THINGS.
So, that is my mentality about a Game 1 like this- obviously, when you have a Florida State or a Florida to open up on Labor Day Weekend, which we have had in the past, then the mentality is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Fortunately, we have a nice warm-up game against Bethune. So, ENJOY IT, because we will have PLENTY of QUALITY opponents throughout the season to be critical of the coaching staff. lol.
PREDICTION:
Miami 41 - Bethune 16
Go Canes...!!!
Prost! (Cheers!)
First and foremost, I think that EVERYONE is ready for the START OF THE SEASON. Regardless of whether you either support Al Golden or do not support Al Golden, the level of intensity, anxiety, and stress about this season seems to be at an all time high. lol. There is no doubt that the start of the season will be good for EVERYONE because we as fans can finally start making most of the focus on the actual product on the field, instead of a lot of the side issues which we have been discussing all off-season.
Now, as far as the opening game against Bethune.
First and foremost, the ONE thing- ONE THING I caution fans of ANY team is to NOT OVERREACT to the outcome of the FIRST GAME. It is the FIRST GAME. The game against Bethune is a de facto pre-season game, as if we were an NFL Team. Our players are going to be a bit rusty and the timing will take time. You can scrimmage all you want, but there is NO COMPARISON to ACTUAL game play, REGARDLESS of the opponent. So, more mistakes are probably going to happen against Bethune than against Florida State when we will have had a lot of games played and more guys will be on the same page. You watch these NFL Pre-Season games, and they are sloppy, and players are rusty, and the timing of plays and patterns and all of that other stuff simply isn't there from the get-go... So, BE PATIENT with this team and understand that it will take a good FOUR GAME SAMPLE SIZE to really UNDERSTAND what this team will be about this year. Cinci ON THE ROAD and a QUALITY Nebraska team AT HOME will SOLID TESTS for this football team, and at THAT POINT IN TIME, we will have played FOUR GAMES, which in my opinion is enough of a sample size to get a good feel on how things will play out for the rest of the season.
Second, one thing I have noticed about these provberbial "warm up" games against the Bethunes and FAU's of college football is that the coaching staff almost always "keeps things close to the vest". Okay. I know we have hammered the coaches for not being aggressive on both offense and defense, but even I understand that "vanilla" is the flavor when it comes to these cupcake games, and the primary reason for that is the coaches do not want to give away anything on film for future opponents. EVERY team has that mentality, and the fans have to live with a "boring gameplan" against a team like Bethune. It is what it is, so I'm not looking for double-reverses, unbalanced formations, or other unique sets/formations on either side of the ball.
What I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO is TAILGATING- getting back together with FRIENDS and FELLOW HURRICANE FANS and simply being back in the "swing of things" when it comes to college football. Tailgating is a great American invention, so take full advantage of it. lol. There WILL be a time to hammer Golden and the coaching staff for piss-poor coaching and game plans and adjustments and all of that other stuff- Bethune, Game 1, is NOT THE TIME for it. lol... I'm also looking forward to basic things- catching the football, protecting the football, blocking assignments, quality tackling, and individuals stepping up. BASIC THINGS.
So, that is my mentality about a Game 1 like this- obviously, when you have a Florida State or a Florida to open up on Labor Day Weekend, which we have had in the past, then the mentality is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Fortunately, we have a nice warm-up game against Bethune. So, ENJOY IT, because we will have PLENTY of QUALITY opponents throughout the season to be critical of the coaching staff. lol.
PREDICTION:
Miami 41 - Bethune 16
Go Canes...!!!
Prost! (Cheers!)
