‘Fire Golden’ banner not a distraction for Miami Hurricanes
Hurricanes athletic director Blake James didn’t have much to say when he was asked by the Miami Herald about the “Fire Al Golden” banner that flew over the stadium about two hours before kickoff Saturday afternoon.
In fact, he only had two words. “Come on,” James said before turning and walking away.
Turns out the players didn’t think much of it either. Although some were on the field before the game and said they saw it, others such as quarterback Brad Kaaya and linebacker Tyriq McCord, had no idea what reporters were talking about.
“I was focused on the game I had to play in a couple hours,” running back Duke Johnson said. “The banner could have landed on the field and it would have had no affect on me. I had more important things I had to focus on.”
Receiver Phillip Dorsett said the banner wasn’t a distraction at all.
“We didn’t really care,” he said. “We all saw it and we’re like ‘Wow. They did that?’ We just went in the locker room and got ready for the game and just came out and played our hardest.”
Said cornerback Ladarius Gunter: “That's just people’s opinions. I guess that’s what they want. But like Coach Golden always tells us — ignore the noise.”
Lots of flags
UM — having one of it’s worst seasons when it comes to penalties — was flagged a season-high 13 times for 155 yards in Saturday’s 55-34 romp over Cincinnati.
The record in penalty yardage for Miami is 160 on 18 flags in 1992 against Virginia Tech.
How do you prevent the penalties?
“You look at all of them, be honest with them,” Golden said.
“Some of them clearly were selfish penalties. The ones that you don’t understand, you don’t really cover [in team meetings]. That’s a crazy amount of penalties. I don’t understand it.’
UM entered Saturday with 44 penalties for 392 yards through the first half of the season. The penalty yardage ranked 93rd among FBS schools.
KC update
Hurricanes freshman right tackle Kc McDermott was on crutches with his teammates on the field during pregame warmups, his left knee wrapped with what appeared to be a brace.
McDermott’s father, Randy, said before the game that Kc was doing well and did not sustain any type of ACL injury when he was hurt against Duke two weeks ago.
Doctors are waiting to determine whether McDermott will need surgery. Randy McDermott did not specify the injury, but said if he does have surgery, the recovery time is expected to be three months. He said he hopes his two sons — including senior center Shane McDermott — could play at least one more game together.
▪ Backup fullback and long-snapper Ronnie Regula was helped off the field in the fourth quarter with an apparent right-leg injury.
“You saw Ronnie come off, but for the most part we were healthy,” Golden said. “When I saw we were healthy going into the fourth quarter, that was mission accomplished for us. We were able to stay healthy it looks like.”
This story was originally published October 11, 2014 at 7:52 PM with the headline "‘Fire Golden’ banner not a distraction for Miami Hurricanes."