After an opening 30 minutes that was more of a public flogging than a major-college football game, the main question became: Was the first half only an illusion, or is that really a thunderbolt traveling in the disguise of the Miami Hurricanes?

Miami's 17-3 lead seemed an unlikely halftime score after a wide divergence of pregame opinion between oddsmakers and various ranking bodies. UM came in as a three- to five-point favorite, although ranked 20th nationally to Tech's No. 14 rating.

Something clearly was confused here, and what it was was Georgia Tech, which ended up slaughtered by 33-17.

Anyway, UM put that big question to rest in a hurry as soon as the second half opened.

It has been a long time since I saw one college team so bludgeon a supposedly formidable opponent.

No illusions there.

This Miami looks like one fine team.

It might be great.

But there's still a heap of proving to do.

It cannot be said often enough that UM will have to be more than just fine to make its way through the next two games of the killer start of the season -- FSU and Tech down now, but Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and Oklahoma still standing in the way of a miraculous early escape from disaster by the Hurricanes.

UM has to be spectacular.

Thursday night, it was just that.

With a berserking offensive line giving Jacory Harris enough time to stand back there and make taffy before throwing, Miami went up by 33-10 in the third quarter.

Harris has never had such impeccable protection in even the ultra-successful career leading to this, his sophomore season.

It was textbook blocking by the whole OL -- Jason Fox, Orlando Franklin, A.J. Trump, Harland Gunn, Matt Pipho, Dedrick Epps, and all those playing so smartly behind them.

Every dynamic of football was working perfectly for Miami after three quarters.

It held a 23-point lead on a team that blatantly specialized in the run, not the pass. It's a little difficult to come from 23 down in one quarter when you live by the run. More like impossible, actually.

Worse than anything for Tech, Miami wouldn't give up the ball. Every time you turned around, another orange jersey was flying past a white shirt out there on the grass at Land Shark stadium.

Talk about Land Shark. Miami was sharking by air and land in this one.

Now for the rest of UM's four-game ``death trail.'' That's what they called it, right? And doesn't it sound downright ridiculous now?

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@