Podcast: Miami’s loss to Alabama was ugly — really ugly — but what comes next matters most
The Miami Hurricanes’ season-opening, 44-13 shellacking at the hands of the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide is nearly a week old, but the fallout is still hovering over Miami as it prepares to host the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Hurricanes’ offense was abysmal. Their defense — despite some positive signs — gave up five touchdowns. Manny Diaz’s seat is quickly warming up and Rhett Lashlee’s honeymoon period is clearly over.
In the end, one loss to the defending national champion — no matter how ugly — won’t define No. 22 Miami’s season. What actually matters is how the Hurricanes (0-1) respond and, as the Eye on the U podcast notes, this always seems to be the issue at Miami.
David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Hurricanes beat writer for the Miami Herald, offer up a final postmortem on the Hurricanes’ ugly loss in Atlanta and look ahead to their first game of 2021 in Miami Gardens. Appalachian State won’t be a pushover, but the Hurricanes need to take care of business to assuage some of the anxiety after the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game.
It’s easy to feel pessimistic about Miami after such a lopsided loss, but the reality is we probably still don’t know much about this team. Alabama is in a class of its own and the Hurricanes were outgunned in nearly every area at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. An upcoming stretch of three more nonconference — and, particularly, how the Hurricanes respond from the blowout Saturday — will really teach us about the character of this team.
It doesn’t mean we didn’t learn anything from the opener, though. Quarterback D’Eriq King looked good enough in his return from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, a slew of freshmen made strong first impressions and the revamped front seven actually showed some positive signs with 10 tackles for loss, but Miami is already changing up its offensive line, and looking for ways to improve its run game and pass coverage.
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