Hurricanes rout B-CU 70-13 in Cristobal debut. But real UM won’t show for 2 more weeks | Opinion
The Hard Rock Stadium parking lots were an end-to-end swarm of orange-and-green tents, Hurricane flags, music and high-amp revelry more than two hours before kickoff on a sweltering Saturday afternoon.
“I walked around taking pictures,” said new athletic director Dan Radakovich, impressed by the growth of the facility the University of Miami calls home and also by the early outpouring of fans.
It was opening day for UM’s 87th football season, but it wasn’t just that causing the excitement. It sure wasn’t the opponent, bad FCS-level Bethune-Cookman. The small Daytona Beach school had about as much of a chance Saturday as an ice cube dropped onto the stadium parking lot.
UM fans are excited because the latest in a 20-year parade of new beginnings finally feels like one that has a shot.
Radakovich, with a background at UM, came over from leading Clemson -- the one Atlantic Coast Conference team Miami must figure how to be, and beat.
New Canes head coach Mario Cristobal, also of UM pedigree as a former championship player, came over from pedigreed Oregon, came home, to bring The U all the way back.
It costs nothing to hope, to believe, and Canes fans have gone all in. (Like they have a choice?)
Saturday was merely an expected first step in Cristobal’s debut. The No. 16-ranked Hurricanes clobbered the B-C Wildcats, 70-13. Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke hit 13 of 16 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns in limited efficiency before giving way to backup Jake Garcia in the third quarter (and later the third-stringer).
“Goal was to be 1-0 and that was achieved,” came the new coach’s first summary. “We did what we had to do. We did what was planned. We had a personnel advantage.”
Cristobal was invited to emote about his personal feelings on his first win as UM head coach.
“I live a sheltered life,” he said. “The very last thing on my mind is me.”
It was the running game that flexed for Miami, with seven TDs on the ground and another on an interception return (with a kickoff return TD negated by penalty). A crowd of 56,795 showed, not bad for a hopeless opponent and guarantee of an awful game.
Wasn’t all perfect. Far from it. UM’s at-times poor tackling defense gave up six plays of more than 20 yards, Canes losing a fumble near the B-C goalline, some bad penalties. Still, there was never a doubt.
The Canes trailed 3-0 early, just to be polite.
Miami is now 6-0 all-time vs. Bethune by a combined margin of 302-50.
I get asked all the time if I prefer the NFL or college football. Saturday was a reliable example why I prefer the pros.
In college football you get blatant mismatches like this one. It’s nuts. No offense, Wildcats, but it would be like the New York Yankees opening the season against a beer-league church softball team. You don’t get this in the NFL, where the worst team gives the Super Bowl champ a hugely better fight than we saw Saturday.
It’s cruel, really. Unsportsmanlike -- through no fault of the victor. In a mood, I think the Canes might have scored a hundred. Saturday was the latest evidence of the need for a running clock when a score warrants. (It was against a similar bum-foe, Savannah State, that UM rang up 77 points in 2018).
The Dolphins open on this same field next Sunday with a major challenge against the rival New England Patriots.
The Hurricanes enjoyed the softest of openings, and will have another one next week vs. Southern Miss, with Miami again hugely favored.
That is why, Canes fans (sing along), “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
But that I don’t mean this was only the beginning of UM’s awesomeness.
I mean quite literally we have yet to see anything of how good the Canes might be this season because the opening-game competition rendered it a useless non-barometer.
This may be a good thing, of course.
UM has lost the past three times it has faced a ranked opponent to open a season: In 2021 to Alabama, in 2019 to Florida and in 2018 to LSU.
Maybe there’s logic to these soft openings, after all, and to Miami having two in a row before the real season starts -- and the real measure of Cristobal’s dawning impact will begin to be seen and be up for early critique.
That happens in the third game in two weeks, at No. 6 Texas A&M, a beast of a road debut in a stadium that seats more than 100,000. ESPN’s computerized Football Power Index presently gives Miami a 43.7 percent likelihood of winning -- one of only two games all season UM is predicted to lose. The other, of course: November 19 at Clemson, with the Canes’ win likelihood at only 20 percent.
Otherwise the season lays out silly-easy for Miami. In the other 10 games Miami has the smallest win-likelihood in the regular-season finale at home vs. No. 17 Pitt, but even there the Canes’ win number is a solid 71.2 percent.
Miami’s other win-likelihood percentages, in order, are 93 (Middle Tennessee), 77.9 (North Carolina), 82.4 (Virginia Tech), 95.6 (Duke), 73.9 (Virginia), 75.9 (Florida State) and 80.8 (Georgia Tech).
Bottom line? If form follows Miami is looking at 10-2 if it avoids losing a game it shouldn’t. (No easy task. Ask former coach Manny Diaz).
Doing that and going 10-2 almost certainly would be enough to reach the ACC Championship game.
It also might be enough to still be in the hunt late as the College Football Playoff begins mulling its four invitations. The CFP hopes to expand all the way to 12 team as soon as 2024 -- which will hugely benefit second-tier powers like Miami.
But why wait, right? Even if one assumes Clemson as a near-certain loss, give Miami a big chance at Texas A&M. Upset the Aggies on the road and all of a sudden everybody is paying attention and the season opens wide.
Getting way ahead of our ourselves, but It could happen.
Doesn’t mean it will.
Still, Radakovich and Cristobal in charge gives rise to the highest of hopes.
Saturday was the beginning, and had the outward trappings of a big win.
Don’t be too impressed yet, though. Put that elation on hold.
The real test waits in two weeks.
This story was originally published September 3, 2022 at 7:00 PM.
