“The atmosphere is a joke,” the coach said. “That hurts them. [The] old Orange Bowl was awesome.”
Fact. I can't stress it enough how ****ty SLS is and how much it hurts us.
Agreed. Any analysis of the program that doesn't focus on our stadium is laughable ignorance. It's every bit as stupid as claiming the scheme doesn't matter and it's all about the talent level.
We gave away 2.5 points per game as soon as we entered that building. I don't think many fans grasp the significance of that. A star player is not worth 2.5 points, unless it's a premier quarterback. Anyone who claims the home venue doesn't matter is using Bar Stool conventional wisdom nonsense. There are clear cut situational variables that impact performance level in either direction and home field values vary dramatically. The mainstream media prefers to ignore those factors so naturally we get stuck with swagger garbage that is was the all about the players and we would have dominated anywhere. Meanwhile, if we had played in a typical stadium and not the Orange Bowl, and had played all of our bowl games in neutral sites like virtually every other school in the country, our bottom line would not be the same and I suspect many members of this site would not be Canes fans at all. We had artificial boosts toward those 5 championships and so many near misses. It would be above 5 championships if not for the annoying fact that we weren't allowed to play at home against Tennessee, Penn State, Alabama, Ohio State...
BTW, I noticed that the author of the linked article edited his third paragraph to read differently than it is presented here. Good move. The way it reads in the OP it seems like he thinks Mack Brown is still at Texas.
An analysis of Miami's program that places such an emphasis on the Orange Bowl as the key ingredient to Miami's success is relying on superstition, excuse making and smoke and mirrors.
To start, no one is arguing that home field does not present some type of advantage. I'm disputing the foolish notion that it was the main reason for Miami's success.
I hope everyone is reading clearly what Awsi Dooger is writing here: Miami was not winning because of the "swagger garbage" or the players. It was the Orange Bowl that boosted Miami to five national titles. Let that sink in.
First, the swagger wasn't garbage. It was real. The Miami teams of the 80's and early 90's were different than any other college team and that was a result of their mentality. Watch 30 for 30, listen to interview from players during that time, etc... To try and deny that in the face of all the proof is being obtuse. So yeah, the swagger was real and was a much more important factor in Miami's success than the Orange Bowl.
You scoff at the fact that some of us think it was all about the players and coaches. I must be crazy in thinking that Miami was great because of coaches like Jimmy Johnson, Schenllenberger, Erickson and Davis. It is insane for me to think that Miami dominated because those coaches coached players like Jerome Brown, Testaverde, Maryland, Irvin, etc... Nope, Miami's success wasn't because of these players that are considered all time greats in football. It had to be the magic fairy dust from the Orange Bowl.
Yes, I understand the point spread argument you make every time you post on this subject and I also understand the theory behind the underwriting of betting lines vis a vis home fields. And I know the true point of betting lines is an even distribution of money, not necessarily to indicate how good teams really are.
But again, it comes back to the point that while in the Orange Bowl, Miami had great coaches and players. However, since moving to Sun Life, Miami had Shannon and Golden, two terrible coaches. Bad coaching is what is plaguing Miami in Sun Life and putting Shannon and Golden in the Orange Bowl would not have made them any better. Maybe, just maybe, Miami lines have been adjusted due to the realization that Miami has awful coaching for the past decade.
It is almost as if you assign the Orange Bowl some mystical quality where it came on the field and made tackles, etc... I've seen your posts where you describe in almost utter disdain the "finesse" football players from South Florida that comprised the great Miami teams. In essence, you are saying that but for the Orange Bowl, Miami was a soft team that would get destroyed by teams that utilized your beloved power running game. Sorry, that is ridiculous. You want to tell me Ray Lewis was finesse? Al Blades? Rohan Marley? Alonzo Highsmith? Those guys were somehow tougher because they played in the Orange Bowl? Negative. Nope, those were badasses, coached by badasses, that would've beaten anyone at any stadium.
Sorry I get carried away. I hate it when I see such arguments that try to take away the greatness of Miami's past players and coaches. Trust me, I miss the Orange Bowl dearly. But what made that place so hard on the visiting team was the fact that Jerome Brown and Co., coached by Jimmy Johnson and staff, were on the opposing sideline. The coaches and players at Miami made the Orange Bowl intimidating, not the other way around.
