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Duke Predictions

With a healthy Kayaa we only lose by two scores. No Kayaa and we are at the mercy of cutcliffe. They can beat us by 30+ if they want.
 
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Well it's hard to see Miami winning. Even with Kaaya it would be tough since Duke is seemingly on par with Virginia Tech. And if not for a gift turnover to start the game and a penalty-led TD drive to end of the first half, Miami might have lost that game to the Hokies. Without Kaaya, we'll have to somehow get the running game up and running again. Not sure how good Duke's run defense is, but you'd think it'd need to be pretty bad given the current state of the OL.

One thing that might swing into Miami's favor is that there is no longer pressure on the players since no one expects much from Miami the rest of the season. In fact, hardly anyone really cares. The only thing most fans and media care about is who'll be the next coach. And this is a team that under Golden has always been saddled with a heavy dose of pressure. Whether it's about not making any mental mistakes or else you'll find yourself demoted or like how Golden said before Clemson that there is "no room for error." Which of course that makes players hesitant, worrying more about NOT messing up than about making great plays. Not only that, but as soon as there is a big mistake (a turnover, a missed tackle, broken coverage, etc) it is completely deflating since, after all, coach said the only way we could win is if we play perfect. Someone described it this way, that this is a team that feels like it is playing on eggshells. Saturday though might be the first game in years where that's no longer the case. And who can say what that might mean? Maybe it'll mean a team that plays with a lot more energy and that alone can make a huge difference.
 
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