Fork in the Road

[Alex_Dynamix]

And Virginia Tech 3 weeks later.

Winning all your games is really, really hard. The smelly ****sticks in Hogtown have been playing football for 100 years and have never done it.

Just win enough to get into the playoffs. That's not too much to ask in this conference with this talent and this budget. Whether that's 13 wins or 9 wins, I don't care. Make the college football playoff.

Never understood the “We gotta blow the doors off of every team we should beat” crowd..a lot of the best teams ever had games where they weren’t firing on all cylinders against an inferior opponent but they find a way to WIN..**** just last year ND lost to an inferior NIU at home and still ended up in the Championshp game..Just WIN when it matters is all I ask..if we barely scrape by every single team all the way into an ACC championship game & a playoff berth i for one won’t be in here crying.

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

Never understood the “We gotta blow the doors off of every team we should beat” crowd..a lot of the best teams ever had games where they weren’t firing on all cylinders against an inferior opponent but they find a way to WIN..**** just last year ND lost to an inferior NIU at home and still ended up in the Championshp game..Just WIN when it matters is all I ask..if we barely scrape by every single team all the way into an ACC championship game & a playoff berth i for one won’t be in here crying.

Taint lost at home as a 21 point favorite to a team that threw for like 75 yards in the entire game. It's football. You don't play your best every week, it just literally doesn't happen.

National champions......lost as a three-touchdown favorite on their home field. Yes, it's a rivalry, but Taint was infinitely better than Michigan last year. And still lost. I don't see many posts around here anymore about how much of a ******* loser Ryan Day is.

You gotta realize your surroundings, too, though. I've seen so many posts since the end of last season about how we were in a dogfight every single week and we could've or should've lost so many more games, blah blah.

We were 7th in the country in average margin of victory. 5 of the 6 teams ahead of us made the playoff. The other was Ole Miss, who was right there. Soooo, the math ain't mathing.

 

[Alex_Dynamix]

Taint lost at home as a 21 point favorite to a team that threw for like 75 yards in the entire game. It's football. You don't play your best every week, it just literally doesn't happen.

National champions......lost as a three-touchdown favorite on their home field. Yes, it's a rivalry, but Taint was infinitely better than Michigan last year. And still lost. I don't see many posts around here anymore about how much of a ******* loser Ryan Day is.

You gotta realize your surroundings, too, though. I've seen so many posts since the end of last season about how we were in a dogfight every single week and we could've or should've lost so many more games, blah blah.

We were 7th in the country in average margin of victory. 5 of the 6 teams ahead of us made the playoff. The other was Ole Miss, who was right there. Soooo, the math ain't mathing.

Facts. I vividly remembering ppl labeling the Duke game a dogfight..it was close for a half, second half it was GGs we whipped their *** ..if your’e labeling a game with the final score of 53-31 a dogfight how much would we have to beat them by for you to feel good ?

 

[RamblinGamblinCane]

The ACC is as ripe as it's ever going to be, teams are starting to adjust and invest into their programs so they don't get left behind. We don't play Clemson or Georgia Tech. ACC CG appearance is an expectation, and a fair one at that for year 4. We can still make it to the playoff with a loss in week 1, but if we do beat ND then look out, we could set fire to the country for the rest of the regular season.

 

[RamblinGamblinCane]

Mario better win this year or it will get really ugly and I just don’t know if the next head coach will get the resources.

Any real Miami fan better hope Mario can win cause it might be the programs last chance and I don’t think that’s being extreme. It’s the reality of this program and the future of college football.

Hey Mario

Is there a reason why the resources would dry up? I don't think that's the case at all. Every program in the ACC knows there's a big clock ticking down, and any program not investing into football for the next 3-5 years is going to get left behind. If Mario aint the guy, I'm fairly confident the next guy will have a good shot at showing if he is.

 

[Zanecane]

How is our DL natty level? And how are the WRs & RBs all acc level?

We have five stars all over our DLine. Name me 12 teams with a better batch of talent. It's college football playoff level.

What ACC team's have better Wr's or RB's? Clemson is the only team I see that has a better WR core.

 

[E1k]

We have five stars all over our DLine. Name me 12 teams with a better batch of talent. It's college football playoff level.

What ACC team's have better Wr's or RB's? Clemson is the only team I see that has a better WR core.

5 stars mean guaranteed stars? Since when? Our best dlineman this year will probably be a high 4 star bain,3 star mesidor, 3star moten, transfer that was unranked out of hs blay. So why are u acting as if 5 star means natty level? And why are you acting like our 5 stars have proved anything for us to say its playoff level?

Gtech also has a better wr & rb room, Louisville has a better rb room, pitt rb is better. Our wr room hype is literally based on nothing, can it be a top group? We will see but to say its a top acc room without seeing anything is stupid

 

[BeastMode]

Is there a reason why the resources would dry up? I don't think that's the case at all. Every program in the ACC knows there's a big clock ticking down, and any program not investing into football for the next 3-5 years is going to get left behind. If Mario aint the guy, I'm fairly confident the next guy will have a good shot at showing if he is.

The money backing Mario right now is insane, those same ppl won’t be backing the next guy if Mario fails.

 

[ZuCrew]

This is it... I've always said a coach needs a full recruiting and development cycle (4 years) in order to determine accurate success for the long term. Mario has had four years to recruit, develop, and flip the roster, install a culture, and stabilize the program. I won't jinx it, however there was an overused joke on these boards when asked about our season outlook. This year, I think it's a real possibility. We have no *real* glaring weaknesses as a whole. We need to win the ACC this year and make it to the CFP and have a good enough run. The time is now. Maybe finally, he'll get the proper respect on Wikipedia, and they'll switch his picture of him wearing a UM shirt vs an FIU jacket.

 

[NCCanefan]

Never understood the “We gotta blow the doors off of every team we should beat” crowd..a lot of the best teams ever had games where they weren’t firing on all cylinders against an inferior opponent but they find a way to WIN..**** just last year ND lost to an inferior NIU at home and still ended up in the Championshp game..Just WIN when it matters is all I ask..if we barely scrape by every single team all the way into an ACC championship game & a playoff berth i for one won’t be in here crying.

Al Davis nailed it like a century ago ; just win baby

 

[Alex_Dynamix]

The money backing Mario right now is insane, those same ppl won’t be backing the next guy if Mario fails.

Yeah Mario was their “Guy” ..Diaz was never gonna get them on board nobody took him seriously not even our own players….the next guy if Mario fails has to be someone who can demand the same commitment or it’s all she wrote here ..

 

[hurricaneman]

This is the exact point in their tenure every coach dating back to Shannon where things fell apart. It was after each of their best seasons and coming in with “high” expectations.

Shannon - 2010 - coming off 9 win season (the most he would ever win) where we beat multiple ranked teams he brought a ton back in 2010. Season started to tailspin after FSU and we finished 7-6. Shannon fired.

Golden - 2014 - coming off 9 win season (the most he would ever win) where we beat UF and were ranked in the top 10. Season started to tailspin after FSU and we finished 6-7. If not for a change in university president Golden would’ve been fired after this season, but instead we have 2015, perhaps the biggest waste of a season in school history.

Richt - 2018 - coming off 10 win season (the most he would ever win at Miami) where we beat multiple ranked teams including destroying ND and VT he brought a ton back in 2018. Season started to tailspin after UVA, we couldn’t score at all, and we finished 7-6. Richt retired.

Diaz - 2021 - coming off 8 win season (the most he would ever win at Miami) where we destroyed FSU and went 7-2 in the ACC he brought a ton back in 2021. Season started in a tailspin and we had to recover to finish 7-5. Diaz fired.

The point being every recent coach has topped out and immediately significantly fallen off. Mario is coming off his best season here. It is critical, at worst, to get another 10 win season (yes, we really need to make ACC title game and playoff), or else his tenure will likely mirror his predecessors.

I'll say this about everyone but Richt. I never, ever felt we belonged on the same field as the best teams in college under any of those guys. Regardless of record, it felt like we were playing in the minors. Richt was the closest but the player talent was not anywhere near it needed to be.

Oddly enough, Mario reminds me so much of Butch where id watch games and scream, "how is this happening? We're so much better than these guys!" That hasn't been the case in twenty years. We definitely belong on the field with the best teams in the country. It's just whether or not Mario can have his 2000 season winning with talent and good coordinators.

 

[Zanecane]

5 stars mean guaranteed stars? Since when? Our best dlineman this year will probably be a high 4 star bain,3 star mesidor, 3star moten, transfer that was unranked out of hs blay. So why are u acting as if 5 star means natty level? And why are you acting like our 5 stars have proved anything for us to say its playoff level?

Gtech also has a better wr & rb room, Louisville has a better rb room, pitt rb is better. Our wr room hype is literally based on nothing, can it be a top group? We will see but to say its a top acc room without seeing anything is stupid

Bain has proven it. Mesidor has proven it. Freshman All American and All Conference players already. You don't have to go back to their recruiting rankings to justify their hype. Scott was a 5 Star and by all accounts has developed. What "proven commodity" on a team in the ACC outside Clemson would you take over him in a swap? Blay was getting NFL chatter from people outside of Miami. Moten has shown he can play at a high level. If you're in the top 2 in your conference you should be in the college playoff category.

I think Lyle showed similar ability to Haynes, Brown and Reid. Just wasn't the feature back. But I agree with you that all those teams have solid backs. None of them will be running behind our OL and playing with an NFL QB. But I don't want to move the goal posts and If you'd choose those guys over Lyle I won't argue against you. But I think Lyle is a three down All Conference talent. I'm not as high as other on fletcher but if we need a couple yards his size should get it.

WR - CJ Daniels when healthy to me is at the very least on par with Eric Rivers. Both produced agains't lower level competition. JoJo, Toney, Moore all have All Conference potential and the other guys we brought in are serviceable. But I'll agree with you I may be too hyped on the WR room and your point about guys being unproven is fair. I just don't see a WR room group (outside Clemson) that I would bang the table to take over the guys we have.

 

[Zanecane]

How is our DL natty level? And how are the WRs & RBs all acc level?

Change your opinion yet? DL elite, Wr's catch everything and RB's are rock solid.

I may have UNDERSOLD our wr's and rb's saying ALL ACC

 

[kryptonite]

Never understood the “We gotta blow the doors off of every team we should beat” crowd..a lot of the best teams ever had games where they weren’t firing on all cylinders against an inferior opponent but they find a way to WIN..**** just last year ND lost to an inferior NIU at home and still ended up in the Championshp game..Just WIN when it matters is all I ask..if we barely scrape by every single team all the way into an ACC championship game & a playoff berth i for one won’t be in here crying.

I get your point, but teams like that almost always get exposed. The osu team that “beat” us for the NC is about the only exception I can think of. They didn’t look dominant but they kept winning. I’m thinking about our ‘17 team. They were fun to watch, but you couldn’t be too surprised when they started losing late in the year. They relied too much on luck and that **** always runs out.

So yeah, winning is more important than looking pretty and winning by a lot, but if you aren’t dominating, somebody’s likely to come along and trip you up.

 

[E1k]

Change your opinion yet? DL elite, Wr's catch everything and RB's are rock solid.

I may have UNDERSOLD our wr's and rb's saying ALL ACC

Absolutely have not changed my opinion but good start

I also don’t see any elite group, dline has an elite player. Very good so far tho but i think we forgot what elite looks like. Hopefully i am wrong and we have a few elite groups in the end

 

[Zanecane]

Absolutely have not changed my opinion but good start

I also don’t see any elite group, dline has an elite player. Very good so far tho but i think we forgot what elite looks like. Hopefully i am wrong and we have a few elite groups in the end

Interesting.. I'm wondering -- what DLINE are you taking over Miami's in college football right now?

I've watch enough ACC teams to see that our WR's and RB's have shown they aren't going to be considered weaknesses vs anyone on our ACC schedule.

 

[Empirical Cane]

Taint lost at home as a 21 point favorite to a team that threw for like 75 yards in the entire game. It's football. You don't play your best every week, it just literally doesn't happen.

National champions......lost as a three-touchdown favorite on their home field. Yes, it's a rivalry, but Taint was infinitely better than Michigan last year. And still lost. I don't see many posts around here anymore about how much of a ******* loser Ryan Day is.

You gotta realize your surroundings, too, though. I've seen so many posts since the end of last season about how we were in a dogfight every single week and we could've or should've lost so many more games, blah blah.

We were 7th in the country in average margin of victory. 5 of the 6 teams ahead of us made the playoff. The other was Ole Miss, who was right there. Soooo, the math ain't mathing.

Ryan Day is a ******* loser.

I stand on business!!