No matter the expectations, it's not difficult to understand that sentiment. That's what happens when you raise hopes, then fall flat on your face.
Average Percentile Performance (first 6 games): 74% (~top 35 | record: 3-3)
Average Percentile Performance (next 3 games): 99% (~top 1 | record: 3-0)
Average Percentile Performance (last 4 games): 30% (~top 90 | record: 0-4)
For six games, Miami progressed in fits and starts, exactly as you would think for a team starting a true freshman at quarterback and working with sophomores on defense. The offense was iffy against Louisville, good against Nebraska and great until the red zone against Georgia Tech. (It's really hard to average 8 yards per play and score just 17 points, but thanks to Georgia Tech's 40-minute time of possession and two Miami interceptions in Tech territory, the Hurricanes pulled it off.) The defense was fine against Louisville and great against Duke but couldn't get off of the field against Tech.
Hits and misses became only hits in a three-week span between October 11 and November 1. Against two good offenses and one bad one, the Hurricanes allowed just 4.3 yards per play and 20 points per game; against two iffy defenses and one great one, they averaged an incredible 8 yards per play and 44 points per game.
During this brief stretch, Miami was the best team in the country. The defense was good, and the offense was amazing. The Hurricanes handled Cincinnati about as easily as Ohio State did, crushed the team that beat the Buckeyes, and beat UNC worse than Clemson and Notre Dame combined.
The momentum carried over, too. Brad Kaaya hit Philip Dorsett and Clive Walford for big touchdown passes, and Miami took a 23-7 lead over Florida State early in the second quarter on November 15. And ...
... then Miami was outscored, 92-60, the rest of the season. FSU surged back to win in the final minute, as the Seminoles did in seemingly every regular season game in 2014. The Hurricanes then laid an egg at Virginia and were lucky to lose by only 12 to Pitt. The Independence Bowl loss to South Carolina was competitive and mediocre, and somehow, after playing like a burgeoning elite, Miami finished 6-7.
Be it youth, iffy depth, a quarterback hitting a freshman wall, or a demoralizing rivalry loss, the season ended when the FSU game ended.
