forums

This is the most anticipated start to a season since??

since 2003

the expectations i had for this team are about where im at for this years team

DB'S L

Sean Taylor
Antrel Rolle
Meriweather
Kelly Jennings
Mo Sikes
Al Marshall
G.Sharpe

LB

Vilma
D.J William
Jon Beason (in the DB room)
Daryl McClover
Rocky McIntosh
Leon Williams
T.Gooden

DL

Wilfork
Orien Harris
Baraka Atkins
Santonio Thomas
Kareem Brown
Bryan Pata
Thomas Carroll










Offense

Brock

Frank Gore
Tyrone Moss
Jarret Payton
Hill Humprey Cobia

TE
Greg Olson
Kellen Winslow
Kevin Everett

WR
Kevin Beard
Devin Hester
Ryan Moore
Darnell Jenkins
Roscoe Parrish
Sinorice Moss
Geathers


OL

Eric Winston
Vernon Carey
Carlos Joseph
Joel Rod
McGrath
Rashad But ter
 
Last edited:
LeanMeanOrangeGreen said:
There isn’t anything NOT to look forward to right now as a Canes fan. I think we should be ranked somewhere in the Top 5 in the preseason but we know the AP ranking system has to setup its SEC Ponzi scheme and throw clowns like Texas, Ole Miss, Georgia, or whatever mediocre SEC teams in front of everyone so when they beat each other, they’ll all have “super tuff gutsy losses”. Lol. I’d put us at #3.

Those who say we lost a lot on the DL, so what. Coming into 2025 we had “plenty of questions” about the position group and, well, we had 2 guys on the DL ball out so hard they were taken early in the first round of this years draft. I think we had depth there last season and shouldn’t expect to see a drop off significant enough for it to be a major issue.

OL same deal. We lost Fran but we reloaded. There hasn’t been a bad OL as a whole since Mario got here aside from the dreadful 2022 team but those weren’t his guys. We’ll be fine here.

Every other position is either just as good as last year or arguably better. I don’t know if we’ll run the table in 2026 just because doing so in this era of CFB is so difficult (minus 2025 Indiana) but I fully expect the following:

An 11-1 regular season at worst.
An ACC title win or at least an appearance.
A deep CFP run and maybe another shot at a natty.
Click to expand...
I expect Miami to destroy every ACC opponent this coming season and expect Miami and ND 1 and 2 come the November matchup in South Bend. All I care about and have tickets locked! This is by far the most exciting, anticipated season since 2001. Before that, it was 1991...
 
I think things fundamentally shifted culture wise, and trajectory wise after the loss to SMU.

We have a soft schedule but there will be no let up. I see a game where we get a scare like the 2001 team with BC.

Because of everyone else ahead of us beating each other (I expect Miami to be preseason 7 which is not where I personally rank the boys) up, very likely Miami notre dame is #1vs #2.

And it almost might not matter who wins that game ultimately because I see that as a preview of a neutral field game in the playoffs later - perhaps in Vegas
 
Brickell said:
I'm so pumped this year. I think Mario truly turned the corner after SMU. Barring injuries, there is no ceiling to this team's potential.
Click to expand...
As long as Mario don’t play slowpoke football like a lot of us noticed up to the SMU game, then open the offense up we will be fine.
 
Ispyin said:
I think things fundamentally shifted culture wise, and trajectory wise after the loss to SMU.

We have a soft schedule but there will be no let up. I see a game where we get a scare like the 2001 team with BC.

Because of everyone else ahead of us beating each other (I expect Miami to be preseason 7 which is not where I personally rank the boys) up, very likely Miami notre dame is #1vs #2.

And it almost might not matter who wins that game ultimately because I see that as a preview of a neutral field game in the playoffs later - perhaps in Vegas
Click to expand...
Can someone help me understand how and why ND is going to be ranked in the top 3? CJ Carr (as others mentioned) did nothing impressive in 2025 and relied heavily on Love and the other back who was taken in the 1st. He made some nice throws in garbage time. Cool. Why is he on anyone’s Heisman radar?
 
pkgcane said:
As long as Mario don’t play slowpoke football like a lot of us noticed up to the SMU game, then open the offense up we will be fine.
Click to expand...
I can’t even be mad at slowpoke football or that SMU game because it was complete bull**** and slowpoke football worked well in the CFP. ACC officials and some **** play lost us a game against a decent opponent in OT. We would have boat raced them in the ACCCG had we been presented an opportunity for revenge.

Someone here pulled an alarming statistic that showed the number of penalties in ACC play vs OOC and it as astronomically more one sided during ACC play. If yall don’t think ACC officiating has affected this program’s ability to play to full potential, the numbers tell another story. And those numbers only included penalties and penalty yards. They didn’t include all the non-holding calls or BS overturned sack fumbles and all that. This is what has me skeptical about running the table and I’m starting to wonder if all the ACC cares about is catering to its North Carolina basketball darlings and maybe Clemson/FSU because they’re OG football schools.
 
JHallCanes said:
I don’t understand this mentality
Click to expand...
I do but I don’t. It’s what we think or expect every year but the ACC is tricky. While you won’t see many complete teams in the league, you’ll see some dynamic offenses and solid QB play most outsiders don’t give a lot of credit for. There are some good (but not great) defensive units in the league as well. Clemson isn’t what they used to be but they have athletes. I don’t expect to blow them out on their own field, but I do feel better playing them after finally getting over what seemed to be a Clemson “hump” in 2023 when we beat them in OT with a backup QB. Before that game, we looked and played like we were terrified of that program. They were still a respectable team and the team to beat in the ACC in 2023 and 2024. Although I know they didn’t win it in 2023 (FSU did).
 
Numb Nuts said:
I’m not joking. The “15-0” came from that season and team. CIS really thought Manny was king
Click to expand...
You beat me to it. The “15-0” clowns were out in full force before the season started. If we had any criticisms of Manny, or concerns for the team, the Manny mob was quick to let us know we were not real fans and we were scared little ******* for having any valid concerns.
 
Ispyin said:
I think things fundamentally shifted culture wise, and trajectory wise after the loss to SMU.

We have a soft schedule but there will be no let up. I see a game where we get a scare like the 2001 team with BC.

Because of everyone else ahead of us beating each other (I expect Miami to be preseason 7 which is not where I personally rank the boys) up, very likely Miami notre dame is #1vs #2.

And it almost might not matter who wins that game ultimately because I see that as a preview of a neutral field game in the playoffs later - perhaps in Vegas
Click to expand...
That scare game will be at Clemson.
 
LeanMeanOrangeGreen said:
I can’t even be mad at slowpoke football or that SMU game because it was complete bull**** and slowpoke football worked well in the CFP. ACC officials and some **** play lost us a game against a decent opponent in OT. We would have boat raced them in the ACCCG had we been presented an opportunity for revenge.

Someone here pulled an alarming statistic that showed the number of penalties in ACC play vs OOC and it as astronomically more one sided during ACC play. If yall don’t think ACC officiating has affected this program’s ability to play to full potential, the numbers tell another story. And those numbers only included penalties and penalty yards. They didn’t include all the non-holding calls or BS overturned sack fumbles and all that. This is what has me skeptical about running the table and I’m starting to wonder if all the ACC cares about is catering to its North Carolina basketball darlings and maybe Clemson/FSU because they’re OG football schools.
Click to expand...
In the TAMU and OSU games there were very, very few penalties called.

I think for UM to be successful in the ACC and playoffs we effectively have to be an NBA team; one style of play for the regular season and a different style of play for the playoffs. And just like the NBA, we will need to play fast in conference games, and then be able to win much slower games in the playoffs.
 
Last edited:
AtlAtty said:
In the TAMU and OSU games there were very, very few penalties called.

I think for um to be successful in the ACC and playoffs we effectively have to be an NBA team; one style of play for the regular season and a different style of play for the playoffs. And just like the NBA, we will need to play fast in conference games, and then be able to win much slower games in the playoffs.
Click to expand...
Agreed, and I don’t think we’ll only be playing muscle ball or slowpoke football with Mensah as he’s a better, more versatile QB than Beck although Beck was fine for what he was. I expect the offense to look different just like the transition from 2024 to 2025. Maybe a mix of both.
 
Ispyin said:
I think things fundamentally shifted culture wise, and trajectory wise after the loss to SMU.

We have a soft schedule but there will be no let up. I see a game where we get a scare like the 2001 team with BC.

Because of everyone else ahead of us beating each other (I expect Miami to be preseason 7 which is not where I personally rank the boys) up, very likely Miami notre dame is #1vs #2.

And it almost might not matter who wins that game ultimately because I see that as a preview of a neutral field game in the playoffs later - perhaps in Vegas
Click to expand...
Me personally? I haven’t felt this way since after the Fiesta Bowl loss to Pedo State back in ‘87. That 87 Team came out and took care of Business and would have repeated but for the Blind Refs in South Bend.

That said, I expect this team to be focused and all business going into this season. They know what it’s like to get This Close to having a Ring, only to come up short. Especially in your own house. They don’t want to have that feeling ever again.
 
LeanMeanOrangeGreen said:
Can someone help me understand how and why ND is going to be ranked in the top 3? CJ Carr (as others mentioned) did nothing impressive in 2025 and relied heavily on Love and the other back who was taken in the 1st. He made some nice throws in garbage time. Cool. Why is he on anyone’s Heisman radar?
Click to expand...
You don't have to like it or agree, but nationally CJ Carr is pretty consistently written up as top 5 qb (I don't agree with that, but I don't discount him out of the top 10 either, with a 4:1 TD to int ratio as a freshman)

They have consensus top 10 and top 5 units besides him at WR, OL for sure, DL, LB, and DB rooms, including Leonard Moore.

are they overhyped, for sure but are they legit top 10- absolutely. I ******* hate that school with a passion unbridled, but you can still see talent there and Freeman is a good coach.
 
I haven't been this anxious to get the season started in a loooong time.
I just have this feeling that this entire year will be a STATEMENT moment to the league and media.
It's OUR time!
 
Stats02 said:
You beat me to it. The “15-0” clowns were out in full force before the season started. If we had any criticisms of Manny, or concerns for the team, the Manny mob was quick to let us know we were not real fans and we were scared little ******* for having any valid concerns.
Click to expand...

I'm generally an optimist, but even I was taken back by that. No way was that team going to do anything, especially since Manny refused to even hire a DC, doing it himself. Needless to say, that was an epic disaster after the first snap against Bama.
 
WE WALKIN’ THAT DadeCoDirty DAWG THIS YEAR…BEEN A LOOOOONG TIME COMIN’…..
IMG_2443.jpeg
 
hanna445 said:
I’m excited about that game to see how we respond. Dabo and Clemson will bill that as like a “last stand” or “no one believes in us” or a “this is still our conference” type of game.
Click to expand...
Honestly, whose conference is it? It’s hard to say it’s ours when we haven’t won it nor played in a ACCCG in almost a decade. Clearly we’re the best team. But as a lot of people have said, when you stack conferences with 16-18 teams and each league plays about 8-9 league games, determining a champion based on just league records and results isn’t so easy unless you have someone who clearly dominates everyone in league play. If not? You’ll have a 5 way tie with a bunch of teams you either didn’t play or share many common opponents with..in your own league lol
 
Back
Top