Miami went into the final week of the regular season last year needing a win over a garbage Pitt team to go into acc championship game ranked #1, where even with a loss, Miami had a chance of getting into the playoffs.
So what did Rick do to keep the team focused? The team had a huge Thanksgiving feast at the hotel and played grabass all night and sang Kumbaya. Isn't a theory, the Miami Herald reported it.
This isn't a knock on religion, but that was one of those times that Rick put being a good Christian ahead of being a good HC. Good HC would have known that you aren't going to have much success when your players are looking ahead to the acc championship game, and you let them fill up on turkey and gravy before a Friday game against a physical team with nothing to lose.
Miami wasnt a particularly good team, but just needed a win over a sub .500 team to be a playoff team in year 2 of the Rick era (which was mostly Al Golden's players).
This year, a competent coach gets Miami into the ACC championship game 11-1 or 10-2 at worst.
Yet our fanbase is full of defeatists who think Miami is light years away from the playoffs. Losers.