The Miami Hurricanes Have Talked Change, It's Time to Prove It Against Nebraska

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When Al Golden took over the job at the University of Miami, he really didn’t know what to expect in regards to the NCAA investigation. After his charming opening press conference and valiant effort to take over a job with a “cloud”, Miami Hurricanes fans quickly fell in love with the tie-wearing coach from Temple that was set on restoring the proud tradition of ‘The U.’

Unfortunately for Golden, he stepped into a situation that required a change of culture, recruiting against negative recruiting from schools all over the country, all while still trying to win games to satisfy the fans.

We’re now into the fifth year of the Golden era and the only signature win was against a top-15 Florida Gators team that finished the season 4-8 after being depleted by injury that season. The fans have lost their patience and they desperately need a big win.

But as bad as the fans want a big win, the players need one even more.

Last season, the Hurricanes had high expectations. Miami had a promising young quarterback, albeit he was a freshman, one of the best running backs in school history in Duke Johnson, arguably the top tight end in the country in Clive Walford and one of the best linebackers in college football in Denzel Perryman. Not to mention the Hurricanes had something they lack this year; a very good offensive line.

While last year’s team had a good amount of talent on the roster, that wasn’t the reason why Miami finished 6-7 after a bowl loss to South Carolina.

One of the reasons why the team finished 6-7, was because they simply quit after the heartbreaking loss to Florida State.

The loss to Florida State absolutely crushed last year’s team. Guys like Perryman and Johnson came to Miami to beat Florida State and the reality sunk in that they would never get the opportunity to beat the Seminoles. That loss also eliminated the Hurricanes from winning the ACC Coastal Division so the players had nothing to play for the reason of the season. Except for pride, maybe.

When you put in the tape of the games against Pittsburgh, Virginia and South Carolina, you blatantly see players completely checked out. Why? Because they felt like they had nothing to play for. Pride is one thing, but when you constantly lose games that people are calling “big”, you begin to question yourself as a player and as a team. And that’s exactly what happened to last year’s team.

While last year’s team crumbled down the stretch, this team has talked about how different they are and have taken pride in being a close-knitted group and it’s been their mantra all throughout camp and the first two games. We’ve seen the team do a ton of things off the field: We’ve seen SID Tom Symonds catch a punt during practice and go insane, we’ve seen the team go paint-balling, we’ve even seen the defensive unit come to the rescue of defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio from heckling fans during the game against FAU.

The vibe throughout camp was a positive one, and the atmosphere through the first two weeks have been great, too. But what happens if the Hurricanes fall to Nebraska and fail — yet again — to win a big game against a quality opponent?

I don’t think beating Nebraska necessarily qualifies as a “signature” win for Golden and the team, but by beating the Cornhuskers this weekend, the team could prove to the fans, but most importantly, themselves, that they’re not the same team they were a year ago.

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The Miami Hurricanes Have Talked Change, Now It’s Time to Prove It Against Nebraska

By Juan Toribio | Sep 19, 2015