Winning is hard: Hurricanes working to make it a habit
“Mediocrity” is a curse the No. 11 Hurricanes are working constantly to avoid. When the Canes face the Virginia Cavaliers at Hard Rock Stadium at 8 p.m Saturday, it will be no different.
At what point does the “winning is hard” concept for the University of Miami (4-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference)
The No. 11 Hurricanes face the Virginia Cavaliers at Hard Rock Stadium having won won four of five. The Cavs lost their past three. Easy win? Never, says Manny Diaz.
become so thoroughly entrenched that the story line becomes a habit and they don’t need to be reminded?
Never, according to coach Manny Diaz.
“Every game you’ve got to rebuild it,” Diaz said, “and the second you think it’s a habit, that’s when you get beat. You just have to be aware that the
gravity of mediocrity is so strong and if you’re not fighting and scratching and clawing and swimming against it, it will just suck you back into the mediocre middle.”
Diaz, whose Canes finished 6-7 last season in his first year at the helm, knows all about the mediocrity syndrome.
“We talk about it every week.
We’re playing this game as if we’re coming off a three-game losing streak,” Diaz said. “Look, no one’s records walk on the field with them. It’s just MiamiVirginia, their guys and our guys and the team that protects the football, scores in the red zone [and] tackles will determine the winner and loser.”
It’s not easy going from playing the No. 1 team in the nation (Clemson) to beating a team
you’re supposed to beat (Pittsburgh) despite it having one of the best defenses in the nation to being a 121⁄ 2- point favorite over an ailing program (Virginia: 1-3, 1-3) with three consecutive losses.
QUARTERBACK QUESTIONS AGAIN
For the second week in a row, the Canes were preparing for a team whose quarterback sustained a significant injury. Last week against Pitt it was a bum ankle that kept veteran Panthers quarterback Kenny Pickett off the field. On Saturday, it’s a concussion that could keep firstyear starter Brennan Armstrong off the field.
Armstrong is a left-handed redshirt freshman who was injured in the Cavs’ loss to North Carolina
State on Oct. 10 during a
play that resulted in a targeting penalty. He is 54 of 97 (55.7 percent) for 596 yards and five touchdowns, with six interceptions in three 2020 games.
Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall, whose Cavaliers lost to Clemson in the ACC title game last year and lost to Florida in the subsequent Capital One Orange Bowl at UM’s Hard Rock Stadum, naturally wouldn’t say if Armstrong will be back Saturday. If he can’t play, then Mendenhall might go with the three-quarterback system he used in last week’s 40-23 loss at Wake Forest.
When asked early in the week if Armstrong was “still in concussion protocol” and if he were unable to play at Miami would there be the same type of quarterback rotation, Mendenhall said, “Still deciding, and we don’t know on Brennan yet. He’s still in the concussion protocol. I don’t know when he’ll be released. ... There is way
too much at stake, so I just wait. ...To go any further [revealing Armstrong’s projected status] would probably not be in the best interest in my team.”
Mendenhall did say that the Cavs “did a very strong job of rotating” the three quarterbacks “within drives and within the game, to use the skill sets they have to help move the football and keep the opponent off balance. I love the run game results. I love the time of possession results. So, yes, it was chaotic, but it was by design. Once it becomes rhythmical and predictable it’s actually easier to defend.’’
THE THREE QBS
Against the Demon Deacons, 6-0, 240-pound senior Lindell Stone got his first career start, completing 24 of 42 passes for 193 yards. He threw two interceptions without passing for a touchdown.
The other quarterbacks in the rotation: 6-4, 215-pound junior Keytaon
Thompson, a Mississippi State graduate transfer who didn’t throw a pass but rushed 10 times for 71 yards; and 6-3, 210-pound freshman Iraken Armstead, who was 1 for 3 for 9 yards and had 46 yards and a touchdown on six carries.
Said Diaz: “They stumbled upon something at Wake Forest, because rolling some of those other quarterbacks in there gave them a shot in the arm. They do change a little bit with those other guys in there, but again, that’s changing in a small sample size. So, they could certainly expand the package with those other two that went in.
“It’s hard for us to say, ‘Hey, when they go in it’s only going to be this.’ One guy is a true freshman and one guy is a transfer [and] his role is increasing.
We’ve got to prepare for the Virginia offense that we’ve kind of seen in some version over the last five years, gotta prepare for what they showed at Wake Forest and then kind of be able to anticipate how they can expand those guys’ packages. We expect we’ll see something we haven’t seen and we’ll adjust to it during the game.”
After this game, the Hurricanes will have their second bye week this season before traveling to North Carolina State (4-1, 4-1) for a Friday night battle with the No. 23 Wolfpack.