A win at Duke can’t erase loss to FIU
CORAL GABLES – Are there deeper, more serious issues facing the Miami Hurricanes under Manny Diaz that will persist into future seasons? Or is it as simple as saying, if Diaz can just get his team to stop playing down to lesser competition, UM can get back on the right track?
Diaz will wrap up his first regular season as head coach of Miami on Saturday, and through the highs and lows — very low at the moment coming off a loss to FIU — it’s been exactly that: Regular.
Entering Saturday’s finale at Duke (5-7, 2-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), Miami is 6-5. Depending on what Saturday and the Hurricanes’ bowl game result, UM will finish with either six, seven or eight wins.
It’s been the same story for the past decade and a half. Miami has averaged about seven and a half wins since 2006.
This season appeared to be providing a glimmer of hope over a three-game winning streak that saw UM rally for impressive victories at Pittsburgh and Florida State and then return home for a Senior Day blowout of Louisville.
That all came crashing down when Miami lost to FIU last Saturday, but that wasn’t the only downright disappointing loss. Losing as 20 1⁄2-point favorites to the Panthers, the Hurricanes also lost as 18 1⁄2-point favorites to Georgia Tech right before the winning streak. Although they won against Central Michigan, the Hurricanes walked away with a 17-12 score — when they had been favored by 29 1⁄2 points.
“We’re a football team that chooses when our best is required,” Diaz said this week, taking ownership of it. “That responsibility falls upon me.
“When we play, we’re pretty dang good. When we don’t play, we’re pretty awful.”
The loss to FIU happened. It’s done with. There’s nothing Miami can do about it now. Diaz wanted it to serve as the last time a lesson was needed to get players to avoid taking an opponent lightly.
“Fortunately, we have another opportunity to get back out there and to play,” Diaz said. “We’ve got a challenge going up to Duke, and it is imperative for our guys to come together and find a way to, as much as possible, put what happened last Saturday behind us.”
That lesson will be fresh in the Hurricanes’ minds on Saturday in Durham, facing a Blue Devils team that won’t make a bowl game. The key will be if its remembered next year or two years from now, especially if Miami does see a brighter day and a similar slip-up then is much more damaging than turning a four-loss season into five losses.
“We got to learn from it and move on, but at the same time, we’re not going to dwell on it, keep thinking of FIU,” said redshirt freshman defensive end Greg Rousseau. “What does FIU have to do with next year, or the whole offseason when we’re working hard or even Duke or the bowl game? Like, it has nothing to do with it. We got to just move on and live in the now.”
Diaz threw the word arrogance around to describe how his team approached the success of the previous three wins.
“When things get good around here — and again, a three-game winning streak shouldn’t be good — but even that, when the sun does come out here, I think our team picks up on the natural arrogance that we have,” Diaz said. “I’m guilty, as well, where we say, ‘Well, we’re doing well. We’re kind of closer to those’ – not in the ‘Miami [is] back’ narrative — but, you know, ‘Hey, we’re getting this thing rolling. We’re going to be Miami again,’ and forgetting what it takes to make that happen.
“I think that natural arrogance that we have when things are good, to associate ourselves with — forget about the national championship teams — but the good times, can take our eye off the ball.”
Some may feel that arrogance extends beyond the field, in the braggadocious style of the Turnover Chain or celebratory social media posts when recruits commit to the program. That’s not where Diaz’s concern lies.
“Let’s make the main thing the main thing, which means let’s just play a lot better,” Diaz said. “We’re not spending our time in here thinking about chains and tweets and things like that. We’re focusing on getting a program right and our guys are working very, very hard, and that’s we were let down by our performance on Saturday. So, to me, all that is happening, whether it appears that way or not, all that’s going on inside.”