A picnic for Tide, a 5-alarm fire for Miami

You turned it off, right? You couldn’t last the whole, painful, one-sided way, could you?

Late in Saturday’s first quarter, a University of Miami fan called to say, “I’ve seen enough.”

By the second quarter, another fan at the game called when it was 27-0 to say, “Some of them want to leave at half.”

It’s halftime now, and I’m at the keyboard, not needing to see another missed Miami tackle or Alabama score to ask the question of the day even before the day:

What did you expect?

Wait. That’s not it. The question in full form is this; What did you expect to see from your team against the No. 1 team last year, the No. 1 team this year, the No. 1 team as long as Nick Saban keeps coaching?

A fair answer: Some evidence of progress in coach Manny Diaz’s third year. Maybe a narrowing of the gap against the Alabamas. Even that got downgraded by half just a glimpse, a shred of good to take away beyond the idea, “It’s over.”

There’s the story of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick walking off the field after an opening loss, inspecting the effort and saying, “We can do something with this team.”

Did you walk away from this game feeling that?

Well, there was some good stuff if you sift through the rubble. Quarterback D’Eriq King, for instance, showed he can carry an offense against anyone left on Miami’s schedule. Key’Shawn Smith’s catch

late in the first half. Xavier Restrepo’s touchdown catch to make it 41-10. There was some holdthe-line in the second half, including a thirdand-1 defensive stop in the fourth quarter.

But the big picture view? That picture was Edvard Munch’s, “The Scream.” There’s no need to go chapter and verse on the game. Alabama started with 274 yards to Miami’s 43. It had 17 first downs to Miami’s two. It also had six possible first-round picks to Miami’s none. Enough?

If you’re looking for symbolism, Miami recovered an Alabama fumble in the second quarter and celebrated the advent of the new turnover chain despite down four touchdowns. Big presentation. Loud sideline cheers.

And …

… then the fumble was overturned on replay. The turnover chain humbly went back in the box. Alabama soon brought out a turnover chain of its own, though.

Now, let’s be fair: No one is at Alabama’s level year after year. Saturday was billed by the dreamers as Miami’s chance to shock the sports world and by the diehards as a day to show it’s worthy of the nation’s attention once again.

But by the realists? By anyone who watched Alabama beat a great Ohio State team, 52-24, in the Sugar Bowl its last time out to win the national championship?

Yeah, right, Alabama lost a bunch of players to the NFL off that team. So what? “Plug and play” isn’t just an NFL term for talent draft prospects. It’s Alabama every year. Is it too early for Dolphins fans who wanted Alabama running back Najee Harris last year to want Alabama running back Brian Robinson?

The hope wasn’t neces

If you’re looking for symbolism, Miami recovered an Alabama fumble in the second quarter and celebrated the advent of the new turnover chain despite down four touchdowns. Big presentation. Loud sideline cheers.

sarily it being 1979 when Howard Schnellenberger’s first team signaled a change by going to Penn State and beating St. Joe Paterno (back when he was St. Joe).

The hope wasn’t really the 1999 opening win against Ohio State when Butch Davis’ team signaled the dark cloud of scholarship sanction was over and they were coming back.

The hope was simply a day where Miami showed some relevance on the big stage. No one in their right mind expected to leave this day saying, “Miami’s back.” But was it far-fetched to think, “Miami’s on the way back?”

Now for some good news: Miami doesn’t play anyone close to Alabama the rest of the schedule. The only opponent left with a preseason rating was No. 10 North Carolina and it lost its opener to Virginia Tech.

There’s no pretending they’ve narrowed any gap, though. Respect is earned. Miami hasn’t been the Miami team people feared for more than a decade. But they can recover to a good season, depending on the team that comes out of a game that couldn’t end quickly enough.

Congrats if you made it to the end. You’re a true fan. And maybe in need of medication.