Talk about two storied programs from years-gone-by falling to a level of mediocrity that no one could have predicted.

1986 Hurricanes, the most hated team in modern sports (SI.com)

The fans of this series look at this game and yearn for the days of the Jimmy Johnson led Miami team battling the Lou Holtz controlled Irish from the late 80s. This game will really demonstrate just how dire things have gotten in Coral Gables and in Big Bend as this game would have once been a headliner, but is now more of just another game.

What started out as a season expected to be the year Miami would return to dominance quickly turned into another forgettable year for the Canes. The season culminated with the firing of head coach Randy Shannon, leaving many to wonder what would become of the “U” in the future.

Fact is that Notre Dame was in this same exact spot last off-season as the Irish fired then head coach Charlie Weis and replaced him with up-and-coming offensive guru Brian Kelly. Kelly has brought a different style of offense to Big Bend this year that didn’t seem to ever really take off the current players just do not seem to fit the scheme.

Miami announced back on Dec. 12 Temple head coach Al Golden would be taking over the program after the bowl game. You might ask yourself, “Who is Al Golden?” which again reiterates just how long gone the glory days are for Miami.

Time to step out of the Wayback Machine, on to this season’s matchup. Read the rest of this entry →

Jacory Harris (12) and OC Mark Whipple should have more cooked up for Pitt tonight than they did for Ohio State. (Icon SMI)

Miami comes off a bye week where the Canes were able to lick their wounds from their poor showing in the Horseshoe two weeks ago. I expect that Miami worked on fundamentals during their off week to eliminate the numerous mistakes that they made against Ohio State. Watch for Miami’s defense to come out strong, bend a little but not break in the second half versus an unimpressive Pitt offense.

My prediction: Miami 24 Pitt 14.

Jacory Harris should look really sharp this week as he’ll be facing a good Pitt defense, but not one that can force 4 INT’s like the Buckeyes. He should throw for 200 yards and 2 TDs. Damien Berry will get a rushing TD, but he won’t rush for many yards, say 50 or so. Travis Benjamin will finally show up with a receiving TD as he finds a way to sneak past the secondary for a decent length score. He’ll finish the night with 60 yards. Hankerson will have the other TD but will struggle to amass a whole lot of yards. He’ll finish with about 50 receiving yards on 4 catches.

Matt McCluskey on the Big East view: Read the rest of this entry →

2008 overall record: 7-6

2008 conference record: 4-4

Returning starters: Offense: 8, Defense: 8, Punter/Kicker: 2

Top returns: QB Jacory Harris, OT Jason Fox, WR Aldarius Johnson, WR Travis Benjamin, RB Graig Cooper, RB Javarris James, LB Sean Spence, LB Darryl Sharpton, CB Chavez Grant, K/P Matt Bosher, DE Allen Bailey

Key losses: QB Robert Marve, OT Chris Rutledge, C Xavier Shannon, LB Glenn Cook, S Anthony Reddick Read the rest of this entry →