From Every Day Should be Saturday:
A warning. Miami beat Wake Forest after trailing for much of the game, and looking utterly horrible doing it. If somehow Miami manages to win against Florida State, we will say the exact same thing, because Miami is to 2013 what Florida was to 2012, a goon squad capable of dragging every other opponent down to its level and beating them to death with a storm of forced errors, a brutal run game, and the occasional flash from the passing game and special teams.
That seems impossible now, but it's easy to recognize a team like Florida State as being excellent, thanks to huge points margins and obvious dominance. It's another to point out the undefeateds like Miami, who are clearly playing with thin margins and managing them brilliantly through sheer force and a good dose of luck. Teams like that are always dangerous, but put them within the context of the bedeviled Miami-Florida State series, and they're practically covered in gumball lights and horns going into the game.
Miami is one of two teams in the Top Whatever [the other being Stanford] that wins games WWE-style: ugly, late, and usually only after five or six near-tapouts interrupted by strokes of fate too weird to be anything but scripted. A 24-21 win over Wake Forest is unimpressive, and having to beat them late is way, way worse, but Al Golden so does not care, because every game for Miami is a long, staggering run to the surprise submission hold, the lucky hit with the folding chair, and the stunning reversal for a pin.
Miami is Santino, and Duke Johnson is their killer cobra sock puppet. Laugh at your own risk, Florida State. Better men than you have lost to that sock.
A warning. Miami beat Wake Forest after trailing for much of the game, and looking utterly horrible doing it. If somehow Miami manages to win against Florida State, we will say the exact same thing, because Miami is to 2013 what Florida was to 2012, a goon squad capable of dragging every other opponent down to its level and beating them to death with a storm of forced errors, a brutal run game, and the occasional flash from the passing game and special teams.
That seems impossible now, but it's easy to recognize a team like Florida State as being excellent, thanks to huge points margins and obvious dominance. It's another to point out the undefeateds like Miami, who are clearly playing with thin margins and managing them brilliantly through sheer force and a good dose of luck. Teams like that are always dangerous, but put them within the context of the bedeviled Miami-Florida State series, and they're practically covered in gumball lights and horns going into the game.
Miami is one of two teams in the Top Whatever [the other being Stanford] that wins games WWE-style: ugly, late, and usually only after five or six near-tapouts interrupted by strokes of fate too weird to be anything but scripted. A 24-21 win over Wake Forest is unimpressive, and having to beat them late is way, way worse, but Al Golden so does not care, because every game for Miami is a long, staggering run to the surprise submission hold, the lucky hit with the folding chair, and the stunning reversal for a pin.
Miami is Santino, and Duke Johnson is their killer cobra sock puppet. Laugh at your own risk, Florida State. Better men than you have lost to that sock.
