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Miami finishes #18 in final AP Poll

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Hurracanes said:
Disappointing considering the offense and soft schedule we had; need to improve next season in order for the “trajectory” to reflect the narrative Mario is pounding the table about.
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I will say the schedule was softer on paper than in real life. We ended up having a top 5 SOS
 
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IbzRlz said:
Agree. While our offense was "elite", look at the defenses we played...not a single defense was ranked in the TOP 30 in scoring defense. We scored 23 against GT but many on here think we would have hung 35-40 on OSU, ND, Penn St, Texas, etc. Just don't see it
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I posted the same in another post. A elite defense may have slowed us down. We don't know
 
Go Canes!! said:
17 of the top 25 teams lost three or more games this season.

Are they all returning their star QB and RB which makes them so much better than us?

The answer is no. The reality is the vast majority of teams in college football are revamping their rosters year to year with the portal, plugging holes as best as they can, just like us.

There’s absolutely no reason we can’t win 10 or 11 games again next year with perhapsa less explosive offense, but improved defense.
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I could care less about blah blah blah. If were not competing for a national title. When did we settle for mediocre. 20yrs of never winning the ACC atleast.
 
filmcane said:
We need some "ifs" to land, but...

IF...Beck heals up right and stays upright throughout the season.
IF...we add one stud MLB.
IF...we add one more quality WR.
IF...we add a depth piece running back.
IF...Heatherman gets us to at a top 25-30 D.
IF...Mario takes ST's seriously this season beyond the kicker and punter

Then, yeah, I see us having a very good season where the sky's the limit. We come into the season with perhaps the #1 OL in the country or at least top 5.

We have a more physically talented WR room than we did this past season. Read carefully - not BETTER, but certainly faster and I believe in Beard's coaching.

We have proven and seasoned talent at the top 2 in the RB room and 2 other RB's that have game breaking speed.

The TE room will not be as experienced, but Lofton can be every bit of the difference maker that Aroyo was and Luke's brother and the other transfer TE, should bring the blocking and catching that we lost with our 9 year vet leaving.

The DL room is perhaps the the most talented on the entire team and now, we HOPEFULLY have the DC to use them correctly. We'll see if JT can mold them.

LB room is talented and with the addition of one stud, should be just fine.

With the addition of Lucas, our secondary should be set.

This team, if Beck is healthy and Heatherman does what he should do, is better than the ND team that just played in the title game, PSU, Clemson, UGA (without Beck), etc.

Lots of ifs, but they are all realistic "gettable" ifs. Those come together, then yes, I do believe the sky is the limit. Here's to hoping that we finally get a season where all of our ifs come into a alignment for a special season.
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How long have we been saying if this or if that. GT beat us twice and we even lost to Duke with a stud QB who's most likely going 2nd. We need to drop bags and where is this Ruiz magic.
 
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McGahee2TheHouse said:
QP very conveniently leaves out the fact we had a 21-0 lead and blew it

So yeah, I agree with @dudenate in that I cannot fathom that we lost that game.

What's the excuse for Georgia Tech, who ran the ball 98% of their snaps? Do we just need 15 NFL players on the roster to fix that?
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Exactly someone who knows what the U stand for. It's sickening people call me delusional for being a Cane's die hard fan even though I was an Aggie.
 
With the gifted QB we had and the electric offense not getting to the ACC Championship game and finishing 18th ranked is unquestionably a MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT! No other way to spin it unless you praise and accept incompetence.
 
Up 21-0 with the Playoff on the line and folded.

But go on living on some past Shannon, Golden and Diaz stats to make yourselves feel better.

******* wasted season.

2022 - The Implosion - played just to keep it close against A&M and packed it up from there.

2023 - The Kneel - stole a win from the team and packed it in from there.

2024 - The Fold - got worked against GT, weirdly went into the bunker, only to blow a 21-0 lead to Syracuse and limp to a weak recruiting finish and bowl loss

On to offseason celebrations and tellin lies season.
 
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Pate has us higher, but WoW at some these rankings

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Rellyrell said:
Not so fun facts-

Since 2004:
•This is only the 7th time Miami has finished ranked in the AP Top 25

•The last time we finished ranked in the AP Top 25 was 2020-21 (22nd)

•This is the highest AP final ranking since 2017 (13th)

•This is the 4th highest final ranking:
-2004 (11th)
-2017 (13th)
-2005 (17th)
-2024 (18th)
-2009 (19th)
-2016 (20th)
-2020 (22nd)

•Out of the 7 times we finished ranked, only twice did we finish back to back seasons ranked in the Final Top 25 (2004, 2005 & 2016, 2017); however, only once have we improve the following season in our final rankings (2016 to 2017).

•Only twice has a final AP Top 25 ranked Miami team finished w/ a bowl victory (2004, 2016)

•Only one final AP Top 25 ranked Miami team qualify for the ACCCG (2017)
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That’s hitting around what, 33% ranked at the end of the season across 21 years? Here’s hoping we can follow up 2016/2107 with a similarly high ranked team at the end of 2025. We truly need to continue with whatever little momentum we still have from last season. That, and it’s Mario’s 4th, we need to show a markedly improved defense to keep our trajectory on the rise.
 
What some people fail to realize is that we actually drew a tougher ACC schedule than Clemson, or we would have played for the title. These large leagues lead to such unbalanced schedules.

Clemson played 1 top 7 ACC team, and lost at home by Double Digits in Louisville. SMU's schedule was barely tougher. Miami played 4 of the top 7, 3 on the road. Louisville had the biggest gripe. They played Miami, SMU, and Clemson.

Clemson's best league win was Pittsburgh by 4 against their backup QB. Just pathetic.

So basically you need to be pretty good, and hope you draw an easier conference schedule.
 
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gacaneaddict said:
What some people fail to realize is that we actually drew a tougher ACC schedule than Clemson, or we would have played for the title. These large leagues lead to such unbalanced schedules.

Clemson played 1 top 7 ACC team, and lost at home by Double Digits in Louisville. SMU's schedule was barely tougher. Miami played 4 of the top 7, 3 on the road. Louisville had the biggest gripe. They played Miami, SMU, and Clemson.

Clemson's best league win was Pittsburgh by 4 against their backup QB. Just pathetic.

So basically you need to be pretty good, and hope you draw an easier conference schedule.
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OR if we don't blow a 21-0 lead, we play for the title.
 
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In all our losses, the team resembled a cucked boyfriend. That’s bothersome, to say the least. The D showed no fight. At.All.

And this poll has us sandwiched into a threesome between a team that beat us, and a team that got gifted a conference championship due to our inept loss. We get f**cked again. Irony.
 
Rellyrell said:
Friend no offense, truly, but Syracuse is well past the D McNabb version of the late 90’s. That’s like me saying we shouldn’t be embarrassed if we lost to Cal b/c I’m old enough to remember the Aaron Rodgers & Marshawn Lynch Cal Golden Bears teams.

Since 2004 (& I like to use 2004 as the guideline since that was the year we joined the ACC & the mediocrity began):
Syracuse has gone a paltry 97-147 from 2004-2023.
Syracuse was just 6-7 last season, & hired a rookie HC to lead them. We had a 21 point lead w/ the ACCCG in hand & tricked it off.

Now, why was this season a disappointment? Two things can be true at one time; it’s true many of us said 9-10 wins w/ this schedule would be a huge success. Some said ACCCG or GTFOH, while others said just win 10, including a bowl game, & we’re good; HOWEVER, that was before “this” schedule unveiled itself, proving to be our 3rd easiest schedule since joining the ACC.

That was b4 this schedule marked the 1st time since 1964 that we didn’t play one AP ranked opponent at time of match up. So yes, Larry Csonka, Jim Brown, Donovan McNabb, Marvin Harrison, Art Monk, Floyd Little, & Dwight Freeney played for Cuse; respectfully, who cares? We didn’t play them. We played a team w/ a 1st yr HC taking over a 6-7 team, & a 18-29 program over the last 4 yrs under Babers, down by 21 & we lost. That’s disappointing.
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That’s not what I was saying - I didn’t say I wasn’t embarrassed about losing to them because of the 90s team. I said they had an amazing offense this year, it was a terrible matchup for us, and people need to stop focusing on CFB brands instead of who teams really are. GT stormed the field after beating us this year, but that’s really not uncommon for them to do, is it? But we’re Miami, so they did.

And our schedule wasn’t thought to be anything special prior to the season either. This was also something discussed ad nauseam in the spring.
 
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