Before I write about this week’s football game between the Duke Blue Devils and Miami Hurricane this coming Saturday (Oct.21) I feel the need to toss in my two-cents worth of commentary regarding the big fight.
The brawl was horrific. Players were stomping other players with football cleats, helmets were thrown, and hair was pulled. Then fans came pouring out onto the field to get into the act and what started this fight was a bad call from a referee. Oh no, I am not talking about the fight on the field at the Orange Bowl Stadium between the Miami and Florida International football teams. I am talking about the game between Alabama and Tennessee in 1901. The game was tied 6-6 and it was getting late. An official flagged Alabama in what appeared to be a bad call especially to those in attendance from Alabama. That’s when all hell broke loose on Rocky Top.
Over the past week I have read and heard volumes of commentary about the ruckus down in Coral Gables from all the scribes and talking heads that cover the sport of football. They dance around the subject discussing the social ills and thuggery in sports but they are afraid to say what they are really thinking. That is Miami Head Coach Larry Coker recruits ghetto rats out of the Miami slums that can neither be educated nor tamed. But they sure can play football. Pure nonsense…that’s what I say.
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Go back to the Alabama-Tennessee game 105 years ago and ask yourself how ethnically diverse was that crowd? Today, some of those crying foul the loudest are probably some of the same people who go to NASCAR races just to watch the wrecks, or to NHL games to view the fights.
People who are competitive and emotional play games. Sometimes things get out of hand as it did October 14th down at Miami. It has happened before and it will happen again.
Now back to the subject at hand and that is the football game this coming Saturday up at Durham between Duke and Miami.
What a contrast! Duke and Miami…the Preppies versus the boys from U. But one thing can be said for sure, prior to the Miami-FIU melee. The poster-boys of bad behavior came from the excellent institution in Durham, the Duke University Men’s Lacrosse team. Ah-yes, these fine young Blue Devils kept Nancy Grace at CNN busy for weeks hashing over the alleged Call-Girl incident. Can you imagine the outrage if the same thing had happened at the U and young lady had been….?
Miami (4-2) will be short handed when the ball is kicked off at Duke (0-6). Several of the suspended players are key starters — safety Brandon Meriweather, cornerback Randy Phillips, guard Derrick Morse, fullback James Bryant, return man Bruce Johnson and punter Brian Monroe.
The Hurricanes will fill many of those holes with young players. Freshman Chavez Grant will start at cornerback; redshirt freshman Jerrell Mabry takes over at fullback and sophomore Lovon Ponder slides in at free safety. Darren Daly takes over at punter and junior Rashaun Jones will return kickoffs and punts.
"We do have some players missing from the secondary, filling in with some backups," Miami coach Larry Coker said. "We have good players here. We’re going to fill in with good players. They haven’t had the experience, but some have been nickel backs. … We’re going to be fine, player wise."
Duke head football coach Ted Roof isn’t changing his game plan because of the suspensions on the Miami team. “Miami has quality depth at every position.” Roof said. “If you look at what their recruiting classes have been ranked over the last several years, its not like they’re going to fall off the side of the mountain because they’ve lost a few guys. They’ve got quality people and I’m sure they’ll be ready to play on Saturday just like we will.”
Even with Miami’s suspensions, moving the ball probably will remain a daunting task for a Blue Devils team that is led by a freshman quarterback, already has been shut out twice at home — once by Division I-AA Richmond — and has the Atlantic Coast Conference’s worst total and scoring offense.
A –17.0-point chalk in spite of the suspensions favors Miami. Duke players might see this as a slap in the face. The Blue Devils covered +26 at Alabama two weeks ago and +21 against Wake Forest back on September 9th. Last week the Blue Devils narrowly missed the +23 point cover hosting Florida State and losing 51-24, a 27-point loss.
The game will be televised by ESPN 360.
