Tomorrow, We Play Miami. Tomorrow, We BEAT Miami...

Ignoring my bastardization of Bud Kilmer, I'm not sure how to feel about this Miami game tomorrow. We faced a mediocre Miami squad last season and had our heads handed to us. So far this season, Miami has beaten Charleston Southern and lost to Florida. The final 26-3 score of the Florida game is somewhat misleading, though, as they were only down 9-3 at the beginning of the 4th quarter. This would indicate that either Miami is struggling on offense, or Florida is really, really good on defense. I think it may be little bit of both. This also means Miami is fielding a stellar defense, because they held an explosive Florida attack in check for 3 quarters. Facing a superlative defenses is not a good sign for us, as we are still trying to find our way in a new offensive scheme. 

Miami starting RB Javarris James went down with an injury, stunting the 'Canes' offense. This means A&M may end up facing Dallasite Shawnbrey McNeal, who committed to A&M briefly, only to reconsider and sign the Miami.  

According to wvilla over at HallofCanes.com, Miami's weaknesses are conservative playcalling on offense and poor special teams play, particularly in their punt game. I'm not sure how much of an advantage the punting game will be for us, because we're having our own special teams problems, with FG kicking issues and poor tackling on our Punt unit.

I expect Miami to stay in their traditional 4-3 on defense, bringing pressure with their LBs and occasional secondary blitzes to try to rattle Jerrod Johnson in his first official start. On offense, I think Miami will open it up a little, choosing to mostly run the ball, but to take some chances downfield. I can understand why they would play conservative against a Top 10 Florida team. Against A&M, I think they'll take more chances, and try to force the action.

I'm hoping Coach Kines' familiarity with Miami quarterback Robert Marve might help us a little. Kines coached Marve's father, Eugene, when he was with the Tampa Bay Bucs, and even recruited Robert when he was at Alabama (he committed to 'Bama, then switched to Miami after Saban was hired).

Most games come down to which team makes the fewest mistakes. Turnovers and penalties are key. If A&M can protect the football and avoid penalties, playing mostly mistake-free football, I think we can win a low scoring game at home. A&M usually plays well in the first half, scoring 35 first half points so far this season. We have also been limited to only 7 second half points so far this season. This means we need to jump on Miami early, and hopefully make enough adjustments at halftime to score a TD or two and put the game away. I have a feeling we're looking at 21-17 win (if there are no turnovers or costly penalties). Am I being overly optimistic? Maybe. The game is at Kyle, though, and we are coming off of a bye week. I'm hoping we'll have made enough progress as a team to beat an average Miami team this year.