Summer Kickoff: Part IV

Part I: N.C. State, Florida State, Clemson
Part II: Wake, Maryland, BC
Part III: VT, GT, UNC

MIAMI

Record: 7-6 overall, 4-4 ACC (fourth, Coastal)

Bowl: lost to Cal, 24-17 in the Emerald

They're here: LB Sean Spence, RB Graig Cooper, K Matt Bosher

They're gone: LB Glenn Cook, OC Patrick Nix, QB Robert Marve

Plus

• Miami had two obvious problems in 2008 and both have been fixed. The first was quarterback Jacory Harris was way better than Robert Marve, yet Randy Shannon insisted on starting Marve and giving him way more reps.

Marve was suspended before the bowl and then decided to transfer (he ended up at Purdue after a protracted divorce from The U).

The second was offensive coordinator Patrick Nix. That Nix convinced another ACC team to hire him after handcuffing Calvin Johnson at Georgia Tech is a testament to his personality, or the Reggie Ball Factor, but either way, he didn't make the most of his second chance. Shannon fired Nix after the season and brought in former UMass coach Mark Whipple.

With one quarterback in place, and a good, young one in Harris, with a creative play-caller, Miami has no reason not to make a significant jump 2008, when it ranked 89th nationally in total offense.

• For the first time in 15 years, the program did not lose a first-round pick in the NFL Draft. Actually, The U only lost one player, linebacker Spencer Adkins in the third round, to the league.

That's both good news and bad news. The good news is there's still talent in the program — like linebacker Sean Spence, receiver/returner Travis Benjamin and running back Graig Cooper — but the bad news is there's not as much as there used to be, when the program was pumping out first-rounders like an ice maker.

Minus

• With a slightly more palatable schedule, Miami could dethrone Virginia Tech in the Coastal but that's going to be an uphill climb with road tests at Virginia Tech and UNC in the division and FSU and Wake on the other side.

The out-of-conference slate offers few vacations with Oklahoma coming town and two blood fights with the directional Floridas.

Mix in a Week 2 bye and the still-young Canes could be gasping for air come November.

• The passing game, which clocked in 77th nationally, didn't produce a single receiver with more than 31 catches. That's partly Nix's fault and Marve's fault and Shannon's for recruiting seven hundred guys at the same position.

You don't need a dominant receiver, say as you would a running back, but sometimes there's confusion in numbers.

Schedule

What went right

• The offensive line, the single-biggest reason for the decline of the program from No. 1 to mediocrity, showed renewed life and continuity.

The defense, filled with underclassmen, found some of the old U swagger, until the Georgia Tech game, and had the Canes in position to win the division.

• Jacory Harris rallied the team to comebacks wins over Duke and Virginia and put himself in position to start for the next three years.

What went wrong

• One week after knocking off VT on national TV, the Canes no-showed for an embarrassing 41-23 loss to Georgia Tech. The GT game cost the Canes the division.

• In one of the great moments in gambling history, Florida turned a 9-3 fourth-quarter lead into a 26-3 win. The Gators, favored by 22.5 points, inexplicably kicked a field goal with 25 seconds left to cover the spread — and irritate Randy Shannon.

Leaders

Note: x-returning

VIRGINIA

Record: 5-7 overall, 3-5 ACC (fifth, Coastal)

Bowl: none

They're here: QB Jameel Sewell, CB Ras-I Dowling, RB Mikell Simpson

They're gone: RB Cedric Peerman, T Eugene Monroe, WR Kevin Ogletree

Plus

• The season won’t begin with a second straight 52-7 loss. That’s the difference between starting against Southern Cal and William & Mary.

Plus, the back side of the schedule is more inviting this season. Four of the last six games will be in Charlottesville as opposed to three of the last five on the road in ‘08.

• Jameel Sewell’s emergence from academic suspension substantially upgrades the quarterback pool for new offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon, who reportedly has diversified the playbook.

In 24 games during the ‘06 and ‘07 seasons, Sewell occasionally displayed the sort of size (6-3, 220) and quickness combination that’s been rare among ACC QBs.

In ‘07, when the Cavs went 9-4 and Al Groh was voted league coach of the year, Sewell threw 12 TD passes and rushed for four scores while completing 58 percent of his passes. 

Reliever Marc Verica’s production in ‘08 improved some as the season progressed, but the offense failed to crack the 20-point barrier in eight games.

Minus

• Southern Cal is gone but with Southern Miss and TCU aboard, the non-league schedule could still get hairy during a season when Al Groh can’t afford unsightly stumbles against non-BCS opponents.

Having lost five straight and nine of the last 10 against Virginia Tech, the Nov. 28 finale is probably a must-win date for the veteran coach.

• Most of the skill-position players from ‘08 are gone. Among those who have to be replaced are running back Cedric Peerman (774 yards rushing, 44 pass receptions), tight end John Phillips and wide-outs Kevin Ogletree, Mo Covington and Cary Koch.

Vic Hall, in fact, is the No. 2 returning ground gainer after rushing for 106 yards. Tailback Mikell Simpson, who had his moments in 2007, was held to 262 yards at a 3.0 per-carry average in ‘08.

Schedule

What went right

• After the collapse against Southern Cal, another in the third game (45-10 loss to Connecticut) and then a third, against Duke of all people, the defense recovered enough poise to save Groh’s job and win four straight in mid season.

• Once Verica finally got comfortable in the QB role, the receivers responded favorably. Five finished with at least 30 receptions and running backs Peerman and Simpson were able to create a decent amount of quiet yardage off flares and quick dumps.

What went wrong

• Sewell’s academic wipeout undermined the entire season. Verica’s 16 interceptions ignited an early-season turnover epidemic — 14 in the first four games — that led to the awful start.

Sloppy ball-handling popped up again near the end of the sked — four each in losses to Wake Forest and Clemson. The end result was a four-game losing streak that kept the Cavs out of a bowl. The 20 total interceptions for the season were more than some teams have over the course of two seasons.

• The staggering loss to Southern Cal reverberated all the way to November and took a toll on the departmental bank account. After drawing standing-room crowd of almost 65,000 for the opener, Scott Stadium attendance didn’t top 54,000 again — not even for the back-to-back games against ECU (52,398) and UNC (52,342), when Pirate and Tar Heel fans bought a ton of tickets.

Although UVa fans are a robost economic group by comparison to any school, season-ticket sales are slower than normal and there probably won’t be an ‘09 sellout (61,500) until Virginia Tech arrives on Nov. 28.

Leaders

Note: x-returning

DUKE

Record: 4-8 overall, 1-7 ACC (sixth, Coastal)

Bowl: none

They're here: QB Thad Lewis, RB Re'quan Boyette, S Matt Daniels

They're gone: WR Eron Riley, LB Michael Tauiliili, RB Clifford Harris

Plus

• It’s still dangerous to say Duke “should” do anything on a football field, but the Blue Devils really should have another 3-1 non-conference record even though the Sept. 5 opener against Richmond is tougher than it looks on paper.

Of more importance, can David Cutcliffe’s second season produce two or three  ACC wins? Last season’s lone league victim, Virginia, won’t get fooled again, meaning the Devils must make the most of chances against Maryland (Oct. 24) and maybe Wake Forest (Nov. 28)  in Durham.

• It’s no surprise that Cutcliffe has made more progress with quarterbacks Thaddeus Lewis and Sean Renfree than with the rest of the offense. Combined, they passed for 467 yards in the spring game. Renfree, a redshirt frosh, had TD connections with Danny Parker and Matt Pridemore, neither of whom played much in ‘08.

Renfree (6-3, 215) is the future, but Lewis likes to work and may not care to share the toys. He threw 361 of the team’s 410 passes last season and regularly played hurt. Still, it’s a rare “problem” for a program that last had a first-team all-conference QB in 1988 (Anthony Dilweg).

• If cornerback Leon Wright’s health holds after missing the final six games of ‘08, the pass defense should be almost decent. Fellow CB Chris Rwabukamba, like Wright, could start at a few other ACC schools and sophomore safety Matt Daniels is on track to be an all-star candidate in 2010.

Duke’s pass defense has been so bad so long that any sort of sustained improvement would seriously snarl opponents’ game plans.

Minus

• The Devils have lots of company on this front, but the running game shows no signs of scaring anyone and that’s assuming 2006 and ‘07 rushing leader Ra’quan Boyette is back to full steam after injuries kept shelved all of ‘08.

Cutcliffe and conditioning coach Noel Durfey spent much of the off-season attempting to build muscle bulk in the offensive line. Center Bryan Morgan and guard Kyle Hill were among several players to respond favorably, but don’t expect miracles. Up front, Duke’s never going to push many foes around.

• Lots of receivers will get a look, but the graduation of Eron Riley leaves a void that won’t completely be filled. His 61 catches in ‘08 were more than returnees Johnny Williams and Jay Hollingsworth (RB) combined and while Riley had 8 TD receptions, the rest of the team had nine.

Until someone proves otherwise, there’s not a wide out on the roster who demands double-coverage attention. That fact will make underneath probing a lot more difficult for Lewis.

• Things haven’t changed so much at Duke that depth can be considered anything except a minus. Even the secondary — well, the whole defense — is no more than an injury or two away from a three-alarm flame out.

Schedule

What went right

• Under Cutcliffe’s supervision, Lewis had 25 more completions and four fewer interceptions than in ‘07 and would have done better had he been given just average protection.

• Thanks to three early-season wins in Wade, the program finally made popularity strides with the student body and although three of the eight losses were fairly one-sided, the Blue Devils never went belly-up during a five-game skid to end the season.

• The kicking game, once a disgrace even by Ivy League standards, improved dramatically behind punter Kevin Jones and placekickers Nick Maggio and Joe Surgan. Only Surgan graduated.

What went wrong

• The Devils were double-digit underdogs, but the season-ending 28-20 loss to North Carolina was a kick in the gut. A win wouldn’t have been enough for a bowl bid or made much difference in the standings, but it would have provided a big emotional lift and offset the taste of seven losses during the final eight games.

• Despite improvement, there’s still not enough quickness in the program to adequately defend a short field. Opponents ate the Devils alive inside the red zone — scoring TDs roughly 60 percent of the time.

•  The 106 rushing yards per game average was bad but still deceptive. After the first two games against James Madison and Northwestern, the average was 87.3.

Leaders

Note: x-returning

— By Caulton Tudor and J.P. Giglio