Oh, boy. If you were watching yesterday’s Miami Hurricanes debacle against Ohio State with me, the chances are good that you would’ve left with some wounds. I had been looking at this game ever since I heard that it was going to be played as redemption for the Buckeyes beating us in the Fiesta Bowl in ’03. Sure, winning really wouldn’t have meant anything substantial, but after that last defeat, OSU instantly became one of my most hated college football teams, right up there with the Gators, the Irish and the ‘Noles.
I wanted this win and to see Miami play so sloppy and just get crushed had me so infuriated that I started breaking things around the apartment and downtown Boston when I’d go outside for a “deep breath”. It made me sick and seeing the classic “deer in headlights” stares on the sidelines from both Randy Shannon and Jacory Harris made me want to smack both of them around until they showed any sign of life.
But now that I’ve calmed down and most of the alcohol is out of my system, I’m starting to see the bright side of all this mess. While true that we’re just not as good as Ohio State or any of the nation’s elite, we don’t have to be. We play in the ACC, which is no better than the WAC or Conference USA these days. As bad as Miami got beat by OSU, the Noles got beat worse by OU. VTech lost to James Madison, an FCS (Division 1AA) team. GTech lost to a middle of the road Big 12 team in Kansas.
The conference we’re playing in just isn’t that good and that honestly fits this mediocre team and mediocre coach perfectly. It’ll be a huge battle for us, but there’s a chance that we can win the ACC and make it into a BCS bowl — and hopefully get lucky and play a Big East team and not someone good from the SEC, Big Ten, Pac-10, or Big 12. As much as this loss hurts, the season isn’t over yet. We still have a shot to win Gold at the Special Olympics.
