1) It is SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27. In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Heat moves on from What's-his-name, Philbin/Tannehill poll, NFL Week 4 pix, LeBron plays what-if, three-breasted woman & more. 2) Follow us on Twitter @gregcote. Also Facebook, Instagram and Vine.
Heat moves on from That Guy Who Left: I write an entire column about the Heat moving on from What's-his-name without ever mentioning his name. Click on Life After [Blank] to read.
New Canes column: Click on Appreciate for my column off last night's Miami win; erase the phrase "it was only Duke" from your mind. Find our live in-game blog directly below the CSM poll.
CANESFAN SATISFACTION METER: G5: Results are certified in the latest Canesfan Satisfaction Meter postgame poll, and they show a season-high 73.3 percent overall satisfaction in the wake of Saturday night's 22-10 home victory over Duke putting UM's season record at 3-2 and 1-1 in ACC play. The CSM, in its sixth season, is your invitation after every Hurricanes game to vote on your overall satisfaction with the team and season in a continuing weekly gauge of how UM football fans are feeling. Criteria for voting is your own, but I suggest you consider the most recent game's performance and caliber of opponent, season as a whole, program's direction and your overall degree of optimism -- all in the context of reasonable expectations. Results are certified official the morning after one full day of voting. In this case that will be around 9 a.m. Monday.
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2014 CSM results
G1: 6.7% (following 31-13 loss at Louisville)
G2: 35.9% (following 41-7 victory vs. Florida A&M)
G3: 71.8% (following 41-20 victory vs. Arkansas State)
G4: 11.6% (following 41-31 loss at Nebraska)
G5: 73.3% (following 22-10 victory vs. Duke)
Next poll: Oct. 4 (following game at Georgia Tech)
G5: HURRICANES 22, DUKE 10: BIG DEFENSIVE SHOW LIFTS MIAMI: Final: Miami improves to 3-2 and drops Duke to 4-1 in a pretty thorough win. Brad Kaaya (226 yards, two TDs) and Duke Johnson (144 yards rushing) carried the offense, but the story was a strong showing by Mark D'Onofrio's much-criticized defense. It held Duke to 260 total yards, forced nine punts and had two interceptions and a fumble recovery. Overall, a solid win. ..... Second half: Kaaya 47-yard TD strike to Joseph Yearby for a 22-10 Canes lead with 8:27 to play. Lead now seeming safe-ish. ... Canes lead narrowed to a scary 16-10 on a Devils FG. ... UM up 16-7 on a 4th-and-19 TD from 28 yards, Brad Kaaya to Herb Waters. Gamble made sense; would have been a long FG try in what was then a hard rain. ... Denzel Perryman causes fumble that UM recovers at Duke 32 to start half. ..... Halftime: A dangerous 9-7 lead for Miami. Should be much bigger. UM leads in total yards 241-115 and has forced seven Duke punts but has little edge to show for it. Both teams only 1-for-8 on third-down conversions. Scattered booing chased the Canes from the field into halftime. ..... First half: Canes: miss 52-yard FG try after apparent Phillip Dorsett TD catch (by my eye) was ruled a non-catch in end zone. ... Duke within 9-7 on 7-yard run after 73-yard drive in second quarter. ... Canes 9-0 (missed kick) after 7-yard scoring run by Duke Johnson. ... UM 3-0 on 29-yard FG on opening drive. ..... Original post: Nobody wants to hear that Duke is pretty good in football now. Not Mike Krzyzewski across-campus good, but good enough to crash the Top 25 with an upset here. To Canes fans Duke is still Duke, the doormat you roll over. That proves Canes pride dictates fans still believe the team is better than it is, and it also proves old habits die hard, considering Duke throttled UM up there last season, 48-30. That's why tonight's 7:30 game puts the Hurricanes in a tough spot. Beat Duke and they won't really get credit for beating a top team ("It was only Duke."). But lose? At home? To Duke? To fall to 2-3? Oh my. You don't want to imagine it. I know Al Golden and Mark D'Onofrio sure don't. I think Brad Kaaya and Duke Johnson et al can outscore this opponent. I trust Miami's offense. It can be special. The onus instead will be on D'Onofrio and the Canes' defense, as usual. Last year was an embarrassment and Duke (albeit against lesser foes) has 174 points in this year's four wins. Step up, Canes D. Or be stepped on again. This is a must win for The U in every sense but the literal one. I'll be at the park columnizing, not knowing if I'll be writing a celebration or a wake. That's sports! My pick: Miami, 34-24.
Other Collball Week 5 state FBS games:
No. 1 Florida State 56, North Carolina State 41: FSU now 4-0, N.C. State 4-1. Jameis Winston returned just in time, because N.C. State is pretty good and had won five of past seven home meetings with FSU when 'Noles were ranked. The Winstons won last year's meeting 49-17 in Tally but this one figured much closer, closer (I'd said) than the 18-point bet-line. Wolfpack led 24-7 early before FSU charged back to avoid a shakeup of the national playoff picture.
FIU 34, UAB 20: FIU now 2-3, UAB 2-2. This one I did not foresee. Saw Alabama-Birmingham as clearly superior to FIU. Well, not today. G-Panthers' defense had four interceptions to lead a major (UAB was favored by 17) road upset. Sorry, Wagner, but this is season highlight for The Int'l. By a lot.
FAU 41, UTSA 37: FAU now 2-3, UTSA 1-3. Yes, that was the effervescence of Larry Coker, the former UM coach (2001-06), on the visitors' sideline. The Canes' last championship boss ('01) is now 20-18 flying under-radar into his fourth year at Texas-San Antonio. What a comedown, Lar'. Ouch. UTSA was favored by six here but I rightly sniffed an Owls upset. It happened with a 14-point fourth-quarter rally. Hooooot!
Also: No. 19 Wisconsin def. South Florida, 27-10. Off this week: Florida and UCF.
Poll result: Philbin slammed for QB handling: We asked in previous blogpost whose side you took on Larry Coker lookalike Joe Philbin's non-committal handling of the Dolphins' QB situation this week (you may still vote), and 78.5 percent blamed Philbin for the distraction. It was 16.3% pro-Philbin, with 5.2% undecided.
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