Canes ready to face lack of respect
When Miami opens training camp Saturday, the Hurricanes will be greeted by a slew of challenges. Living up to lofty expectations won’t be among them.
Widely picked to finish in the lower half of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division, the Hurricanes almost certainly will begin the season unranked nationally for the third straight year. The last time that happened was 1981, when current Miami coach Randy Shannon was entering his sophomore year of high school.
“If we want to change that, then it’s up to us,” Miami quarterback Jacory Harris said.
Miami has been unranked for all but one of its last 35 games. The Hurricanes were No. 23 last season for one week – a 41-23 loss in November to Georgia Tech not only left Miami on the outside of the ACC championship picture for the fifth straight year, it knocked the Hurricanes off the Top 25 list.
When the first whistle blows around 8 a.m. Saturday, Miami still will be angry about that.
“Very angry,” left guard Orlando Franklin said.
The Hurricanes can’t cry foul over any perceptions of a lack of respect.
Miami went 7-6 last season, ending the year on a three-game slide capped by a loss to California in the Emerald Bowl. Over the last three years, Miami has gone a perfectly mediocre 19-19. That’s two more losses, combined, than the Hurricanes endured in an eight-season span from 1998 through 2005.
The records might be hurting, but the confidence isn’t lacking.
“We feel like we have something on our back that we need to get off,” senior defensive back Randy Phillips said. “We know in the next two or three years, the program’s going to be back to the national championship level, but we have that type of talent this year.”
New stadium: Florida Atlantic now plans to open a new on-campus football stadium in time for the 2011 season.
The Owls originally targeted a 2010 opening, even scheduling Michigan State to play the first game in the 30,000-seat facility. The economic downturn was primarily to blame for delays, but school officials say design and construction plans are again moving forward.
The new stadium is expected to cost at least $63 million and will take about 18 months to build.