Kartik, the savvy UM blogger from Canes Rising, is back to answer the question of the day: How will Miami attack FSU's defense, especially now that the defensive front is at full strength for the first time this year?
Miami will hope to control the clock on the ground. However Miami's most experienced and best runner between the tackles, Javarris James, is out for this game. James as you recall had a major impact on the proceedings in Tallahassee last year. Without James, Graig Cooper will get the most carries, but Randy Shannon is concerned about giving Cooper, a second year player who is more of a home run hitter than a power back, too many carries. We've seen Cooper wear down the last games in the 4th quarter as he's had to carry the ball more often than in the past due to James' injury. Against both Texas A&M and North Carolina, Cooper could not handle the increased work load from replacing the injured James without a severe drop-off late in the games. Both games were good statistically for Cooper: over 120 yards in both, but the truth is the vast majority of those yards were before halftime in both games.
→ Miami under Pat Nix has used a lot of quick screens to the WRs to catch blitzing defenses in bad positions. However, with Thereon Collier, Miami’s second leading receiver who caught slip screen and then went 67 yards for a TD that was called back on a pre snap penalty, is out for this game with an injury. Sam Shields is Miami’s most proven deep threat catching 37 passes, many of them long balls during his freshman year in 2006. But that was under Larry Coker, and since Randy Shannon took over, Shields has fought suspension, and benching. He has only four catches this year, but is listed for the first time this season as a starter on the depth chart heading into this week.
→ Ultimately, Miami will probably rely heavily, as it has for twenty plus years against FSU, on the Tight End. Glen Dennision, Willie Smith, Coleman Bell, Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow and Greg Olsen all had big games against FSU. Epps who caught last year’s winning TD in Tallahassee will probably be the go-to guy this year, yet again. Florida State despite all its national success and titles still has not proven it can cover Miami’s TEs, and I believe Pat Nix, the offensive coordinator for the Canes will be anxious to exploit this as he did last year at Doak.
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