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Miami Hurricanes 2011 College Football Preview with Picks and Schedule
The Miami Hurricanes are a program that is always going to be able to compete for and recruit the best talent out there. They compete with Florida and Florida State for the homegrown talent in Florida but are also a National program able to draw players from all over the country. They have a winning history with several National titles. But in order to maintain this winning tradition, the Hurricanes are going to have to come up with a coach that can stick around more than a few years. This year, they bring in former Temple head coach, Al Golden.
The talent is there, but let's start with the potential negatives. Is Al Golden the man? He did a fine job at Temple. He started by winning 1 game in 2006, then won 4, 5, 9 and then 8 games last season. But that was Temple and the MAC. Now he's under the bright lights of the ACC and a National program. But hey, a football coach is a football coach.
But as we always discuss when a new coach takes over a program, with a new coach comes new schemes. You're taking players that were recruited by the old regime and installing new schemes on both sides of the ball. It's not always a smooth transition and there lies the million dollar question regarding the Hurricanes. Will Golden be able to take over without missing a beat or will their be growing pains? After driving a Hyundai for several years, he's now been handed the keys to a Mercedes. He just has to make sure he doesn't crash the Mercedes into the first guardrail he drives by!
Miami returns 7 starters on each side of the ball and most of their non starters could be starters at many other schools throughout the country. This is a team that won 7 games last season and only had won losing year over the last decade. Their schedule isn't an easy one, with Ohio State coming to town in week 2 followed by Kansas State and they'll have the usual ACC opponents like Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Florida State. All 5 of the teams we just mentioned are potential losses, so if Miami dies in fact win more than 7 games this year, they will have earned it. We predict an 8 win season in Al Golden's 1st year.
Additional resources - Miami preview from Betfirms
2011 Miami Hurricanes Football Schedule
9-5-11 at Maryland (Mon.)
9-17-11 OHIO STATE
9-24-11 KANSAS STATE
10-1-11 BETHUNE-COOKMAN
10-8-11 at Virginia Tech
10-15-11 at North Carolina
10-22-11 GEORGIA TECH
10-27-11 VIRGINIA (Thur.)
11-5-11 DUKE
11-12-11 at Florida State
11-19-11 at South Florida
11-25-11 BOSTON COLLEGE (Fri.)