first off, that game was crap, and anyone who thinks that was an "instant classic" or football at its best/purest is fooling themselves or knows nothing about football.
the duration of this post is a venting to the following comment listed directly below. just wanted to give a fair warning.
indianacane02 said:
Miami is a pro-sports, bandwagon town.
I couldn't have said it better. Most Miami players are not thinking about team, or winning a title for their school, but picking up a check on Sunday. You know why you can't fill up a stadium, regardless of the capacity? It's due to the "me-first" mindset that any "star" player on Miami has. They are not in it for the team win, but to get their name out there and pad their stats for all those recruiters. Miami fans, which has to be an oxymoron, know that. That is why they don't give a rat's ass if Miami plays a "nobody." Do you think Green Bay faithful take a Sunday off based on the opponent? They don't, and neither do Big Ten fans.
I am not going to lie an say that tOSU always has the best players, because we don't, but Miami usually has a plethora of talent at their fingertips. Florida is a breeding ground for athletic talent. The reason we, tOSU or most Big Ten teams, have such a strong tradition and following has less to do with talent, and more to do with heart and sacrifice for team. And to be honest, it isn't all schools in Florida that lack "electric atmospheres," but mostly Miami. The Swamp has to be one of the, if not the, toughest places to play in college football. Why is that? One word, team. tOSU has had talent, only 2 time heisman winner and don't even start with ml at USC, but our talented players haven't let their success in their respective sport balloon their ego out of control, with the exception of Maurice Clarrett, and I think I speak for most tOSU faithful when I say that we are extremely happy with how he is doing in the NFL, with the whole Broncos cutting him thing.
You think I am exaggerating the point? Well here is a current example, I saw/heard more about Neon Deon helping Devin Hester than the actual Florida State/Miami game. I love the way they could not stop talking about how he is the best return man in college football and how he has "next man speed." I think if I hear that dumbass phrase one more time, I will loose it. That phrase was coined up by Neon and probably his agent in order to market the next big thing for the moment, Hester, to the owners of the NFL. How did Hester do again? Funny how Ted Ginn didn't have half the exposure, even though he put up better numbers on Saturday and last year. In 2004, Ginn put up 384 yds and 4 tds off of 15 punt returns, when Hester put up 326 yds and 3 tds off of 19 punt returns. Hester did have one more td off of kick returns, but Ginn only got to return 2 kick-offs last year as compared to 15 for Devin.
To end this venting, my point is that Miami players have their priorities screwed up severely, and that directly affects their "electric football environment" in a negative way. That could be directly link to the coaches/administration and not just to the players. Don't bash the tradition of the Big Ten or the fact that our fans and alumni want to give back to their schools, as most did as players, so that we would have the fortune of holding 100,000+ fans for our games on Saturday. Miami will typically have better talent then tOSU or most Big Ten teams, but will not come close to football atmosphere. Miami has been running downhill since their unfortunate loss to tOSU in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, and I suspect that trend will continue until some principles of teamwork and sacrifice are made the focus and not facetime. Oh yeah, and don't expect Miami or FSU to win the ACC with play like that. VT will wax either of those teams right now. Just my .02. :)
). Maybe they forget we lost our football voices decades ago from overuse? Ha, in many cases the old soldiers are shouting, it's just one of those age things.