I say we make Mark Whipple the head coach (that way we don’t lose him to another school) and bring back Shannon as the defensive coordinator. I know it’s kind of strange and doesn’t happen often (a head coach being demoted to coordinator) but I think it’s best for all parties including Shannon. If he loves the University as much as he says he does and wants to stay here for the rest of his coaching career than he should realize by now that it’s never going to happen cause he’s simply not a good head coach. However, he’s a tremendous D-Coordinator and could be around much longer. He’s a terrible clock manager and he should never have called that last time out before halftime. That killed the drive and Whipple was in his ear for it! He’s just not head coach material, but I definitely would like to see him stay around as the defensive play caller.

Whipple is more suited to coach this football team. It’s very clear that he has the players trust and they respect him alot. In all my years, I’ve never seen the offensive coordinator pull the kick returner to the side (last play of regulation) and calmly talk strategy with him and tell him he should have just kneeled down cause he almost fumbled. That’s the Special team coaches job. That’s the Head coaches job. Not the offense coordinator. But that goes to show you what a great coach Whipple is! He needs to be Head Coach of this team. Point blank.

What’s best about this is that it wouldn’t affect recruiting at all. And Shannon is an excellent recruiter! That’s a very valuable attribute.

I know it’s a dream senario and that it likely won’t happen. But it’s my dream dammit! Lol

Not sure, but I am thinking we may drop another one along the way. My prediction preseason was 2-3 more games than last year, get to a half-way decent bowl and win that too.

“It was a tough loss tonight,” coach Randy Shannon said. “Clemson just made more plays when they had opportunities to do it. We had sloppy play all night long. If you play a team like Clemson that has athletes on the football field and you play sloppy as a unit, let guys hang around and hang around, they’re going to (get) opportunities to win the game. I’m not making any excuses. We just played sloppy. When you play that sloppy you’re not expecting to win games.”

Clemson tied the game with five seconds left in regulation with a 30-yard field goal.

In overtime Miami got the ball first and Matt Bosher’s 22-yard field goal put the Canes in the lead, 37-34.

When Clemson got the ball a third-and-11, 26-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Ford won it.

“A breakdown,” Shannon said of the score. “All sloppy play. You give up big plays when you get sloppy.”

Of Ford’s touchdown, defensive back Randy Phillips said, “I saw the play developing, but I was just trying to do my responsibility. I should have made a play on that myself, just taken it in my own hands. I saw the play developing, but by the time I got there it was too late. They put Jacoby in the No. 3 (slot) position against a linebacker and it was a great call by their coach, a great scheme. We fell short.”

UM’s offensive players watched on from the sidelines as Clemson celebrated and Tiger fans in the stands chanted “C-L-E-M-S-O-N.”

“When he threw it and I saw the guy open I was just praying he would drop it because that was the only chance we had,” offensive lineman Jason Fox said. “It was a tough thing to watch from the sideline. It’s tough. It’s a tough loss. We had that game. We gave it to them just by not executing, not finishing on every side of the ball – offense, defense and special teams. We just didn’t finish that game.”

Quarterback Jacory Harris finished hitting on 17 of 27 throws for 256 yards with a pair of touchdowns. But he threw three costly interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.

Harris called this the toughest loss of his career.

“We fought so hard throughout the game as a team, and we didn’t come out with the victory,” he said. "We let Clemson out-work us. We turned the ball over too much. It was little things that made us get to this point. I came out there, was throwing too many interceptions.

“It’s tough to come back in this situation with two ACC losses now.”

Harris said of the interception return for a score that “It was a miscommunication between me and the receiver. We were on two different pages at the time. It was my fault, though – I threw it straight to the man. I just messed up.”

Asked to evaluate Harris’ play, Shannon said, “He threw the interceptions. He came back, responded on the touchdown pass (to Travis Benjamin). That interception (return for a touchdown) was trying to get too much out of it. They had a guy sitting up there on the crossing route, and the guy picked it off and ran it for a touchdown. Sloppy. Everything that happened tonight was sloppy play.”

It was a triple-headed rushing attack in this game for Miami.

Graig Cooper led the ground game with 17 rushes for 99 yards. Damien Berry added eight carries for 55 yards and a touchdown, and Javarris James had six carries for 56 yards – that included a 44-yard carry in the fourth quarter.

“We did well (running the ball), but we could have done better,” Berry said. “We just have to suck it up and come back next game harder.”

The top receiver was Leonard Hankerson with five catches for 87 yards and a touchdown. Benjamin had a 69-yard touchdown reception as well.

“We looked pretty good (on offense), but we can make more plays than we did,” Hankerson said. “Everyone was looking good except for a couple of mistakes.”

The Cane defense allowed 410 yards (84 rushing) and had two sacks.

“They did a good job, but we did a good job stopping the run,” Phillips said. “In the secondary we did a great job on the outside not letting them get deep balls. But they schemed us a lot with the running backs and slot receivers on the linebackers, and that hurt us all night because that’s their strength.”

Marcus Robinson had a defensive touchdown on a 53-yard fumble recovery that put Miami up in the third quarter, 24-21. Allen Bailey forced the fumble.

“They’d run that play before,” Robinson said. “When me and Allen were in on the first play they ran Allen did the same thing, got hold of the quarterback. When me and Allen got to the sideline I told him if he ever grabbed the quarterback again while we were both in to go for the ball and I’ll scoop and make something happen with it. That’s what Allen did.”

Miami had trouble containing speedster C.J. Spiller – he had 310 all-purpose yards, a Clemson record.

“He’s a great running back, made a lot of nice plays,” Berry said. “Really this is his football team.”

Of the rollercoaster game, Robinson said, “At one point we feel we’re up and can win the game. The next play they come back and make a good play. As a defense it takes a toll on you, but you just go out and try to make plays as you can, put it on the line for the team.”

Bertram is grooving, hard.