The Connect: 07/29/10

MORE MEDIA DAY SHENANIGANS: Three Canes — Brandon Harris, Allen Bailey and Matt Bosher — were selected to the All-ACC Preseason Team, although Bosher really should count for double since he was selected at TWO positions. And it wasn't three only because apparently the media isn't yet voting on "All-ACC Preseason Bodyslammer." And they wonder why no one cares about media days. Anyway, these things are about half right usually, but it probably won't have been a good season if those three are the only guys that show up on this list at the end of the year.

Jorge Milian has an interview with Joel Figueroa. Here's the key info:

Figueroa said he was told about the decision two weeks ago. Matt Pipho the starting right tackle in 2009 graduated. Jermaine Johnson and Ben Jones spent all of spring practice sharing reps and the assumption was that one or the other would be the starter on Sept. 2 against Florida A&M. Figueroa did not participate in spring practice while recovering from shoulder surgery.

Figueroa hasn’t played a down of college football at tackle. Franklin hadn’t either until he moved over from left guard to left tackle for the final two games of 2009 after Jason Fox was injured. Franklin and Figueroa are the only two senior offensive linemen on the roster.

Let's all try to not fret about this! The P*pho Experiment was, by all means, pretty much a disaster. And Orlando Franklin was pretty good at tackle at the end of last year, but he was extremely shaky in the Clemson game, if memory serves. SO WE'LL SEE. Joel seems like a really nice guy though.

In GLORY DAYS news, an algorithm concocted by a dude at Football Outsiders has said that the 2001 Hurricanes were the best college football team SINCE 1972, (and the #5 team of all-time). LET'S RELIVE THE MEMORIES:

Penn State was the first to fall -- Miami moved to No. 1 by demolishing the Nittany Lions, 33-7, in State College. Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Troy fell by a combined 142-28, then the Hurricanes traveled to Doak Campbell Stadium and knocked out No. 14 Florida State, 49-27. After two more cakewalks, Miami survived a bit of a scare at Boston College. Hurricanes quarterback Ken Dorsey threw four interceptions in a swirling wind; they led only 12-7 in the final minute, with the Eagles driving for the winning score. But defensive end Matt Walters intercepted a deflected pass; Ed Reed, being Ed Reed, ripped the ball from his teammate's hands and returned it for the game-clinching touchdown.

The scare reinvigorated the Hurricanes -- in back-to-back home games, they absolutely crushed No. 14 Syracuse (59-0) and No. 12 Washington (65-7, revenge for handing Miami their only loss in 2000) and headed to Blacksburg to face No. 14 Virginia Tech. They built a 26-10 lead before the Hokies came back, scoring once to make it 26-18, then scoring again. Miami stopped the two-point conversion, however, and won 26-24. The scares against the Eagles and Hokies probably did just enough to knock Miami down from a top five slot, but that's just nit-picking. The Hurricanes destroyed Nebraska in the national title game, cementing their slot as the greatest team of my own lifetime, and many others'.

The funny thing about this article is that the writer somehow shoehorns Jason Geathers into the list of UM legends on that team. I'm not sure what happened there. Sean Taylor, Kellen Winslow AND OF COURSE JASON GEATHERS. He was there waiting in the wings though, apparently.

Other canes teams to place in the top 100: The '89 team at #91, the '86 team at #65, the '00 team at #54, the '91 team at #38, the '88 team at #25 and the '87 team at #14. I personally am only old enough to remember from the probation era on forward, so the rest of you consider yourselves lucky. In honor of this list I will be doing this at work today anytime after I make a sale: