College Confidential

Hurricanes coach has no reason to be upset

The Miami Herald reported how Miami coach Randy Shannon was upset with Florida's late field goal with 25 seconds left in Saturday's 26-3 victory. Shannon, who was quoted on a local radio station, said he was brought up to respect the opposing team and coach, and that you should run the ball if you're up big late.
"But some coaches feel they have to score points because of votes or things like that, or maybe the point spread, because that makes the team look good,'' Shannon told WQAM radio. "But I'm not that type of coach. I'm the type of coach that, if you're winning the game, you get out of there; you respect your opponents because you never know when it can happen to you.''
Shannon's frustration is confusing. Keep in mind, Miami held the Gators to nine points through three quarters. Shannon has also been on the other side as a player for Miami from 1985 to 1988, when the Hurricanes made a regular habit of thrashing opponents during their heyday (my memory may be fuzzy, but I don't seem to recall them being real sympathetic for how bad another team lost). What Florida did Saturday also is nowhere near as bad as the Fun-n-Gun days under Steve Spurrier.
It's not the same thing here, and Shannon knows it.
-Trae Thompson

Can Hurricanes slow down Florida duo?

The Miami Hurricanes will be dealing with some serious speed issues Saturday against Florida.
Gators sophomore running back Chris Rainey and true freshman Jeff Demps finished as the Gators' leading rushers in Saturday's 56-10 win over Hawaii, but it's their speed that's already created a mythical story involving the two.
Right before the start of fall two-a-days, Rainey beat Demps in a 40-yard dash footrace.
"I'd like to watch that,'' Florida coach Urban Meyer said during SEC media days. "I wasn't there, but I would have liked to. Could have probably sold about 10,000 tickets for that. ESPN GameDay probably would have been there as well."
The matchup itself was impressive: Last year in high school, Demps ran the 100-meter dash in 10.37 seconds, then topped that at the AAU Junior Olympics with a time of 10.25. As a senior at Lakeland (Fla.) High School, Rainey scored 32 touchdowns, 15 on runs of 50 yards or more.
The story goes that Rainey heard about Demps, and how he was - as Meyer put it - "the fastest 18 year old to ever run track." Rainey kept hearing about it, Meyer said, and finally the two went back to the dorms to decide things.
"I guess Chris nudged him out,'' Meyer said. "So we got some speed."
Florida quarterback Tim Tebow wasn't there to witness the race, but heard plenty about Rainey's victory.
"That's pretty unbelievable 'cause Demps is one of the fastest men in the country or in the world probably,'' Tebow said. "So for Rainey to beat him in the 40 yard dash, that says a lot about how fast he is."
-Trae Thompson