A unexpected funereal air cloaks Miami football.
The Dolphins, coming in buoyed off a 10-win season, stumble to a 1-3 start after a terrible home performance Sunday and stare at 1-4 with a visit to Tom Brady’s champion Tampa Bay Bucs on deck.
The Hurricanes, ranked No. 14 in the preseason polls, stagger to a 2-3 start and face being an unthinkable 2-6, with their next three games as an underdog at North Carolina, home vs. a ranked North Carolina State and then at 4-1 Pitt.
Lest we forget FIU, which is 1-4 and has now lost 11 of its past 12 games on coach Butch Davis’ increasingly tenuous watch. (The hot seat under Butch surely is such his trousers are smoldering. The upside: Nobody is paying much attention to FIU’s woes because of all the gnashing and hand-wringing over the Canes and Fins).
When the sky is falling there is nowhere to run, and so this has quickly because a season of reckoning — and impatience — for our NFL franchise and two FBS-level college programs.
Things will change, or somebody will pay.
We will focus on the Dolphins and UM for this analysis that we will resist calling an autopsy. Both teams have enjoyed ever-distant glory days, setting the bar on expectations that both teams have spent most of the past 20 years failing to meet.
The two fan bases are agitated, and should be. UM’s is closer to wanting to fire everybody, right now, but even generally more docile Dolfans were booing their team’s offensive ineptitude on Sunday.
UM won its last of five national championsips in 2001 and has since lost 10 of its past 11 bowl games,
The Dolphins, of The Perfect Season, nearly 50 years ago, last won a playoff game in 2000 and have made the postseason only three times since.
Greatness times two has ebbed to mediocrity. National relevance beyond the South Florida market has faded.
What the hell is going on around here!?
— Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz is in his third season in charge but is a mediocre 16-13 (0-2 in bowls), despite being surrounded by some of the best high school talent in the country and the annual claim of highly rated recruiting classes.
Staff shakeups have not borne fruit. Diaz’s head-shaking losses (FIU, Louisiana Tech) continue to outnumber his signature wins. His team today, has lost five of its past seven games, a stretch that includes a two-point escape against Appalachian State.
I know several members of UM’s Board of Trustees, a couple of them for decades. I reached out to get a temperature read on Diaz’s job status and one texted back Monday: “Blake [James, the athletic director] is getting impatient because people above him are telling him to get impatient.”
Canes fans look around and see interlopers in the Top 25: Cincinnati. Kentucky. San Diego State. Coastal Carolina. Wake Forest! While five-time champion UM can’t seem to get out of its own way.
My sense: This season needs to right itself and end up good, bowl-good, bowl-winning-good, or UM may be searching for another head coach.
My trustee source mentioned James hired Diaz without a national search because of the timing of Mark Richt’s resignation. James’ hands were tied to a degree. Some among the trustees believe the UM brand still has the cachet to land a major “name” coach. The question is whether this private university can pony up the money to get one.
— Dolphins coach Brian Flores, also in his third season, is not feeling as much heat as Daz right now, but that can change pretty quickly. Flores sounded like a man out of answers after Sunday’s 27-17 home loss to the Colts, which wasn’t nearly as competitive as the score made it seem.
“We played bad across the board,” said the defeated-in-every-way coach. “Offense, defense, kicking game, penalties, turnovers — across the board.”
The offense has been a mess, the play-calling weak. The dual offensive coordinator thing appears not to be working, an understatement. Losing quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to injury is a factor, although the drop-off to backup Jacoby Brssett is minimal — itself a problem.
The state and future of Tagovailoa shadows everything, including the job future of Flores and general manager Chris Grier. Owner Stephen Ross, 81 (an impatient age), reportedly advocates kicking tires on an eventual trade for Deshaun Watson.
Tagovailoa should return from his rib injury after missing one more game, but what will we see then? A better Tagovailoa than we have seen thus far?
Dolfans look around and see Justin Herbert becoming a star, and Mac Jones looking pretty great, and Zach Wilson lifting the Jets, and their own team picking a guy nobody seems to be bragging about.
My sense: The decision to draft Tagovailoa over Herbert will haunt this club until and unless Tagovailoa emerges in a big way — and this season — to chase the doubts and rekindle hope.
The season ending with continued waffling on Tagovailoa future could cost Grier his job and lead Miami to write off its loss and find his replacement, whether that’s a costly and controversial trade for the legally embattled Watson or another No. 1 draft pick spent on a quarterback.
Conclusion: Manny Diaz and Tua Tagovailoa spend the rest of this season fighting for their futures, because the people running the two teams and the people cheering for them agree what we are seeing isn’t anywhere close to good enough.
