'Noles Cap Off Opening Weekend, Crunch the 'Canes

Florida State and Miami just got finished beating the snot out of each other in another defense-dominated chapter of this intense rivalry. Any time these two get together there is intrigue. For the last few years both teams' defense has been light years ahead of their offense.

And the defenses were awesome. You could feel the intensity through the TV on some of those hits even if you didn’t have high definition. (And not sure if you were aware of this or not but apparently ESPN covered this game on more than one channel. The only one they left out was “The Ocho.”)

Can you imagine this game played later in the season? Actually, it probably will be.

Here is the good and bad of the game that was:

GOOD PLAY: The defenses. I’ve harped enough on this already but come on! They were sick!

BAD PLAY: The offenses. Ditto.

GOOD FASHION: Mike Patrick loosening up the tie Sandy Cohen style. Next time he’s at the Orange Bowl I want to see Patrick slightly unshaven, with a linen suit and pastel t-shirt.

BAD FASHION: Bobby Bowden’s aviator sunglasses? Is that what those were? Somehow he almost makes a grandfather dressing hip look cool. Actually, you can interchange these last two.

GOOD INTANGIBLE: The weather. We saw a little bit of everything which makes it fun. And the play never got sloppy. Any fumbles or miscues didn’t have much to do with what was happening in the atmosphere.

BAD INTANGIBLE: The replay system. Miami’s third quarter fumble was ruled down by contact, even though they reviewed it and it’s clear he wasn’t. If we’re going to review things in an effort to get all calls right, why make plays unreviewable? For the most part it was used to get the calls correct, I just always remember the ones that weren’t. That would have given Florida State the ball deep in Miami territory.