Miami Football: Report card for season-opening loss to Florida Gators

Let’s face it, this game was ugly for both teams. This chaotic carnival of a game highlighted some of the issues that Miami football needs to address.

Miami head coach Manny Diaz knew walking into this game that the Gators wouldn’t be an easy win. This game was sloppy on both sides of the ball, but boy, was it fun. And it was a bit surreal, to be honest. Nobody, and I mean no one, could have predicted that Urban-freaking-Meyer would have been hanging out on the sidelines wearing a Gator t-shirt.

Miami’s new Turnover Chain was the greatest, tackiest thing in college football since Florida State’s unintentionally hilarious — and ill-conceived — trash-talking video, The Seminole Rap. For those of you too young to recall, FSU, trying to emulate the bizarre success of the Chicago Bears’ Superbowl Shuffle, released an overconfident rap video just before the 1988 season. They promptly lost to Miami in the first game of the season, 31-0, but I digress.

This game was not a well-played, well-executed in-state rivalry game. This was an ugly game, with the eighth-ranked Gators almost imploding against an unranked Miami.

Good gravy, though — this game was a blast, mostly due to the off-the-field antics. I mean, how many times in your life can you say you got to see Lee Corso sporting a giant Mickey Mouse head? On the field, both teams have some work to do.

Here’s how the Hurricanes graded out.