UM On The Precipice Of Epic Fail

The Miami Hurricanes were 52-9 heading into Saturday night's opening round match-up with the Georgia Bulldogs in Omaha for the College World Series. Of course, they could have been 61-0 or 43-18 and it would have all been the same. Everyone goes into the CWS with a blank slate record of 0-0. Nobody cares what you did before, only how you make your mark in the town that Warren Buffet built. And so the Canes find themselves, despite an unprecedentedly good season, on the brink of elimination and one of the most disappointing meltdowns in Hurricane history, after losing to the Dawgs 7-4 on the shaky closing of usually-reliable Carlos Gutierrez.

To put their long odds into perspective, to even get to the best-of-3 championship series, Miami must win four consecutive elimination games in a span of six days. Lose just one more time, and they go home with nothing. Only two teams in the last 28 years have won the CWS after losing the first game, including Oregon State most recently in 2006.

The first step on the improbable road to rebirth is defeating the 54-13 Florida State Seminoles. The Canes have beaten the Noles 2 out of 3 this season, the last one being the most heated and controversial, with tempers flaring and braggadocio, insensitivity, and fan stupidity winning the day. One of these two state powers is going home today, and we'll see who beginning at 2 pm. I'm predicting the Canes by at least 5, but I'm not going so far as to predict a Canes CWS title...not yet, anyways. The key, as always, will be pitching.