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Canes' Next Task Will Be Tougher

Published: Sep 3, 2007

CORAL GABLES - Randy Shannon was in a good mood a day after his first victory as a head coach after Miami beat Marshall 31-3 on Saturday in the Orange Bowl.

But now the Hurricanes have the daunting task of traveling to Norman to take on the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners, who posted a 79-10 win against North Texas in their season debut.

"They are going to run the ball," Shannon said. "Coach [Bob] Stoops does a great job of running and passing of the guys I know of on offense. Those guys aren't going to go in and say, 'We are going to line up against Miami and throw the ball 60 times.' They are not going to do that. They are going to run the ball and try to get some play action and get some deep balls on us. That is what they do best."

Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford completed 21 of 23 passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns in his first game as a Sooner.

Miami will have to avoid the lapses on defense it had against Marshall if it plans to contain Bradford.

"Defensively we had too many deep balls down the field, miscommunications and coverage busts," Shannon said. "It wasn't a scheme, we schemed right because we got interceptions and sacks, but the communication was bad. When they got the big plays it was because of communication. Some guys were playing one coverage on the field and other guys were playing other coverages on the field."

WHAT WENT RIGHT: Tavares Gooden moving to middle linebacker after four years as an outside linebacker as he finished with a team-high nine tackles and returned an interception 35 yards to the Marshall 1-yard line.

WHAT WHEN WRONG: The passing game.

Kirby Freeman completed only nine of 21 passes for 81 yards, but Shannon is not overly concerned.

"[Freeman] played decent enough to win the game," Shannon said. "You look at his stats and they aren't tremendous, but we had too many drops."

Lance Leggett was the only UM player with at least two receptions. He finished with four catches for 31 yards.

INJURY UPDATE: FB Jerrell Mabry was on crutches after the game, but Shannon did not have an update on his status.

THEY SAID IT: "That was the game plan and you have to go with the game plan," said senior WR Darnell Jenkins, who did not record a reception for only the fifth time in 39 career games.

Christopher Stock