The Rundown Take
Discipline Football, Baby: U Talk Guards Against a Southern Miss Letdown Before the A&M Statement Game
Friday night before a noon kickoff, Devin and Larry Frank Jr. previewed 1-0 Miami hosting Southern Miss on the ACC Network, with George Diaz phoning in late from the road. The mood was hyped off a lopsided week-one win, but the real conversation was about avoiding a trap: don't look past the Golden Eagles with Texas A&M looming the following week.
Key Takeaways
- Southern Miss enters 0-1 after a 29-27 overtime loss to Liberty, and their offense runs almost entirely through Miami native Frank Gore Jr., who ran wild in that opener.
- Southern Miss is down to a true freshman backup quarterback after their starter was hurt last week.
- The offensive line has now gone three straight games without allowing a sack, and Larry Frank credited new OC Josh Gattis's (garbled on air as "Gattis") balanced scheme and the improved fundamentals up front.
- Predictions: Devin says 60-3, Larry Frank and George Diaz both land on 52-10.
- Zion Nelson is expected back for limited reps; Don Chaney Jr. is close but not this week after a reported re-injury scare.
Stop Gore, Trust the Coaching Staff
Larry Frank's game plan is simple: get every hat to the football on Gore Jr. and don't let a mobile true-freshman quarterback beat them with his legs. On the other side of the ball, the panel wants to see wide receivers beyond Xavier Restrepo step up — Romello Ladson and Michael Redding both got name-checked as guys who need to show something before the Aggies arrive. At corner, DJ Ivy's practice-to-game disconnect is a running concern; Devin argued Ivy still projects like an NFL corner physically and the staff is betting the traits eventually translate. At linebacker, the Corey Flagg-versus-Caleb Johnson debate got real: Flagg is out-snapping Johnson roughly two-to-one despite fan criticism, which the panel reads as the coaching staff trusting what it sees in practice over what fans see on the internet.
Don't Get Cute
The clearest thread of the night was pacing the run game — give Rooster 15-20 touches and let the walk-ons who stepped up last week (with Devin Perry and others getting live reps) keep building depth behind him. George Diaz, dialing in between drives on his own road trip, backed the same message: no need to overexpose the passing game against Southern Miss when the real target for opening things up is the ranked showdown with Texas A&M.
"I want to see discipline football, baby, discipline football, and go out there and smack somebody in their face."
The panel closed by plugging the November 11 Hurricane Bash in Atlanta around the Georgia Tech game, with a stop at Hall of Famer Edgerrin James's store planned before the party, and signed off wanting a mistake-free, injury-free trip to another lopsided scoreline — just not an excuse to admire the record instead of the process.