Swagger Restored? ‘Canes Top Sooners 21-20, Trojans Dominate in Berkeley

After a few first downs killed the Sooners in the final minutes, we were left to ponder another Miami win and this brilliant moment from the postgame interview with Jacory Harris:

Now that Miami’s officially back—and emerging from their murderous first four games at 3-1 makes the soul of that program officially resuscitated—the word “swagger” figures to be bandied about with regard to the ‘Canes more than ever before. It’s already become a cliche among media to refer to any team with a particular attitude, flair, or confidence, as having “swagger,” but with the Hurricanes, it’s even more prevalent. Why?

Keep in mind: this final drive began after Oklahoma’s Dominique Franks fielded a punt on the one-yard line—one of the more idiotic decisions I’ve seen all day that didn’t involve an excessive celebration penalty—and somehow carved out a 49-yard return to the Miami 50. On some level, this Oklahoma drive felt charmed, setting up Jacory Harris to lead Miami down the field for a triumphant game-winning drive.

(And Brent Musberger would spontaneously erupt in jive: “That little man started out this mornin’ as a young buck, but tonight, ladies and gentleman, he played like a coooool O.G.”).

After an Oklahoma drive stalled and the Sooners trotted out the punt team, it looked as though we were right on schedule to our regularly scheduled Miami victory. Not so fast.

A Miami roughing the kicker penalty—which was highly debatable, as those penalties always are—gave the Sooners a first down, and after DeMarco Murray catch-and-run for 21 yards brought them to the Miami two, and quick burst past the goal line made this a four-point game. And suddenly, we’ve got ourselves a dogfight with the fourth quarter looming. Stay tuned.

Cold got to be!

If you missed the beginning of the first half, you might not understand why Miami’s suddenly in the lead, and Brent Musberger’s talking jive about Jacory Harris: “He is a cooooool cat.” Indeed, Miami forced Oklahoma’s Landry Jones into a fumble deep in his own territory, and on the very next play, Jacory Harris connected with Derrick Epps on an 11-yard touchdown pass.

Thanks to another field goal, USC is now up 20-0, and showing no signs of relenting. From Sports Illustrated’s Arash Markazi comes this explanation:

Seems like a convenient excuse in the wake of USC’s loss at Washington. Sure, Barkley and Mays didn’t play in that one, but conversely, I think everyone is seeing that IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN: every year USC will lose to a heavy underdog on the road, and then use their outlandish talent to run the table in the Pac-10, run roughshod over their Rose Bowl opponent, and be cited as a hugely compelling candidate for a hypothetical college football playoff.

Despite their early stumbles, Miami now looks to be right back in the thick of things. Their defense has contained Oklahoma after that first drive, and Jacory Harris just marched the offense down the field for a touchdown, punctuating things with an 18-yard touchdown to Jimmy Graham, the ex-Canes hoops star doing his best Antonio Gates impersonation.

Well, Cal’s best chance in this game—particularly given the de-pantsing they endured at Oregon last week—was to ride the moxie of Jahvid Best. So far, that’s not happening. In fact, we’re witnessing the inverse, in which Best’s moxie is bottled, and the Bears are further de-pantsed. This is not looking good.

Best has 18 yards on 5 carries thus far, and the Cal offense has been impotent absent his heroics. As for Southern Cal, Damian Williams just took a punt return 66 yards to a touchdown, and they’ve got their opponents wobbling and on the ropes, ripe for a Joe McKnight knockout punch later in the second quarter.

Matt Barkley is off to a good start tonight (2-3, 37 yards), and so are the Trojans. But not because of Barkley; when Joe McKnight’s not fumbling, he’s really, really good. And he broke free for a 38-yard touchdown run to open the game, and give the Trojans an early lead in Berkley. Your move, Jahvid Best.

(And last week wasn’t a fluke: Jacory Harris’ charmed run is coming to an end. He just threw his second interception of the night. We’ve been watching this game for about fifteen minutes.)

After a promising start for the Miami offense, Jacory Harris just threw an interception to the Oklahoma defense that very well could have been received with a fair catch signal. Miami was on the Oklahoma 40-yard line at that point, and after the interception, Oklahoma’s driving and currently has first-and-10 at the Miami 30. Brutal momentum swing for the ’Canes out of the gate.

Two games feature two ranked teams this evening. In Berkeley, the Trojans visit the Golden Bears. SB Nation’s Cal blog, California Golden Blogs, offers a preview so intelligent and in-depth that you’ll want to take it to the coffee shop and read it. Other people will think you’re an intellectual.

Again, you want people to think you’re cool, and one way to ensure this is to know your football. Here are your game threads.