By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Last week, on a flight from Miami to Asheville, my Dad happened to be seated next to two Hurricanes fans who were traveling to North Carolina to watch their team take on Appalachian State.

Both of the passengers were former professors from the university (the wife was the former head of one of the academic departments) and they were avid fans of all Miami athletics. At some point during the hour and a half flight home the comment was made “Well, Georgia’s loss is certainly our gain.”

It wasn’t meant as a dig towards Georgia and their decision to let Richt go at the end of the last year. It was more indicative of the feelings in Coral Gables that after their last few head coaching hires they felt like they finally had the best man for the job.

Obviously, a few games into a coaching tenure is way too early to decide whether or not it’s going to work out, especially when none of those games have been against top level competition, but so far so good.

I was really impressed with what Miami did to the Mountaineers in Boone. Sure, Appalachian isn’t Alabama or Ohio State, but they are a legit mid major team.

That Tennessee game was no fluke to those who are familiar with the program. Besides some self-inflicted wounds at the beginning of the game, App. St. was completely dominated by the Hurricanes. They were fast, talented, and for the most part, played smart.

Miami has always been able to attract talent- they’ve had Top 20 recruiting classes during these down years- but always seemed to lack the discipline to play at a high level consistently. They’re not there by any means, yet, but you can already start to see the effect Richt is having on them.

Going into the season a record of 8-4 or 9-3 would’ve been completely acceptable and a good start to the Richt era. Even though scenarios certainly can change on a weekly basis, that may be underselling the Canes a little bit. When you look at their remaining schedule it is not unrealistic at all to see a path to the ACC Championship.

They start off with Georgia Tech who Richt is more than familiar with and will have two weeks to prepare for.

They follow that game up with Florida State at home, who let’s be honest, may still be hungover from drinking all the whiskey in Kentucky as they attempt to forget the Louisville debacle.

Then it’s Carolina at home (Miami may score 50); Virginia Tech on the road (the Hokies are allergic to offense and defense); Notre Dame in South Bend (this one could be interesting); Pitt at home (letdown game after the Irish?); Virginia and NC State on the road (is Virginia still allowed to field a football team?); and then they end the season at home against Duke, where I swear to God Miami may score 100. And I’m not even being the slightest bit facetious about the Duke game.

Even with a loss or two, the ACC’s Coastal Division is theirs for the taking.

For a team like Miami that has underachieved, and basically been a disappoint for the better part of a decade, an appearance in the ACC Championship would validate the Richt hiring, and then some.

I know most Floridians don’t like to travel north during the winter months, but I have a feeling there are at least two former professors who will be more than happy to make a return trip in December.