On Thursday, Miami lost the Independence Bowl to Louisiana Tech, which, if you're Miami, is a sentence that gets exponentially worse by the word. But wait, it gets worse: the loss came by a score of 14-0, and the game was every bit as ugly as that score indicates.
The Hurricanes played three quarterbacks, and none were effective. Jarren Williams started and went 9-of-20 for 94 yards with an interception. Ballyhooed transfer Tate Martell saw his first game action, completing his only pass for seven yards while rushing five times for five yards. Former starter N'Kosi Perry finished the game, hitting 5-of-13 throws for 52 yards with an interception.
Safe to say, neither Miami nor Dan Enos left the game with second thoughts about their impending breakup.
According to ESPN's Chris Fallica, Miami is the first Power conference team in 40 years to be shutout in a bowl game by a non-Power team.
The loss concluded Miami's debut season under Manny Diaz at 6-7, a year in which the Canes dropped their first two, won six of the next eight, then closed on a 3-game losing streak bookended by losses to FIU and Louisiana Tech.
After the game, Miami AD Blake James released this iPhone Notes-app written statement.
That statement came one day shy of a full year after this statement.
That statement was spawned by another lifeless bowl performance, where Miami was flattened 35-3 by Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl. Though James said at that time Mark Richt was "alongside me" in Miami's commitment to excellence, he retired three days later.
James' coaching search lasted four hours, when he convinced Manny Diaz to renege on his agreement to become Temple's head coach. It seemed a no-brainer at the time. Six wins and seven losses later, that move is viewed differently.
James said Thursday Diaz is under no pressure: "Manny Diaz is the right leader for our program but clearly changes are necessary and expected."
However, if James has to release a third statement apologizing for a bowl blowout in the sleepy post-Christmas period in 2020, it might be to announce his own forced resignation.