Sports Psychology Special: Click Here to See the Archive of all 2012 MPI Reviewed Miami Dolphins and Miami Hurricanes Games
Canesport.com Publisher’s Note: “Mind Games” is a column written for CaneSport each week by John Murray, a noted sports psychologist and author who has developed an index for evaluating the mental performance of players and coaches in games. We think it will provide all of us with a unique viewpoint as the Hurricanes navigate through the season.
Most expected Miami to be run out of the stadium by 3 or 4 touchdowns last Saturday night, but this just never happened. It was a key rivalry game that mattered big in the hearts the UM faithful and I had my prime seats on the 50 yard line second row for all the exciting action.
UM mustered all the passion possible with a very young crop of players and kept it closer than expected. They ultimately succumbed to a much more talented and experienced FSU team 33-20 but made it interesting for 3 quarters of play.
Reviewing the performance of the teams by quarter, Miami actually won the first quarter (MPI-T .500 to .483), but lost the final 3 quarters and were destroyed in the fourth (MPI-T .705 to .286). Had they converted their second major turnover in the first quarter into a touchdown rather than a field goal to take a 14-0 lead (rather than the 10-0 lead), it would have been interesting to see if the Seminoles would choke. As it stood, FSU was simply a better performing team and their talent eventually showed as the Actual Performance Chart below demonstrates:
Florida State University
Offense: .538 Defense: .559 Special Teams: .618 Pressure Offense: .386 Pressure Defense: .609 Total Pressure: .519
Total MPI Score: .556
University of Miami
Offense: .413 Defense: .427 Special Teams: .615 Pressure Offense: .382 Pressure Defense: .531 Total Pressure: .426
Total MPI Score: .438
With over 30 Freshman playing for the young Hurricanes, this team is going to be mighty strong next year and the following year from all this experience, but the magic would not last long enough to make a difference in this game. Due to a higher than usual number of penalties, turnovers and shoddy plays, the game was played at an overall lower than average level of performance. FSU clearly deserved the victory with their .556 to .438 overall performance advantage, but their 12 penalties for 121 yards was the biggest statistical anomaly, and it helped keep the game close.
The second most extreme factor in this game was FSU’s ability to run the ball, and we all anticipated this in advance. FSU trotted for 218 yards on the ground compared with Miami’s paltry 29. Both teams had average games through the air, each passing for 229.
The third key to this game performance-wise was the way FSU’s defense handled Miami’s offense, which scored a very low .413 on the MPI-0 as compared with FSU’s .559 on MPI-D. Both special teams had nice days (.618 for FSU, .615 for Miami) and pressure play clearly favored FSU (.519 to .426).
All in all I think Miami earned a lot of respect in this game and it will pay off in future recruiting. FSU came to town intent on doing what Notre Dame did to Miami, but that just did not happen. Miami kept hanging around, showed courage and tenacity, made their hits on defense sting, and kept trying, but in the end did not have the horses to prevail. FSU’s time is now and they showed it with superior play, larger and faster bodies and much more experience.
What next? Miami now has a week to rest and is still in the ACC race as a result of Duke’s upset victory over North Carolina. On November 1, Virginia Tech comes to town and it should be a dandy. I fully expect Coach Al Golden to have his forces ready again, but this time Miami comes into the game with ever more valuable experience against one of the best teams in the country, and more experience overall than Virginia Tech has had this year.
With a superior passing game, home-field advantage, the week of rest, and the benefits of now having played four major powers, I am convinced that Miami will be on their game and hard to outperform. Hopefully the scoreboard will cooperate and the ACC race will become even more interesting.
Go Canes!
Dr. John F. Murray, described as “The Freud of Football” by the Washington Post, is a South Florida native and licensed clinical and sports psychologist in Palm Beach. He provides mental coaching and sports psychology services, counseling, speeches and seminars. He recently authored his second book, “The Mental Performance Index: Ranking the Best Teams in Super Bowl History,” destroying stigmas about the mental game in sports and showing football teams how to perform better and win more games by enhancing team performance assessments and training. For further information call Dr. Murray at 561-596-9898, visit johnfmurray.com or email johnfmurray@mindspring.com.
I hope you enjoyed this article from the world of sports psychology.
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