GAME NOTES: In what appears to be the most obvious mismatch on this weekend's slate, the 17th-ranked Miami-Florida Hurricanes welcome the Division I-AA Florida A&M Rattlers to town. Considering that the Rattlers dropped a rather lopsided 34-14 decision to fellow Division I-AA foe Delaware State last weekend, it is hard to expect the club to challenge the Hurricanes on Saturday. Florida A&M has now lost five straight openers, and second-year head coach Rubin Carter hopes his team can build on last year's 6-5 mark. Clearly, starting 0-2 would make that goal difficult to obtain. As for Miami, it is undoubtedly eager to erase the memory of Monday's heart-breaking 13-10 loss to rival Florida State. The game was played on a rain-drenched field, and there is a legitimate possibility that Miami's National Championship hopes have already been crushed. The Hurricanes led the contest at intermission, and FSU head coach Bobby Bowden was 0-8 against Miami when trailing at halftime. Miami finished 9-3 a year ago and failed to win the ACC crown, and considering that expectations are always sky high in Coral Gables, Larry Coker is under some pressure to get his team on track in a hurry. Miami owns a 5-1 record in the all-time series with Florida A&M, including a 63-17 trouncing of the Rattlers in the most recent meeting four years ago.

Anthony Edwards scored both touchdowns for Florida A&M in the loss to Delaware State, as he reached the end zone on short runs of one and seven yards. Edwards finished the tilt with 87 yards on 19 carries, a solid effort by the tailback. Unfortunately, the passing attack wasn't effective for the Rattlers. Albert Chester, the club's starting quarterback, only mustered 114 yards on his 18 completions, and he was intercepted once. Chester and company were only 5-of-14 on third down conversion attempts and reached the red zone twice in over 31 minutes of possession time. Roosevelt Kiser made 10 catches for Florida A&M, but those receptions totaled a mere 55 yards.

The Florida A&M defense did not play nearly as poorly as the 34 points surrendered against Delaware State suggests. Two of the touchdowns allowed by the Rattlers were defensive scores, and they held Delaware State to fewer than 300 total yards in the clash. The defense played well in certain situations, holding the opponent to 2-of-9 success on third down conversion attempts. Also, the Rattlers managed to send Delaware State away scoreless on two of its trips to the red zone. Unfortunately, there was a lack of impact plays, as Florida A&M did not record a single sack and came up with only one takeaway. Vernon Wilder paced the club in defeat with 11 total tackles. Putting up a decent effort against Delaware State is one thing, but slowing down the talent-rich Hurricanes is quite another.

Last season, Miami averaged 27.1 ppg and 353.1 total ypg, decent numbers that could certainly stand some improvement. Quarterback Kyle Wright connected on 58.6 percent of his passes in 12 starts for 2,403 yards and 18 touchdowns. In the loss to Florida State on Monday, Wright completed 18-of-27 passes for only 132 yards and was sacked three times. He threw a costly interception near the end of the fourth quarter that sealed the fate of the Hurricanes. It should be noted that Wright got no help from a ground attack that netted two yards on 26 attempts. Take away the lost yardage on sacks and the running game was still completely unproductive. Charlie Jones had a four-yard touchdown run to account for Miami's only touchdown. The Hurricanes have lost three of their last four contests dating back to last season, and inconsistency on offense has been a major problem. Coach Coker pointed out after the game that his team simply didn't make any plays offensively in the second half, and that was absolutely the case.

After surrendering only three points through three quarters of action, Miami gave up 10 points to Florida State in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter. Still, this loss can't be pinned on the Hurricane defenders, as they played tremendous ball from start to finish. The talented FSU offense was limited to nine first downs and 176 total yards, including only one net rushing yard. Miami did come up with one interception, but the defense failed to force a fumble and didn't register a single sack. Linebacker Jon Beason was tremendous for the 'Canes, as he posted nine total tackles, 2.5 of which resulted in lost yardage. Last season, Miami led the nation in pass defense while placing second in total defense and scoring defense. With five starters gone from that unit, many thought the defense would take a step back. Judging from the first game, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Coker said in his post-game news conference on Monday that he hoped fans wouldn't give up on what he thinks is a very good Miami team. It would certainly help to come out this week and pummel lowly Florida A&M. Expect that to be the case, as the Hurricanes will take out their frustration on the Rattlers.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Miami-Florida 49, Florida A&M 0