Defense Will Dictate Options

So which defensive unit will show up for the Miami Hurricanes in Thursday’s Rose Bowl national championship game against Nebraska?

Will it be the unit that came together in the middle of the season, allowing no more than seven points over five consecutive games, two of them shutouts?

Or will it be the unit that hung on for a 26-24 victory over Virginia Tech in the regular-season finale only because a wide-open Hokie receiver dropped a conversion pass that would have tied the game? Had Ernest Wilford caught that pass, the Hurricanes would have blown a 26-18 fourth-quarter lead.

Miami defensive coordinator Randy Shannon says the difference in the defense during those five dominating games was not the starters, who were long gone in the latter stages of most of those games because they were blowouts.

“It was the freshmen who shut them out late in the game,” Shannon said.

Virginia Tech, of course, was another story, one that offers hope to Nebraska.

“They ran the option on us on about 10 plays and they gained, like, 130 yards,” Miami defensive tackle Matt Walters said. “If I was Nebraska and I saw that and the option was my main weapon, I would probably get excited.”

But, Walters said, the Cornhuskers shouldn’t get too excited.

“If we score seven points, that should be enough,” he said. “That’s what we are thinking going in.

“We’re not worried. We face our own offense every day in practice and it’s one of the best in the nation. We don’t focus on other teams. We focus on ourselves. I don’t say that in an arrogant way. I mean, we focus on what we have to do.”

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The Hurricanes went to Staples Center on Sunday night to watch the Lakers play the Houston Rockets.

Miami safety Edward Reed came away shaking his head after meeting Laker center Shaquille O’Neal.

“He makes Bryant [McKinnie] look like a puppy,” Reed said.

McKinnie, an offensive tackle, is 6 feet 9 and weighs 336 pounds.

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Players get their inspiration in different ways.

On his right hand, receiver Daryl Jones wears a ring signifying Miami’s 37-20 victory over Florida in last year’s Sugar Bowl.

“This ring is motivating me to get a better one this year, so I can put this one up in the cabinet,” he said.