Chris Dufresne’s college football Top 25 countdown: No. 11 Miami

The Times’ Chris Dufresne unveils his preseason college football top 25, one day (and team) at a time.

No. 11 Miami

Randy Shannon inherited a program allegedly going South Beach and has quickly retooled the ‘Canes back into an almost-national title contender.

“We’ve won five games, seven and nine, we keep improving every year,” Shannon, entering his fourth season, said at the recent Atlantic Coast Conference media days.

Is it all about the “U” again?

No, but Miami is working its way through the alphabet, and this year it’s going to be all about the “D.”

Is it flashback time to the 1980s and ‘90s and the turn of the century, when Miami claimed its fifth national title with a win over Nebraska in the Rose Bowl and its sixth national title a year later with a victory over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl?

Wait, that second part didn’t happen, but might have had referee Terry Porter missed the bus and not made a pass interference call that remains questionable to this day (just seeing if you’re awake, Buckeyes fans).

Miami, after riding out the Larry Coker slow bleed, even though he actually had only one bad season, is working toward a swagger team that doesn’t make you call the SWAT team.

A lot of us overheated early last year when Miami opened the season with wins against Florida State and Georgia Tech, only to watch the Hurricanes go to Virginia Tech and get whacked.

Miami finished 9-4 with a strong nucleus returning, led by junior quarterback Jacory Harris, directed by Mark Whipple, one of the game’s top offensive coordinators.

Miami finally got around in the off-season to giving its head coach a four-year contract extension, which ended the embarrassment of Shannon’s being the ACC’s lowest-paid coach.

Shannon has done a good job with Xs and O’s and a great job cleaning up Miami’s reputation.

Get this: Miami and Duke were the only two ACC schools to finish in the top 10% nationally in the Academic Progress Report.

Still, it’s not enough for some basement Internet operations. One called “Canes Pundit” had the gall to put Shannon on its “officially on the hot seat” list, claiming that if the team didn’t win the ACC soon or were to “suffer” through another four-loss year the seat would start billowing smoke.

Someone should start an Internet site that tracks Hurricanes Internet fans (critics) who don’t support the program.

Miami ranked 90th last year in NCAA attendance, filling its stadium to only 63.47% of capacity. That put the “U” one spot below “W” Wyoming and one ahead of “US” Utah State.

By all means, fire the coach if he goes 9-4 again.

Miami might lose that many again and still be pretty good. Get a load of this schedule: After the Sept. 2 home opener against Florida A&M, the ‘Canes play consecutive road games against Ohio State, Pittsburgh and Clemson before coming home for a breather against … Florida State.

It all hinges on the maturity of Harris, who threw 24 touchdown passes last year but also a league-leading 17 interceptions. Off-season surgery to Harris’ throwing-hand thumb appears to have gone well.

“Jacory doesn’t have to be the guy who does everything,” Shannon says. “He just has to be a part of it.”

Also, you have to love a team nicknamed “Hurricanes” handing the ball to true freshman named Storm Johnson, named to the Weather Channel’s preseason “storms to watch” list.

The countdown so far: 25. Washington; 24. Navy; 23. Utah; 22. Houston; 21. Pittsburgh; 20. USC; 19. Stanford; 18. Auburn; 17. Arkansas; 16. Oregon State; 15. Florida State; 14. Georgia Tech; 13. Wisconsin; 12. Oklahoma; 11 Miami.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com