Out Of Kilter

The University of Miami community has only begun to morn the loss of Bryan Sydney Pata. According to reports, UM will hit the field against Maryland this Saturday, but they will dedicate the game to #95.

In the meantime, some fans have turned his MySpace page into a digital memorial.

In a release from the UM Athletics Dept.,

Tonight the University of Miami tragically lost a member of our football family, Bryan Pata. Bryan was a fine person and a great competitor. He will be forever missed by his coaches and teammates. We offer our thoughts and prayers to his family.

More on the tragedy, the response, and the investigation after the jump.
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All of our deepest condolences go out to the entire Pata family, his friends, his teammates, and his coaches.
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While almost none of the numbers support the idea that Georgia Tech will win this game, the prevailing sentiment on Canes fansites is that this will be a Jackets blowout.

People who expect that forget that last year, while Calvin Johnson wasn’t shut down (six catches for 89 yards, two huge, albeit dubious PI calls drawn), he didn’t destroy a secondary that frequently matched him up against Marcus Maxey. This year, the secondary has been torched occasionally, but only by receivers who we didn’t change the plan against. If we end the Brandon Meriweather to corner mistake, Glenn Sharpe and Randy Phillips proved against FSU they can get in the faces of talented WR’s and break up passes that are on target.

If the running game is able to pick up first downs, I think we’ll win a tight game. If we are again 1 for 14 on third downs, we’ll lose, and it won’t be as close. The staff needs to go away from the “Force Kyle to throw so he has somewhat legitimate numbers and avoids being the target of the fans” gameplan. Kyle will not win this game. Running Ty Moss out of the shotgun will not either. Coaches Coker and Olsen need to let Ty go upfield, and let Javarris James see the bulk of the snaps, even if he misses a blitz pickup.