Colleges

Shannon: Nice win, now on to Oklahoma

CORAL GABLES - Coach Randy Shannon didn't see a major cause for celebration Saturday; he told the Hurricanes they had five postgame minutes to enjoy a 31-3 win over Marshall before starting to think about a serious test this week at No. 8 Oklahoma.

"You can get Gatorade dumped on your head. You can have everybody in Miami patting you on the shoulder," Shannon said. "But you know what? That's never going to help you win the game next week."

Miami's Graig Cooper ran for 116 yards in his debut, Javarris James gained 99 with two touchdowns and the speedy duo averaged 8.3 yards per carry.

But putting up big rushing numbers against a Conference USA school that was missing injured star defensive end Albert McClellan is one thing. Doing it at Oklahoma will be quite another. The Sooners held North Texas to 15 yards on 31 carries Saturday in a 79-10 romp.

Still, Shannon doesn't see any reason to change the basic tenets of Miami's attack.

"We can wear teams down physically with the one-two combination," Shannon said. "Also, we rotated the offensive line. We rotated the tackles and a lot of guys got a lot of playing time. If we can wear teams down like that and keep playing physical football, we're going to be fine."

TOUGH DEFENSE: Middle linebacker Tavares Gooden led the Hurricanes with nine tackles. "I felt really comfortable because I knew I had a great supporting cast," Gooden said. "Saturday feels wonderful, but ... after I hang out with my parents Saturday night, it's Oklahoma time."

[Last modified September 2, 2007, 21:09:48]