By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MIAMI FAN BOARD

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MOBILE, Ala. - The GMAC Bowl is being billed as an offensive shootout.

Miami is fourth in the country in total offense (averaging 493.8 yards per game) and Louisville is sixth (488.6), so you probably can figure what RedHawks coach Terry Hoeppner told his team.

"I said everybody is talking offense, offense, offense, but it's going to be the defense that has to step up," Hoeppner said. "The defense is a huge part of the equation for our offense, because they get the ball back for them."

Hoeppner knows that line doesn't sell tickets, and it certainly isn't how ESPN2 is promoting its game broadcast.

Miami defensive back Darrell Hunter said that doesn't bother him or his teammates.

"We feel as though we have a good game plan, so we'll just see what happens," he said. "I think there is going to be a lot of adjusting on the fly. They are so balanced on offense, you can't just prepare for one thing."

Miami is going to have to be versatile about playing the run and the pass because Louisville is averaging 227.4 yards a game on the ground (10th nationally) but also does a nice job of putting the ball in the air (221.2 yards per game).

It's no fluke, Hoeppner said. "They've done it consistently. They truly are balanced. For them, the run sets up the throw. They do a lot of play-actions, a lot of bootlegs. It's not stuff we haven't seen, but it always comes to how the guys execute it, and they do a great job."

Sometimes at the line of scrimmage, it even appears the Cardinals and RedHawks got their offensive sets from the same playbook.

"Their personnel groupings are similar to ours - two tight ends sometimes, three wide receivers, that sort of thing," Hoeppner said.

Louisville is a 13 1/2-point underdog to the RedHawks, but the Cardinals won't be overwhelmed by the moment. Thursday's game is a school-record sixth straight bowl for Louisville.

"It might be a bit of an intangible," Hoeppner said, "but every year is so different. There are changes year to year in chemistry, personality and leadership. We haven't been to a bowl, but we've prepared well all year, and I'm confident we'll do that one more time."

STAYING PUT: Miami has been the starting point for a long list of coaches who went on to success elsewhere - Paul Brown, Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, Bo Schembechler and others.

The "elsewhere" part bothers athletic director Brad Bates, who last week signed Hoeppner to a five-year contract extension that runs through 2009 in the hopes the coach won't leave the "Cradle of Coaches" any time soon.

"I think that what we've accomplished and the fact that we've re-signed Terry shows that we're not just a cradle anymore," Bates said. "We're a destination."

The Associated Press