The Hurricanes say they can’t control the noise around them. What matters is how they block it out.
That’s why none of them spoke too loudly about their latest statement.
Miami (5-0, 1-0 ACC) was ranked No. 10 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll released Sunday. It’s the program’s first appearance in the top 10 since Oct. 24, 2009, when it was No. 8 heading into a 40-37 overtime loss against unranked Clemson. Miami finished 9-4 and 15th in the final poll, its best finish in Randy Shannon’s four seasons.
No matter how they found out about the ranking — text message, Facebook or word of mouth — coach Al Golden’s players deemed it a minor accomplishment.
“Cool,” senior linebacker Jimmy Gaines said with a shoulder shrug. “It’s an honor, but we want to stay in the top 10.”
Sophomore running back Duke Johnson said he was content to let the pollsters do their jobs, while he and his teammates worry about winning games.
“It’s good for the program,” he said. “It’s a good look. But it doesn’t mean anything.”
Sophomore safety Rayshawn Jenkins saw the ranking as a milestone on the path to the top.
“We can be way better than we are,” he said. “We can’t dwell on (the rankings). That’s when the losses come.”
Those attitudes, of course, are exactly what Golden preaches.
“At the end of the season, we’ll count them up and see where we’re at,” he said. “We’re 0-0 going into this game. … It’s all about North Carolina right now.”
This week’s opponent, UNC, is languishing at 1-4 (0-2 ACC) and desperate to turn its season around. Miami has just one win in four tries at Chapel Hill and remembers last season’s 18-14 defeat at Sun Life Stadium, a winnable conference game the Hurricanes couldn’t finish.
“Records really don’t matter because records talk about the past,” Golden said. “We know what type of team we’re seeing on Thursday.”
A prime-time game on national television (7:30 p.m., ESPN) should draw the Tar Heels’ best crowd of the season. To replicate the expected environment at 63,000-seat Kenan Memorial Stadium, Miami has practiced this week under loudspeakers pumping simulated crowd noise. The volume is high enough to be heard several blocks away.
“It sounds like an actual stadium,” Johnson said. “It’s yelling and screaming and hooting and hollering.”
After Sunday’s practice, there was a different kind of noise surrounding the Hurricanes.
At his news conference in the team’s meeting room on campus, Golden spoke to reporters over muffled tunes from the school’s marching band. In the neighboring building, the band played intermittently in support of a UM women’s volleyball match against Maryland.
Golden’s thoughts on the Tar Heels were punctuated by the thumping drums and droning horns coming through the walls. True to form, he dealt with it.
"I can't do anything about that crowd noise here," Golden said. "See, we're getting ready. I'll start signaling."
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