Can Owls Get Back On Track?

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

On Saturday September 17, 2022, the FAU Owls had a chance to make a statement in primetime on the CBS Sports Network as they faced in State Rival Central Florida.

The Owls entered the contest with a 2-1 record with triumphs over UNCC (43-13) and Southeast Louisiana (42-9).

FAU started out well in the first quarter by taking a 14-7 lead.

But after that, everything went down hill as UCF outscored FAU 33-0 in the final three quarters.

In this game, the numbers don’t lie.

UCF out gained FAU in total yards 653-296. The Knights dominated time of possession 37:05-22:55.

FAU struggled on third down conversions going 5-13.

The Knights running attack rammed the ball down FAU’s defense by amassing 314 yards. 

FAU made Knights QB John Rhys Plumlee look like a Heisman Trophy candidate. 

Plumlee was 25-36-339 yards and threw for a touchdown. He also led the team in rushing by compiling 20 carries for 121 yards and two touchdowns. 

You talk about a one man attack, that what I witnessed on this night.

Simply put, the Owls didn’t have an answer for Plumlee.

Owls QB N’Kosi Perry had a night he would soon like to forget.

He was 13-29-108 yards passing and one touchdown.

FAU’s ground game was led by Larry McCammon, who had 11 carries for 91 yards and Zuberi Mobley with 10 carries for 83 yards.

More than half of FAU’s offense was on the ground as the Owls amassed 188 yards.

After the game, Owls Coach Willie Taggart and Perry along with a couple other players knew that this game was one that they were extremely disappointed about as the team was beaten soundly, 40-14.

You can see those videos in this story as they appear on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel. 

We would appreciate it if you would subscribe to the channel.

The Owls would get another chance to be on National TV as they traveled to face the Purdue Boilermakers on the Big Ten Network.

This was the first meeting for both of these two schools.

How would this turnout and would the Owls gain a sense of respect from this road game held in West Lafayette, Indiana?

To some extent, the answer is yes.

FAU lost to Purdue on September 24, 28-26 as the Owls came a field two-point conversion from making it 28-28.

But from an individual standpoint, Perry did bounce back.

He was 18-30-230 yards and three touchdowns. 

He only had one interception. 

He was also a force on the ground with 13 carries for 93 yards.

His primary target was LaJohntay West, who had nine catches for 90 yards and three touchdowns.

FAU out gained Purdue with 419 total yards, while Purdue had 354.

Nevertheless, the Owls dropped to 2-3.

On Saturday, FAU travels to Denton, Texas where the North Texas Mean Green awaits the Owls in a battle of 2-3 teams at 4 ET.

If the Owls are looking to become Bowl Eligible, they’re going to have to leave the Lone Star state with a win. 

The last thing FAU wants to do is enter their bye week with a 2-4 record as they’ll return home and face the Rice Owls on Saturday, October 15.

Can The Owls Owls Get Back On Track?

They better very quickly otherwise this will be a lost season in their Final Season as members of Conference USA.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

Once again, you can find his broadcasts on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel. 

Homestead Miami Speedway And Marlins Unique Doubleheader

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

On Tuesday, September 20, 2022, I had one of my longest days of the year at about 15 hours between travel time and covering two sporting events.

I left my home at 7:30 AM from Deerfield Beach, FL to take the 60 mile trek to Homestead-Miami Speedway which took longer than the 1:09 as a result of traffic. 

There was a Media Availability for select drivers to test out the new Next-Gen Car as well as talk about the NASCAR Playoff Race Weekend that will take place on October 22-23.

I had a productive day at the track as I had the opportunity to talk to Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliot along with the President of the Homestead-Miami Speedway Al Garcia. 

I will be writing a separate story on this at a later date.

I left the speedway at 1 PM and then took a 34 minute (33.3) mile drive to LoanDepot Park where the Miami Marlins were hosting the Chicago Cubs. I always look forward to seeing these squads face each other every year.

Prior to the game, Manager Don Mattingly had his pre-game availability in the dugout.

Pablo Lopez (9-10) was on the hill for Miami and he was one of the many topics the skipper talked about.

During the Marlins 2-1 loss on this night, Lopez didn’t disappoint as he hurled 6.2 innings, yielded five hits, one run, amassed six strikeouts and zero walks. His only run was a solo homer by David Bote in the seventh inning.

Bote would get the winning RBI which gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead in the Chicago eight inning off losing pitcher Steven Okert (5-4).

I had an opportunity to ask the manager three questions.

We talked about Miami’s future prospects, Sandy Alcantara’s chances of winning the Cy Young Award and how much he looks forward to facing the Cubs.

Check out the video in this story to see what Mattingly’s thoughts of these subjects and much more.

On Saturday Night, Alcantara bolstered his Cy Young Award chances by pitching eight innings and striking out 11, yielding one walk, three hits  as the Marlins topped the visiting Washington Nationals at LoanDepot Park Saturday Night to improve his record to 14-8.

When the game was over on Tuesday Night, I had one last piece of business to take care of.

I joined JB Ellis on his podcast Cubfidential to give him my take on the Marlins/Cubs Game. 

I took the one hour drive and made it home at 10:45 just in time to make it for a segment at 11 PM.

The South Florida Tribune has a great working relationship with Sideline Sports as Ellis and I are always looking for projects to make both platforms stronger.

But what a day. 

The most “Unique Doubleheader” imaginable by starting off with NASCAR and ending with MLB

Yet, these are sports that I’m very passionate about which is why I have been covering them for many years. 

These 15 hour days are fruitful when so much gets accomplished.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

To see his broadcasts, they are located on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel and if you already haven’t subscribed, please do so.

Patriots Day At The Ballpark

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

It is very rare that I get an opportunity to talk American History when I’m writing a story of this nature. 

So pardon me for talking about it now because that was always one of my favorite subjects when I went to grade school and took some of those courses as electives in college.

Throughout the years, I’ve traveled to some great cities where there is a tremendous amount of history.

The ones that standout are Philadelphia, PA, Boston, MA, the Colonies in Virginia and Washington DC, yes, the Nations Capital. 

There are some cities that are a part of American History for all the wrong reasons.

Dallas, TX and New York City are the ones that created infamous moments in US History.

We all know that President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald. 

Many years ago while on assignment to cover the Detroit Lions at Dallas Cowboys, I went to the site where President Kennedy was killed.

In early September, after a trip to Cooperstown, NY, on my way back to Florida, although I’ve been there a few times, it was time to return to the Big Apple and see the World Trade Center sight and the redevelopment of a place that lives in infamy with the events of September 11, 2001.

I have to admit that I was impressed that the site was completed with one of the best memorials that I’ve ever seen and spent a couple hours just walking around looking at the fountains which surrounded “Ground Zero.” 

It’s hard to believe that 21-years later that the bombing of the World Trade Center even took place.

How am I going to tie all of this to Baseball, The Great American Pastime?

That’s very easy.

The Miami Marlins played an interesting stretch of games with all the cities that I mentioned.

On September 6-8, the Fish visited the City of of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia Phillies, home of the Liberty Bell.

From September 9-11, the Marlins hosted the New York Mets. 

I covered the game on September 11 at Loan Depot Park.

In a rare inter-league double-header, the Marlins hosted the Texas Rangers on September 12.

The Phillies came to Miami and faced the Marlins from September 13-15.

The Marlins are currently in Washington DC to take on the Nationals and on September 11, this area was attacked by the events that occurred as well. The Pentagon was hammered in the attacks.

We always tend to ask ourselves where we were when significant events take place.

On September 11, 2001, I was living in Phoenix, Arizona when the Twin Towers were attacked. 

I found out about the news from My Attorney Harry Cawood as I was in the beginning of divorce proceedings. 

He told me about it and the reason I didn’t know was due to the fact that I was traveling from my apartment in Chandler, AZ to his office in Mesa.

It was certainly a somber day as well as the fact that these events would test our country’s resolve.

Ironically, the New York Yankees would face the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series and defeated the Bronx Bombers 4-3 in the Fall Classic. 

Here I am living in an area where the entire country was probably sentimentally rooting for the Yankees and I’m enjoying being a part of the Diamondbacks success.

To date, the Diamondbacks have won Phoenix’s only major sports championship.

Whenever the situation presents itself, I do like to go to Sporting Events on September 11 because it’s great to see the levels of patriotism with the American Flag covered out over the majority of the field.

On September 11, 2016, I saw the Green Bay Packers defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-23 as the home team gave Aaron Rodgers quite a battle on a hot afternoon in Northern Florida.

As I mentioned earlier, I attended the Mets at Marlins contest on September 11 at Loan Depot Park.

The Mets defeated the Marlins 9-3. 

Everyone in the line-up contributed offensively for the Mets. 

Jaijuan Walker pitched an outstanding game tossing seven innings and giving up one run, yielding five hits striking out 10.

Once again, there were a lot of events that took place on the field including the American Flag as well as the singing of “God Bless America” to reflect on this day.

For me the thought of attending a game with a New York based team was neat in its own right.

Let us not forget that some of the Marlins bigger crowds are when the transplanted New York Mets fans take the trek down I-95 and you can definitely hear them in the crowd.

The atmosphere was like watching a game at Citi Field as they’re extremely loud.

Between Walker and the Mets pounding out 14 hits, the New Yorkers definitely could be heard loud and clear.

For this one afternoon, it was great to spend Patriots Day at the Ballpark.

The real winners are all of us because we still have the opportunity to enjoy the freedom that our military works hard to provide us. We must never take that for granted!

Ironically, the Miami Dolphins defeated the New England Patriots 20-7 up the road at Hard Rock Stadium.

It was a Patriotic Day in South Florida with two sets of fish entertaining crowds.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

Also, you can catch his broadcasts by subscribing at no charge to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.

Canes Take Care Of Business

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

The Mario Cristobal era is off to a good start. 

The team is currently 2-0.

Then again, did I expect anything less from a coach that will turn 52 on September 24 and has returned home and has his dream job?

When you talk about Cristobal, let us not forget that he played for the Hurricanes from 1989-1992 and was an offensive tackle.

The guy has toughness built into his skin and it shows when his players take the field.

To date, let’s talk about what the Hurricanes have accomplished.

Miami opened its season with a 70-13 thrashing of Bethune Cookman on Saturday, September 3 in the home opener. The players were glad that they could finally hit someone that wore a jersey other than their own.

QB Tyler Van Dyke played into the third quarter and Cristobal had the luxury to use a lot of players and avoid any major injuries.

On September 10, Miami hosted Southern Mississippi and stepped up in class in terms of opposition. 

This is the alma-mater of former Green Bay Packer Brett Favre and he wasn’t throwing passes in this contest at Hard Rock Stadium.

The Golden Eagles played the Hurricanes tough through the first half as they trailed 10-7 at halftime.

Cristobal made the necessary adjustments at halftime and Miami scored 20 unanswered points to defeat Southern Mississippi 30-7.

Van Dyke was 20-29 for 249 yards with a touchdown and an interception. 

In this story, we have a video of his post-game thoughts.

The other main offensive weapon was Henry Parrish and he had a good afternoon. The running back had 22 carries for 134 yards and one touchdown. He also had two receptions for 16 yards.

The Hurricanes leading receiver was Xavier Restrepo with seven receptions for 99 yards.

Michael Redding had three receptions for 40 yards.

Unfortunately, during the week, he suffered a foot injury and won’t be available to play tonight vs Texas A&M at 9 ET on ESPN.

The Hurricanes gained 463 total yards and limited their opponent to 231 yards. Miami also registered three sacks.

The Canes were balanced and there is no doubt that Offensive Coordinator Josh Gattis has incorporated his philosophy brilliantly.

The Hurricanes rushed for 198 yards and amassed 265 in the air.

After the game, Cristobal, Leonard Taylor, Jacob Lichtenstein, Van Dyke, Michael Redding III and Parrish Jr met us afterwards and I hope you enjoy these videos.

What was interesting about this press conference was since the Hurricanes played the early game, there were no results of the Appalachian State at Texas A&M Aggies Game. 

Going into the contest, the Aggies were ranked sixth.

As a result, all the questions presented to these people looked like the Hurricanes were going on the road to face a top 10 opponent.

But by the end of the night, things would drastically change as the Mountaineers stormed out of Kyle Field and stunned the crowd of 92,664 with a 17-14 win. 

They also collected $1.5 Million for their efforts and ESPN decided to do College Game Day from Boone, NC., today. 

The previous week Appalachian State lost a home game to North Carolina 63-61. This is a score that you would see in College Basketball.

How far did Texas A&M tumble in the standings? 

The Aggies dropped to 24th.

Will they be an angry team and will Coach Jimbo Fisher have to motivate his troops?

They’ll definitely be angry and Fisher will not need to motivate his group.

But the question is, can the Hurricanes prove to the nation that the team is ready to be considered elite or will Miami judged by its soft early season schedule?

We’ll have those answers in no time.

But if there is a good gauge to see the direction of the Miami Hurricanes, and this tough road test will be a huge early season indicator on the National Stage. Allen Field will be buzzing tonight.

Thus far, the Canes have Taken Care Of Business!

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and he can be followed on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

To see his broadcasts, you can find them on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel and Subscribe to see the shows along with other videos.

Will The Owls Offense Soar Vs UCF?

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

After three weeks, the FAU Owls have proven one thing.

They can score points.

On August 27, the Owls hammered the Charlotte 49’ers at FAU Stadium 43-13 in a matchup of teams that will be changing conferences in 2023 moving to the American Athletic (AAC).

FAU traveled to Ohio and faced the Bobcats and lost a hard fought 41-38 contest on September 3

The Owls returned home on September 10 and pounded SE Louisiana 42-9 in a game that was delayed by inclement weather.

Here are some key statistics which stand out in these three contests as FAU prepares to host the University of Central Florida (UCF) Saturday Night at 7:30 PM in a nationally televised game on the CBS Sports Network. 

FAU is going into the game as eight point underdogs, though I did pick them as an upset pick on the Sideline Sports Network show, Coffee and Sports, that is part of the Empire Sports Network. My co-hosts Key Williams and Coach Donte were a bit surprised by the pick and I’m waiting to hear back from Empire Sports Network Owner Freddie Henderson to get his reaction.

I decided to pick FAU because UCF showed me nothing on Friday, September 9 in a home 20-14 loss to Louisville.

The stats which standout for FAU are on the offensive side of the ball.

*FAU has outscored its opponents 123-63 averaging 41 points-per-game while holding their opponent to 21 PPG.

*FAU has amassed 715 yards rushing while holding its opponents to 315 yards. The Owls are averaging 232.7 per game while the opponents are averaging 79 yards.

*FAU’s passing numbers are impressive. The Owls are throwing for 297.67 per-game and their total is 893. Meanwhile, the opponents stand at 254.87 and 767 yards.

*The final team statistic we’ll address is total offense. FAU has racked up 1,591 yards, are averaging 533.7 per-game and has scored 16 touchdowns. The opponents have amassed 1,001 yards, are averaging 337.7 yards with eight touchdowns.

Who are the players compiling the numbers?

We’ll start with the QB as N’Kosi Perry is 58-93-879 with nine touchdowns and two interceptions.

The first time that I saw Perry play was on September 8, 2018 when he was the Miami Hurricanes backup QB and came off the bench in a 77-0 rout over Savannah State University and tossed three touchdown passes. To date, this is the largest margin of victory in Hurricanes history

FAU’s leading rushers are Larry McCammon III who is 43-306 and two touchdowns. Zuberi Mobley has 37 carries for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Perry is proving he can use his legs to the tune of 17-58 and two touchdowns.

Perry is proving to be a a duel threat signal caller and the way the NFL is trending you could see him play in the NFL, USFL or XFL in the coming year.

FAU’s leading receivers are: LaJohntay Wester, 15-222 and three touchdowns. Jahmal Edrine 12-159 and two touchdowns. JeQuan Burton 7-151 and a pair of touchdowns. Tony Johnson rounds out the group with 7-126 and a touchdown.

Can FAU continue to pile on the points?

We’ll know how well they fare against and angry UCF Knights team that’s looking to bounce back from the Louisville loss. There is no doubt that National Championship winning coach Gus Malzahn will have his team ready to play.

On September 24, the Owls travel for a 7:30 contest against the Purdue Boilermakers which will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

These back-to-back nationally televised games against strong competition will either give the Owls some great exposure for the right reasons and put the program on the map. 

If FAU struggles vs these teams, it will be hard for the rest of the college football world to take the Owls and Coach Willie Taggart seriously knowing they defeated inferior competition.

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

Also check out his broadcasts on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel and there is no cost to subscribe.

Hurricanes Official Game Scrimmage

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

Before I entered Hard Rock (Joe Robbie Stadium) on Saturday, I did my Sports Talk Saturday Radio Show in Oakland, California from inside my Jeep and told Co-Hosts, Mark Mancini and Bruce Kessinger that I never expected the Miami Hurricanes game vs Bethune Cookman to be competitive.

The Hurricanes were facing a school from the Football Championship Series (FCS) which is a level beneath the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

In their history, going into the game, the Hurricanes led the series 6-0.

There was no point spread for this contest which was no surprise.

But the game is on the schedule and there was excitement to the tune of 56,795 fans there to watch the debut of former Canes assistant, FIU and Oregon Head Coach Mario Cristobal.

If there was ever a mismatch, this was it! 

But then again during the opening week of college football, there are always lopsided scores around the country with smaller schools scheduling larger institutions to get guaranteed money in an effort to finance there athletic department.

This is the cruel business of David’s facing Goliath’s. 

Welcome to big-time college sports.

Before we get into the Bethune Cookman contest, let’s take a trip down memory lane.

On September 8, 2018, the Miami Hurricanes slaughtered Savannah State 77-0 and current Florida Atlantic University QB N’Kosi Perry came off the bench to throw the first three touchdown passes of his collegiate career. He was 9-14, 93 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

Current Miami wide receiver Will Mallory caught one pass for two yards that resulted in a touchdown from Malik Rosier.

The Hurricanes were ranked No.22 going into the game and set a school record for margin of victory in this thrashing of their Georgia counterpart by scoring 77 points.

What would we see during this Labor Day Weekend Saturday Clash?

For starters, Bethune Cookman won the coin toss and elected to receive. 

The Wildcats put together an opening drive that was 10 plays for 63 yards and utilized 6:06 and resulted in a 29 yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead. 

One thing was guaranteed, the visitors from Daytona Beach, FL wouldn’t get shutout.

The Hurricanes were scoring in all ways, offensively, defensively and on special teams and led 42-10 at halftime.

The only thing that entered my mind was how long would starting QB Tyler Van Dyke would stay in the game? 

He departed in the third quarter and was replaced by Jake Garcia.

When a team scores 70 points, you know the numbers are going to look impressive so we’ll go over the key ones which includes the individual statistics.

*Miami gained 605 yards in total offense.

*RB Henry Parrish Jr. had 14 carries for 108 yards and three touchdowns.

*RB Thad Franklin Jr amassed nine carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

*WR Xavier Restrepo led all receivers with five catches for 100 yards and had a touchdown.

*QB Van Dyke was 13-16, 193 yards and two touchdowns. His backup Garcia was 8-8 for 107 yards and one touchdown.

When the game was over, Coach Cristobal, linebacker Gilbert Frierson, Parrish Jr, Restrepo and Van Dyke addressed us as you’re going to see in the videos inserted in this story

Also included in this story is a video of Mallory who talked about the expectations for the 2022 season.

A couple key questions that were asked were, the energy bottled up inside during training camp practicing and now facing a live opponent and hitting someone else, the adaption to Coach Josh Gattis offense and preparing a more competitive opponent as Southern Mississippi comes to town for a Noon kickoff.

Coach Cristobal was asked about finally coaching his first game as Canes Coach.

The videos tell you the story. 

The facts give you an indication why the Miami Hurricanes are 1-0 as a result of the Bethune Cookman beat down.

But it’s safe to say that when I do my radio show on Saturday that I’m not bragging about being a top-notch prognosticator for a game that didn’t have a point spread.

You can rest assure that Southern Mississippi will have a point spread and alumnus Bret Favre isn’t walking through that door gunslinging the football all over the gridiron.

Nevertheless, the beat goes on and I won’t wonder how long Van Dyke will play in this next game.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

Also, there is no cost to Subscribe to his broadcasts on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.

A Tough Luck Franchise

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH 

The South Florida fan base can criticize Marlins Manager Don Mattingly for the team’s 55-78 record, but before they go too deep with this, the club has been decimated by injuries.

As it stands, Jon Berti: day-to-day (hip), Anthony Bender: 60-Day IL (elbow), Braxton Garrett: 15-Day IL (oblique), Avisail Garcia: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Jordan Holloway: 60-Day IL (elbow), Daniel Castano: 7-Day IL (concussion, Max Meyer: 60-Day IL (elbow), Jazz Chisholm: 60 Day IL (back), Cody Poteet: 60-Day (elbow), Jorge Soler: 10-Day IL (back), Paul Campbell: 60-Day IL (elbow), Sean Guenther: 60 Day IL (arm). 

Tonight, they take on the Philadelphia Phillies tonight riding a seven-game losing streak and are 29-40 on the road. 

I’m not in the business to make excuses for a team that is struggling. 

But as I listed above, the facts speak for themselves and it’s my responsibility to share them with you.

On August 31, 2022, I covered the Marlins vs Tampa Bay Rays contest.

The Sunshine State matchup has always been interesting on many fronts.

First, these are two small market franchises, that have low payrolls and rank near the bottom in MLB in attendance.

Second, both have been to a pair of World Series. 

The Rays are 0-2 in the Fall Classic.  

The Marlins are 2-0 and have two championship banners at LoanDepot Park.

Third, the Rays have dominated Miami over the past 21 games, going 19-2 winning this game 2-1 in 10 innings.

Before the game, Mattingly addressed us on the return of All-Star Trevor Rogers.

He would get a no-decision by hurling six innings, giving up five hits, yielding just one run, walked only one and recorded five strikeouts.

Berti hit a home run in the sixth inning for Miami’s lone run.

During the Media Availability, I had the opportunity to ask Mattingly a pair of questions which you’re going to hear in the video in this story.

First, I asked him if he thought that the Tampa Bay Rays were good enough to make a deep run in the playoffs.

Second, in 2023, MLB will have a balanced schedule and as usual, Mattingly addressed that in an insightful manner.

The Rays swept the Marlins 2-0 in their midweek matchup and then won a three-game weekend series in St. Petersburg against the New York Yankees.

In the opening game of the series, Tampa Bay defeated the Yankees on Friday Night 9-0 in front of 17,886 at Tropicana Field.

Saturday Night saw the Rays defeat New York 2-1 in front of 21,754 and Aaron Judge hit his 52nd HR of the season.

Sunday afternoon, the Yankees defeated the Rays 2-1 and Judge smacked his 53rd homer of the year in front of 25,025.

Amazingly enough from the Rays standpoint, the balanced schedule could cost them at the gate with fewer Yankee visits. The Yankees train in Tampa and play their games at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Mattingly has always said that the Rays are the model for which the Marlins want to follow as the focus is on player development and adding free agents as missing pieces.

As things stand now, the Rays are 75-58 and would make the playoffs as a wild-card entry. They are currently five games back behind the Yankees in American League East.

Meanwhile, the Marlins are in fourth place with a 55-78 mark and for the last month of the season just need to find players that will be a part of the 2023 squad while monitoring what injured players will be contributors.

It will be interesting to see which Marlins players step up and whether Sandy Alcantara has earned enough national respect to win the Cy Young Award. 

He’s certainly been a bright in a year that has seen all kinds of twists and turns, knowing the Marlins have good pitching, but the offense which was the question going into 2022, failed to deliver.

The Marlins have played 51 games this season decided by one run, most such games in the Majors, and surpasses their total from all of last year. Miami has a Major-League-most 30 losses in such games.

I can only imagine where the Marlins would be in the standings had the Marlins won at least 15 of those one-run games. This is something that management will undoubtedly look at during the off-season.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com. 

You can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

To see his broadcasts, there is no charge to Subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.

Back Home Again With The Miami Hurricanes

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

Before I went to Cooperstown on Tuesday Night, August 2nd, I had the most overwhelming schedule before we made the 23 hour trek to New York.

It began in Coral Gables at the Miami Hurricanes indoor facility, where Media day took place.

Then I had two broadcasts of my own in the evening and was packing during the day before leaving home at 12:30 AM.

In a sense, this was very nostalgic for me. 

The last time that I went to the University of Miami campus was in 1983 when Howard Schnellenberger was the coach.

To say the campus has changed would be mildly stating the obvious. 

Since I began the South Florida Tribune in 2018, I had a lot of priorities about the teams that were going to get the most coverage. A few that standout are the FAU Owls, Miami Marlins and Inter-Miami in the MLS. 

I also covered Jacksonville Jaguars contests, plus got on the Media Distribution List for the Miami Dolphins.

When Schnellenberger passed away a year ago, FAU held a celebration for the iconic coach that I covered for the Tribune and Palm Beach Post. 

There were a lot of former Hurricanes players including National Championship winning QB Bernie Kosar. 

I felt like I was back in the 1980’s reminiscing with these players.

After going to this event, my motor was racing and I found out who is the Hurricanes head of Communication, Camron Ghorbi, and then I got the process started.

The Tribune proceeded to get on the Media Distribution List and then we attended the Hurricanes Spring Game in Fort Lauderdale.

From that point on, I felt like I was back home again with the first major college football team that I covered in the early 1980’s.

We accomplished a little bit from the Spring Game and my main objective was to learn things about the team.

Our real impact was on Media Day and to say that I accomplished a lot would be a major understatement!

In this story, we’re including seven videos that we encourage you to watch on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.

Please subscribe at no cost.

Here are the following videos:

*Offensive Coordinator, Josh Gattis.

*Head Coach Mario Cristobal.

We included players Will Mallory, Jacob Lichtenstein, Jordan Miller, John Campbell Jr and Kahlil Brantley.

If you’re looking for what to expect from this team, these videos will easily get the job done.

The one thing that stood out about the Cristobal Press Conference was he told a reporter that I told a reporter that what I have to say “might not get you many clicks,” but I’m here to answer your question.

When a coach answers a question in this manner, that’s impressive!

But Cristobal has been a winner everywhere. He had success at FIU and Oregon plus worked under Nick Saban at Alabama. 

When the Hurricanes added Cristobal from Oregon to turn the Hurricanes program around, this was all about the coach coming home and working at a place where he served as an assistant coach. 

There is no doubt that he can recruit South Florida and did it effectively as the head coach at FIU from 2007-2012.

His overall record as a head coach is 63-60 and is 3-3 in Bowl Games.

With Cristobal returning home and myself covering the team again, this is a great homecoming for both of us!

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com. 

He can be found on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

Also, his broadcasts can be found on the company You Tube Channel, South Florida Tribune.