Diaz thankful his Hurricanes are playing Duke, but probably not for the reason you think

With Thanksgiving behind them, many University of Miami football loyalists would agree that the end of another disheartening regular season is thankfully coming to a close Saturday.

And University of Miami coach Manny Diaz is thankful for the Hurricanes’ opponent at 3:30 p.m. at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, North Carolina — but not because the Duke Blue Devils should be easy prey at 4-7 (2-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) and riding a five-game losing streak.

Duke being a nine-point underdog, in fact, is the reason the Blue Devils could be dangerous — at least for Miami.

The Hurricanes (6-5, 4-3 ACC), spent all week trying to learn from Diaz what they apparently never figured out in an ugly victory over Central Michigan and losses to North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and worst of all, the FIU 30-24 beatdown at Marlins Park last Saturday. When they believe the opponent is below them, when they play a team perceived to be inferior in talent, when they lack respect for the competition, they are ill prepared and play horribly.

Diaz calls Saturday the “perfect’’ opportunity for the Canes to begin reversing the pattern.

“Quite simply, we did not respect the opposition,’’ Diaz said Monday. “When we play, we’re pretty dang good. When we don’t play, we’re pretty awful. And we were awful on Saturday.

“Fortunately, we have another opportunity to get back out there. We’ve got a challenge going up to Duke. It is imperative for our guys to come together and find a way, as much as possible, to put last Saturday behind us.’’

With the loss to FIU, according to ESPN, the Canes “became the only team in the last 40 years to lose three times as a 14-point [or more] favorite in a single season.” UM lost to Virginia Tech as a 14-point favorite, to Georgia Tech as an 18 1/2-point favorite and to FIU as a 20-point favorite.

“There is a culture that has been embedded here in some way, shape or form, despite who the coach has been, for a while,’’ Diaz said. “That to me is what we’re trying to battle against. You’ve heard me say some of the buzzwords in terms of what we’re trying to accomplish. Some of those things, to be very honest, are coming from the lessons of this season. In life, when the same thing keeps presenting to you, there’s a lesson you have to learn from it. That, to me, is how I look at our year.

“It is about building a culture of sustained excellence, and I can’t sit here today and act like we’re any closer to that than we were nine months ago. But in terms of establishing and laying the groundwork and foundation of that, those things are going on right now, and we’ve seen that...We choose. We choose when we need to and when we don’t need to. That was enough on Saturday to get beat.”

Diaz said that UM, which has proven its resiliency in bouncing back from a 3-4 record this season to enter the FIU game at 6-4, has “a blind spot when there’s an expectation to win,’’ and the coach blamed himself for that, saying he did his own self-analysis to “help create an edge so it doesn’t ever look like that again.’’

A UM victory would help the Hurricanes in their quest to go to the best bowl possible. A loss would undoubtedly sink them even more in terms of decommitments from recruits, which have been piling up since the loss to FIU. The early signing day period this year runs from Dec. 18 to Dec. 20. National Signing Day is Feb. 5.

“The mind-set for us is ‘today,’ said Miami sophomore Cam’Ron Harris, who will start for injured star running back DeeJay Dallas. “We’ve got to win ‘today.’ Last week is the past. We’ve got Duke this week.’’

Duke defeated the Hurricanes 20-12 last year at Hard Rock Stadium, snapping a four-game losing streak. The Blue Devils’ strongest major statistical category is being 35th nationally in passing yards allowed (202.5 per game). Miami quarterback Jarren Williams, who had a poor performance for most of the game against FIU, is 16th nationally in passing efficiency. Williams has completed 149 of 230 passes for 1,951 yards and 18 touchdowns, with six interceptions.

Duke’s offense is ranked 15th nationally in tackles-for-loss allowed, while UM is seventh in the nation in tackles for loss.

“They’ve got some big guys up front,’’ said Canes senior defensive tackle Pat Bethel. “They’ve got some athletic guys. ...We’ve got to make sure we respect that, and then the main thing is just playing our football.’’

Duke coach David Cutcliffe said this week that the Hurricanes were “extremely talented.’’

“Look at their offense and the speed and size of their front,’’ Cutcliffe said. Their quarterback’s got great ability. Their defense and their defensive front — it’s frightening.”

Cutcliffe opened his weekly news conference saying words that, depending on one’s perspective, might have been just as relevant for the Hurricanes.

“I’ll tell you what I told our team this morning,’’ Cutcliffe said. “There are no bad days. We tend to occasionally say ‘we’ve had a bad day.’ There is no such thing. There are events that occur that make a day a tough day. Unfortunately, there are at times tragic things that occur in a day that make it really difficult...

“Adversity has been there. It is there. We still are facing it, but we’re not going to say we’ve had a bad day. The only way that you let something become a bad day is you let the events define you. I deeply believe that.

“To say this recent run hasn’t been difficult would be ridiculous. Yes, difficult. I told ya’ll before I don’t believe in the word frustrated. That means there’s no answer. It has definitely been difficult.”