Getty Image
Miami QB Cam Ward went into The Swamp and came out a winner in his Hurricanes debut. He wasn’t intimidated by the SEC atmosphere!
Instead, he quieted the crowd time and again with a three-touchdown, 385-yard performance. After the win, he shaded his new rival by taking a shot at Gator fans’ intelligence.
“Advice to the fans: If you’re going to be loud, you have to be loud when we’re huddling,” he said. “You can’t just be loud once we break the huddle. By that time, it’s no point. We hear the play, and we’ve communicated already.”
That makes sense from a logical standpoint.
Often, you hear fans grow loud when a team approaches the line of scrimmage in hopes of creating pre-snap chaos. Those cheers are intended to muddle snap counts, potentially causing a delay of game or false start.
Ward says that the noise needs to come earlier. Most of the talking has already been done by the time the team breaks the huddle.
It wasn’t his only shade thrown Florida’s way. He’d continue on with his trolling while soaking in every moment of the 41-17 blowout.
Cam Ward didn’t think The Swamp was intimidating.
He says places in the PAC 12 were much louder!
“I played at USC. USC wasn’t packed, but it was louder than this,” he recalled. “I played at Oregon, and it was louder than this… Washington was one of the loudest environments I’ve played in.”
His play on Saturday likely had an effect on the quiet atmosphere in Gainesville. In his first game as a Miami Hurricane, he accounted for more than 400 yards.
Ward lived up to his billing after being picked in the preseason to win ACC Player of the Year. The Swamp, though, failed to meet the expectation!