Canes fans are all breathing a sigh of relief tonight, as UM will finally get to play a football game and maybe forget about the Nevin Shapiro imbroglio for a few hours at least. Unfortunately, they will be without eight players, including key cogs on offense and defense, suspended for their alleged dealings with Shapiro.

Canes coach Al Golden and Terps coach Randy Edsall are both making debuts with their new team tonight, but which man's squad has the inside track in delivering the first win to their new coach?

When the Canes have the ball: Stephen Morris gets the start at quarterback tonight with Jacory Harris serving a one-game suspension for his alleged involvement with rogue booster Nevin Shapiro. Harris' favorite target, WR Travis Benjamin, is also sitting this one out. But the RB tandem of Mike James and Lamar Miller, aka Smash and Dash, figure to be the Canes' most dangerous offensive weapons this fall. Golden told the Miami Herald this week "We have to find ways to get them the ball,"  and there is not a soul in Miami who disagrees with that assessment.

But the Canes will be without massive LT Seantrel Henderson, recovering from surgery. Senior Joel Figueroa will start in his place, but he has never played the position in a game, which could be worrisome. Sophomore Allen Hurns gets his first ever start in place of Benjamin, but he has yet to record a catch at UM. Senior Laron Byrd will get the other starting spot at WR.

Morris will probably not be asked to do too much if Miller and James can get going early. Morris torched the Terps for 286 yards last year, including a dramatic game-winning touchdown to Leonard Hankerson. Even so, James ran for 125 yards in that game (while James added 51), suggesting Miami might use the run to set up the pass tonight.

When the Terps have the ball: Maryland's offense is run by reigning ACC Rookie of the Year Danny O'Brien, but with so many Canes D-linemen suspended for tonight (including Olivier Vernon, Marcus Forston, and Adewala Ojomo), the Terps will try to run early and test the Canes' green front seven. Also gone for the Canes tonight are LB Sean Spence - the anchor of the defense and its best player and S Ray Ray Armstrong.

But Miami's starting defensive line tonight won't exactly be chopped liver. DE Marcus Robinson and DT Micanor Regis are both playmakers who can wreak havoc in the backfield (they combined for 13 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks last season). In fact, the bigger weakness might be Miami's secondary, which lost starting cornerbacks Brandon Harris and Ryan Hill (as well as nickelback DeMarcus Van Dyke) to the NFL. Mike Williams and Brandon McGee have one combined collegiate start between them, which doubtless has O'Brien and Edsall salivating.

Ominous pregame quote: Courtesy of Golden, "Football is already tough because you have 22 athletes on the field. Now, both sides have increased the variables with new staffs, new coordinators, many new faces. And then on top of that, we're dealing with this other thing. So if there wasn't enough to worry about..."

Who Has the Edge? With almost half the starting defense at home in Miami tonight, the priority for the Canes D tonight will be to limit the damage. Indeed, the most important stat tonight might be time of possession, and Miami's performance in that metric will depend on whether the offense can sustain many long scoring drives. Morris, James, and co. needed a last-minute miracle to beat these same Terps at home last year - and that was at nearly full strength. Miami might not be able to put themselves in position for any last-minute heroics this time.

The Pick: Maryland 24-Miami 20

Kickoff is at 8 p.m. on ESPN.