This may be one of the weakest Hurricanes teams that I can remember seeing. I remember seeing games from the mid-90s Canes teams that had become irrelevant. I remember seeing games from the late 90s Canes teams that were on probation. The ones that had a young Santana Moss on a track scholarship and lost to the Florida State Seminoles 47-0. I don’t remember the entirety of those seasons or the team as a whole due to my young age during that era but I do remember individual games. The individual games were bad enough, but I don’t remember that team ever laying down in a game. They always fought to the end no matter how lopsided the score was.
1998 Dominance
The first Miami Hurricanes season that I remember in totality was the 1998 Hurricanes that ended up 9-3 with losses to only FSU (a national championship finalist that year), Virginia Tech (a dominant program that had Michael Vick redshirting), and Syracuse (led by Donovan McNabb). Miami was on probation with limited scholarships and ended up knocking off national title hopefuls UCLA in a makeup game at the end of the season because of a hurricane delay from earlier in the season. Edgerrin James ran all over the Bruins and the Canes ended up building on that momentum up to the greatest roster ever assembled in college football. The Canes had their swagger back and it all culminated in the winning of a BCS national championship in the 2001-2002 season and having a back-to-back championship stolen from them in the Fiesta Bowl in early 2003. After that season Miami started a slow progressive slide to where our program is today, even though we didn’t know it at the time.
Orange Bowl Goose Egg
I attended the University of Miami between 2003-2007 and I saw one of the worst Miami Hurricanes teams play in my senior year that also ended up being the last season in the Orange Bowl. No one will ever forget the 48-0 beat down in the final Orange Bowl game at the hands of the Virginia Cavaliers followed by a 44-14 beatdown at Virginia Tech. A combined 92-14 in defeats to the Virginia schools was pretty bad, but both of those programs were ranked and during an era that would define the peak of their powers whereas Miami was in a malaise and a clear fall from grace. We all thought that no holds barred brawl with FIU in the Orange Bowl was rock bottom and that eventually Randy Shannon would turn the program around, but it never happened. Al Golden came and was hampered by another scandal, probation, limited scholarships, bowl bans, and threats of the program being shut down- but he did manage to get top 25 wins over Ohio State and Florida, and started 7-0 in 2013 while climbing all the way up to #7 before being unceremoniously dismissed in 2015 for a 58-0 debacle to Clemson on national TV.
Richt Era
Mark Richt got the program going in the right direction finishing 9-4 in his first season and getting Miami it’s only bowl win since the 1-point win over Nevada in the MPC Computers Bowl of 2006. Think of that, Miami only has one bowl win the last 16 years! Mark Richt had an even better second season as the head coach of his alma mater bringing Miami to within one game of having an undefeated regular season, up to #2 in the national college football rankings, and Miami’s first Orange Bowl berth since beating FSU in January of 2004. Mark Richt donated his own time and money to get the Soffer Indoor Practice facility built. This momentum could not be perpetuated unfortunately as Richt’s offense became stagnant in his third season and he also became ill. The team was taken over by Manny Diaz who had some bright spots but overall, his tenure was underwhelmingly average and blemished by the program’s first ever loss to FIU. Which brings us to today.
The Mario Cristobal Hire
Enter Mario Cristobal, the prodigal son of Miami who played and won national championships with the Canes. Who traveled to schools across the country learning and building up their programs through a coaching style based on high level recruiting and strict discipline. Some were calling for Lane Kiffin to be hired due to his offensive prowess and how he transformed Alabama’s offensive trajectory and brought Ole Miss back to national relevance, but no one was disappointed in Mario’s hiring. In fact, most of us were pretty convinced that he was the man for the job to finally turn this around and bring Miami back to the pinnacle of the sport where it belongs. We still believe that. Despite what people say about our lack of patience, we are a very patient fanbase. We have had no choice but to be. These past 20 years have been agonizingly painful but what other choice do we have but to continue hoping, praying, and waiting?
Faith and Patience for Cristobal is the Answer.
I still believe that Mario is the guy that will turn this program around, but I never thought in a million years that the team would regress the way that it has. I never believed in a million years Mike Norvell would have his FSU program ahead of Miami this season and that the only power 5 win we would have is a barely hanging on to win victory over the lowly Hokies of Virginia Tech. I never believed we would see Duke, a basketball school, beat Miami by 21 points at Hard Rock Stadium by forcing Miami into not one, not two, not three, not four, not five….not six (queue up the LeBron James sound), not seven, but eight- turnovers! It has been painful to watch. Especially when we see how quickly Lanning, Elko, and Lincoln Riley have hit the ground running at their new schools. However, we will continue to wait and hope that there will finally be light at the end of the tunnel. Miami is going to have to fight to become bowl eligible. There are no guaranteed wins on the remainder of the schedule because Miami is simply not a good football team, but we will continue to wait, trust, and believe. Here’s too hoping for the best this Saturday against the Virginia Cavaliers.
