ESPN spent this week getting folks amped up for the impending college football season by putting together a week long piece called “The BCS at 10” – calling in several columnists to chime in regarding the best teams, impact players, most exciting games and what not.
With four BCS appearances, the Miami Hurricanes definitely made their presence felt on the list – though in a few cases, were slighted by the sports network who seems to love not giving the Canes their due and will cheap-shot The U all day long when given the opportunity.
On Monday, the Best BCS Bowl Games were broken down and even though Miami has played in four of the ten years the BCS has been in existence, the Canes only clocked in once – the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, which ranked second.
Over five years later, still no resolution as Chris Low writes, “The first overtime was marred by a controversial pass interference penalty called on Miami’s Glenn Sharpe. In fact, the Hurricanes rushed the field thinking they had won the game. But a late flag came flying out of the back of the end zone after Craig Krenzel’s fourth-down pass to Chris Gamble fell incomplete.”
The memory of this game sticks around like an unwanted houseguest or a case of VD.
In no surprise to all, the Bobby Bowden stroke-fest continued as the Seminoles made the list twice with the 2000 Sugar Bowl win over Virginia Tech, 46-29 for the championship – as well as the triple overtime loss to Penn State, 26-23.
The ’00 Sugar Bowl sort of makes sense, as freshman Michael Vick rallied to get the Hokies in the game, bringing it to 29-28 late in the third before the Noles pulled away… but the nod for the ’05 Orange Bowl is typical ESPN and their love affair with all things Bowden and Joe Paterno.
How does a game with a slew of missed kicks, featuring a then 8-4 Florida State team surpass the ’01 Sugar Bowl, pitting bitter rivals Miami and Florida against each other for the first time since 1987?
The Canes, snubbed from the title game after beating the Noles head-to-head months back, roll into New Orleans with a #2 ranking and take down the #7 Gators in the heart of SEC country.
13-10 at the half, Florida jumped out to a 17-13 lead before Miami found the end zone twice in the quarter, going up 27-13 entering the fourth. From there, a stifling Canes defense shut down the Gators offense and Sebastian The Ibis even drew a flag for excessive celebration on the game’s final score.
Also on Monday, Ted Miller broke down the most memorable BCS performances, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to Hurricane Nation that no Miami player made this list.
Unstoppable all night, Andre Johnson racked up 199 yards and two touchdowns for co-MVP honors with Ken Dorsey, who threw for 362 yards and three touchdowns.
Oklahoma’s defense was #2 on the list, for shutting down Florida State in the 2001 Orange Bowl, en route to a 13-2 win. Typical, being that ESPN will stroke all things Bob Stoops and OU.
Why does the Sooners’ D get the love for shutting down a Snoop Minnis-less Florida State bunch, yet Miami’s offense puts up 472 yards against Nebraska in the ’02 Rose Bowl, posts a 34-0 halftime lead and owns the Huskers.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t for the Canes. Not that Larry Coker had the stones to do so, but had he kept his foot on the throttle, Miami could’ve worked Nebraska, 68-0. But like he did in the opener against Penn State (a 30-0 halftime lead resulted in a 33-7 final), the best team in college football history let up out of respect for the other guy.
Southern Cal gets bonus points for kicking the ass off an overrated Oklahoma bunch in the ’05 Orange Bowl, 55-19 and takes no heat for running up the score – whereas you plug The U in USC’s slot and it’d have been poor sportsmanship.
Miami also showed up under the Biggest BCS Slights category for the 2000 season where Florida State would up in the national championship game against No. 1 Oklahoma, instead of The U.
Forget that Miami was #2 in the AP and Coaches Polls, the Noles somehow jumped the Canes in the BCS – even though Miami won the head-to-head battle in October, ending a 17-game win streak and knocking off the defending champs.
Miller attempts to build an argument for Washington – who beat the Canes, 34-29 in early September – but it falls on deaf ears.
Miami followed the blueprint of losing early in the season and winning out. The Canes were #4 and the Huskies were #15 when the two teams met for the out of conference match up in Seattle.
UW lost two weeks later to 25th-ranked Oregon by a touchdown. The Huskies also won out, but their body of work was nowhere near as impressive – struggling with middle of the road Pac-10 teams and almost losing to a then 3-4 Stanford bunch.
The U took down top-ranked Florida State and weeks later beat down second-ranked Virginia Tech by 20 points. When the BCS talked about margin of victory, the Canes played along in the finale, working over Boston College, 52-6, in an attempt to prove the mettle.
In the end, the Noles got the nod and faceplanted, 13-2 against the Sooners while #2 Miami kicked the ass off of #7 Florida, 37-2o, in a very hostile Sugar Bowl. Washington knocked off #14 Purdue, 34-24 and finished the season with a #3 ranking.
A year later, the BCS began putting more value on head-to-head match ups, meaning if the 2000 scenario occurred in 2001, Miami would’ve absolutely played Oklahoma instead of Florida State… yet ESPN’s Miller still attempts to make a case for Washington.
I guess it should come as no surprise that Mr. Miller was a beat writer for the Seattle Post Intelligence. Yeah, no bias there Teddy Boy. Nice journalistic integrity when attempting to be neutral when writing for ESPN.
All in all, ESPN got it right with the best team of the BCS era – but that was a no-brainer. In other areas where some common sense and no bias was necessary, the oft-wrong network again failed and proved they’re not all about The U.