Rolling Into 2012, Hurricane-Style

A belated Happy New Year to Hurricane Nation. With Miami off this bowl season and no games on the 1st due to it being NFL Sunday, it’s been a rocky entry into twenty-twelve.

Today is the third and the ten-year anniversary of the best season ‘The U’ has ever experienced; the run of 2001, culminating with a 37-14 Rose Bowl victory over No. 2 Nebraska, capping a rare 12-0 run.

The Canes of ten years ago was damn near flawless. It proved to be the most successful era of Miami football as there was simply more parity in the game between 2000 and 2003 than in the Decade of Dominance era, where ‘The U’ rolled heads from 1986 through 1992, capturing three national titles and leaving a few on the field.

Between 2000 and 2003, Miami hit for the cycle regarding the BCS – going Sugar, Rose, Fiesta and Orange – and played for two national championships, winning one and losing another on a controversial call.

The win-streak reached 34 games and the Canes were 46-4 over that four-year span.

A decade later Miami is sidelined this post-season, surrendering a bowl berth in effort to appease the NCAA and to lessen any forthcoming sanctions. The past three bowl games all ended in losses to Notre Dame, Wisconsin or Cal and the four-year win-loss total sits at 29-22 with a new year on the horizon.

As the bowl games play out this season, we’re seeing some good teams, but nothing great or elite. A good Oregon team beat a good Wisconsin team in the Rose, 45-38, where offenses were prevalent an defenses were getting chewed up. Same for Fiesta which followed, another high-scoring affair where Oklahoma State bested Stanford in overtime, 41-38.

Florida topped Ohio State, 24-17, on January 2nd, which in the past would’ve been a favorable BCS match up for the masses. Instead, a showdown between two 6-6 teams with a storyline centered around the former Gators coach and new Buckeyes leader, Urban Meyer.

More of the same across the board as good, not great, teams did what good, not great teams do. Georgia fell late to Michigan State. Nebraska no-showed against South Carolina. Penn State was chewed up by Houston. Auburn worked Virginia, proving that average SEC is better than pretty good ACC.

Utah came back against Georgia Tech. Texas A&M beat Northwestern. Oklahoma, a preseason number one, won a meaningless bowl game over Iowa. Mississippi State won the battle of 6-6 teams, taking out Wake Forest.

Rutgers dropped Iowa State. BYU stole one from Tulsa. Florida State rallied against Notre Dame. The list goes on and sadly, doesn’t get any more impressive.

Tonight it’s the Sugar Bowl on the main stage, where a pretty good Big Ten team in Michigan will face ACC consolation prize, Virginia Tech. Tomorrow, a snoozer of an Orange Bowl with ACC top dog Clemson taking on Big East champion West Virginia.

Three pointlessly staggered out lesser bowls will then fill the void – Kansas State v. Arkansas, SMU v. Pittsburgh and Arkansas State v. Northern Illinois – before LSU and Alabama finally go at it on Monday January 9th, deciding the “national champion”.

As the 2002 Rose Bowl spins on DVD in the background, a wide-open Andre Johnson just hauled in a fifty-yard touchdown strike from Ken Dorsey.

A moment from now, Miami’s offense will be back on the field after a huge special teams hit and in a magical second quarter the Canes will find the end zone four more times – a Clinton Portis run, a James Lewis pick-six, a Jeremy Shockey reception and another Dorsey-to-Johnson hook-up – for a 34-0 halftime lead.

Watching this contest on DVD is fitting as the first half played out more like a Hollywood feature film than a mere game. After a snub in 2000 and a few close calls during the 2001 season, UM experienced a fairy tale ending to a dream season, on the heels of five years of heartache and one of falling short.

As much as we’d love for this to again be the norm, hoping that another half decade of mediocrity is rewarded with the ultimate success and crowning achievement, re-watching this Rose Bowl contest is a sobering reminder that this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime team and moment in time.

A team of this caliber will never be fielded again and 46-4 runs aren’t the norm in present-day college football. It’s about building depth, competing for conference championship, fielding good kids, graduating players and earning national recognition throughout the season, aiming for a title game and finding excitement in a BCS berth. Look at an Oklahoma State or Oregon as proof.

The Ducks celebrated their first Rose Bowl win since 1917 and were ecstatic as Pac-12 champs. Another shot at a title was the goal, but when falling short, winning the Rose was nothing to turn a nose up at.

Same for the Cowboys, who won their first ever BCS game, took home the Big XII title and are seen as a budding program, making some noise and competing at the highest level.

Virginia Tech fell to Clemson twice this past season, missing out on the ACC crown, but was still rewarded with a two-loss regular season and a Sugar Bowl berth – something that Miami fans would absolutely kill for after the past eight post-seasons.

In 2003, on the heels of the previous three seasons, it was somewhat understandable to consider a 10-2 regular season and Orange Bowl showdown against rival Florida State a “letdown”. The previous two seasons ended in title-game berths and to fall short of another crack at a ring (especially with such a great defense) was disappointing.

Honestly, that’s the biggest issue with success. Too much is never enough and it becomes expected. The work you put in to get there is always more than the work put in to stay there. Lethargy sets in. Heads get swelled. Wins inevitably get under-appreciated and de-valued.

Miami didn’t become amazing overnight, nor did the Canes fall apart in a day. The right process got UM to the top and the wrong process disassembled things to the point they’re at today.

With a new year on the horizon, another chance to right the wrongs and to take another step forward in the regrowth process.

The 2001-era Canes no longer exist, but the values that went into building a team of that caliber do and that should be the focus. Hang your hopes on Al Golden doing it and doing it right and in time, better days will return.

Happy New Year 2012. Go Canes. – C.B.

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