Here’s why the Orange Bowl counted as a streak-snapping home game for the Hurricanes
In all technicality, the Orange Bowl is a postseason, neutral-site bowl game that includes a top team from the ACC facing a team from either the SEC, Big Ten or Notre Dame. It serves as a College Football Playoff semifinal every three years, as well.
But, as pointed out on Twitter by the Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds, when the Miami Hurricanes play there, it’s viewed as a home game for the hometown Hurricanes in the eyes of the NCAA.
Therefore, the Hurricanes’ 34-24 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers on Dec. 30 resulted in the end of the team's nine-game home win streak, a run that dated to late in the 2016 season.
Turns out, no, the Orange Bowl is not being counted as a neutral-site game for Miami. The Hurricanes' home winning streak also ended that night, per the NCAA.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) January 17, 2018
However, this actually isn't a new phenomenon. According to The NCAA, it has always deemed the Orange Bowl as a home game for the Hurricanes whenever they played the postseason game in their home stadium.
So, those three Orange Bowl wins in 1988, 1989 and 1992 already counted toward the school’s NCAA-record 58-game home win streak, a stretch that ran from 1985 to 1994 and included three national championships.
The same is true for the Hurricanes’ 31-30 win over Nebraska in the 1984 Orange Bowl that resulted in the first of Miami’s five national championships.
And the same is true for Miami’s five other Orange Bowl appearances.
Miami isn’t alone in this, though. According to sports-reference.com, UCLA’s 12 appearances in the Rose Bowl have all counted as home games. FAU’s appearance this season in the Boca Raton Bowl, which is played on FAU’s campus, was also ruled a home game. Three of San Diego State’s four appearances in the Poinsettia and Holiday Bowls, both of which are played in the Aztecs’ home San Diego County Credit Union Stadium, were ruled as home games. The exception was the 2014 Poinsettia Bowl, which has been ruled a neutral-site game.
Nevertheless, the Hurricanes will look to start the winning streak back up in 2018 as coach Mark Richt prepares for his third season.
This story was originally published January 17, 2018 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Here’s why the Orange Bowl counted as a streak-snapping home game for the Hurricanes."