The Miami Hurricanes could win a national title at home. They’ve done it before
The venue for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game between the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes (13-2) and No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers (15-0) on Monday (7:30 p.m., ESPN) is a familiar one for the Hurricanes: Hard Rock Stadium, their home stadium.
It’s not the first time the Hurricanes have the opportunity to win a national title on their home field.
In fact, of the Hurricanes’ five national titles, three have been won in Miami. UM’s titles from the 1983, 1987 and 1991 were cemented at the Orange Bowl. Miami’s 1989 title was won at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, while the school’s most recent title in 2001 was crowned at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Here’s a look back at Miami’s previous three championships won at the comforts of home.
1983: The underdog Canes win a nail-biter for first title
The Hurricanes began their fifth season under legendary coach Howard Schnellenberger with a 28-3 road loss to the Florida Gators in Gainesville.
It was the last time they would lose that season.
The Hurricanes won their next 10 games, including ranked wins over Notre Dame (20-0) and West Virginia (20-3) plus a narrow 17-16 road win at rival Florida State to finish the season ranked No. 5 and qualify for the Orange Bowl, where a matchup with No. 1 Nebraska was set.
The Cornhuskers entered that game considered to be one of college football’s top teams ever at that time. They were 10.5-point favorites over Miami in the game.
But UM jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter on a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Bernie Kosar to Glenn Dennison plus a 45-yard Jeff Davis field goal.
Nebraska pushed back with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns, including offensive lineman Dean Steinkuhler scoring on a fumblerooski and a rushing touchdown from quarterback Turner Gill to cut Miami’s lead to 17-14 at halftime. The Cornhuskers hit a field goal early in the third quarter to tie the score at 17-17.
Miami responded with rushing touchdowns by Alonzo Highsmith and Albert Bentley to cap drives of 75 and 73 yards to put the Hurricanes up 31-17.
Nebraska’s Jeff Smith then scored two fourth quarter touchdowns, but the Cornhuskers opted for a two-point conversion attempt after the second in an attempt to take the lead instead of tie the score at 31-all. There was no overtime yet, so the game would have ended in a tie had they gone for and made the extra-point attempt.
The Hurricanes’ Kenny Calhoun broke up Gill’s pass attempt to Smith, sealing Miami’s win.
That victory, coupled with No. 2 Texas’ loss to Georgia in the Cotton Bowl, opened the possibility for Miami to vault up four spots in the final rankings.
“It’s up to the polls,” Kosar, who threw for 300 yards in the game, said afterward, “but in my heart, we’re No. 1.”
The pollsters agreed one day later. The Hurricanes were national champions for the first time.
1987: A perfect season for a second title
Miami’s run to its second title was perfection.
The Hurricanes, in their fourth season under coach Jimmy Johnson, opened the season ranked No. 10 in the country and marched through their schedule with relative ease. They opened with three consecutive ranked wins against Florida (31-4), Arkansas (51-7) and FSU (26-25) then won two more ranked games over Notre Dame (24-0) and South Carolina (20-16) to close the regular season. It set up a showdown between No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Miami in the Orange Bowl for the national title.
Like the Orange Bowl that decided Miami’s first national title four years earlier, the Hurricanes were an underdog — albeit by just three points this time against the Sooners compared to the 10.5-point spread against Nebraska.
Miami never trailed in the game. It was 7-7 at halftime after a 30-yard touchdown pass by Miami’s Steve Walsh to Melvin Bratton in the first quarter and a 1-yard touchdown run from Oklahoma’s Anthony Stafford in the second. UM used a 10-point third quarter — via a Greg Cox 56-yard field goal and 23-yard touchdown pass from Walsh to Michael Irvin — to take the lead for good. Cox extended Miami’s lead to 20-7 on a Cox 48-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Oklahoma added a fourth-quarter touchdown on a Mark Hutson 29-yard touchdown but would get no closer as Miami, for the second time in five years, celebrated a national title on its home turf.
It capped a dominant season in which Miami’s defense allowed just 125 total points, and the Hurricanes had an average margin of victory of 23.9 points.
1991: A shutout for the title
The Hurricanes won their third national title in 1989 during their first season under coach Dennis Erickson after a 33-25 win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
Two years later, they would find their way back to the title game after another dominant season.
Miami opened the season ranked No. 3 nationally and went undefeated for the second time in five years. The regular-season run included a 40-10 win over No. 10 Houston, a 26-20 win over No. 9 Penn State and a 17-16 win over No. 1 Florida State famously known now as “Wide Right I” after Seminoles kicker Gerry Thomas missed a potential game-winning 34-yard field goal.
The 11-0 regular season landed top-ranked Miami in the Orange Bowl for a matchup with No. 11 Nebraska.
Unlike their first championship against the Cornhuskers eight years earlier, the Hurricanes were the clear favorite this time around — and played like it.
Gino Torretta threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Williams, Larry Jones had a 1-yard rushing touchdown, Carlos Huerta hit three field goals and the defense held Nebraska to 171 yards and forced four turnovers (two interceptions and two fumble recoveries) to secure the shutout.
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