Canes score biggest rout of FSU in 44 years. Soon, we’ll know how good UM really is | Opinion
Are they teasing us again? There isn’t a Miami Hurricanes football fan alive who doesn’t know what I mean.
Hints of a return to glory and cries of “The U is back!” have popped up occasionally since UM’s most recent of five national championships was won in 2001.
The most recent tease was in 2017. Mark Richt was king as the Canes were unbeaten late in the season, rising to No. 2 in the national poll, the College Football Playoff looming in view. Then, the fizzle. And two around-.500 seasons followed.
Is it different now?
This is the first time since ‘01 (that last championship season) that Miami had started 2-0 with a pair of double-digit wins against FBS opponents (UAB here, then at Louisville).
Saturday night made it three in a row — a comfortably undramatic 52-10 waltz past arch-rival Florida State at Hard Rock Stadium in the schools’ 63rd all-time meeting.
This one did not come down to FSU missing a late field goal wide right. The No. 12-ranked Canes dominated the unranked Seminoles in one of the great routs in series history. It was the most points scored by any winning team in the long series, and the biggest margin of victory since Miami walloped FSU 47-0 in 1976 — Bobby Bowden’s first game as Noles coach.
Now UM seems sure to blast up into the Top 10, with No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 6 LSU both losing Saturday — the latter becoming the first reigning national champ to lose its season opener since 1998.
But how good are the Hurricanes, really? Do we know yet?
We’re about to.
Next up for Miami: No. 1 ranked Clemson, UM’s Atlantic Coast Conference roadblock, on the road Oct. 10. Three other currently ranked teams also are on Miami’s remaining schedule, but none will measure the Canes more unequivocally and undeniably than the mighty Tigers.
“We’ve got to really focus on being smart this bye week and protect this program,” said UM coach Manny Diaz.
Miami has lost its past two games against Clemson by 38-3 and 58-0.
Can the Canes finally clear their Clemson hurdle the year after finishing 6-7?
Hey, didn’t the Miami Marlins just go from a 105-loss season to the MLB playoffs?
Enough looking ahead.
This was a rout of FSU a Canes fan (and the second-year coach Diaz) could savor, even amid circumstances unlike anything seen in the 65-year history of the rivalry.
There was nothing normal about this night or the buildup to it.
First-year FSU coach Mike Norvell watched from home, in quarantine, after testing positive for COVID-19.
ESPN’s College GameDay show was in Miami for the eighth time, but with none of the usual pageantry or zaniness because no fans were allowed there — except those participating virtually, online.
GameDay host Kirk Herbstreit wasn’t even here, instead doing the show remotely after coming in contact with someone who’d tested positive.
The show’s Lee Corso, 85, was back home near Orlando as he made his prediction — dramatically donning an Ibis head to indicate a Hurricanes win.
As if to underline the surreal setting amid apocalyptic 2020, pregame rain and a lightning threat awaited the Hard Rock crowd of 12,806, just under the maximum of 13,000 allowed by COVID restrictions. (I saw one group of fans setting up to tailgate in the parking lot before being shut down. You people really need to follow current events. Global pandemic. Look it up. Been going on since March).
The talk of a lightning delay disrupted pregame routines.
“All the adversity, the lack of routine and structure, they handled it very well,” said Diaz of his Canes.
Oh, and as the national anthem played, neither team was on its sideline, both electing to stay inside, another reminder the national movement for racial justice plays out concurrent with the pandemic.
Once the game kicked off it was all Canes as Miami won for a fourth consecutive time over its state and conference rival.
Transfer quarterback D’Eriq King (29 for 40, 267 yards, two touchdowns) continues to look like UM’s best quarterback since the glory days, giving way to backup N’Kosi Perry for most of the fourth quarter. The Canes’ defense dominated Florida State, the only negative two disqualifications (Jaelan Phillips for two personal fouls, Gurvan Hall for a helmet hit).
King threw scoring passes of 24 yards to Brevin Jordan and 40 to Dee Wiggins, and Perry tossed a TD to Michael Redding. Cam’Ron Harris and Don Chaney both scored twice on the ground. A field goal snuck in somewhere.
All of that was plenty Saturday night.
We shall see how it plays in a couple of weeks at Clemson.
Because the Hurricanes are teasing us again.
Soon we find out if things have changed.
This story was originally published September 26, 2020 at 11:23 PM.
