"State Of The State"
by Chris Bello - CanesTime Magazine
January 2003 - Issue #6


National Championships and Miami Football are again synonymous after a brief hiatus. Aspirations for a legitimate run at the title are in place before the newest group of Canes takes the practice field in early spring. In Coral Gables, playing for anything less would be underachieving.

It has been said that the road to the title runs through the state of Florida. While this year proved to be an exception to that rule as the Seminoles and Gators both experienced below average seasons, make no mistake that all other forty-nine states are looking on whenever the three big state schools are taking the gridiron.

Florida style football caught on in the 80s, as Hurricane faithful can attest. Five National Championships have been captured by the Canes since 1983. Then there are the ones that got away. Tennessee, Penn State and Alabama kept Miami one step away in 1985, 1986 and 1992.

Probation got the better of Miami in the late nineties. Stripped of scholarships and starting players that wouldn’t ever see a spot on the current roster, the Canes struggled. A handful of three loss seasons, one six loss season and four loss season. While several other major programs might be content losing three games, finishing top two in conference and heading to a solid bowl game – Miami considered it struggling. Any season where the Canes weren’t mentioned in the same breath as the National Championship was a disappointment. A loss to Florida State in that era was like salt in the wound. Three losses a season may as well have been three hundred losses. After such dominance the previous decade, Miami had raised its level of expectation and would work endlessly to return to glory.

It was during the down years the other Florida powerhouses took turns shining in the spotlight. Florida took down Florida State 52-20 in the 1997 Sugar Bowl for the Gators’ first National Championship. Three years later Florida State would taste the ultimate success for the second time in seven years. A 46-29 win over Virginia Tech in the 2000 Sugar Bowl helped ease the pain of a title game loss to Tennessee in the 1999 Fiesta Bowl the previous season. While both schools earned several respective conference championships along the way, no game was bigger than that with your in-state rival.

Miami was on the outside looking in as Florida and Florida State took home their most recent championships, but no more. The Canes have taken back what was rightfully theirs and sit perched a top the college football world again. Normalcy has resumed.

Helping the cause was the renewal of an old rivalry when the Florida Gators signed on for a home and away series with Miami in 2002 and 2003. No more ducking, hiding or making excuses – it was time for these two hated rivals to hash it out on the field again.

A preview of things to come surfaced in the 2001 Sugar Bowl when the No. 2 Canes got a crack at the No. 7 Gators. Set up by a Bowl Championship Series snub, No.3 Florida State had their shot at No. 1 Oklahoma while Miami headed to New Orleans to take out their frustrations on Florida in the form of a 37-20 beating. After taking care of Florida State 27-24 earlier in the regular season, it was the first official state championship since 1987. “Official” in the sense that during this season, all three teams faced each other at some point and there was a clear cut winner.

The three Florida perennial powers slapped their fingerprints on the national scene twenty years ago but the true effects weren’t felt until 1985 – one year into Jimmy Johnson’s run as Miami’s head coach. His style of coaching and recruiting favored a faster style of football than the nation was accustomed. Turning safeties into linebackers and linebackers into defensive lineman had the Canes playing a wickedly fast style of football. Sluggish, yet dominant Big VIII foes such as Nebraska and Oklahoma once a match for Miami, were no longer. Speed killed. The Canes’ domination of the Huskers and Sooners in the past 19 seasons has built to 7-1. The one sided match ups forced the rest of the college football world to take note and change their ancient ways.

The Canes, Gators and Noles combine for eight of the past nineteen championships. Of those nineteen games one of Florida’s big three played in thirteen of the contests. On several other occasions the National Championship game was directly affected by a meeting between Miami, Florida and Florida State.

The first monumental game occurred on September 3rd, 1983 when Miami lost 28-3 to Florida in Gainesville. It would be the Canes’ only loss en route to rattling off ten straight wins and capturing the 1983 National Championship. The embarrassment of losing to hated rival Florida was just the reality check this team needed.

Miami’s rivalry with Florida State became national on October 3rd 1987 when the No. 3 Hurricanes took on and took down the No. 2 Seminoles in Tallahassee. Scrapping back from a 19-3 deficit, it would take a batted down two point conversion to seal Miami’s fate. The 26-25 thriller was the game of the season and would set up an Orange Bowl berth against No. 1 Oklahoma. The Canes would finish the season with their second title in school history while Florida State would cruise in at No. 2. The 1987 match up set the stage for years to come.

The 1987 season the Canes were crowned State Champions as well. The 31-4 beating of Florida early in the season gave Miami wins over both state rivals. Sadly, the Gators bowed out of the rivalry and it was thirteen years before this feat could be achieved again.

The following five years would have the Canes finishing the season consecutively in the top five. Three championships in a five years span, mixed amongst three “almost was” opportunities. Florida State would rattle off fourteen straight seasons in the top five while capturing their two championships. Florida picked up their lone title in 1996 while securing top ten finishes in eight of the last nine seasons. No other state can boast this level of consecutive and collective success.

Miami’s 28-27 thriller over Florida State in October 2002 secured another state championship for the Canes. The season kicked off with Miami sporting the No.1 ranking. Florida State was ranked No. 4 while Florida trailed at No. 7. The Canes delivered the first knockout blow with a 41-16 blowout of Florida in The Swamp. Weeks later it was Florida State’s Xavier Beitia bucking the wide right trend and sending one hard left as the Noles dropped yet another heartbreaker to the Canes.

Unlike season’s past, the 2002 State Championship would be commemorated with the inaugural Florida Cup. The 24” gold-plated solid pewter and brass trophy is a tangible bragging right earned by the winning team for the following season. Next season will bring yet another “round robin” style playoff for Florida’s Big Three as the Canes and Gators have one more match up on their current schedule. In case of a tie in a year where all three might not meet up, fewest points surrendered will determine a winner.

While future Miami and Florida match ups are not in the cards, Florida State still takes on both the Canes and Gators annually. Maybe they shouldn’t. Bobby Bowden’s Noles have seen championship dreams go up in flames at the hands of Miami or Florida on too many occasions.

Had Bubba McDowell not knocked away a Danny McManus two point conversion pass at the end of the 1987 thriller, the No. 2 Noles stay undefeated and most likely get their crack at Oklahoma for a championship. Same story, different year in 1991 when a Gerry Thomas field goal sailed wide right for Florida State. The missed kick gave the No. 2 Canes a 17-16 win over the No. 1 Noles in Tallahassee. If the kick is made, the Noles win 19-17, secure the No. 1 ranking and get a crack at the National Championship. Instead it is Miami that goes on to thump Nebraska 22-0 in the Orange Bowl for a fourth title in nine seasons.

It was a No. 2 Florida State that exacted revenge in 1993 when No. 3 Miami traveled to Tallahassee for the annual showdown. The Noles’ 28-10 win proved pivotal as Florida State got their shot at Nebraska in the 1994 Orange Bowl and earned their first National Championship.

Normalcy resumed the following year when a No. 13 Miami knocked off the defending champs, No. 3 Florida State 34-20 in another classic at the Orange Bowl. Florida’s big three programs would finish the season in consecutive order – No. 5 Florida State, No. 6 Miami and No. 7 Florida.

Even in Miami’s lean years, Florida State found a new thorn in their side. Steve Spurrier and his Gators single-handedly cost Bowden’s Noles two shots at glory.

The 1996 match up between No. 2 Florida State and No. 1 Florida earned its place amongst classic in-state battles. Bowden got the better of Spurrier in this 24-21 thriller, but would get burned in the end yet again. A Nebraska loss in the Big XII Championship combined with a Florida win over Alabama in the SEC Championship game bumped the Gators back up to the No. 3 spot while No. 2 Arizona State headed to a Rose Bowl berth against No. 4 Ohio State.

The rest is history.

No. 2 Arizona State’s 20-17 loss to No. 4 Ohio State paved the way for Florida. The stage was set. The 1997 Sugar Bowl became the National Championship game when OSU’s David Boston scored the game winner over ASU’s Courtney Jackson.

Back in New Orleans it was Steve Spurrier who relished in having a month to put together a game plan to dissect Florida State – a team that left it all on the table in their regular season meeting. The fun-and-gun was in full effect as Danny Wuerffel threw for 304 and three touchdowns. Insult to injury came in the form of a 16-yard touchdown scramble for the Heisman Trophy winner en route to the 52-20 shellacking. Another title avoids Florida State. Unfortunately for Cane fans, it was the lesser of two evils as the Gators took home their lone National Championship.

The following season it was a No. 1 Florida State team one win away from the title game that stumbled. This time it was a No. 10 ranked Florida team looking to avenge two season losses with a win over a hated rival. Bowden was against outsmarted and found himself on the losing end of a 32-29 afternoon in Gainesville. Soon after he uttered the phrase that his tombstone would read, “at least he played Miami… and Florida.” Meanwhile, Hurricanes and Gators both bathed at the Noles’ agony.

Florida State would exorcize demons in 1999 by beating both Miami and Florida in the regular season. The Noles would experience their first undefeated year in school history and pick up their second National Championship after failing again in 1998 with a Fiesta Bowl loss to eventual champs, Tennessee. The 2000 season wrapped up with an undeserving Florida State berth in the B.C.S. Championship game. The 13-2 loss cost two Florida schools a shot at history as Miami and Florida State would have split the 2000 National Championship. Miami did their part in knocking off Florida but Florida State came up short, once again.

Being a state champion takes on a whole new meaning when dealing with teams of this caliber. Few states can boast even having one dominant program, let alone three year in and year out. Few other programs can attribute as much of their success to homegrown talent. Miami, Florida and Florida State combined have 164 players on their roster that come from in-state. The Canes lead that pack with 61 Floridians on the current squad, followed by the Gators with 53 and the Noles with 50. Rivalries that began on the Pop Warner fields were carried into high school and renewed in college. Your biggest rival growing up might be playing next to you while your childhood best friend is defending against you and trying to secure a win for your opponent.

Some of the most heated in-state rivalries eventually find themselves in the major spotlight of the NFL. When Miami and Florida State went head to head in the late 80s it was the Canes’ Michael Irvin establishing his “playmaker” type moves against Deion Sanders of the Noles. A few years later it was Irvin as a Cowboy and Sanders as a Niner in some classic NCF battles.

Lord knows how many more future individual rivalries will form season after season.

Regardless, the team rivalries will always take precedence. As each passing Cane, Gator or Nole experiences their stay at their respective universities there are monumental games just waiting to be played.

This 2003 season will bring another “round robin” determination of the state champion. The Canes welcome the visiting Gators in September and travel to Tallahassee the following month. Florida gets Florida State in Gainesville late in November. Miami can end the anticipation early again by sweeping both teams early and securing the Florida Cup by October – again, making the Gators vs. Noles post Thanksgiving match up virtually meaningless.

While we will have to wait several months before another Florida Cup challenge is served, a rivalry of a different kind is right around the corner.

Recruiting 2003. Tune in next month to see which Florida school earns a virtual recruiting championship on Signing Day as the most talented athletes in the nation decide whether they will become a Cane, Gator or Nole for their next four years. The Big Three – always competing. Par for the course when you are the nation’s elite. The best players at the best schools competing for the biggest prize.

Welcome to football in the state of Florida. As good as it gets.



Born and raised in Miami, FL and a CanesTime.com guest columnist since 1996, Chris Bello now resides in San Diego, CA. Feel free to send your comments or to contact him for potential writing assignments at cbello@san.rr.com.