Five Long Years Since 9/11

Five years ago the AP photo above ran on some sports sites. I can't recall which, but the shot of our beloved Orange Bowl with our flag at half mast remained indelible in my memory.

I saved the pic and figured I'd use in an article somewhere down the line.

Now's the time.

Five years ago today the biggest tragedy on US soil occurred. Five years later, people are still recovering; though some wounds are never going to heal.

There is little light I can shed on 9/11 which you won't see on countless documentaries this week. Katie Couric and the CBS Nightly News will obviously roll out something big, her second week on the job.

As for this day in Hurricanes history, Miami was 2-0 on the season - year one in the Larry Coker era. A 33-7 win over Penn State and 41-0 shutout of Rutgers had the Canes sitting pretty at #1 in the nation.

September 11th fell on a Tuesday in 2001 and Miami was four days away from a rematch against Washington in the Orange Bowl. The same Huskies team who blemished the Canes unbeaten campaign in 2000, keeping The U out of the championship game and the same bunch to end Miami's 58-home game win streak back in 1994.

Safe to say, the Canes had this game circled on the calendar.

Terrorism struck home and all college football was cancelled on Saturday September 15th - when the photo above was taken. Instead of almost 80,000 cheering Miami on to victory against Washington - the sacred stadium was eerily silent, as was a wounded nation in mourning.

The Canes endured a 19-day layoff between the Rutgers win and an eventual 43-21 Thursday night victory at Pittsburgh on September 27th. Miami would eventually take down Washington 65-7 on November 24th en route to a 12-0 season and the program's fifth National Championship.

Five years ago all was well at The U. Coker had taken over for Butch Davis, the team was full of vocal leaders (Ken Dorsey and Ed Reed still prove irreplaceable) and the Canes were 12 games into what eventually grew to a 34-game win streak.

Five years later, Coker's bunch is 52-10 in this post-9/11 era and by the reaction of some fans, you'd think this record was as big of a tragedy.

I admit that I'm the first to be critical of Miami's 23-9 record in our past 32 games. It's far cry from Coker's 31-1 mark the first 32 times he took the field as the Canes' head coach. Still, on a day like today coaching records seem rather meaningless. As does the loss to Florida State and any nervous energy regarding this weekend's trek to Louisville.

Keep it all in perspective, people. As cliché as it sounds, there are things more important than college football.

While that statement might not ring true the other 364 days of the year - on the five year anniversary of 9/11, I can't think of anything more poignant.

God bless all those who are still hurting today.



.:Canes305:.