The Miami Hurricanes have had some very memorable moments out in the desert during their championship eras. Unfortunately, they haven’t been good ones. The Hurricanes are 0-4 all time in the Fiesta Bowl, a place that’s been just a cursed experience for them during their otherwise glorious runs during the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s.
That can change next week in the big bouncy-house-looking a stadium called State Farm Arena, where the VRBO Fiesta Bowl will take place between the Canes and the Ole Miss Rebels.
I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the event. My first memory of the Fiesta Bowl goes back to the January 1987 game between Miami and Penn State. It’s probably my very earliest college football memory in the deep recesses of my mind. The hated Canes went into Tempe undefeated and with a swagger that was off the charts. Joe Paterno’s Penn State was the underdog and were the supposed good guys (a complete joke in retrospect, but still). Unfortunately, Vinny Testaverde’s career-worst game came at the absolute worst possible time. He threw five interceptions that completely derailed Miami’s chances of winning, with the last one coming at the goal line with 15 seconds left to give Penn State a 14-10 win. A brutal ending to what had been a very special season up until that point.
On the positive side for me (a Tennessee and Miami alumnus), the Vols went out to the desert and claimed their first national title in 47 years on January 4, 1999 by knocking off Florida State 23-16. Even Miami fans have to appreciate that.
Of course, the next time one of my schools played in the Fiesta Bowl was January 2003. I don’t need to relive that. I haven’t watched it again since Dorsey’s pass fell incomplete in double overtime. Only the clips that the media shoves in my face from time to time to remind me of what happened that terrible Arizona night when Terry Porter reached for his flag with players and coaches already on the field celebrating. I knew the wife of one player from class, and she told me they had already put Miami’s sticker on the trophy, and when they couldn’t get Miami’s off, they put the Ohio State one over it. If that’s true, sheesh.
But yeah, this game has been truly awful to Miami with national championship stakes on the line. Fortunately, the game isn’t played in the house of horrors that is Sun Devil Stadium anymore, shifting years ago to State Farm Arena. This Miami team is a three-point favorite over Ole Miss, and even though they have a lot of distractions going on in Oxford with their coaching staff, Trinidad Chambliss might be the best offensive player in college football.
Still, no team is playing tougher and more physical than the team from Coral Gables. And as we’ve seen, when you can punch teams in the mouth and control a game physically, not much else matters. Including an unlucky history in the desert.