As a chill breeze moves through Oxford and the leaves start to turn an array of vibrant colors, fall is in the air. Porches are lined with jack-o’-lanterns, cornstalks and Halloween lights. It’s undeniable that “spooky season” is upon us. When night falls earlier, Freddy Krueger is the least of Miami fans’ worries. Fall weather creates the perfect conditions for the most haunting of losses to creep back into RedHawk fans’ psyche.
Read on, only if you dare, to be spooked by the horrors of Miami athletics since 2000.
Football: Miami vs. University of Cincinnati 2026 (35-31)
When Miami fans arrived at TQL stadium, optimism was at quite a low. The team was shelled by the University of Pittsburgh just two weeks prior. No one would expect what happened next.
Freshman returner Scoop Smith caught the opening kickoff and began to run, 98-yards, through the Cincinnati kickoff unit for a touchdown. It was Miami’s first time with the ball and the team already had a lead. Immediately, the expectations were flipped on their head.
Redshirt-freshman quarterback David McComb moved the ball at will during the first half. The RedHawks gashed the Bearcat defense for a total of 334 yards passing. After the end of two quarters, Miami led 28-7. Cincinnati fans booed their team as they departed the field for half time. It looked like a bloodbath was coming.
In the second half, Miami was haunted by repeated special teams errors; missed field goals, botched holds and bad snaps. The lead, which at one point seemed insurmountable, began to shrink rapidly. Then, finally, it happened. With a minute and 29 seconds left in the game, running back Cole Tabb broke through the Miami defense like he was Ghostface. His touchdown gave the Bearcats a 35-31 lead.
McComb marched the team down the field and threw a ball into the endzone with just seconds remaining. Wide receiver Braylon Isom made a play on the ball, but he could not hold on.
What ensued was a vicious social media firestorm. For fans and coaches alike, this loss will continue to haunt them until the end of time.
Basketball: Miami vs UMass, Mid-American Conference tournament 2026 (87-83)
The eyes of a nation were trained on Cleveland. The nation’s only remaining undefeated team, the 2025-26 Miami men’s basketball team, was looking to stay undefeated and reach the NCAA tournament. No one was expecting the Minutemen, a team the RedHawks had dispatched twice during the regular season, to pose much of a fight in round one.
After an extremely close first half, the RedHawks extended their lead to 10 points with a little over 10 minutes left. Miami should have pulled away. Instead, UMass went on a 9-0 run and tied the game with a little over five minutes left.
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The ever-haunting Marcus Banks Jr. willed the Minutemen into the lead. Peter Suder leveled the score inside of a minute to go, however it was Banks who would get the last laugh. As UMass celebrated their defeat, Banks seemed to sneer at the camera, an image Miami fans will not soon forget.
With that, the dream of an undefeated season prior to the NCAA tournament was over. The national media began to question the resume of Miami. Although the RedHawks would reach the tournament, they could have avoided embarrassment and potentially gained an easier path in March.
Hockey: Miami vs Boston University, 2009 National Championship (4-3)
At the peak of its powers, Miami hockey was one of the premier programs in college hockey. The RedHawks made their way through the Frozen Four bracket all the way to the national championship game.
Although the Terriers scored first, Miami leveled the score early in the second period. With less than eight minutes to go, the RedHawks broke the 1-1 draw. Tommy Wingels gave Miami the lead before Trent Vogelhuber seemingly put the final nail in the coffin. The RedHawks had a 3-1 lead with a little over four minutes remaining, primed to reach the pinnacle
The celebrations were short lived. Sixty seconds before victory, Boston’s Zach Cohen drew the game within one goal. All they needed was a final 60 seconds of good defense, they got 41. Before his 14-year NHL career, Nick Bonino leveled the score of the national championship. The game went to overtime, where Colby Cohen ended Miami’s hopes of national glory.
It will forever be remembered as a collapse of epic proportions.
Wherever your Halloween adventures take you around Oxford, bogeymen, gargoyles and demons abound. This time of year RedHawk faithful must stay vigilant for cold blooded killers like Tabb, the ghoulish grin of Banks and the menacing beard of Bonino.