Blame it on the Washington Huskies.
After a series of disappointing, subpar seasons in the mid-1990s, the famous Hurricane swagger had finally returned to Coral Gables for the 2000 season. Miami took a #4 ranking and a squad brimming with talent to Seattle to face the 15th-ranked Huskies. The Hurricanes expected to beat Washington solidly before heading into Big East conference play against West Virginia.
Instead, Washington stormed to a 21-3 halftime lead before hanging on for a nail-biting 34-29 win. Mumblings ensued. Maybe Miami wasn’t back after all. The old Hurricanes. The ones that won 4 National Titles in just 9 years.
But what the naysayers at the time didn’t see was that a butterfly effect had been set in motion. Once Miami packed up their cleats and left Husky Stadium, the Hurricanes would not lose again until January 3, 2003. 35 games later.
As it was, the 5-point loss in Seattle cost the 2000 Hurricanes a chance at Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl for a National Title. Florida State ( a team the Hurricanes beat that season) would get the nod instead. And lose.
But what started after that loss in Washington was not only the 6th longest win-streak in college football history. It was the launch of a perfect storm. The most talented college football team ever assembled would have something to prove to the media, the fans, the BCS computers and the NCAA powers-that-be…
The 2001 Hurricanes weren’t merely the best college football team of the season. They were the best ever.
Let’s look at the statistics.
Miami’s 2001 schedule and results:
Beat Penn State 33-7
Beat Rutgers 61-0
Beat Pittsburgh 43-21
Beat Troy State 38-7
Beat Florida State 49-27
Beat West Virginia 45-3
Beat Temple 38-0
Beat Boston College 18-7
Beat Syracuse 59-0
Beat Washington 65-7
Beat Virginia Tech 26-24
Beat Nebraska 37-14
Miami scored 512 total points in 12 games for an average of 42 points per game while they only relinquished 117 for an average of 9 points per game. The Hurricane offense racked up 5,475 total yards on the season while the defense only allowed 3,239.
So dominant were the 2001 Hurricanes that they only trailed twice the entire season. Once versus Pittsburgh when the Panthers took a 7-6 lead in the first quarter. And once against Virginia Tech who scored the only points of the first quarter with a field goal. Even so, Miami took a 20-3 lead by the half and would never relinquish it. Miami never trailed any of its opponents past the early second quarter.
The Key Games.
Miami vs. Florida State. October 13, 2001
Miami started the season with four blowouts, beating Penn State, Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Troy State by a combined score of 175-35. But the Hurricanes’ payback for the way the 2000 season shook out would not begin in earnest until Larry Coker’s team made its way to Doak Campbell Stadium to face arch-intsate-nemesis Florida State.
Hurricane players first vandalized the midfield Chief Osceola mural during the Friday walk-through and then vandalized the Seminoles themselves by way of six turnovers. Miami was a squad of thieves as they rumbled their way to a 49-20 third-quarter lead. By the sixth Miami touchdown, Bobby Bowden coached the remainder of the game in a catatonic state, his glassed-over eyes hidden from the world by a pair of Ray-Bans. Florida State added one last touchdown in the 4th quarter for the final tally, but Miami’s revenge was convincing and complete.
Miami vs. Boston College. November 10, 2001
As long as revenge was on the slate for the 2001 season, the hitmen of Miami had a nicely scheduled trip to Boston for a 17-year-old score to settle. Nevermind that the Hurricanes had beaten the Eagles 11 times since the 1984 Miracle in Miami in which Doug Floutie rifled a pass 64 yards into the plump hands of Gerard Phelan to steal a win at the Orange Bowl. Payback was the order of the day.
Except Boston College had other plans. The Eagles picked off Ken Dorsey four times and were stingy in the redzone as they kept the Hurricane offense from scoring anything but field goals the entire game. With 5 turnovers in all, it was up to the Hurricane defense to seal the win.
Allowing BC just one touchdown (following one of Dorsey’s interceptions), the Hurricanes clinched it with an 80-yard interception return, turning the Hurricane’s precarious 5-point lead into an insurmountable 18-7 final.
Dorsey himself said he played easily his worst game of the season — and in a Big East rival’s backyard.
And yet, thanks to a crushing defense, the Hurricanes still walked away the victors.
Miami vs. Syracuse. November 17, 2001
One week after Miami’s close call in Boston, the Hurricanes would host Syracuse. The Orangemen were on an 8-game win streak and were serious contenders for the 2001 Big East crown.
Well, they were before kick off in the Orange Bowl, at any rate.
Dorsey learned his lesson from the week before about playing a stale, mistake-prone game. The Hurricanes would blast Syracuse for 566 total yards, 25 first downs and seven offensive touchdowns in route to a 59-0 massacre.
There’s not much to say about the game itself, other than that Miami had firmly reestablished the conference pecking order. And with that out of the way, it was on to another revenge match…
Miami vs. Washington. November 24, 2001
The butterfly effect that started in Seattle 14 months earlier finally came full circle when the Washington Huskies landed in Miami late in the 2001 season. Those initial flutters of insect wings had grown into a gale force. And what took place on November 24th wasn’t pretty.
Washington brought an 8-2 record and a #12 ranking with them to the Orange Bowl. They had impressive wins against Michigan, USC and Washington State to boast.
But they also brought the baggage of having sullied the Hurricanes’ National Title hopes the previous year. By halftime, it was like watching a pack of jackals rip out the guts of an impala. The Hurricanes blistered Washington for over 400 total yards and seven turnovers enroute to a 65-7 plastering.
Another vendetta checked off the list.
Miami vs. Virginia Tech. December 1, 2001
Another surprisingly close game in the backyard of a Big East rival.
The Hokies were 8-2 and ranked #13. But they hadn’t really beaten anybody of note. Miami was undefeated and owner of the longest win streak in the country. It should have been an easy Miami win.
And in every facet but the scoreboard, Miami did dominate. The Hurricanes posted nearly double the total yards of Virginia Tech. Racked up more than twice as many 1st downs. Forced 5 turnovers, to 2 of their own. But still, when Virginia Tech’s game-tying two-point conversion fell short half way through the fourth quarter, Miami’s players and fans alike found themselves holding their collective breaths.
Chalk it up to Miami perhaps looking ahead to the post season or bad field position or the infamously inspired special teams play known as “Beamer Ball”. Whatever it was, the better team survived (just barely) and would move on to the National Title game in Pasadena, California.
Miami vs. Nebraska. The Rose Bowl. January 3, 2002.
34-0 at halftime.
The final score of Miami 37, Nebraska 14 may look somewhat respectable on the losing team’s part, but it should be noted with an asterisk. Miami flat out dominated the 2002 Rose Bowl. Or, at least, the Hurricanes so manhandled the Cornhuskers in the first half, that no matter what Nebraska did in the second period (or what Miami didn’t do) never really mattered.
Miami’s talented defense held Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch and the vaunted Husker offense to just 259 total yards. Dorsey, meanwhile, lit up the boards with 362 yards passing alone. The second quarter in particular was a nightmare for the Cornhuskers as Miami pasted them with four touchdowns to take that 34-point lead into the lockers.
While grumblings persisted before kickoff that Nebraska shouldn’t even be in the game, that perhaps once-beaten Oregon was a more worthy opponent, by the time the dust settled, there would be no doubt who was the best team of 2001.
So how do the 2001 Miami Hurricanes rank amongst the best college football teams ever?
I have a system for ranking them. You can read the method here:
How to calculate the greatest college football team ever.
When this argument rears its head on sports shows and internet forums across the United States, 2001 Miami appears on a short list with 2004 USC, 2005 Texas, 1995 Nebraska, 1972 USC and 1971 Nebraska. Hurricane supporters often cite a variety of components to their team’s claim to greatest:
1. The ungodly talent. Indeed a full 16 members of the 2001 roster were selected in the first round of the NFL drafts, going from 2002 to 2005. The 2001 team also ended up with 6 All-Americans and had numerous finalists for national awards including the Heisman, Outland and Maxwell awards.
2. The domination of traditional powers like Penn State, Florida State, Washington and Nebraska. Miami beat these four schools by a combined score of 184-55. In all, Miami waylaid 6 opponents who finished in the AP Top 25, demolishing four of them.
The talent is undeniable. But does that necessarily translate into best “team” ever?
Other teams on the short list of “best ever” often crushed seemingly equal-caliber opponents. And so did 2001 Miami. But what’s perplexing are the two close calls versus mediocre Boston College and Virginia Tech.
One wonders if the Boston College game might have been different had the nation’s leading rusher, William Green, not been suspended prior to the match. Green averaged over six yards per carry for the Eagles in 2001. A Greenless BC could only manage a three-yard rushing average versus Miami.
Have other “best teams ever” found themselves in the position of almost losing to noticeably lesser teams?
Well, 2004 USC had brushes with upsets vs. UCLA, Oregon State and California. Cal was a bona fide Top 10 team that year. The Bruins and Beavers were most certainly not.
2005 Texas’ had only two close games. But they were versus two top 5 opponents, USC and Ohio State.
1971 Nebraska had one close game against second-ranked Oklahoma.
1972 USC had no close games and beat 4 Top 20 finishers.
1995 Nebraska also had no close games and beat 4 Top 10 finishers.
So it’s hard to say how much the two close-calls Miami had hurts them in the “best ever” standings. They are, at the very least, in the same league with 2004 USC. Mighty fine company in all respects.
One must also wonder if coaching quality puts Miami behind the other members of the list. Larry Coker inherited an extremely talented team and a program on the rebound. He sustained that quality in the waning years of Miami’s participation in the Big East Conference. But once Miami moved to the ACC, a precipitous decline in the Hurricane football program culminated in a 7-6 run in 2006. And Coker got fired.
The coaches of the other great teams on the list include John McKay, Tom Osborne, Pete Carroll and Mack Brown. Coaches who either built teams to national prominence or revived them or simply sustained them (or maybe a little of all three). Coker was the opposite. He took a program from the top and dragged it to (if not the gutter) at least the curb.
That may also be a testament to the talent of the 2001 Hurricanes. To have a subpar coach and still dominate the way the Hurricanes did for three full seasons is nothing short of astonishing.
There’s no question that 2001 Miami belongs on the short list of best teams ever. Whether or not the are the absolute best is clearly debatable.
But are they the most “talented” squad of college gridiron athletes ever assembled?
Now that’s a question I won’t debate.
