Miami Memories
September 29, 2003 04:50 PM | General
September 29, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Even though West Virginia is a substantial underdog against No. 2-ranked Miami this Thursday, and the Mountaineers haven’t exactly set the world on fire in the Orange Bowl, there have been some competitive and interesting West Virginia-Miami football games in the past.
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| Shawn Foreman's catch in the end zone was ruled out of bounds in West Virginia's 17-12 loss at Miami in 1995. (AP photo) |
Miami owns an 8-2 all-time record against West Virginia in the Orange Bowl, and Thursday night’s meeting will be the Mountaineers’ last game at Miami in the foreseeable future.
Here is a look at some competitive West Virginia-Miami games at the Orange Bowl through the years:
1956
#3 Miami 18, West Virginia 0
Miami came into this game riding an 11-game win streak dating back to the 1955 season. The only blemish during the span was a 7-7 tie to Georgia. Miami owned impressive wins over No. 17-ranked South Carolina and shutout triumphs against both TCU and Clemson.
Coach Andy Gustafson’s Hurricanes had one of the nation’s stingiest defenses in 1956, giving up just 106.4 yards per game on the ground going into the West Virginia game.
The Mountaineers also possessed a tough run defense giving up an average of 131.6 yards per game, but close losses to Pitt, Syracuse and Penn State dampened hopes fueled by a surprising 7-6 win at Texas in October.
Still, West Virginia was a dangerous team having scored points in 54 straight games.
Yet Miami’s suffocating defense proved too much for West Virginia, which managed just three first downs in the first half. The Hurricanes got a 16-yard field goal from Ed Oliver, an 80-yard touchdown pass from Bonnie Yarbrough and a safety from Don Wallace to take a 12-0 halftime lead. The Hurricanes tacked on another score in the fourth quarter for an 18-0 victory.
Not only did West Virginia fail to score for the first time since 1951, but the loss to Miami snapped a streak of four straight years in which West Virginia managed to win at least seven games.
1973
West Virginia 20, Miami 14
West Virginia needed a long pass from backup quarterback Ben Williams to speedster Marshall Mills to pull out a 20-14 victory over Miami in this 1973 game.
West Virginia coach Bobby Bowden was down to his third quarterback after watching his top two signalcallers – Chuck Fiorante and Ade Dillon – go down with injuries in the Penn State loss. Up until then, Williams’ most noticeable distinction was being the first African-American to ever quarterback the Mountaineers.
Williams did get significant duty in a mop-up roll against Penn State, passing for 166 yards including a 96-yard touchdown pass to Danny Buggs.
Miami was in the midst of a difficult schedule that saw the Hurricanes upset Texas, 20-15 to start the season and also have notable wins against Florida State, Boston College and Syracuse, and losses to nationally ranked Oklahoma and Houston.
The Hurricanes not only graduated All-Americans Chuck Foreman and Burgess Owens, but were also undergoing a coaching change when Pete Elliott replaced former UM quarterback Fran Curci following the ’72 season.
Miami still had a pretty good nucleus of players led by All-American middle guard Dennis Harrah, a South Charleston native, and defensive tackle Rubin Carter.
Trailing Miami 14-13 late in the fourth quarter, West Virginia took over at its own five yard line. Battling fits of nervous nausea, Williams led West Virginia downfield. He completed 4 of 8 passes on the drive including two key third-down passes.
With the ball resting at the Miami 32 with 24 seconds left, Bowden was thinking field goal to win the game 16-14. Instead, offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti convinced Bowden to try one long pass down the near sideline to Mills. The play called for Williams to run to his left, stop, and then heave a long pass across the field to Mills. The play unfolded just as Cignetti hoped, Williams fired a perfect strike to the Morristown, Tenn., native, and West Virginia had its biggest upset of the ’73 season.
1992
#1 Miami 35, West Virginia 23
West Virginia’s 12-point loss at No. 1-ranked Miami in 1992 provided the Mountaineers with a moral victory of sorts. The previous year WVU was never in the game, losing a 27-3 decision to the No. 3-rated Hurricanes. And while West Virginia really wasn’t in this game either, it did score three touchdowns in the final 3:18 to make Miami coach Dennis Erickson uneasy.
“At least we didn’t quit,” said West Virginia coach Don Nehlen.
Gino Toretta made his case for the Heisman Trophy by throwing for 363 yards and three touchdowns in helping Miami roll up a 35-3 lead. With UM star Lamar Thomas watching the fourth quarter on the sidelines with his pads off, West Virginia backup quarterback Darren Studstill fired touchdown passes to James Jett (18 yards) and Ed Hill (10 and 7 yards) to give the Hurricanes something to pay attention to.
“We played good for 54 minutes,” said Erickson. “We tried to get the second guys in there and it almost backfired. It’s disappointing.”
The fourth quarter surge helped WVU finish with 446 yards of total offense. Studstill completed 23 of 41 passes for a career-high 308 yards.
West Virginia’s 23 points were the most scored against a Miami team during it's long home winning streak. Florida State scored the same amount on Nov. 1, 1986.
1995
#25 Miami 17, West Virginia 12
No. 25 Miami needed a goal line stand with four minutes left in the game to defeat West Virginia, 17-12 in this 1995 game.
West Virginia drove 69 yards to the Miami one, but Jimmy Gary was thrown for a six-yard loss on third down and quarterback Chad Johnston threw incomplete on fourth down to turn the ball back over to the fired-up ‘Canes.
The loss eliminated West Virginia from bowl contention at 4-6 and left West Virginia coach Don Nehlen fuming at the officials after the game.
“They blew so many calls that you can’t keep track of how many calls they blew,” said a fiesty Nehlen after the game.
One call that sticks out in most people's minds was a close decision in the third quarter that cost West Virginia a touchdown. Officials ruled that Shawn Foreman fell out of bounds in the back of the end zone before catching a third-down pass, although television replays clearly showed he made the reception in bounds.
Despite that, West Virginia had a total of six chances to cross the goal line inside the Miami 10. West Virginia special teams, which proved disastrous in a loss to Miami in Morgantown in 1996, also played a part in the loss. The Mountaineers had an extra point blocked, a punt blocked and another punt deflected that traveled just four yards.
West Virginia out-rushed Miami 153-126 and out-gained the Hurricanes 309-244 for the game. West Virginia led at halftime, 9-7.
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| Amos Zereoue ran for 206 yards and two touchdowns against Miami in 1997. (AP photo) |
1997
West Virginia 28, Miami 17
Running back Amos Zeroeue showed the 39,270 at the Orange Bowl and several million more watching on CBS that he was a big-time runner. The sophomore ran for a then career-high 206 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead West Virginia to its first win in Miami since 1973.
Sophomore quarterback Marc Bulger also proved he was up to the task, firing a 26-yard touchdown pass to Shawn Foreman early in the fourth quarter to give West Virginia a lead it would not relinquish.
In the second half, West Virginia overcame the South Florida heat to out-gain Miami 111 to minus-one.
“We got ourselves in trouble in the second half physically and we were really struggling. But I thought our kids were just brilliant,” said West Virginia coach Don Nehlen. “The amazing thing is we got stronger in the head and I thought (Miami) started to wilt a little bit.”
Zereoue had a big day, scoring on long touchdown runs of 54 and 31 yards, but it was Bulger’s play in the clutch that won the game for WVU. He completed 17 of 27 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns.
“I thought Marc Bulger was great,” said Nehlen. “He gets better every minute, in his demeanor and the way he handles things. Nothing rattles him. He missed a check one time and that hurt us, but other than that he was flawless. He had some big, big plays.”
One of them was a third-down pass that Bulger lofted beautifully to Foreman, who made a leaping catch in the end zone to turn a 17-14 deficit into a 21-17 lead. At one point Miami held a 17-7 lead in the first half.
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| Quarterback Kenny Kelly passed for 268 yards and two touchdowns to lead Miami to a 28-20 come-from-behind win in 1999. (AP photo) |
1999
#23 Miami 28, West Virginia 20
West Virginia staked out to a 13-0 halftime lead, but couldn’t hold on in Miami’s 28-20 come-from-behind victory.
The game introduced freshman Clinton Portis to the college football world. The backup tailback scored two second-half touchdowns and finished the game with 104 yards on 17 carries.
The Mountaineers struck first when quarterback Marc Bulger hit Jerry Porter in stride for a 43-yard touchdown. WVU tacked on six more on a pair of Jay Taylor field goals to take a 13-point lead into the locker room at the break.
After stuffing West Virginia on its first possession of the second half, Miami got back into the game when James Jackson scored on a 17-yard run.
West Virginia answered with an 80-yard drive that culminated with an Avon Cobourne six-yard TD run to make the score 20-7, West Virginia.
From there it was all down hill for West Virginia. Miami capitalized on a Bulger’s third interception when tight end Bubba Franks caught an eight-yard Kenny Kelly pass for a touchdown. The ‘Canes took their first lead of the game with 10:17 left when Kelly eluded WVU defensive tackle Antwan Lake and fired a nine-yard pass to Portis for a touchdown.
Portis sealed the game with 1:49 remaining when he dove over the pile for a one-yard touchdown.
Bulger completed 32 of 48 passes for 346 yards and a touchdown, but the Pittsburgh native was intercepted four times.
Kelly, who came into the game questionable due to an injury, passed for 268 yards and two touchdowns. It was the second straight week Miami overcame a halftime deficit to win a game. The week before, Boston College jumped out to a 28-0 halftime lead, only to lose 31-28.
