No. 16: Miami, 1986
June 20, 2010 10:14 PM | General
July 15, 2010
Sports information director Joe Boczek chuckles whenever he recalls the time he once walked in on a meeting Don Nehlen was having with his defensive coordinator Denny Brown before West Virginia’s game against No. 1-ranked Miami on Oct. 11, 1986.
“(Nehlen) said, ‘Denny, can we stop them? Do we have a chance?’ Brown said, ‘Yeah Don, if your offense can get us 60,'" Boczek laughed.
It turns out Brown was pretty close. Miami only scored 58.
Nehlen has always been known for building up opponents, once even calling a winless Temple team “flat out scary … to a degree.”
This time, Nehlen wasn’t pulling any punches when he was asked to give his impression of the top-ranked Hurricanes, 23-point favorites over the Mountaineers.
“Miami probably has the best personnel on a football team that I have seen in my 29 years of coaching,” Nehlen said. “Even without (quarterback) Vinny Testaverde, they would be a Top 10 team. But with him they are a special team.”
Nehlen didn’t stop there.
“I really don’t know of a kid in their starting lineup offensively who is not a real good football player. When they run with the football, they go down the sideline and the defensive backs come up for the tackle then but they just hurdle right over them and never break a stride. It’s unheard of.”
Even ABC analyst Lynn Swann, assigned to cover the game, had a difficult time trying to figure out how West Virginia was going to stay in the game.
“It basically comes down to this: who’s trying to kid whom? Miami is a big favorite,” Swann said. “If West Virginia stays close to Miami, to a certain degree, it’s an upset. If it’s a six or seven-point game, people will ask: what happened to Miami?”
Nehlen and Brown decided their only chance of staying in the game was to bring pressure just as it did two years prior in shutting down Boston College’s Doug Flutie.
After a John Holifield fumble on West Virginia’s opening possession gave Miami the ball at the WVU 19, West Virginia fans got a glimmer of hope when Alonzo Highsmith was thrown for a two-yard loss and then linebacker Matt Smith came through on a blitz to sack Testaverde for a loss of 12 more. But on third and 24, Testaverde coolly flipped a 27-yard pass to Brian Blades to the 6, and following a penalty, he hooked up with Michael Irvin for an 11-yard touchdown.
Within the first 5 ½ minutes of the game Miami had 21 points on the scoreboard. By the end of the first quarter it was 28-0. Early in the third quarter it was 49-7 and Testaverde spent the rest of the game sitting on top of his helmet watching the backups roll to a 58-14 victory. Testaverde completed 14 of 20 passes for 188 yards and three touchdowns before his early exit.
Melvin Bratton, who injured his knee while fumbling a ball that was recovered in the end zone for another Hurricane touchdown, was wheeled off the field on a stretcher. As Bratton was being pulled toward the locker room he blew kisses to the crowd.
It was West Virginia’s worse home loss since Pitt beat West Virginia 52-7 in 1978, and the most points given up by the Mountaineers since 1973 when Penn State scored 62.
