The Miami Hurricanes were the defending national champions in 1992, along with the Washington Huskies.

But, it was the Hurricanes that began the 1992 season ranked number 1.

A lot of their top billing was because of the return of starting quarterback Gino Torretta and many other players. The offense was loaded. Wide receivers Horace Copeland, Lamar Thomas, Kevin Williams and Darryl Spencer were more than likely the very best in college football in 1992. Coleman Bell at tight end was spectacular and they returned offensive linemen like Mario Cristobal and Rudy Barber. Stephen McGuire returned at running back and he had run all over the Seminoles in 1991.

As good as their offense was, their defense may have been even better and it all started up front. Defensive ends Kevin Patrick and Darren Krein lived in opponents backfields. Mark Caesar was a top defensive tackle and young Warren Sapp was just starting to come along.

At linebacker, the Hurricanes returned the Bermuda Triangle of Michael Barrow, Jessie Armstead and Darrin Smith. These guys were among the top groups of linebackers on one team in the history of the game. They hit hard and made a lot of plays and many of them behind the opponents line of

scrimmage.

Ryan McNeal was a returning super star at cornerback in a loaded secondary.

To top that off, Miami had won 47 straight home games in the Orange Bowl. This would be no picnic for the Florida State Seminoles.

Miami opened up with a fairly easy victory against Iowa on the road. The Hawkeyes were ranked 23rd, and were solid and especially at home. But, the Canes came away with a 24-7 win.

Next was a cake walk with Florida A&M, but then the Hurricanes struggled with Arizona at home in the Orange Bowl and just won, 8-7. What people and pollsters didn’t know at the time was that this Arizona team was at the beginning of one of their best times in their program with their Desert Swarm defense that just absolutely crushed offenses. The following season, the Wildcats would be much stronger and would stomp Miami in the Fiesta Bowl, but nobody at this time was aware of them.

As a result of this game, the Hurricanes dropped to number 2 in the polls with rival Florida State looming.

If the Miami Hurricanes were loaded, then so were the Florida State Seminoles. Bobby Bowden had built a monster in Tallahassee and they did not like Miami and were seeking revenge for the previous seasons’ Wide Right experience.

Unlike Miami, the Seminoles did not return their starter at quarterback. Casey Weldon had moved on along with his back up, Brad Johnson. But, all was not lost as along came a legend in Florida State football history and their very first Heisman winner.

Charlie Ward had played enough to leave the Florida State faithful drooling over his potential and he was proving it in 1992. Ward’s back up was Danny Kanell who would be a star in his own right after Ward graduated.

Sean Jackson and Tiger McMillon were the main running backs and William Floyd was a fantastic fullback.

At wide receiver, Kez McCorvey, Matt Frier, Kevin Knox, Shannon Baker and a young kid named Tamarick Vanover were all very talented.

Robbie Baker was back at center to lead the offensive line.

Florida State also had some stars on defense, like Miami. Marvin Jones was an All American

linebacker and led the defense, but there were other stars at linebacker and all around him. Up front, Dan Footman, Carl Simpson, Toddrick McIntosh and Derrick Alexander were just dominating. Along with Jones, linebackers Ken Alexander, Derrick Brooks and Reggie Freeman were as good as any outside of the Bermuda Triangle and an argument could be made that they were equals.

Clifton Abraham, Corey Sawyer, Leon Fowler and John Davis patrolled the secondary and were incredible. Devin Bush was waiting his turn to play if that tells you anything about the quality here.

Florida State came into the game ranked 3rd and they had something to prove. Plus, that little thing about a missed field goal was eating at them.

The Noles opened up with Duke at home and really took it to the Blue Devils. Of course, this was Florida State’s first season in the ACC so, Duke was a conference game.

The following week, the Seminoles really struggled with 15th ranked Clemson before winning, 24-20.

Up next was 16th ranked North Carolina State, but the Wolfpack was no problem and Florida State roughed them up, 34-13. They beat Wake Forest 35-7 to come into the Miami game with a perfect 4-0 record and plenty of desire.

It wasn’t number 1 versus number 2 like last season, but the 2nd ranked versus the 3rd ranked was about as good. It didn’t really matter to either team and they knew winning this game was a stepping stone to a possible national championship.

Florida State’s spectacular true freshman wide receiver Tamarick Vanover proved to be just that, spectacular.

He took the opening kickoff back for a touchdown. Everybody thought it was coming back because there was a flag on the ground, but it was a personal foul against the Hurricanes.

The 94 yard opening kick off return stood ,giving the Seminoles and early lead, 7-0. It was the second week in a row that Vanover returned one for a score.

Personally, I will never forget the recruitment of Vanover. He was a local kid out of Tallahassee Leon High School and he decided to stay home and play for the Seminoles, who were right in the middle of their dynasty period.

Vanover had seriously considered Miami in the recruiting process, among other teams, but everybody

wanted this young star.

Miami would gain a measure of revenge later when linebacker Michael Barrow laid out Vanover on a short pass across the middle. This game is almost as famous for this brutal hit on Vanover as it is the missed field goal.

If you were a Miami fan, a play happened on Miami’s first drive that would make you love instant replay of today’s game. Horace Copeland caught a pass from Torretta and then was running out of bounds and it appeared as if he threw the ball back into the field of play. However, he never had possession of the ball as the replay clearly showed. Seminole super cornerback Clifton Abraham picked up the supposed fumble, and attempted a return. It was a bad call by the refs and I can’t imagine that.

I hope sarcasm isn’t offensive.

It made no difference anyway as Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward threw a pick to Miami’s own super cornerback Ryan McNeal a short time later. Watching the replay, the interception was as much on freshman receiver Tamarick Vanover as it was on Ward, but quarterbacks are always blamed. An experienced receiver would have cut off McNeal and made the catch, or broken it up.

But, no harm done as the Noles stopped the Canes and then blocked the field goal attempt. Seminoles speedster Tommy Henry came around end and blocked the attempted kick, which was picked up by linebacker Derrick Brooks who might have scored if he had not been tripped up.

The first quarter ended at 7-0 with the kick return still looming large.

This time period didn’t fool around much with the short passing like today’s game, they aired it out. Their completion percentages were lower, but they threw it downfield and it was a little more exciting to the average fan.
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In the 2nd quarter, the Hurricanes drove the ball to the Florida State 6 yard line before having to settle for a short field goal by Dane Prewitt to close the gap to 7-3.

Miami took the lead when Gino Torretta hit a wide open tight end Coleman Bell for an easy touchdown. 10-7, Miami.

Later, after stopping Florida State’s offense, the Hurricanes punted the ball from their own 20 yard line and boomed a 49 yarder. Florida State’s star Corey Sawyer fielded the punt and returned it 50 yards to the Miami 19 yard line. The Noles drove the ball just 13 yards down to the Miami 6 yard line, but 3 straight incompletions by Charlie Ward resulted in a field goal by Dan Mowrey to tie the game at 10 apiece at half time.

Even though this game was happening on the 3rd of October when it should have been cooling down a bit, but dehydration was a problem in this game and especially on the Florida State sidelines. Apparently, there is a huge difference in the weather between the panhandle of Florida and Miami and that worked as an advantage for the Hurricanes. The humidity is fierce.

Neither team was all that effective on offense in the 3rd quarter, but Mowery booted a 38 yard field goal in the 3rd, and then early in the 4th he hit a longer one of just over 40 yards to give Florida State a shaky 16-10 lead in the 4th quarter.

Florida State kicker Mowery had a field goal blocked, he missed one, but made 3 in this game. He had been popping the ball up high on kickoffs to keep it away from Miami speedsters like Darryl Spencer. Maybe it was probably the adrenaline and inexperience, but Mowery kicked his next kickoff

too far and Spencer was able to run under it. Spencer took the ball out past their own 42 yard line and almost took it the distance. The nice return fired up the Cane team and they were able to move the ball.

No matter how great your defense was, there was only so much you could do in keeping the Miami passing game, with that kind of speed at wide receiver, out of the end zone. Torretta hit a streaking Lamar Thomas for a 33 yard touchdown pass.

Thomas beat a great cornerback, Clifton Abraham, to help Miami regain the lead, 17-16. Torretta was crushed on the play, by outside linebacker Ken Alexander, but he did manage to eventually get up and walk to the sideline.

Florida State returned the kickoff to their own 43, but it did not have the same effect as the Miami return had. Miami was fired up now and sacked Charlie Ward on his first drop back and then the famous hit by Michael Barrow on Tamarick Vanover was next. It was brutal and Vanover laid on the grass for a bit.

Florida State was 3 and out with the clock slowly becoming an issue in the game and suddenly it was the enemy to the Seminoles who needed at least a field goal.

As usual, the ending of a Florida State and Miami game was going to come down to the wire. These old games should be made into a movie, but I lack the money and the talent to make such a film.

Miami tried running down the clock, but Florida State stopped them at about midfield.

In the what were you thinking category, Miami punted to super punt returner Corey Sawyer who ran back into the end zone and was about to be tackled. He threw the ball out of the end zone which was an illegal forward pass and was penalized by the refs. Any infraction in the end zone is a safety which increased Miami’s lead to 19-16.

One had to feel terrible for Florida State coach Bobby Bowden on the sideline kneeling with his cap off looking flabbergasted. It was unbelievable.

After the incredible drama, Miami got the ball back after the safety with almost 3 minutes left on the clock. To keep the game interesting, maybe, the Miami running back Donnell Bennett ran the ball out of bounds to stop the clock. What? The bad decisions by players continued.

The Noles super defense stuffed the Canes and forced another punt and the ball rolled down to the Seminole 19 yard line with 1:35 left on the clock.

Florida State’s Charlie Ward rolled out and threw a deep ball incomplete on first and then threw a silly short pass to wide out Matt Frier which gained about 4 yards and kept the clock rolling.

On third, he was sacked by Miami’s incredible defensive end Darren Krein who was all over the field that day. Along with the three linebackers, the Bermuda Triangle of Michael Barrow, Darrin Smith and Jessie Armstead, plus cornerback Ryan McNeal, the Hurricane defense was outstanding all day long.

ABC actually gave the game MVP awards to Miami defensive end Darren Krein and Florida State defensive tackle Carl Simpson, so you know this was a major defensive battle and the top play was Barrow’s hit on Vanover. Marvin Jones on the Seminoles side of the ball was incredible all day as

well.

On fourth and long, fittingly, Ward hit Kez McCorvey across the middle fairly deep for a first down. Fittingly, I say, because it wouldn’t have been a Miami vs Florida State game without a wild and crazy ending coming down to the wire.

Florida State had the ball on their own 42 with 44 seconds left. Ward was an outstanding point guard in basketball and played in the NBA for years, so he was a brilliant athlete and he took off for another key first down to the Miami 41 yard line. In college, they stop the clock to move the chains, but he would have saved time by running out of bounds and he didn’t.

Ward hit Matt Frier to the 25 for another first down, but the clock was at about 23 seconds by then.

With 13 seconds left, Ward missed his target and almost threw an interception.

Now, with 8 seconds left and the ball on the 25, Bowden sent in Mowrey to tie the game. This was a few years before college football started it’s superior overtime rules, but a tie would keep the unbeaten and 3rd ranked Seminoles in the national title picture.

Again, Mowrey had kicked 5 field goals and had made 3 of them. This should have been a chip shot and should not have been a problem.

The snap was good, the hold by back up quarterback Danny Kanell looked good. But, just as Florida State kicker Gerry Thomas had done the previous year, Mowrey missed it wide right and just barely.

Game over. Miami had pulled one over on Florida State again and Wide Right 2 was born.

Miami, after downing Florida State, traveled to State College, Pennsylvania and barely beat 7th ranked Penn State next, 17-14. Still ranked #2, Miami moved in front of Washington to #1 after crushing TCU in the AP Poll.

Miami kept the top spot the rest of the season with their only tough game against 8th ranked Syracuse up in the Carrier Dome. The Dome can be a tough place to play when Syracuse is good, and Miami barely escaped with a 16-10 win.

The national title hopes and dreams all came crashing down when the Hurricanes were stunned by the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl and it wasn’t pretty. Alabama rolled them, 34-13 to win the 1992 national championship.

The Florida Seminoles bounced back. They did drop to the 8th spot in the polls after only losing on a missed field goal. They beat North Carolina, then 16th ranked Georgia Tech and then 23rd rated Virginia. After crushing Maryland and Tulane, they found themselves back in the 3rd spot in the latest polls.

The Noles had little problem with 6th ranked Florida, beating them 45-24 and finishing their season with 6 straight wins.

In the Orange Bowl, they beat 11th ranked Nebraska, 27-14.

Florida State and Bobby Bowden continued to be cursed by Miami, but their day was coming and very, very soon.

I’ll bet somewhere there’s a former Florida State kicker involved with one of these games that’s actually thinking about what went wrong and it’s haunting them. It has to be a very hard thing to get over.