Just when college football fans thought there couldn’t possibly be another exciting chapter written in the legendary series between the Hurricanes and Seminoles, some anonymous author goes and writes a whole new novel.
There have been wide rights, wide lefts, and games played in monsoons and the scorching heat, but this time it was different. Call it “Block I” if you want. Last Friday night, all ‘Canes fans had that same sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach that they had two years ago when Xavier Beitia lined up to kick the game winning field goal, but this time the snap was better, he was in the closed end zone and everything pointed to the Seminoles finally breaking the curse.
Wait, who are we kidding here? Sophomore Devin Hester saved Miami’s season by sprinting around the corner and blocking the kick.
On the ensuing drive, Brock Berlin brought us all back to reality as many fans headed to the exits following the interception on a deep ball to Sinorice Moss that, in all fairness, wasn’t anyone that wore green and orange’s fault. Maybe the “Orange Bowl Voodoo” had run dry.
Antrel Rolle, Baraka Atkins, and Kelly Jennings gave Miami one more chance. How could people head for the exits when everyone knows Bobby Bowden is standing on the visitor’s sideline? By the way, Bowden will never beat the Hurricanes again, mark my words.
The final drive was, to say the least, just your usual fourth quarter comeback heroic drive that has happened so many times in the historic confines of the big horseshoe in Little Havana. Berlin had done it against Florida and West Virginia, why not add the Seminoles to the list? Starting at their own twenty, all they had to do was do something they hadn’t done since last January: score a touchdown.
The Hurricanes started with 1:22 left with an incomplete pass to Ryan Moore, who turned himself into a defensive back by swatting the ball away from a guy who had been a pain in Miami’s backside all game long: Antonio Cromartie.
After a 25-yard pass to Roscoe Parrish, there was a flag. Berlin was hit after he threw the ball and didn’t even get knocked down. Nonetheless, add 15 yards to that catch, and all of a sudden Miami is across the 50 yard-line. Starting to see it a little better now? I would love to know what was being said on the Florida State sideline. After two plays, Moss etched himself forever in the memories of ‘Canes fans, just like his brother Santana, as he scampered and juked for a 30-yard touchdown against Cromartie’s replacement. The Orange Bowl was sent into a frenzy, and of course we knew what was coming next. The Hurricanes knew it, the fans knew it, the Seminoles knew it all too well, and of course their fans knew it as they and their band stood as silent as could be.
That’s four miraculous comebacks in two plus years for me. Hopefully our offense can get on the same page as our defense and I won’t have a heart attack before my 21st birthday. To whomever the author is, please, no more novels, just 1-2 pages from now on.
Douglas Kroll can be contacted at d.kroll@umiami.edu.