While thousands of Miami Hurricanes fans flocked north to Tallahassee to watch the Canes take on the Florida State Seminoles Oct. 7, there was still a stronghold of Miami students holding down the fort on campus.
The Rathskellar, the University of Miami on-campus sports bar, hosted a watch party for the clash between the two ACC rival football teams.
The Hurricanes emerged victorious after a go-ahead touchdown in the waning moments to give the Canes a 24-20 win. This victory snapped a seven-year losing streak to the Seminoles.
At that moment, the decibel level at the watch party reached its peak.
“Everyone seemed to be sitting on the edge of their seat during most of the game wondering if we would pull through in the end or suffer another year,” senior Isaac Furtney said. “The entire room erupted during our winning touchdown.”
The atmosphere was electric. There was a sea of boos when the Seminoles first took the field, and there was an equally loud round of cheering when the Hurricanes came onto the scene.
“I feel like the Rat is sort of the embodiment of the spirit of the U, and I can’t think of a better place I would have rather watched the game,” junior Gregory Mintz said after the Hurricanes won the game.
The event was organized through a collaboration between the Rathskellar advisory board, Category 5 and the Rathskellar management.
Category 5 is UM’s student-run spirit programming committee. Junior Madison Brown, the chairperson of the Rathskellar advisory board, estimates nearly 450 people attended the watch party.
Although Category 5 cosponsored the event, there were no Cat 5 team members working the watch party. According to Brown, this is largely because a majority of the members were in Tallahassee to watch the game in person.
Students at the “Rat” had reasons for staying in town – ranging from habit to convenience.
“It is a long trip, and on top of that, I have a test on Tuesday,” Mintz said.
For both the Rat staff and advisory board team, this event was large. According to Brown, the bar was almost at capacity.
“I definitely was not expecting to see this many people,” Brown said.
Employee Meredith Morris said Saturdays are usually their slow days.
Brown had ways to garner such a large crowd. The first 50 students in attendance received free chicken wings and many got free T-shirts.
The Rathskellar hosts watch parties for every away Miami football game.