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What We Learned Miami's back, with a quality quarterback leading the way
By Stewart Mandel, CNNSI.com MIAMI -- The rains came like a monsoon this week, washing through the streets of Miami and its suburbs, flooding homes and cars, leaving the city partially under water. Yet none of it could compare to the storm unleashed by their Hurricanes on Saturday. Here are three things we learned from No. 7 Miami's 27-24 upset of No. 1 Florida State Saturday at the Orange Bowl: 1. Miami is back -- duh They played "We are the Champions" after the game, even though no championship had been won. They lit up the scoreboard for all to see with the all-too telling phrase "Wide Right III." It took all he could do for Dan Morgan, who grew up a Miami fan in Coral Springs, and whose first game against Florida State as a Hurricane was their 47-0 whitewashing in Tallahassee three years ago, to escape the well-wishers afterward. An embrace from offensive lineman Joaquin Gonzalez -- "We really beat them!" Gonzalez exclaimed. A shirtless male fan who wanted his picture taken with the linebacker -- "Thanks, man. F--k FSU!" "What a great day," said Morgan, who had 15 tackles and an interception, as he surveyed the postgame craziness. "What a great atmosphere. "That was still on the back of my mind coming into this game," Morgan said of the '97 debacle. "It was a devastating loss for this program. It stayed in my mind till this day." The Hurricanes could beat the UCLAs and Ohio States till the end of the time. But the word "Hurricanes" would always be followed by, "comma, once a dominant program until receiving probation in the mid-'90s, comma" until they beat their biggest rivals. Saturday, they not only beat the Seminoles, they dominated them for most of the game before surrendering two late fourth-quarter touchdowns. They would come back to win, in doing so ending FSU's 17-game win streak and letting the country know once and for all this rivalry was back on even ground. "We expected to win," an understated Butch Davis said after the biggest win of his career. "We were counting on it." They will be calling this one "Wide Right III" for the next 364 days, thanks to Matt Munyon's missed 49-yard field goal that would have sent the game to overtime. But this was far different from Wide Rights I and II, in 1991 and '92. Back then, it was FSU trying to shake the Miami monkey off its back, having yet to win a national title to the Hurricanes' four. This time, it was UM gaining salvation from a five-year drought against a program that has gone on to win two national titles and at least 10 games every year, while probation-ravaged Miami fell off the map. "They've got great players, great coaching staff and a great atmosphere," said Florida State offensive coordinator Mark Richt, himself a former Hurricanes QB. "And they were tired of losing to us." 2. Florida State may be the most one-dimensional (formerly) No. 1 team in history. It's not unrealistic to think Florida State might vault back into national title contention before the season's over. It's just unrealistic to think the 'Noles would win. The running game has completely alluded the Seminoles, despite the presence of richly talented Travis Minor and Jeff Chaney. Their only big games on the ground have come against vastly inferior competition like North Carolina and Louisville. Minor was their leading rusher Saturday -- with 36 yards. And most of it can be attributed to an offensive line that's getting manhandled. Against BYU, Georgia Tech and again Saturday against the Hurricanes, repeated attempts for Minor or Chaney very rarely went forward. As a result, the FSU offense often resembled that of a video game, where you keep chucking up the long passes till the computer figures it out. Such was the case late in the first quarter when the Seminoles, down 7-0, drove to the Miami 13, on the heels of three decently long passes. But when a Chaney run on second and 10 lost 3 yards, Chris Weinke called a timeout, then drew a delay of game. After completing a 16-yard sideline throw to Attrews Bell, he threw to the end zone on fourth and 2 only to have Miami's Edward Reed bat it down. He would come up short again in the waning seconds of the first half, throwing a quick pass from 2 yards out that UM's Morgan picked off in the end zone. The 'Canes, quite clearly, didn't think FSU would run. "We shot ourselves in the foot," Richt said. "We should have executed better on offense," said Weinke, who threw for 496 yards but completed only 10-of-26 in the first half before improving to 29-of-58 on the late touchdown drives. "I mean, two interceptions in the end zone? You can't have that." The Hurricanes, on the other hand, are not as one-dimensional. FSU's defense, unscathed much of season beforehand, could not stop their balanced attack the first half, when UM went up 17-0. Quarterback Ken Dorsey's ability to play-fake combined with the penetration of Miami's running backs getting created a lethal mix. "The key to our offense was the great play of our offensive line blocking for both the pass and the run," said Dorsey. "When you have one of the best offensive lines in the country, sometimes it looks easy." And when you have one of the most underachieving offensive lines in the country, sometimes it looks like Florida State. 3. Ken Dorsey will reestablish the Miami QB legacy Jim Kelly and Bernie Kosar were among the many former Miami greats on the sideline to watch Saturday's triumph. It was only fitting that these star QBs, who along with the Vinny Testaverdes and Gino Torrettas were synonymous with Miami's rise to a national power in the 1980s and early '90s, should be on hand for the official passing of the torch to the 19-year-old Dorsey. Torretta won his Heisman in 1992. Eight years and one too many Scott Covingtons later, the Hurricanes once again have a quarterback around whom they can showcase their program. The sophomore Dorsey wasn't perfect against FSU, but he did what the last several before him couldn't -- win. And lead a last-minute touchdown drive to do it. "I just wanted to prove myself to all the [people] out there who picked us to lose this game specifically because I was a sophomore and because I had never played them." Dorsey was sharp in the first half, completing 10-of-17 for 166 yards and staking the Hurricanes to a 17-0 lead. An offensive line that didn't allow a sack all day to an FSU defense accustomed to many gave Dorsey plenty of time in the pocket to find his receivers. And when he did, he rarely missed, finishing 27-of-47 for 328 yards, with two TDs and zero interceptions. He has now thrown 163 straight passes without an interception, breaking Torretta's school record. But he lifted his status to near-legendary with his work on the final drive, entering with 1:37 left and leading the Hurricanes 68 yards in 51 seconds to the winning score. He completed 5 of 6 passes on the series, ending with a 13-yard TD throw to unsung tight end Jeremy Shockey. An overly cool Dorsey said afterward he wasn't nervous on the drive -- "I'm never nervous." A two-minute drill (actually 45 seconds) run every Friday in practice prepared him. "It seemed easy to me," he said. Not as easy as he made it look. Stewart Mandel is college sports producer for CNNSI.com
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