Fifth gear

No. 1 Miami knows when to 'crank it up' to next level

MIAMI -- Having fallen behind 14-7 and playing about as poorly as humanly imaginable, the Miami Hurricanes were waiting to return a kickoff with 2:28 remaining in the first half when a thinly veiled warning blared over the Orange Bowl PA system, courtesy Eminem.

"Back to reality, oops, there goes gravity.”

As in the fate about to befall them if they didn’t get their asses in gear.

Thing is, winning 31 consecutive games requires in large part an absence of gravity. To go so long without suffering any of the injuries, bad breaks or other pitfalls that inevitably plague every other team at some point is, to a large extent, just plain unnatural.

Thursday night against 17th-ranked Pittsburgh, it was as if 31 games worth of pent-up gravity bit back at the Hurricanes in one miserable, nightmarish half.

Yet all it took to put off their return to reality for yet another week was five plays in two minutes and four seconds.

"I don’t know why we do," tailback Willis McGahee said when asked about the ‘Canes’ string of slow starts this season. "I just know when it comes to crunch time, we crank it up."

For McGahee, cranking it up meant exploding for an electrifying 69-yard, game-tying touchdown on Miami’s first offensive play after falling behind. And after Pittsburgh ran out the clock on the first half, it took the offense just four plays in the second to go ahead for good.

A little over two minutes (of game time) after seemingly being on the ropes, the ‘Canes were well on their way to a 32nd consecutive victory, 28-21.

So much for gravity.

So much for Eminem.

"That’s our way of playing football," said offensive lineman Sherko Haki-Rasouli. "We try to keep a level head, never get too high, too low. That’s why you never see us jumping up and down in the locker room, pouring water all over each other."

Another reason there weren’t any wild postgame celebrations is that the ‘Canes knew they were fortunate to survive only their third single-digit win in 29 games.

A team that’s managed to go three years with nary a major in-season injury saw both receiver Kevin Beard and defensive lineman Cornelius Green suffer season-ending ACL injuries. Safety Maurice Sikes, defensive tackle Vince Wilfork and center Brett Romberg all missed action at various points as well, and cornerback Kelly Jennings played with his right hand wrapped in a cast.

Meanwhile, purported Heisman candidate Ken Dorsey spent the first half throwing one lemon after another, including an interception in his own territory that set up Pittsburgh’s first touchdown. Against a Pitt defense which ranks eighth in the country and which surprised the ‘Canes by using a soft zone in the first half, he managed to finish the half only 5-of-15 for 13 yards.

In what has become a recurring theme, however, for Dorsey and the offense (see Florida, Boston College, Florida State, West Virginia and Rutgers), the second half was a different story. Starting with a textbook drive in which he hooked up with Andre Johnson for a beautiful, go-ahead 30-yard touchdown, Dorsey finished the second half 9-of-11 for 150 yards and no interceptions.

"We’re tough to hold down for an entire game," he said. "We weren’t panicked. I wasn’t panicked. I had confidence in this offense."

Though Dorsey finished with respectable numbers and McGahee turned in another first-class effort with 159 yards and two touchdowns, Miami’s offense really only turned it on for a few minutes of the game.

Because of that, the ‘Canes ended up needing one last stand from their suffocating defense after the offense failed to gain a first down on its last possession. Down 28-21 with 2:12 left, Pitt QB Rod Rutherford -- sacked six times and held to 17-of-38 passing for 150 yards -- got his team from its own 42 to the Miami 20 before a last-ditch, fourth-and-5 pass into the end zone fell incomplete.

Another week, another logic-defying victory for Miami, this one coming despite a pedestrian 315 yards of offense and 13 first downs.

"I don’t know if we’re waiting to get challenged or something," said Romberg, "but tonight it almost came up and bit us in the ass."

With two more wins standing between Miami and the Fiesta Bowl, there may not be another opportunity to be challenged. Its next opponent, Syracuse, is sub.-500, and its last, Virginia Tech, has fallen apart after starting 8-0.

Sitting in front of his locker about a half-hour after the game was over, a business-like Dorsey talked for what seems like the umpteenth time this season about a lack of execution. Excluding their 26-3 victory over Tennessee, the ‘Canes have hardly played a complete game all year.

Yet no one seems particularly worried.

All Miami seems to need is a long punt return here, a long McGahee run there and it’s chalk up another one in the win column.

Complete games are for the nation’s other 116 teams.

You know, the ones that actually have to worry about gravity.

Stewart Mandel covers college football for CNNSI.com.

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