Miami Opens League Play
Oct. 19, 1999
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Miami will finally open up its Big East schedule Saturday at surprisingBoston College.
The No. 23 Hurricanes (2-3, 0-0) were slated to host lowly Temple lastweek,but that contest was postponed until December 4 due to Hurricane Irene.
Miami opened the season in fine fashion, posting wins over Ohio State andovermatched Florida A&M. Since then, the Hurricanes have dropped three closegames to ranked opponents.
Miami was beaten 31-21 by No. 1 Florida State on October 9. Thecontest wasdeadlocked at 21 at the half, but a more experience Florida State team pulledout the victory.
Quarterback Kenny Kelly had a huge game against Florida State’s vaunteddefense. The sophomore went 27-for-41 for 370 yards and three touchdowns.
“I thought the kids spilled their guts and played as hard as we’veprobablyplayed this year,” Hurricanes coach Butch Davis said after the loss. “I thinkthat with the young kids you don’t ever invest anything and you don’t everhavea chance to get back to the top unless you are willing to spill your guts andyour blood and try to come and get back to the top.”
The Hurricanes still have a chance to get to the top of the Big East,withonly No. 4 Virginia Tech left unbeaten in the conference. Miami will get acrack at Virginia Tech on November 13.
“It’s like two seasons,” Davis said. “We had five non-conference games,and those are over with. Now we’ve got to turn our attention to sevenconsecutive conference games and look at this as a fresh start. We’re 0-0, andwe’ll see what happens.”
Not much was expected of Boston College (5-1, 2-1) this season, but theEagles stand near the top in the Big East. Boston College rebounded from ashocking loss at Temple two weeks ago to beat Pittsburgh 20-16 last week.
Quarterback Tim Hasselbeck did not start the game due to a bruisedshoulder,but came off the bench in the third quarter to rally the Eagles to victory.
Hasselbeck completed 13-of-24 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns,including the game winner, a 36-yard toss to Dedrick Dewalt with 1:48remainingin the game.
Boston College has racked up five wins in its first six contests, butthingswill get significantly more difficult from here.
After hosting Miami the Eagles will take on Syracuse, West Virginia,NotreDame and Virginia Tech.
The Hurricanes have dominated the all-time series with Boston College,winning 17 of 20 meetings, including the last nine. Boston College’s lastvictory in the series was on November 23, 1984, when Doug Flutie’s 48-yard’Hail Mary’ pass to Gerard Phelan gave the Eagles a 47-45 win.
