Memories Of Comebacks Haunt Miami No More
Oct. 25, 1999
BOSTON (AP) – Miami Hurricanes coach Butch Davis was unusually calm afterfalling behind Boston College 28-0 in the third quarter, and it’s easy tounderstand why.
He knew better than to think the lead was insurmountable.
Davis was the defensive line coach in 1984 when Miami blew a 31-pointleadto Maryland in what is still the biggest college football comeback ever. Thevery next week, Miami lost to BC in a 47-45 shootout that ended on DougFlutie’s 48-yard desperation touchdown heave.
“People ask you, `Have you ever seen anything like this before?’Unfortunately, I’ve been on the other side of that,” Davis said Sunday, a dayafter the Hurricanes rallied from a four-touchdown deficit to beat BostonCollege 31-28.
“It was probably the calmest I’ve ever been in a locker room athalftime,”Davis said. “It’s not about screaming and ranting and raving. It’s aboutexecution and making some plays.”
No. 23 Miami (3-3, 1-0 Big East) had not beaten a Division I-A opponentsince August, when they beat Ohio State in the Kickoff Classic. They followedthat with a win over Florida A&M before losing three straight by a total of 18points.
Miami has led in all three losses – including blown fourth-quarter leadsagainst Penn State and East Carolina.
“We’ve had some last-minute games like this earlier this year and lastyear,” said Daniel Franks, who caught the game-tying touchdown pass with 3:51left. “It was nice to be able to pull one out.”
Miami also has had three weeks off, the most recent last weekend when thegame against Temple was postponed until Dec. 4 because of Hurricane Irene.Davis said he thinks rust might factor into why his team looked so bad in thefirst half.
“I’ve got to believe that the inconsistency has got to come from theschedule,” he said. “They’re not good enough to put it on automatic pilot.The game was faster than they were at that time.”
Despite losing the last 10 matchups, Boston College (5-2, 2-2) has comeclose the last three games at home. Miami won 17-14 in 1995 when the Eaglesmissed a desperation last-second field goal, in ’97, Miami won 45-44 in doubleovertime.
This time, Miami spotted BC a 28-0 lead with 21 minutes left, committingvirtually every imaginable mistake in the process. There were a handful ofdropped passes, some shanked punts and two fourth-down penalties that led toBoston College touchdowns.
But BC made all of the mistakes in the second half, and Miami tookadvantage.
“It’s inexcusable,” Eagles safety Pedro Cirino said. “We’re never goingto let it happen again.”
Miami scored four consecutive touchdowns to tie it – two of them just 22seconds apart. Then, facing a fourth-and-17 from the BC 35 with 14 seconds toplay and no timeouts, Kenny Kelly hit Reggie Wayne on the sideline for a22-yard gain.
Wayne stepped out of bounds to stop the clock, setting up Andy Crosland’sgame-winning 30-yard field goal with 3 seconds left.
“We have a long history. It goes all the way back to Doug Flutie,” Frankssaid. “Every time we play, it seems like a dogfight.”
By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
