2002 Football Schedule
Feb. 7, 2002
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – – The 2002 Miami Hurricanes football team will face one of the toughest schedules in the nation, including games with seven teams that played in bowl games in the 2001 season and two games with teams that ended the season ranked in the top 10 nationally.
The Hurricanes, one of college football’s top television ratings draws, also have two games penciled in for national telecasts. The first one is a Thursday night clash on ESPN with Pittsburgh on November 21 at the Orange Bowl. The Hurricanes will close the regular season at the Orange Bowl by taking on Virginia Tech on December 7 in a nationally televised game on ABC. Six home games are on tap, including contests with bowl winners Florida State, Boston College and Pittsburgh.
Miami opens the season in the Orange Bowl on Saturday, Aug. 31, against Florida A&M before beginning the road schedule in a big way with a highly anticipated matchup with the University of Florida in Gainesville on Saturday, Sept. 7. Miami opens its BIG EAST schedule on Sept. 14 in Philadelphia against the Temple Owls. The Eagles of Boston College will be the opponent in Miami’s BIG EAST home opener on Sept. 21 before the Hurricanes take a week off. The Connecticut Huskies visit the Orange Bowl when Miami resumes its schedule on Oct. 5. The Huskies, who will begin football competition in BIG EAST play in 2005, will be making their first trip to the Orange Bowl stadium.
Miami’s annual showdown with Florida State takes place Saturday, Oct. 12, at the Orange Bowl as the Hurricanes and Seminoles square off for the 46th time. After an off week on Oct. 19, Miami travels to West Virginia on Oct. 26 and Rutgers on November 2 before hitting the road for another major intersectional clash. Miami’s final nonconference game figures to be a big one as the Hurricanes travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to take on the Tennessee Volunteers. The meeting between the two schools will be the first regular season clash between UM and UT, whose only previous meeting occurred in the 1986 Sugar Bowl.
Miami gets another open weekend on Nov. 16 before finishing with three BIG EAST matchups with bowl teams from 2001. The stretch begins with a Thursday night clash on ESPN with Pittsburgh on Nov. 21 at the Orange Bowl. Miami hits the road for the final time one week later as the Hurricanes take on the Syracuse Orangemen at the Carrier Dome on Nov. 30. The Hokies of Virginia Tech visit the Orange Bowl on Dec. 7 to close out the regular season in a game already slated for a national telecast by ABC Sports.
The seven bowl teams on Miami’s schedule are: Florida (Orange Bowl winner), Boston College (Music City Bowl winner), Florida State (Gator Bowl winner), Tennessee (Citrus Bowl winner), Pittsburgh (Tangerine Bowl winner), Syracuse (Insight.com Bowl winner), and Virginia Tech (Gator Bowl). Florida (third) and Tennessee (fourth) finished the 2001 season ranked among the nation’s top 10 teams by the Associated Press.
Miami completed a perfect 12-0 season in 2001 and won its fifth national championship by defeating Nebraska in the Rose Bowl by a score of 37-14. The Hurricanes ended the season with a winning streak of 22 games entering the 2002 football season.
