Miami Goes After Another National Title
Jan 3, 2003
By JOSH DUBOW
AP Sports Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) – More than two years after Miami’s last loss, the memoryis still clearly implanted in Ken Dorsey’s head.
One more win will help secure Dorsey’s place as one of college football’sgreatest winning quarterbacks and prolong Miami’s dynasty.
A loss will leave the Hurricanes one win shy of a historic repeat and give abitter end to Dorsey’s brilliant career.
“The worst feeling I have ever had is when I felt like I let my teammatesdown,” Dorsey said about his only loss in 39 career starts, a 34-29 defeat atWashington on Sept. 9, 2000. “I don’t want to repeat that feeling.”
Much is at stake Friday night when No. 1 Miami (12-0) takes on No. 2 OhioState (13-0) in the Fiesta Bowl.
The Hurricanes put their 34-game winning streak on the line and try to joinNebraska as the only teams to repeat since 1978-79. A win would leave Miami 12shy of Oklahoma’s record 47-game streak from 1953-57.
The Buckeyes try to complete a perfect season and win their fourth nationaltitle. It would be their first national title in 34 years and just the secondfor the Big Ten in that span.
“There’s no question it’s going to be the greatest challenge we’ve facedall year,” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said.
Unlike the past two seasons when there was much debate about who would playfor the title, the Hurricanes and Buckeyes were the only unbeaten teams among117 I-A schools.
This is the stage Miami players expect to play on when they sign up with theteam. None of the Buckeyes have ever experienced anything like it.
“Our players are not overwhelmed by the magnitude of the game,” Hurricanescoach Larry Coker said. “They’re not overwhelmed by playing for a nationalchampionship.”
Tressel said the only overwhelming part of Fiesta Bowl week was watchingMiami on film.
He wasn’t kidding.
Led by Dorsey and running back Willis McGahee, Miami scored a school-record503 points in the regular season, 41.9 per game. The scary part was the speedwith which points were produced – the average drive time on 67 offensive TDswas 1:58, with 18 scores coming in less than a minute.
Dorsey, maligned this season for his inconsistency, threw for 3,073 yardsand 26 touchdowns. McGahee ran for 1,686 yards and 27 touchdowns, both schoolrecords.
With a game-breaking receiver in Andre Johnson and one of the country’s besttight ends in Kellen Winslow Jr., Ohio State has its work cut out for it.
“Miami has the greatest combination of explosiveness and balance of anyteam we’ve seen,” Tressel said. “There is no question about it. Our guys knowthat every tackle is going to be important. Every shed of every block. You haveto play your best football to compete against the likes of Miami.”
The Buckeyes answer with one of the game’s stingiest defenses. They allowedjust 12.2 points per game – second in the country – and have few weaknesses.
They swarm to the ball, shut down the run and are nearly impossible to getinto the end zone against. Ohio State allowed just nine touchdowns in the 35possessions opponents had inside the Buckeyes 20.
This doesn’t figure to be the walkover last year’s title game was againstNebraska when the Hurricanes won 37-14 in the Rose Bowl.
“We had a lot of confidence going into the game last year. A lot of teamsmoved the ball on Nebraska,” Miami offensive lineman Sherko Haji-Rasouli said.”Nobody has moved the ball on this defense.”
For the Buckeyes to win, they’ll have to follow the same vanilla formulathat got them here: Control the clock with the run, get mistake-free play fromquarterback Craig Krenzel, win the special-teams battle and play airtightdefense.
“We’re very comfortable, and we’re going to come out and surprise somepeople,” All-American linebacker Matt Wilhelm said.
The key to that will be freshman tailback Maurice Clarett, who has been acontroversial figure this week because of his dispute with the school over thereasons he couldn’t fly home for a friend’s funeral.
If his mind is on the game, Clarett is one of the most dangerous runningbacks in the country. In the eight games he was healthy, Clarett averaged 137yards on the ground and scored 16 touchdowns.
That could cause problems against the Hurricanes’ 73rd-ranked run defense.Miami allowed 100-yard rushing performances in five of the last six games.
“We don’t have a big ‘S’ on our chest by any stretch of the imagination,”Coker said. “Sometimes we’re exposed, and sometimes we’ve had trouble stoppingthe run. Those are things we’ve got to make sure and correct. If we don’t dothose things it’s going to be a tough day for us.”
This will be the 34th meeting between the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the AP mediapoll. The No. 1 team leads, 20-11-2.
The last 1 vs. 2 matchup was top-ranked Florida State’s 46-29 victory overVirginia Tech in the 2000 Sugar Bowl for the national title.
