Canes Eager to Protect Home Turf against FSU

By David Villavicencio
HurricaneSports.com
 
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Thirteen years.
 
It has been 13 years since Miami’s Frank Gore took a handoff from quarterback Brock Berlin, cut to the right and sprinted into the end zone at the Orange Bowl to beat Florida State, 16-10, in overtime on Sept. 11, 2004. 
 
There were close games in 2006, 2008, 2014 and 2016, but 13 years and six opportunities have passed since the Canes have beat the rival Seminoles in Miami and that is far too long between victories for anyone who roots for the Hurricanes.
 
“It has been since 2004 that Miami has won at home in this series,” Miami head coach Mark Richt said. “That’s not very good. It’s about bad as the seven losses in a row that we were dealing with going into last year’s game. That’s a meaningful bit of history that we need to change the course of.”
 
A year ago, Darrell Langham dove at the goal line to score a 23-yard touchdown catch on Florida State’s star corner Tarvarus McFadden with six seconds remaining in the game that snatched a victory from the Seminoles and sent the Hurricanes home victorious and snapped Miami’s seven-game losing streak against FSU.
 
“It meant a lot just to end the streak,” Langham said. “We have a new beginning now. It’s a fresh start, pretty much.”
 
“It was a weight lifted off of our shoulders,” center Tyler Gauthier said. “When we came here, that was a big emphasis. And then when [head] coach [Mark] Richt and [offensive line] coach [Stacy] Searels came in here, that was all we talked about…and when we finally did it, it was a weight lifted off our shoulders and we felt like we could move forward.”
 
That fresh start coincides with a 14-4 stretch since the beginning of the 2017 season. Miami has also won 12 straight regular season home games, last falling October 15, 2016 to North Carolina, the longest such streak for the Canes since winning 26 straight from 1999 through 2003. The Hurricanes would love to extend their active home winning streak to 13 with a victory over the rival Noles on Saturday.
 
“I mean, there is nothing I’d rather have then for us to win at home,” Gauthier said. “I mean, it’s my senior year. You have got to beat Florida State your senior year, that is just the way it is. And I mean, to do it at home is going to be awesome.”
 
Gauthier will never forget the feeling of jubilation from the 2017 victory at Doak Campbell Stadium. But the Rimington Trophy candidate is not going to be picky about how the Hurricanes win in 2018. Whether it is by one point or 100, Gauthier says the goal remains the same.
 
“As long as we win, it doesn’t matter to me,” Gauthier said. “We’re going to go out there and give it everything we got. Florida State, it’s Florida State. When we play each other, it’s a good game. We’re going to go out there and give it everything we got, and whatever the turnout is, it is.”
 
Miami enters the game 4-1 and ranked in the top 20, while Florida State has stumbled to a 3-2 record so far this season. But the Hurricanes are not taking their ACC and in-state rivals lightly this week.
 
“I’m not sure how the game will go, I just know we are going to have to fight the whole game,” Langham said. “If it comes down, it doesn’t matter if it’s me or anybody else on the team, I know someone is going to step up and perform the way I did. I have faith in my team.”
 
“We have to prepare for 60-minute war,” offensive coordinator Thomas Brown said. “Florida State and Miami is one of the biggest rivalries in college football. I don’t care what their record is, I don’t care how they played before, we are going to get their best and they are going to be at their best against us in our house. We have to do a good job of matching their intensity, continue to stay motivated, but also stick to our fundamentals. This game is going to be won when it comes down to doing what we do, down after down.”
 
After redshirting a year ago, Miami starting quarterback N’Kosi Perry heads into his first battle against Florida State. The redshirt freshman has been impressive the last two weeks at the helm of the Hurricanes’ offense, but he knows Saturday’s game will be a different type of challenge against a talented and very hungry Florida State team
 
“I am very thankful and very excited for this opportunity,” Perry said. “It is something I have been looking forward to, growing up my whole life. I expect them to play harder than they have against anybody else. They got great players on their team. No matter what their record is, I know they are going to play hard.”
 
Offensive lineman Venzell Boulware is another Cane heading into his first UM-FSU game. The graduate transfer from Tennessee is very familiar with the history between the two titans of college football and is excited to join the long list of players to compete in this legendary series.
 
“I already know about it,” Boulware said. “Everybody knows about Florida State and Miami, their rivalry. To be here and finally be a part of it is going to be special.”

From Richt to Perry to Boulware and more, every Hurricane knows just how important Saturday’s game is to the 2018 season and to the program. And they also know that it means just as much to the garnet and gold-clad Seminoles across the field.
 
“We all know what a big game it is,” Richt said. “We all know what’s at stake. We’re excited about playing it, and I’m sure they are too.”