Looking Back at Wide Right III

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – It’s been tough to be a Florida State kicker against the Miami Hurricanes.

Gerry Thomas, Dan Mowrey, Matt Munyon and Xavier Beitia are names that will live forever in infamy after failing to convert kicks in the annual rivalry meeting between the two college football powerhouses.

While each missed kick had its own significance in the historic series, 2020 marks the 20-year anniversary of “Wide Right III” – a moment that knocked the top-ranked Seminoles off the top of the college football mountain and propelled the Hurricanes towards dominance at the start of the new millennium.

“I think Florida State was a big crux in our trajectory to becoming a national powerhouse because we hadn’t beat them in I think it was five years in a row,” former team captain Joaquin Gonzalez said.

After losing six of their previous seven against the Noles, including five straight from 1995-99, Miami dethroned the defending national champions in their 2000 meeting, 27-24. The victory was the first of six consecutive UM wins over the Seminoles in five years, flipping the rivalry on its head as the Canes returned to the pinnacle of college football.

But the Miami-Florida State rivalry is more than just some missed kicks. It’s a mutual disdain that spans decades on the football field and generations off the gridiron. For a Miami native like Gonzalez, it helped identify who his friends were.

“If you’re born and bred in the 305, you don’t like Garnet and Gold. It’s always that first bone to pick in your life,” Gonzalez said. “If you’re born down here, it’s kind of you’re either on one side or the other. So, even if you don’t play in the game, if you’re just in elementary, junior high, in high school, it’s one of those defining questions like, ‘Whose side are you on?’ And truth be told, even at that young age, you start really going, ‘Man, I really like this friend or not based on who he’s going for.’ Obviously, the type of teams, the swagger that those teams each carry had a lot to do with the following and everybody falling in love with them.”

While Gonzalez starred at Miami’s Christopher Columbus High School, fellow Dade County native Najeh Davenport was a standout at Miami Central. A powerful back with breakaway speed, Davenport knows there is a clear line drawn between the two sides from a young age.

“It’s kind of like the Hatfields versus the McCoys. You pick a side and you go from there,” Davenport said. “Are you going to be a Hatfield or are you going to be a McCoy? You can be a Hurricane or you can be Tallahassee.”

But the rivalry is not confined to the state of Florida. This is an annual meeting between two titans of college football and everyone around the country is aware of it, even New Jersey native Bryant McKinnie.

“When I got here, the first thing I knew about the rivalry was that it really didn’t matter what you did that season as long as you beat Florida State,” McKinnie said. “That was the main thing everybody was saying around town like, ‘I don’t care what goes on, but as long as you beat Florida State this season, we’re happy.’ That was like a big thing to me.”

Going into the 2000 matchup, Miami was 3-1 and coming off a dominant 64-6 win at Rutgers. The Hurricanes had played three straight games on the road, making their return to the iconic Orange Bowl for a rivalry game against the No. 1 Seminoles that much sweeter. But Davis and his staff made sure their team was locked in on the task at hand from the minute they returned to campus.

“I’ll never forget going into that week that the chant of the Florida State Seminoles as soon as we came in on Sunday, as soon as you walked into the building [it was playing],” Gonzalez said. “It wasn’t a gimmick, it wasn’t two or three hours, it was 24/7 from Sunday and it was just in your head.”

McKinnie remembers that FSU week vividly, especially because it was his first. After redshirting in 1999, he got his initial taste of the magnitude of a Canes-Noles rivalry game from the second he arrived at the Orange Bowl.

“It was a big game in the Orange Bowl that was sold out and the extra bleachers for all the people that were there. It was a hot day. I remember it was like October 7; we had t-shirts that said 10/7/2000, so I remember that date. I remember having to get stretched out on the sidelines. I remember being hot. I remember being busy,” McKinnie recalled. “I remember people like Michael Irvin and all those guys on the sidelines. Having them there, you kind of want to step your game up even more because you don’t want to look bad in front of them. All that just played a factor in your focus; you’re so focused in on what you’ve got to do. I know I was focused on going against this guy who’s really good … and I was able to maintain my focus throughout the whole game.”

The future All-American left tackle spent most of the 2000 game lined up opposite unanimous All-American and future first-round pick Jamal Reynolds, who won the 2000 Lombardi Award and was a first-team All-ACC selection that season. Reynolds was one of many stars on the FSU defensive front, but McKinnie and the Canes did not allow a sack all game.

“They had Darnell Dockett, he played d-tackle,” McKinnie said. “They had a couple of guys but I know Jamal Reynolds was like the main person for them and it was either he gets a sack or I don’t give one up and we know how that went.”

Miami’s offensive line was good, with four of the five starters going on to play in the NFL, but they worked at their craft to prepare for Reynolds, Dockett and the rest of the Seminoles.

“Leading up to the game, I just remember that the intensity of our practices,” Gonzalez said. “I remember Mario Cristobal was specifically working with me and Bryant McKinnie after practice, staying for about 30, 45 minutes afterward, just working on the defensive end rush with some of the DBs trying to get us as much speed to face the guys that we were going to face at defensive end.”

But Miami’s offensive line did more than protect Dorsey. They paved the way for 120 rushing yards and nearly 450 yards of total offense on the day. Miami’s men up front blocked beautifully on a play action call that led to Miami’s first touchdown of the game, a 22-yard pass from Dorsey to Davenport, giving Miami a 17-0 advantage in the first half.

Future Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke led the Seminoles back in the second half, cutting Miami’s lead to seven with 8:03 left in the third quarter.

Florida State continued to rally in the second half and caught a break when Davenport fumbled and the Seminoles recovered at the UM 48.  Four plays later, FSU took its first lead of the game when Weinke connected with Atrews Bell for a 29-yard touchdown that gave the Seminoles a four-point advantage, 24-20, with 1:37 left to play.

“I caught a pass and I went maybe like 10, 15 yards, and I fumbled the ball,” Davenport said. “Just the rest of the game, I was just praying because I didn’t want to be the guy that caused [us to lose]. I put so much on my back and I did so much for the team like sacrificially, I didn’t want to be the guy to kind of let everybody down.”

But the Hurricanes refused to quit. They invested too much time and effort preparing for this game to just fold at the end, so the offense got right to work.

Dorsey hit 6-of-7 passes, including hookups with Santana Moss for 13 yards, with Reggie Wayne for 17 yards and with Moss again for 19 yards to the FSU 8. A delay of game penalty moved the ball back five yards and then Dorsey hit backup tight end Jeremy Shockey with a 13-yard scoring pass with 46 seconds to go.

“I was saying a little prayer here and there and when Shockey caught the touchdown at the end, that was it,” Davenport said. “Obviously, we had like another like 50 seconds left, but the best memory I have from that was Shockey’s touchdown and our defense holding them after the touchdown, of course.”

Shockey’s touchdown put Miami ahead, 27-24, but then Weinke and the Seminoles managed to get in position for Munyon to try a 49-yard field goal on the final play of the game. Just as it had in the 1991 and 1992 contests, Florida State’s kick sailed wide right and the Hurricanes were victorious, sending the 80,903 fans in the Orange Bowl into a jubilant celebration.

“You would figure that after not beating them for so long after the game that you would have been excited to win; I was excited to win but I had no energy left,” Gonzalez shared. “I think the whole team, that was one of the most eye-opening experiences to see guys that worked completely [exhausted]. I had to get two bags of IV at the end of the game. That was a famous game where the Orange Bowl ran out of concessions; it was hotter than hell. It was just one of those games that it literally took every ounce of energy to win that game and it was such a great feeling.”

Miami, which had dominated college football in the 1980s and early 90s, knocked off its biggest rival and the top-ranked team in America. The Hurricanes proved they were back on track and headed toward greatness, but Gonzalez knows it took a lot of work and determination to get there.

“I was actually part of that 5-6 team, so I was redshirted that year and that was the year that we played at Doak Campbell and Scott Covington got hit against the goalpost and we lost I think it was like 47-0,” Gonzalez said of the 1997 game which was the third of five straight losses to Florida State. “They embarrassed us up there and that was my first taste of the rivalry and having that taste in my mouth was something that I would never forget, and kind of fueled me towards those games in the future. It wasn’t until a few years later in 2000 that we finally beat them.

“We had been close our sophomore year, but at the very end ended up losing the game,” Gonzalez continued. “It wasn’t until our junior year, mine and Najeh’s junior year, that we finally crossed over that hurdle and a couple weeks later we played Virginia Tech and, obviously, crossed that hurdle.”

Controversy erupted later in the season when the Seminoles were ranked higher by the BCS and picked to play in the Orange Bowl against Oklahoma for the national championship despite Miami being ranked higher in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll. The Seminoles lost to the Sooners, 13–2, while the Hurricanes defeated rival Florida, 37–20, in the Sugar Bowl. Miami would finish No. 2 in the polls that year.

“We ended up getting screwed at the end of the year with the BCS and we didn’t get to play Oklahoma. They did and, obviously, they lost,” Gonzalez said. “That’s the only time I’ve been a major FSU fan was for that Oklahoma game because the thought was that if they beat Oklahoma we would share the national championship; they would be the BCS national champion and we would be AP national champion, but obviously, that didn’t happen because that team wasn’t ready to face Oklahoma. We sure would have been.”

With the 65^th meeting between the Hurricanes and Seminoles set for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. from Hard Rock Stadium, Davenport, Gonzalez and McKinnie all have some advice for the 2020 Hurricanes as they head into another edition of the storied rivalry.

“This game almost counts as like two or three games,” McKinnie said. “You can feel the tension. The focus level of everybody picks up. Everybody knows this is an ongoing rivalry and to expect a good game. Regardless of if the teams are good or bad that season it’s always going to be a hard-fought game.”

“Just do your job. That’s all you got to do,” Davenport said. “As offensive linemen and as receivers, chase the ball. Keep it moving. Don’t be Superman out there. Just do your job, dominate your opponent, dominate your side of the ball and we’ll make sure this thing happens.”

Gonzalez, who was known to break down the team with a “DOMINATE” chant before every game, harkens back to the advice that his coaches gave the team when he was playing and believes it rings true today.

“One thing that the coaching staff for us did was try to minimize the grandeur of that game and really kind of break it down to the individual level,” Gonzalez said. “That’s where this whole entire ‘DOMINATE’ thing comes from was from guys like [Art] Kehoe, Donnie [Soldinger], all of the coaching staff really and Butch [Davis] saying, ‘Take care of the guy in front of you, make sure that you dominate that guy and if all 11 guys think that way and can dominate each of their positions, then we will win.’

“In games like this that are bigger than life itself, these rivalry games, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of the ‘ha ha, rah rah,’ because that’s all great until the first drive of the game,” Gonzalez added. “And as soon as the first drive of the game is over the first hit, then it’s like, ‘We’ve got three-and-a-half quarters to go. What now?’ It’s all about making sure that you’re in the right mental state and don’t make it bigger than it is. They are people just like you.”

The proud alumni who helped build their legendary rivalry know what it is like to play against Florida State and they know the most important goal is come out on top in the end.

“I think that they should be aware that it’s going to be a very physical game,” McKinnie said. “There’s going to be a lot of trash talk and don’t allow them to provoke you to do anything after the whistle. Try to remain penalty-free and just focus on your assignment and know your job so you can play fast. That’s the main thing, but there is going to be a lot of trash talking and a lot of shoving and stuff after the whistle, things like that, but you’ve just got to be the bigger man and just display your ability between those whistles in and let’s come away with a win.”