For the Old Timers: Who's the best QB you've seen at Miami?

[hesskilla]

2 National Titles, Heisman Trophy, and every other award a QB can win in '92. Starting record of 26-1.

 

[Gatorhater]

I'll have to go with Gino Toretta because that is when I first started watching the Canes and became a fan. I was around 8 or 9 years old but I remember him winning the Heisman and Miami winning the national championship that year.

Having thought about this longer, if we are talking college only, Gino has to be the man. For me, results not appearances matter. We have 5 NCs and two Heismans. Gino is only QB with one of each, plus his only loss game in a second NC game. He can even claim partial credit for another. He was backup in 89 but started three games when Craig hurt his hand and one of those was our passing record for years. Like so many positions at Miami, we are blessed at QB, so anyone of many is worthy, bottom line his Gino delivered the goods the best.

 

[cubin10]

1986 was my freshman year. Pre-internet. A lot of the "mythology" of 1986 and the Fiasco Bowl relate to certain print articles, particularly the hatchet job that Rick Reilly did in Sports Illustrated (he actually quotes Vinnie Testaverde saying "Hey, I need my sleep" when someone prank-called his hotel room...where did Reilly get that quote, from Jerry Sandusky?).

A couple of things to point out. Something was wrong with the artificial turf and/or the football. Michael Irvin himself made the comment that the ball was slippery, but go back and re-watch the game sometime. We had numerous instances of (a) guys having their feet slip out from underneath of them, (b) dropped catches, and (c) fumbles, even if the offense recovered. It is truly striking to watch. These were two teams that had dominated their competition all year long and had very few turnovers, and all of a sudden guys were falling down, dropping the ball, and making the kinds of UNFORCED errors they had not made all year (both teams). Also, focusing on the "slipping" issue, go back and watch Vinnie's third INT, the receiver clearly slips, which allows the DB to undercut him and make the pick.

Yes, Vinnie had 5 INTs. Outside of the "missed opportunity" aspect, it was the last 2 that killed us. One of the earlier INTs was followed a few plays later by a Ped State turnover, so that one really didn't hurt us.

Seelig missed a chip shot 29 yard FG that would have put us in position to win the game at the end with a FG rather than a TD.

Alfredo Roberts had a particularly bad stretch where, in very short order, he fumbled the ball, got an offensive pass interference call, and dropped another ball. I think that Rick Reilly said that we had 7 dropped passes, I counted 12. Charles Henry dropped an easy ball on 4th and 4 on our first drive. Four other drives stalled after 3rd down drops, including the final drive. Vinnie went 26 for 50, imagine if the WRs caught those balls and he went 38 for 50, and we won the game by 3 TDs.

A lot of the mythology of the game is that Vinnie was so horrendous. Yeah, he hadn't played in over 6 weeks after the motor scooter accident. Obviously, 4 of the 5 INTs were bad throws, but other than that, I only counted 6 incompletions that were Vinnie's fault based on where he put the ball. There is one obvious one down near the goal line where Brian Blades broke to the inside and Vinnie threw to the outside.

For the game, we had 445 total yards, Ped State had 162. We had 22 first downs, they had 8. Shaffer completed FIVE passes. We TRIPLED their offensive output. One of their TDs came on Vinnie's 4th INT when they returned the pick down to our 5. Dozier ran well, though he had a few longer runs that offset a lot of crappy runs. On our side, Highsmith was a beast, and Bratton was a good complement, both running and catching.

So while it seems like I am defending Vinnie, the biggest problem of all was Vinnie insisting on throwing the ball once we got down close on the final drive. We were at the SIX yard line. I think that Highsmith was AVERAGING more than 6 yards per carry. We had 3 plays to ram it in, and we tried to throw on all three. One sack, one incompletion, one interception. Vinnie, quite literally, out-argued JJ, all the assistants, and Alonzo Highsmith. Everyone wanted to run. Vinnie wanted to pass.

Game over.

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I truly appreciate the intel, I loved Vinny then and will always. I am not sure that any of our stable quartebacks threw the ball as Vinny did. I try never to blame one player for a loss, as there are so many plays during the game like you are bringing out that most fans, myself included, are not truly aware of.

I would think as a long time Canes fan, there are not many or any other schools who have the tradition and players Miami has had over the years. Yhe hate for the in your face swag years ago has truly changed college football, as everyone now loves the swag, it truly is a CANES thang.

 

[ScubaCane]

I started going to games in the late 70s, I'd say Bernie was the best QB we've ever had. Walsh would be 2nd for me.

 

[Twhizman]

For me it's a 3 way tie.Kelly,kosar and vinny.Kelly got it going kosar won 1st nc and vinny got us our first hiesman.

 

[ddann]

View attachment 64087

2 National Titles, Heisman Trophy, and every other award a QB can win in '92. Starting record of 26-1.

Not true. The Canes only loss in the ‘89 championship season was a loss to FSU. Craig Erickson was out with a broken finger. Gino started that game. So he actually had two losses as a starting QB. Not bad, of course.

I think he doesn’t get a lot of love in these “best QB” conversations for three reasons:

1) His pro “career” wasn’t close to being as good as even Dorsey’s was.

2) He didn’t have the arm or natural talent of some of the other guys.

3) He quarterbacked a championship team that won with defense. Yes, he lit up the numbers against lesser competition. But go back and look at the games vs teams like FSU and Penn State from that era. Gino did just enough to squeak by. But defense won those games.

 

[plantcity3]

Before my time, but I always thought the story was that it came out that Vinny was color blind and it was discovered after the Penn St game and the reason for all the pics. At least that’s what my pops told me. He would also say part of him thinks something funny might have going on.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Before my time, but I always thought the story was that it came out that Vinny was color blind and it was discovered after the Penn St game and the reason for all the pics. At least that’s what my pops told me. He would also say part of him thinks something funny might have going on.

The color-blindness came out when he was with the Bucs.

Not sure why it would have mattered against Ped State, they almost wear black and white uniforms. They wore near-black jerseys, while UM had white jerseys.

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