With the 1991 national champions being honored Saturday night at the Rock, Canes historian Steve "@k9cane" Kim joined me to go back through the team that made a lot of us Canes fans.
Take a read from some of the highlights from the discussion:
DMoney: A very special team is being honored Saturday. I was born in 1985, so I was six years old, and this is my favorite team of all time. I saw them beat Nebraska 22-0 in the Orange Bowl for the national championship. They made me fall in love with the Canes. If not for this team, there wouldn't be a CanesInsight.
Steve "K9" Kim: What a team.
And this was a team that had scrutiny on them, because they were coming off that infamous Cotton Bowl. That was the offseason they instituted the Miami rule, so that was the year Erickson basically pleaded with his players: 'I can win every game, but if you don't behave, I'm out of here'.
Coming into the season, the storyline was that Miami was rebuilding. We lost a lot, including the No. 1 pick, Russell Maryland, and Randal "Thrill" Hill, and about six or seven other guys that got drafted. People thought the dominant team in Florida was in Tallahassee.
Keep this in mind, Darrin Smith was a two-time All-American. Michael Barrow in '92 had one of the four or five best individual defensive seasons I've ever seen at Miami with these defining plays, from the Vanover hit to the fourth-and-one stop on Richie Anderson at Happy Valley that preserved the lead. He actually got Heisman votes his senior year.
DMoney: Jessie Armstead, my favorite player of all time, he was the best pro of those guys.
Steve "K9" Kim: Where I knew this team could go all the way was actually the second game of the year. They played Houston in what's still one of the most highly rated prime-time games ever on ESPN.
Let me tell a story, because this is a great one. One of the great Hurricanes of the early '80s, one of the foundational pieces who may be overlooked because he didn't make the Hall of Fame or have a 15-year NFL career, is Tony Fitzpatrick. Tough nose guard, hard-nosed, street-fighting, scrapping type of guy.
And he was on the Houston Cougars staff. I was at a tailgate with him and he told me that before that game, John Jenkins had the whole Houston staff at a conference table and he's running his mouth how we never get out of the base defense, saying they're going to exploit our linebackers.
Tony was right next to him. He looked over and goes, "Coach Jenkins? This ain't no average normal game, man. Just so you know."
Come game time, on the broadcast they shift to the All-22 look as Miami just stays in its base and tells its two outside linebackers, you run with this guy and you run with this guy. Houston ran four verticals, and Armstead and Smith ran step for step. Incomplete pass.
No other defense in the country could get away with that.
Steve "K9" Kim: Danny, how can we talk about 1991 without one of the most historic games in college football history? Wide Right I. Do you remember where you were watching?
DMoney: At a friend's house, at a birthday party.
Steve "K9" Kim: Florida State leads 16-7 with ten minutes to go, and it's not looking good. Our defense has bent and bent and bent. I'm thinking we still have a shot, but we have to score right now. And that's when Stephen McGuire, the Brooklyn Bruiser, one of the all-time best clutch running backs we've ever had, took over the game.
Miami cuts it to 16-10. We get a stop. And the final drive starts with a sack. Now it's second and long, and I'm thinking we might have to go for it because we're running out of time. And one of the most underrated plays in Miami history was made by a young man out of Tampa named Coleman Bell.
Torretta drops back, Bell stays in to block, then releases. Torretta's getting heat, nobody's open downfield, and he sees Bell and floats it. It's a 50-50 ball, and Coleman Bell just flat out took it off the top of the defender's head. Right then and there, I said, we might win this.
Then McGuire with a couple of tough, hard-nosed runs. Then fourth down. For some reason, Terrell Buckley decides to guard the far pylon instead of the hitch. Copeland makes the tough catch. Two plays later, Larry Jones gets into the end zone. 17-16.
Game's not over.
Casey Weldon made some big plays on that last drive. Ryan McNeil had the one pass interference of his career on a double move. And it comes down to a very makeable field goal, inside the 40. I said, now it's up to Darryl Williams to block it, because he'd been coming close off the edge all year.
When he couldn't get there, I thought we'd lost. The ball looked good. Then came the classic Keith Jackson call, and I was in awe. It was almost a sense of nirvana. I kind of blacked out for a second thinking, hold on, did this just happen?
Steve "K9" Kim: Erickson would have had to figure out one thing: how do you control Steve Emtman? One of the most dominant players I've ever seen. That guy was a monster.
I think our advantage offensively would have been outside. They had good players like Dana Hall, but he was more of a safety trying to play corner. I would have gone max protect a lot, made sure the back was always chipping off the A gap to support the center and guard, because I don't want pressure up the middle. And I would have run a lot of vertical stuff, because they played a lot of eight- and nine-man pressure fronts, and that gives you man coverage outside.
Defensively, it would have been an interesting battle, because I don't think Washington played a defense as good as Miami's all year. If you look at the schedules, Miami played the tougher one: more bowl teams, two top-five teams. After the Orange Bowl, Bob Devaney basically said Nebraska played both teams, both were great, and nobody was better than Miami.
Get the full trip down memory lane on the full show and subscribe to the CanesInsight channel so you don't miss the next one.
Take a read from some of the highlights from the discussion:
DMoney: A very special team is being honored Saturday. I was born in 1985, so I was six years old, and this is my favorite team of all time. I saw them beat Nebraska 22-0 in the Orange Bowl for the national championship. They made me fall in love with the Canes. If not for this team, there wouldn't be a CanesInsight.
Steve "K9" Kim: What a team.
And this was a team that had scrutiny on them, because they were coming off that infamous Cotton Bowl. That was the offseason they instituted the Miami rule, so that was the year Erickson basically pleaded with his players: 'I can win every game, but if you don't behave, I'm out of here'.
Coming into the season, the storyline was that Miami was rebuilding. We lost a lot, including the No. 1 pick, Russell Maryland, and Randal "Thrill" Hill, and about six or seven other guys that got drafted. People thought the dominant team in Florida was in Tallahassee.
The Bermuda Triangle
Steve "K9" Kim: The other dominant unit - I say this with orange and green glasses on - if you combine their college run and their NFL careers, it's the greatest linebacker trio in the history of football.Keep this in mind, Darrin Smith was a two-time All-American. Michael Barrow in '92 had one of the four or five best individual defensive seasons I've ever seen at Miami with these defining plays, from the Vanover hit to the fourth-and-one stop on Richie Anderson at Happy Valley that preserved the lead. He actually got Heisman votes his senior year.
DMoney: Jessie Armstead, my favorite player of all time, he was the best pro of those guys.
Steve "K9" Kim: Where I knew this team could go all the way was actually the second game of the year. They played Houston in what's still one of the most highly rated prime-time games ever on ESPN.
Let me tell a story, because this is a great one. One of the great Hurricanes of the early '80s, one of the foundational pieces who may be overlooked because he didn't make the Hall of Fame or have a 15-year NFL career, is Tony Fitzpatrick. Tough nose guard, hard-nosed, street-fighting, scrapping type of guy.
And he was on the Houston Cougars staff. I was at a tailgate with him and he told me that before that game, John Jenkins had the whole Houston staff at a conference table and he's running his mouth how we never get out of the base defense, saying they're going to exploit our linebackers.
Tony was right next to him. He looked over and goes, "Coach Jenkins? This ain't no average normal game, man. Just so you know."
Come game time, on the broadcast they shift to the All-22 look as Miami just stays in its base and tells its two outside linebackers, you run with this guy and you run with this guy. Houston ran four verticals, and Armstead and Smith ran step for step. Incomplete pass.
No other defense in the country could get away with that.
Wide Right
Steve "K9" Kim: Danny, how can we talk about 1991 without one of the most historic games in college football history? Wide Right I. Do you remember where you were watching?
DMoney: At a friend's house, at a birthday party.
Steve "K9" Kim: Florida State leads 16-7 with ten minutes to go, and it's not looking good. Our defense has bent and bent and bent. I'm thinking we still have a shot, but we have to score right now. And that's when Stephen McGuire, the Brooklyn Bruiser, one of the all-time best clutch running backs we've ever had, took over the game.
Miami cuts it to 16-10. We get a stop. And the final drive starts with a sack. Now it's second and long, and I'm thinking we might have to go for it because we're running out of time. And one of the most underrated plays in Miami history was made by a young man out of Tampa named Coleman Bell.
Torretta drops back, Bell stays in to block, then releases. Torretta's getting heat, nobody's open downfield, and he sees Bell and floats it. It's a 50-50 ball, and Coleman Bell just flat out took it off the top of the defender's head. Right then and there, I said, we might win this.
Then McGuire with a couple of tough, hard-nosed runs. Then fourth down. For some reason, Terrell Buckley decides to guard the far pylon instead of the hitch. Copeland makes the tough catch. Two plays later, Larry Jones gets into the end zone. 17-16.
Game's not over.
Casey Weldon made some big plays on that last drive. Ryan McNeil had the one pass interference of his career on a double move. And it comes down to a very makeable field goal, inside the 40. I said, now it's up to Darryl Williams to block it, because he'd been coming close off the edge all year.
When he couldn't get there, I thought we'd lost. The ball looked good. Then came the classic Keith Jackson call, and I was in awe. It was almost a sense of nirvana. I kind of blacked out for a second thinking, hold on, did this just happen?
Miami vs. Washington
DMoney: One of the big questions of '91 is always Washington versus Miami. This is why you needed what the BCS was supposed to deliver, the top two teams playing. Really top four, because that would have solved both Washington problems, '91 and 2000. How do you think that matchup goes?Steve "K9" Kim: Erickson would have had to figure out one thing: how do you control Steve Emtman? One of the most dominant players I've ever seen. That guy was a monster.
I think our advantage offensively would have been outside. They had good players like Dana Hall, but he was more of a safety trying to play corner. I would have gone max protect a lot, made sure the back was always chipping off the A gap to support the center and guard, because I don't want pressure up the middle. And I would have run a lot of vertical stuff, because they played a lot of eight- and nine-man pressure fronts, and that gives you man coverage outside.
Defensively, it would have been an interesting battle, because I don't think Washington played a defense as good as Miami's all year. If you look at the schedules, Miami played the tougher one: more bowl teams, two top-five teams. After the Orange Bowl, Bob Devaney basically said Nebraska played both teams, both were great, and nobody was better than Miami.
Get the full trip down memory lane on the full show and subscribe to the CanesInsight channel so you don't miss the next one.
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