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The defining "We Back" game

You will know when we are truly back. Will be talked about by every sports news source. No single game will put us there.
 
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NE Canes said:
With respect, this may be a pretty low bar. We were talented enough to win the ACC this year and we are no where near back.

It isn't really about who we beat or winning the ACC against a bunch of awful teams. It is also about the talent. When we have a few solid years of recruiting and load up, so we may actually make and win in the playoffs, then we can talk about being back.
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I feel you I just think us winning the acc would mean that we finally have actual coaching. When coaching is combined with the talent Miami can procure, you have a perennial top 5 program on your hands.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
I always go to those games with my brother (UM fan), but we also took his business partner (at the time, who was a huge F$U fan), and that motherfvcker talked a lot of trash BEFORE the game, and then shut the fvck up AFTER the game.
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It was the only time I remember FSU fans being so quiet after beating us. It was a turning point, and they knew it.
 
99/00 Gator Bowl against GT...?

We got trounced at VT and followed that with three blowout wins against Temple, Buttgers and Cuse. Outscored them 155-13. You could see that Dorsey was looking very comfortable. GT was supposed to present a challenge and we even started Kelly but Dorsey came in and the rest was history. Of course we lost a couple games later to UW but that Gator Bowl win was our first January 1 win since 1991.
 
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My next we back game will be ACC win and BCS playoffs. Not taking any good win for granted. That ND 2017 was great until we lost 3 in a row. Not back until we can stay back.
 
No_Fly_Zone said:
I can't agree that 1998 vs. UCLA was the game UM announced we were back.

It was definitely a statement game and a beginning of a change of direction, for sure. But UM was announcing we were done being a joke and CFB needed to take us seriously again. After all, we came out in 1999 with a win over O$U and people starting puffing their chest out until we lost 3 straight to Pedo State, ECU, and Forfeit State. And to me, that savage beating by VT was all the proof I needed to know we definitely weren't back in 1999.

IMO, 2000 is the year UM was back from the embarrassment of the mid-90s. Maybe I am being too conservative, but I don't think it was Wide Right III. I knew UM was back when we beat No. 2 VT by 3 scores in a revenge game. After that game, my recollection is we beat up every team we faced in 2000 (including stomping UiF).

In the current state of CFB, I won't start to think of UM being "back" until we win the ACC and get a playoff spot. That's just a reality based on how far we have fallen and how long we've struggled. But I am very hopeful we will have another "statement game" in 2022, where we once again tell the CFB world we are done being a doormat. It could be TAMU or Clem$on, but it's ******* happening.
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1999 may have been a different story had Najeh not suffered a season-ending injury in the opener against Ohio State. Kelly, for all his flaws, and 4 INTs against Penn State, was a terrible spot preventing a 4th-2 conversion late in the game. Even then, Penn State needed a 'miracle' TD bomb to re-take the lead.

A healthy Najeh would have made a significant difference in that game, and the season. I think the Canes beat Penn State and East Carolina (hang over game from PSU loss), but still lose at FSU and at VT. 10-2 with a bowl win.

2000 was the 'we back' year, but FSU game was the game, especially the way the game started and ended. Miami up 17-0 at the half, only to go down 24-20 with two minutes or less remaining. Dorsey leads a comeback, then FSU misses a FG. Perfect script for a Miami-FSU game, both teams ranked (#6, #1).

VT was a great win, but Vick was injured (severe ankle sprain), didn't start, and could hardly move in the pocket when he came into the game. Miami stills win the game if Vick was 100% but the game is much different. To claim otherwise is just fan bravado.

Miami is back, again, when they roll to an ACC championship and a CFP spot, and go toe-to-toe with Alabama, Ohio State, or whomever is the first round opponent.

JMO
 
There’s never been a “we’re back” game ..at least no a singular instance. We’ll know we’re back when it starts looking like a elite SEC team every Saturday. Mario had a SEC looking team in Eugene. That’s why they blew the doors off OSU in the the shoe..it’s gotta start looking and sounding right consistently on the field.1 game doesn’t define it
 
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TemplarCane said:
1999 may have been a different story had Najeh not suffered a season-ending injury in the opener against Ohio State. Kelly, for all his flaws, and 4 INTs against Penn State, was a terrible spot preventing a 4th-2 conversion late in the game. Even then, Penn State needed a 'miracle' TD bomb to re-take the lead.

A healthy Najeh would have made a significant difference in that game, and the season. I think the Canes beat Penn State and East Carolina (hang over game from PSU loss), but still lose at FSU and at VT. 10-2 with a bowl win.

2000 was the 'we back' year, but FSU game was the game, especially the way the game started and ended. Miami up 17-0 at the half, only to go down 24-20 with two minutes or less remaining. Dorsey leads a comeback, then FSU misses a FG. Perfect script for a Miami-FSU game, both teams ranked (#6, #1).

VT was a great win, but Vick was injured (severe ankle sprain), didn't start, and could hardly move in the pocket when he came into the game. Miami stills win the game if Vick was 100% but the game is much different. To claim otherwise is just fan bravado.

Miami is back, again, when they roll to an ACC championship and a CFP spot, and go toe-to-toe with Alabama, Ohio State, or whomever is the first round opponent.

JMO
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A lot of good points here, for sure. To me, the F$U rivalry is just a strange animal, and not always predictive/representative of either team's success otherwise.

Losing to VT (even with a hobbled Vick) after beating F$U would have been such a late 90s Canes' move.... Instead, the revenge curb stomping we delivered that afternoon left no doubt.

But, again, I may be a little too conservative here. I was at both games, and I know the F$U game mattered more for the team and the fans, for sure. I just don't know that I believed we were really a NC discussion team until we sealed it with VT.
 
Fwiw it’s game one. We’ll know when/if the best players start. The real football players have a C on their chest. Lastly, we’ll know if the coaching staff comes prepared and takes their foot off the gas never.
 
ben said:
For me it was the 2022 Texas A&M game

Aidy Bryant Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
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Got a few bets or winning lotto numbers in 2022?
 
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Trav said:
Was it? We got demolished by Syracuse the very week before so honestly it seemed more like a fluke. And then in '99 we blew very winnable games vs ECU and PSU and got blown out by VT so we weren't "back" at all. Again it's almost never one game.
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Syracuse pounded us the week before the UCLA game. It was a postponed game from a hurricane.
 
LatinCane said:
My next we back game will be ACC win and BCS playoffs. Not taking any good win for granted. That ND 2017 was great until we lost 3 in a row. Not back until we can stay back.
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I think the point is being missed a bit. I’m not necessarily asking what game showed we’re back but what game, especially after it proved out we were back, gave you the feeling that there may be something to get excited about
 
We need to wait at least 2-3 years before having this discussion in earnest. I can't wait until we are.
 
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No_Fly_Zone said:
A lot of good points here, for sure. To me, the F$U rivalry is just a strange animal, and not always predictive/representative of either team's success otherwise.

Losing to VT (even with a hobbled Vick) after beating F$U would have been such a late 90s Canes' move.... Instead, the revenge curb stomping we delivered that afternoon left no doubt.

But, again, I may be a little too conservative here. I was at both games, and I know the F$U game mattered more for the team and the fans, for sure. I just don't know that I believed we were really a NC discussion team until we sealed it with VT.
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Vaild.

And a ‘we back’ game needs to be a game where a run of excellence started, rather than fall apart shortly afterwards. Like ND in 2017.
 
LatinCane said:
My next we back game will be ACC win and BCS playoffs. Not taking any good win for granted. That ND 2017 was great until we lost 3 in a row. Not back until we can stay back.
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Winning the ACC Championship Game. The first one, so I'm not sure if that constitutes "back" when we've never been there. Or maybe "back to being a conference champ, like we were so many times in the Big East"...
 


This was the back statement. Someone convince me otherwise. The goosebumps hearing this high as **** after that game was sports heaven
 
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