What is the Worst Loss in UM Football History?

You all can list them, but if you had the misfortune to be at the last game at the OB against Virginia, you'd agree with us who were there. it was heart wrenching to send that grand old stadium off like that. It was the epicenter where Hurricane lore was made, the house of swagger. That night was symbolic of where the program was at. And, it's taken this long to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

The OB was a place my undefeated Charlotte Jr. Senior High "Hurricanes." from Punta Gorda, got to watch a pre-season game the year Joe Willy Namath had his Fu Man Chu (that he shaved for $10,000 for a commercial). He came up to a bunch of us kids on the rail as he was trotting off the field and asked how we enjoyed the game. It was a place where my late wife and I watched Dan Marino break 5 NFL passing records on the last Monday Night game of the season against Dallas.

It was the sight of some of the programs greatest wins, but that night we were forced to witness the Rock write a Million dollar Check and the team play like a bunch of Rudy-Poo Candy Asses.
 
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Even though the OP is a troll, he is on to something. The worst loss is the 87 loss to Pedo State, but the Pitt loss is 2nd, IMO

Against Pitt we were ranked #2 , undefeated last game of the season, with the playoffs on the line, and we lost to a young team with a losing records, with a true freshman QB at the helm.

We've had bigger losses for sure (ND in 1988, PSU in 87, Taint in 2003), and we were still in a win and we were in scenario had we beaten Clemson, but the Pitt loss was inexcusable. That was a classic Mark Richt, in Charlie Brown mode.

If we beat Pitt and go into the ACC title game and lose, we're in exactly the same spot we are now. The Pitt loss was more or less meaningless other than what our ranking was heading into the ACC Title.

Maybe not. If we go into that Clemson game undefeated, we probably play **** of a lot better.....closer game. We get in over over Bama. Better loss!

Lol, terrible effort chap
 
The loss to Penn State in the ‘87 Fiesta Bowl was the worst by far IMO because on paper and statistically in the game, we should have crushed them. It cost us a national title due to 7 turnovers.

That's the only answer. I am astonished it isn't a landslide consensus, for exactly the reasons you mentioned.

The losses to Penn State, Alabama and Ohio State may be bunched in memory. They were anything but equivalent on the field. Alabama pushed us around physically for the bulk of that game and Ohio State either controlled matters physically for long stretches, or managed a stalemate.

There was nothing similar in the Penn State game. Jerome Brown was in the backfield immediately. Paterno conceded they had no way to block him. Likewise Danny Stubbs and Bill Hawkins were wrecking havoc. All we had to do was avoid a string of senseless turnovers and that game was a routine victory. The stats were lopsided. Everything was lopsided.

And the '86 team would be legendary right alongside 2001. There would literally be debate among those two squads for all time best, along with 1995 Nebraska and maybe one of the recent Alabama teams.

The revolting aspect is that Barry Switzer showed us the way a year earlier in the Orange Bowl. Essentially the same Penn State team was unbeaten and ranked first heading into the bowl game against Oklahoma. Paterno had a similarly brilliant plan to stop the wishbone. But instead of panicking and throwing into coverage, Switzer chose to patiently rely on defense and field position. It played out perfectly. Low scoring game in which the Sooners popped two big plays on offense...one deep ball to Keith Jackson and one 80 yard fullback plunge up the middle. Nothing else was necessary.

The Canes could have done exactly the same thing a year later. No reason that Highsmigh wasn't allowed to dictate that game. Heck, we probably win it anyway if Vinnie merely doesn't check out of a running call to Highsmith from inside the 10 yard line on the final drive. Our coaches in the booth went nuts because it looked like Highsmith would have scored if Testaverde just left the call alone.

In 1992 I was worried about Alabama all season and in 2002 I was petrified of Ohio State. That was the one team the Canes could not afford to face. Blue collar and so relentless and talented. I'll never forget desperately rooting for Ohio State to lose just once. They had so many close calls, like Cincinnati and Purdue and Illinois and Michigan. If we avoid the Buckeyes we cruise against anyone else.

I'll never understand why fans seem to think that just because a team wins close games it means that same team will get blown out against a top rated flashy foe. I mean, we've only had dozens of examples, like Villanova basketball '85 and so forth.

The Ohio State game hurt due to the way it ended but it was not an all-time defeat like Penn State. I fully believe if those teams played a series of games the Buckeyes win nearly half the time. That was my appraisal prior to the game. I posted it on the sports forum of a political site.

Pittsburgh 2017 could not be more irrelevant. I could probably think of games in the '70s that hurt more. This was not a championship level team and we were going to be brutally exposed somewhere, if not multiple times. I posted on the Notre Dame board on Rivals after our game with them that our season would go down with a thud, that the Canes were like the 2012 Notre Dame team that over reached and got massacred by Alabama in the title game.

This is the first game I remmebered watching beginning to end... Had just turned 7. Remmebered asking my pops whats wrong with Vinny.... Is he doing that on purpose. Cause some of those throws.... I didn't see a receiver in the screen to this day. Im still mad at Vinny to this day, and will always be a Steve Walsh fan because of 87
 
I was very disappointed with the Pitt loss but it's not near the top for me. 1987 Fiesta bowl & 2003 Fiesta bowl stand out to me all the time. 1987 because we choked that game away and we were already hated due to everything that led up to it. Ironically that is Pedo States last "National title".Many people still believe that was the best team not to win it all. Don't get me started on 2003. I still get angry thinking about it. And how can I forget the 1988 game in South Bend. Hate losing to those leprechauns.
 
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IMO, it's this year's loss to Pittsburgh, and it is not even close.

Here are a few that I am sure will be mentioned:

2007: 5-6 Miami, a team with a 1st year Head Coach, headed absolutely no where and then loses 48-0 to Virginia (#2 1, 8-2)

2015: 4-2 Miami, a team lead by an incompetent Al Golden, that lost to Cincinnati and then loses 58-0 to Clemson (#6, 6-0).

2017: 10-0 Miami, a team Ranked #2 in the CFP Poll, control their own destiny and then loses to 4-7 Pittsburgh, who started a True Freshman QB.

Again, IMO, it is not even close! The Loss to Pitt was Historic and a Failure of Epic Proportions!

What are your Thoughts?


P. S. Richt Apologists, even you can't defend the Pitt Failure, but you will try. LOL

There's no reason to take the time to respond to you when you write stuff like the bolded. We get it. For some reason you hate Richt. But objectively he had good season with what he had. How you can justify thinking he's a ****** coach is beyond me. We still don't have all the pieces. Next year we will be much improved, but I'm not actually expecting to play for NC until 2019.
 
Clemson 58-0. I don't care if Golden got fired over it or not, it was the most humiliated I've ever felt as a UM fan since Alabama stripped Lamar Thomas running towards the endzone. It was horrible to watch a UM team get beat helplessly and only the clock(or the grace of Dabo) saved them from worse. Clemson has now beaten us by a combined 91-3 in 2 games. I'm starting to hate them.
 
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Worst loss in UM history? When Jimmy Johnson moved on to the NFL. Imagine if he coached as long here as Bowden did as FSU. It would have been like Oprah was handing out National Titles.
 
worse lost: Schnelly to the USFL

worst loss: Jimmy to the Cowboys

worst lost: Bootch to the Browns
 
A lot fun good ones mentioned...no question the Fiesta Bowl was vs OSU is #1


Haven't seen it mentioned but Alabama crushing us in the Sugar Bowl for the National title still haunts me

This. Remember that game like yesterday. I was a kid then and I vividly remember that was the 1st game I actually cried looking at. But that 03 Fiesta Bowl, it has a deeper impression on my mind b/c my gf’s father, at the time, was a Buckeye fan and I was w her family watching that game. He was a super mild dude, and I just remembered her entire family jumping around and celebrating around me....including her. We broke up shortly after. Lol.
I have to say that the Alabama National title game lose was The worst for me until the Ohio State title game. The Ohio Taint game is the worst in the programs history because of what was at stake. 2 back to back undefeated seasons riding a 34 game winning streak and the way they lost by getting robbed by a Ohio taint ref. OP obviously hasn’t been a fan long enough to have felt such pain. I cried tears of blood on both of these ocassions. The last game at the OB was just a deflating sad feeling I remember it like it’s right now people trying to take anything mainly the seats as mementos but I just stayed sitting there deflated shedding a few tears of sadness I didn’t even take any memento.
 
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IMO, it's this year's loss to Pittsburgh, and it is not even close.

Here are a few that I am sure will be mentioned:

2007: 5-6 Miami, a team with a 1st year Head Coach, headed absolutely no where and then loses 48-0 to Virginia (#2 1, 8-2)

2015: 4-2 Miami, a team lead by an incompetent Al Golden, that lost to Cincinnati and then loses 58-0 to Clemson (#6, 6-0).

2017: 10-0 Miami, a team Ranked #2 in the CFP Poll, control their own destiny and then loses to 4-7 Pittsburgh, who started a True Freshman QB.

Again, IMO, it is not even close! The Loss to Pitt was Historic and a Failure of Epic Proportions!

What are your Thoughts?


P. S. Richt Apologists, even you can't defend the Pitt Failure, but you will try. LOL
The Ohio Taint title game is the worst lose/robbery in history dummy. We had back to back undefeated national title seasons at stake while riding a 34 game winning streak. The fact that The Canes were robbed of greatness makes it the worst. We’re you even a fan back then or even alive to remember that pain?
 
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The GT game at home. We beat VT, had the Coastal locked up, and were looking at 11-1, with a ACC CG to avenge our sickening loss to FSU, and 3 in the country, breathing on USC and Texas.

lost 14-10. One of the worst coaching jobs in history.

The UNC loss on halloween, when a walk on white RB, picked out of the stands before kickoff, ran for 1,000 yards on Radio.

The OT loss at Clemson which made Dabo. Radio kicking off to CJ Spiller with one second left in the half.....

Christ, I could go on, and on
 
.....You are kidding right?

Hail Flutie?

Fiesta Bowl vs. Penn State?

Terry Porters Phantom PI call?

BYU breaking our home winning streak?

Virginia pounding us in the last OB game?

Cleveland Gary 'fumble'?


....And you pick us losing to Pitt this year as the worst loss in UM history?

You're probably being a troll....I hope.

Washington broke our home streak not BYU
 
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