First game I watched was ‘84 Orange Bowl versus Nebraska. First game in person was the first game of the ‘87 season against the Ga-turds.
Ironic backstory that still provides me comic relief (DON’T READ BELOW THIS LINE if you don’t like long write-ups):
I attended Wichita State University my first year of college (grew up in Wichita), and our football team was so bad, they ended the program; didn’t move to Div 2 or 3, they killed the whole program. My two buddies convinced me to transfer to Miami after our first year.
I transferred in and my first game in person was a 31-4 ****-bombing of Florida in the OB and it was so dominating, the only 4 points they scored was because our center twice snapped the ball over our punter’s head for safeties – I was stunned thinking, “I could get used to this.” Needless to say, I went from a dead football program to winning national championships 2 of my 3 years at Miami, and as everyone has correctly noted, the atrocious call at Notre Dame cost us three in a row.
A side bar on that ‘88 team to show the dominance of the team Jimmy created. That 2001 team will always be considered the greatest, but few teams have an accomplishments list matching that ‘88 team. If you designed a true football playoff matching the champions of every conference into a playoff, you would appreciate what that team did. That year they beat:
- Preseason #1 FSU (it was an absolute ****-pounding 31-0; FSU didn’t lose another game and destroyed almost all of their other opponents)
- Went into the big house and beat Michigan (eventual Big 10 champion)
- Destroyed LSU in their home stadium (SEC co-champion)
- Beat Arkansas (Southwest Conference Champion, which at that time included Texas, Texas A&M, and TCU)
- Pummeled Nebraska (Big 8 Champion, which included Oklahoma and was the precursor to the Big 12)
- And of course went into South Bend and beat Satan’s Spawn, aka the eventual fake National Champion (Jimmy and those players who worked so hard, deserved so much better)
Favorite moments in which I was present:
- ‘89 - 3rd and 43 against #1 Notre Dame - I’ve been to some of our nation’s loudest venues and nothing has ever come close to the volume level on this iconic play.
- ‘02 - watching Dorsey postgame at the Rose Bowl, where even the ushers were wearing the colors of the opposition, but it only made the victory in the end that much sweeter.
- ‘88 - Jimmy’s well deserved National Championship.
As you can tell, I can talk about the Canes for hours, so I’ll stop boring everyone, as I have quite a long historical perspective on the team. My only wish is that all of you “young’uns” get to experience the same Canes teams I’ve had the fortune of personally witnessing.