They don’t know the details the way those now middle-aged players do, or their aging fans, or Jimmy Johnson does when prompted in a way that always makes Miami Hurricanes football sound enduring and romantic.
None of the today’s Hurricanes were even born for the 58-0 win over Notre Dame where Jimmy’s second-stringers supposedly ran up the score in 1985. They don’t know if Cleveland Gary, broken ribs and all, scored or fumbled or his knee touched down in the 1989 play that’s still debated in weeks like this.
“We know the answer to that question,” said Miami coach Mario Cristobal, a Hurricanes recruit then, about Gary officially fumbling and Notre Dame winning.
But the Hurricane players who open their season Sunday night against Notre Dame in Hard Rock Stadium know “Catholics vs Convicts” only as an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary and weren’t around when Notre Dame officials became so concerned about the five-alarm emotions they canceled the series.
“They were more concerned about losing,” Johnson said.
The new Hurricanes know some of the names like Johnson and Vinny Testaverde and Michael Irvin. They know some names because either jerseys hang above their indoor practice field in Coral Gables and they know some others because they’ve made cameos at practice.
But in a program that has been trying for years to recapture its past, where yesterday has been more fun than today, history reaches out for these new players Sunday whether they know that history or not.
Miami, for the first time in decades, feels it has a team ready to link arms with some of its great teams.
“We can’t wait to play,” Cristobal said.
Sunday night is an event, not just a game. It comes with everything you want in sports: Top-10 teams, national stage, opening night and, yes, some historical context for those who remember. And you don’t have to care. Sports is about the moment. This game. This night.
“You catch on pretty quick to the tradition to this place,” Miami quarterback Carson Beck said.
Beck starts his first game at Miami, just like CJ Carr does at Notre Dame. The difference is Carr hasn’t thrown a collegiate pass, and Beck went 24-3 the past two years at Georgia in an SEC with big-time competition.
“I’ve walked on the field against the No. 1 team,” he said.
There are contrasts like that across the night. Notre Dame knows Hard Rock Stadium, walking out of it last January with a semifinal playoff win before losing in the championship game. Miami hasn’t been in the college playoffs yet. It hasn’t been in a championship game in two decades.
But these are two programs built on the lines, built with size and strength, built in a manner that connects with history. Way back before Miami played Notre Dame in 1987, I sat in the office of defensive line coach Butch Davis, who had spent the week hearing about Notre Dame’s size advantage on the line.
“I hope they try to pound the ball on us,” he said. “We’re so much quicker than them we’ll be by them before they know what happened.”
Miami won, 24-0.
“If we didn’t have so many turnovers,” Johnson said then, “they’d have accused me of running up the score.”
Miami was ranked No. 2 that game, Notre Dame 10th. That’s what made it such an annual event back then. It’s why this Sunday matters, too. Notre Dame is sixth, Miami 10th. They’re both in the Top 10 for a game since that bygone era.
That 1987 Miami team has a reunion centered around Sunday’s game. Johnson will sit in the suite of UM president Joseph Echevarria. He spoke to Miami’s players a few weeks ago and explained why so many past Hurricanes return to visit: They have so many good memories.
“Go make your own memories,” he said.
Sunday night might be one. This game has everything you want from opening night to top-ranked teams to all the ghosts of yesterday running around these two teams.
