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1989 Miami football

1989 Miami-Florida State: Seminoles Win A Battle; Canes Win A War

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For at least seven years, 1987 through 1993, the Miami-Florida State rivalry blazed red-hot, one of the best in both college football and all of sports. 1989 had an ironic twist—more often than not, the Hurricanes got the best of the Seminoles. Florida State won the ’89 battle, but even then, it was Miami who ended up winning the war before it was all over.

You can read more about the complete seasons of both teams, as well as their key players, at the links below. This post focuses specifically on the 1989 Miami-Florida State game.

READ MORE ABOUT 1989 MIAMI FOOTBALL
READ MORE ABOUT 1989 FLORIDA STATE FOOTBALL

It was a humid night in Tallahassee on October 28. Florida State was building momentum on their season after a rocky start left them 0-2 and out of the national championship picture. The Seminoles had responded with five straight wins, three over ranked teams. Beating #2 and undefeated Miami would validate their turnaround.

The Hurricanes were dealing with an injured quarterback. Craig Erickson had missed the last two games and been replaced by freshman Gino Torretta. It hadn’t come back to bite the ‘Canes yet, but the freshman had not faced an opponent of this caliber or a road environment that would be this loud.

And it showed on his first pass. Torretta was picked off by LeRoy Butler. FSU’s Dexter Carter immediately ripped off a 37-yard run for a touchdown. A first-quarter flurry was underway.

To his credit, Torretta settled down and led a 65-yard TD drive that tied the game. Florida State marched right back with another touchdown. Miami raced back the other way and got a field goal. All the back and forth left this a 14-10 game with FSU in front as the first quarter came to a close.

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The remaining three quarters would be marked by Hurricane mistakes and missed opportunities. Miami drove to the one-yard line in the second quarter. Torretta’s third-down pass was intercepted in the end zone by Kevin Grant. The ‘Canes drove to the one-yard line in the third quarter. Kirk Carruthers recovered a fumble. The recovery went with Carruthers’ two interceptions and made it a dream night for the linebacker.

Florida State made the turnover hurt when they drove 99 yards for a touchdown that gave them some breathing room. After a field goal extended the lead to 24-10 it was time for Miami to make yet another drive to the FSU one-yard line. This time they were stopped on downs.

On the night, the ‘Canes committed six turnovers—four of them interceptions by the freshman quarterback. They were flagged for nine penalties totaling nearly 100 yards.

Lest we think that the evening was only marked by Miami shooting themselves in the foot, let’s also point out that Florida State dominated the line of scrimmage. The Seminoles rushed for over 200 yards, 142 of them from Carter. The Seminoles moved up to #6 in the polls with the win. The Hurricanes fell to #7.

Miami would rebound though, winning out and beating top-ranked Notre Dame in the season finale. The Hurricanes went on to the Sugar Bowl back at #2 and beat Alabama. When the Irish knocked off #1 Colorado in the Orange Bowl, it handed Miami the national title.

As for Florida State, they kept on coming. The Seminoles won out and then blasted Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl. FSU finished #3 and had a lot of people believing they were the nation’s best team, even if the two early losses made it impractical to crown them as champs.

The Catholics Vs. Convicts Sequel Highlights 1989 College Football

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The Notre Dame-Miami game that ultimately decided college football’s 1989 national championship game wasn’t the epic battle it had been the prior year. It wasn’t as clear-cut that these were the best two teams. The sequel to Catholics vs. Convicts was much like Godfather II—it was pretty good, but it could never measure against the standard set by the original.

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Notre Dame played a brutally difficult schedule that started with a 24-19 win at Michigan, a 1 vs. 2 battle in Ann Arbor to start the season. Raghib Ismail, Notre Dame’s electrifying kick returner and receiver, brought back two kickoffs for touchdowns to make the difference. Michigan head coach Bo Schembecler was in his final season and this loss—the only one his team suffered prior to the Rose Bowl—ended any hopes for a national title.

The Irish would win games against Top 10 opponents Pitt and USC, and also ranked foes in Air Force and Penn State. Notre Dame arrived in Miami for Thanksgiving weekend ranked #1 in the country and locked into an Orange Bowl date with unbeaten Colorado.

Miami had a good year, but their title hopes seemed to come undone when they were beaten at Florida State, a 24-10 game that didn’t even feel that close. For the Seminoles’ part, they were playing as well as anyone in November, but had lost their first two games—including a big upset loss to Brett Favre’s Southern Mississippi team—and were out of the national discussion.

The Hurricanes did what they could to help themselves. Their speed dominated Notre Dame, who looked and played tentative. Miami had control of the game from the early going and when they did the impossible and converted a 3rd-and-44 in the third quarter (yes, 44 yards), you knew where this game was going. The ‘Canes won 27-10 and kept the national championship race alive.

Miami was going to the Sugar Bowl to play Alabama, and now, in the ironic plot twist that a good screenwriter loves, had to become Notre Dame fans. Colorado was #1 in the country, and it was the Irish who had to take them out.

Notre Dame did their part, taking control in the second half and winning 21-6. Miami got a good test from Alabama, but the Hurricanes kept it in reasonable control during the second half and won 33-25.

The Hurricanes were voted national champions for the third time in seven years, and each was under a different coach—Howard Schnellenberger in 1983, Jimmy Johnson in 1987 and now Dennis Erickson in 1989. They had won the sequel to the great Catholics vs. Convicts movie.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1989 MIAMI HURRICANES
READ MORE ABOUT 1989 NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL
READ MORE ABOUT 1989 FLORIDA STATE FOOTBALL
READ MORE ABOUT 1989 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL

 

1989 Sports: Michigan's Miracle, A Series Earthquake & Gretzky Changes Sides

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The state of Michigan brought home basketball championships at both the college and NBA level, and nothing in 1989 sports was more dramatic than the way the Michigan Wolverines won the 1989 NCAA Tournament.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
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Michigan saw its head coach, Bill Frieder, leave for the Arizona State job prior to March Madness. Frieder was then told he didn’t need to bother coaching the team in the tournament.
Steve Fischer took the team over on an interim basis and promptly won six games in a row, culminating with last-second wins against both Illinois and Seton Hall at the Final Four.
The Detroit Pistons ride to the NBA title seemed almost pre-ordained, as the Pistons had waited their turn, in suffering crushing losses to the Boston Celtics in 1987 and the Los Angeles Lakers in 1988. The Pistons produced the best record all season long, rolled through the playoffs and beat an injury-depleted Laker team to win the championship.
Read more about 1989 Michigan basketball
Read more about the 1989 Detroit Pistons
The good people of Michigan weren’t the only regions to have a great sports year. How about the Bay Area? The Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants each made it to the World Series, and the A’s won in a four-game sweep, a Series marred by the tragedy of an earthquake right before Game 3, that did immense damage and put baseball on hold for ten days. Like so many cities, before and since, the Bay Area was able to find some escape in sports.
Baseball in general had a bit of a down year, at least in the excitement department. Three of the four division races lacked drama and neither League Championship Series made it past five games. The one exception to the no-excitement rule came in the American League East, when the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles
In the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers were already in the discussion for Team of the 1980s, along with the Washington Redskins, with each having three Super Bowl titles. San Francisco broke the tie, and not only that, did with the best team produced in the Joe Montana era—indeed, it was a team that was probably the greatest 49ers team ever and on the short list of best Super Bowl champions of all time. The 49ers went 14-2 and steamrolled three postseason opponents, including John Elway’s Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl, 55-10.
Read more about the 1989 Oakland A’s
Read more about the 1989 AL East race
Read more about the 1989 San Francisco 49ers
One of the most ballyhooed trades in sports history took place in the NHL, when the Edmonton Oilers dealt the greatest hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretzky, to the Los Angeles Kings. The two teams ended up facing each other in the playoffs and Gretzky got the best of his former employer.
But the Calgary Flames got the best of everyone. Calgary and Montreal met in the Stanley Cup Finals and the Flames won their first and only championship.
Read more about the 1989 NHL Playoffs
The Notre Dame-Miami rivalry was at its zenith in college football, and the “Catholics vs. Convicts” war had a sequel to its dramatic 1988 game. Miami got the better of the Fighting Irish this time around and the Hurricanes won the national championship.
The constancy of these two powers at the top was a source of stability on a college football landscape that saw the end of the “lock” Nebraska and Oklahoma had held over the Big Eight since 1976.
Read more about the 1989 Notre Dame-Miami Rivalry