The past 20 years have seen the Miami Hurricanes rise from the brink of extinction to a national power, a program that has won five national championships in that span and had three other teams that lost winner-take-all championship games.
How do you pick the best four UM squads during that span? How do you pick one?
To narrow it down, we first went with the five championship teams, though last year's squad that lost to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl is believed by many to be the best in school history.
After getting down to the five title teams, how do you arrive at four? Three of the five teams went undefeated. But a better way to narrow it down is to simply pick the four squads that won undisputed national championships: 1983, 1987, 1989 and 2001. The 1991 team, although undefeated, shared the national championship with Washington, so we ruled those Hurricanes out.
Then, we seeded them: No. 1 2001, No. 2 1987, No. 3 1989, No. 4 1983. Then we had 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3.
Here's what a make-believe scenario might have looked like.
GAME 1
No. 4 1983 vs. No. 1 2001:
Both teams defeated Nebraska to win the national title, but the similarities end there. These were squads on completely different ends of the spectrum. The '83 group was the ultimate band of underdogs. Not one player made first-team All-American. The '01 team had a slew of stars, including quarterback Ken Dorsey, tailback Clinton Portis, tight end Jeremy Shockey, receiver Andre Johnson, and a strong defensive line with nine interchangeable players. Ultimately, the 2001 team had too much firepower for the '83 squad, which won its final three games by a combined seven points. Without a strong running game to sustain drives (fullback Albert Bentley led the team in rushing for the year with 722 yards), quarterback Bernie Kosar was under pressure the entire game. A swarming defense sacked him five times and had three interceptions (two by safety Ed Reed, one returned for a touchdown). Portis rushed for 153 yards on 17 carries and scored twice, while Dorsey threw two touchdowns to Andre Johnson in a 31-7 victory for 2001.
GAME 2
No. 3 1989 vs. No. 2 1987:
Though just two years apart, these were vastly different teams. The '87 squad brought Jimmy Johnson his only national title - a year after a title game defeat to Penn State. The '89 squad was Dennis Erickson's first, and won the championship despite a regular season loss to Florida State. Johnson's team had offensive stars such as quarterback Steve Walsh, fullback Melvin Bratton, and receivers Michael Irvin and Brian Blades. Erickson's '91 squad had a stingy defense led by defensive tackles Cortez Kennedy and Russell Maryland. The '89 defense went one 10-quarter stretch during the regular season without allowing a touchdown and gave up just 9.3 points per game, but couldn't contain the offensive-minded '87 squad, which used strategic running plays by Bratton and tailback Warren Williams to set up the pass. Walsh threw two touchdowns to Irvin and another to Blades and Greg Cox added a field goal in a 24-14 victory for the 1987 team.
CHAMPIONSHIP
No. 2 1987 vs. No. 1 2001:
Larry Coker's 2001 championship team was used to running over teams. It won by an average of 33.2 points, which made things a bit scary when the '87 Hurricanes jumped out to an early lead by forcing two turnovers and getting touchdown runs of 5 and 7 yards by Bratton. But the 2001 squad settled down, and Dorsey got hot to Johnson, Shockey and Portis out of the backfield. Dorsey was 25-for-35, including two touchdowns to Johnson, and Portis rushed for 105 yards on 18 carries and a score for a 21-14 win.
