The Road Game Journal feature will detail our excursions to various Miami Hurricanes road games over the years. Hide the children, because when you wear orange and green to an opposing team’s stadium, well, they tend to not take to it kindly. The below article details our trip to Philadelphia to see the 2000 Hurricanes take on the Temple Owls (no, that is not a typo).
Miami 45, Temple 17 (2000, Philadelphia, PA): Dude, don’t ask me why I went to this game. I have a buddy who lives in Philly and had always been meaning to visit him so figured, hey, why not schedule it during a time when the Canes are playing? So, that’s what I did. Besides, I was still on a natural high from the Wide Right III win a couple weeks back. I didn’t expect such gut wrenching euphoria this time, but I figured I’d get a chance to see some of the younger guys in action to see what’s in store for 2001 and 2002.
We get to the old Vet, and it’s a ghost town. Is a game going on today? Sure enough, there is. We didn’t have tickets, so we just got some from some scalpers for 10 bucks each. Later that night I was at a party and some dude was like, “Oh man, why didn’t you tell me you were goin to that game, I have a stack of like 20 tickets at home that went unused.” Hahaaa. I guess Temple is not much of a draw in Philly. The good part is that we were able to mosey on down close to the field since the stadium was practically empty. It’s kind of weird being in a huge stadium that is like 15% full. I look over in the section next to me and there is Dan Stubbs, member of the 1987 national championship team. As for the game, well, it was a yawner but it was cool to see. No real concern about the outcome like in Wide Right III so you can just kick back, relax, and watch your team roll over this poor excuse for a Division I-A squad. During one drive, Dorsey threw a picture perfect fade into the end zone. He released it before the WR (Santana?) broke and it was a dart right on the money. After that throw, I was like ‘Arm strength? Who says Ken doesn’t have arm strength’ and I thought he’d make it in the pros. Eh, guess I was wrong. But, that was a niiiice throw. My buddy wanted to head out at halftime, but I made him stick it out. He wasn’t that entertained, but as a Canes fan, you want to see the young guys get in their late to see what’s in store for years ahead.
The entire stadium was virtually silent the whole game. I literally could have yelled out “Hey Reggie!” and Mr. Wayne would have turned around. This game remains the only road game mismatch I’ve attended (as most people do, I usually attend the more high profile match ups). But, there’s something endearing about seeing your team on the road against a real crappy opponent. You get to see them in a more intimate environment and if you’re a true die hard Canes fan, you get to see most of the back ups and reserves get playing time. As an added bonus, you don’t have to deal with 80,000+ drunken irate fans hurling expletives at you. Of course, this requires the program to be on an elite level, as it was in 2000. There is so much parity in college football these days. Rutgers, Boise State and TCU are catching up to the powerhouses of old. I think this stems from a larger pool of talented high school players across the country. The big schools only have so many scholarships to offer and once those are doled out, there’s still plenty of elite talent remaining for the smaller schools (more so than there were in the ’70s and ’80s). That being said, there always seems to be a different kind of speed and talent produced in South Florida and it’s just a matter of time before the Hurricanes return to the glory days like this game vs. Temple in 2000. At least, I hope so.
Canes Pundit >> Road Game Journal – 2000 Miami Hurricanes (45) v ...