The excitement started long before the kickoff

MIAMI GARDENS — The fun part was watching South Florida turn into a dawn-past-dusk, Catholics-and-consequence college football town even before Braxton Berrios caught the first touchdown and ran off the field with hands behind his back, as if in cuffs. Get it? Convicts 7, Catholics 0. That was just for starters this game, too. Or maybe the start really began in the morning with ESPN’s “College GameDay”

in Coral Gables delivering the feel and fun of a fourhour Miami informercial. At least if the infomercial included sailboats and profane Spanish signs.

(Note to ESPN: It’s Miami. It’s national TV. Get a bilingual editor).

The day continued with Miami clinching its firstever Coastal Division title in the Atlantic Coast Conference thanks to Virginia losing. That title was considered a Putin election when Miami joined the conference in 2004.

Thirteen years later, they won it.

They play Clemson in the ACC title game on Dec. 2, too. Who’s writing this script? The wheels of change officially started in motion two years ago on this same field when Clemson gave Al Golden’s Miami team a school-worst 58-0 beating. Out went Golden. In came Mark Richt. No bowl win in a decade? Miami beat West Virginia in the Russell Athletic Bowl last season. Seven consecutive losses to Florida State? That ended in Tallahassee this season.

Also Saturday, top-ranked Georgia lost, opening a hole for the No. 7 Miami or No. 3 Notre Dame winner to climb up higher in the standings. As one will. As one must.

Finally, there was the national centerpiece to Saturday, the game itself between Miami and Notre Dame. It entered with such delicious noise it awoke the 1980s and 1990s. It reminded South Florida of a time when these games overheated annually.

The night was perfect. The volume was perfect. And the full, big-game atmosphere? When Dolphins owner Steve Ross renovated Hard Rock Stadium, who thought the Hurricanes would deliver the best feel of a full, football night?

The start couldn’t have been more perfect if Jimmy Johnson scripted it. A minute after Berrios’ touchdown, cornerback Jaquan Johnson intercepted a Notre Dame pass, causing a turnover-chain reaction that 36 seconds later resulted in Miami quarterback Malik Rosier running for the second touchdown.

In fact, these past two weeks have been, in some form, been an archaeological dig for South Florida. Like Pompeii or the La Brea tar pits without the must. It was like discovering what this area once was for a couple of decades around the Hurricanes and quit being about 2002.

That’s when the fun left town.

Saturday it officially returned with the suggestion it could stay a while. It caused such a buzz tickets were going for as high as $1,500 before the game. It caused such a buzz both buses were enveloped by fans upon arriving at the stadium.

There were nits to pick. Alex Rodriguez somehow has become the face of Miami football fandom the past couple of weeks. He and Jennifer Lopez were camera favorites at the Virginia Tech game a week ago. Now he was the celebrity picker on ESPN’s GameDay.

But emotions were emotions. Upon arriving to the stadium, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Mike Elko delivered a profanitylaced tirade that went through a list of Miami things he was tired of hearing about, including the sacrosanct Turnover Chain.

“They can have the chains, we’re getting the rings,” Elko told his players.

There were the prized stakes — chains, rings, all sorts of jewelry up for grabs in a manner nothing had been for years on this field. Now they’ve had back-toback games as big as the Hurricanes have had in years.

If beating Virginia Tech brought the scene of college football back to Hard Rock Stadium, playing Notre Dame brought Columbus, Ohio, to Miami. Or Stillwater, Okla. Or Tuscaloosa, Ala.

A big town as a small, college football town on Saturday. At least a small one with profane, bilingual signs.

Dave Hyde