After slow start, Kaaya catches fifire
ORLANDO — They have dreams of hoisting a more hallowed trophy. Perhaps, one day, they will.
For now, the Hurricanes are happy with this one.
They earned their fifirst bowl win in a decade — and some hardware — at Camping World Stadium, routing No. 16 West Virginia 31-14 in the Russell Athletic Bowl on Wednesday night.
Miami lost six bowl games between the 2006 MPC Computers Bowl and Wednes- day, a frustrating stretch for a program that has produced fifive national titles and some of the greatest college football teams in history. In the past 10 years, the Hurricanes have made four coaching changes and are 80-60 overall.
They’re a long way from back. But under warm, 70-degree skies in a stadium 240 miles from campus, they earned the right to say they’re on the right track.
Under first-year coach Mark Richt, UM fifinished 9-4 (5-3 ACC) and won its fifinal fifive games. It will almost certainly be ranked when the season’s fifinal polls are released.
It’s fun to win,” Richt said, wearing wet clothing as his players shook the walls with their shouts in the locker room down the hall. “There’s nothing like it.”
The win c ame after quarterback Brad Kaaya caught fifire, leading the Hurricanes to 28 unanswered points after falling behind early, and UM played its usual ferocious defense, keeping the Mountaineers (10-3) from winning 11 games for the sixth time in their 125-year history.
Kaaya, a junior who is expected to declare