Canes hope to avenge Clemson pummeling
A humiliating 58-0 loss to Clemson led to UM’s return to glory.
Miami’s 58-0 loss to the Tigers in 2015 was one of the team’s worst days. But it ushered in a welcome change, players say.
CORAL GABLES — It was one of the worst days in Hurricanes history.
It was also, in a way, one of the best. If not for Oct. 24, 2015, when Clemson beat Miami 58-0 at Hard Rock Stadium, there may not be Saturday. The previous meeting of the two teams in Saturday’s ACC Championship game (8 p.m., ABC) happened to be the most lopsided loss in the 92-year history of Miami football. That fateful game led to Al Golden’s dismissal, which preceded the arrival of Mark Richt, who has guided the Hurricanes to a rematch with coach Dabo Swinney and the Tigers. A spot in the College Football Playoff semifinal is on the line.
The teams are unquestionably different today, especially on the Miami side. To look back is to appreciate how true that is.
“It’s put us where we are now,” said quarterback Malik Rosier.
That was the day Rosier had his first taste of college ball. He was a redshirt freshman standing on the sidelines when Clemson steamrolled Brad Kaaya on a two-man rush, leaving him with a concussion. Rosier, unprepared and down 28-0, missed his first three attempts before Clemson cornerback, and current Miami Dolphin, Cordrea Tankersley returned the fourth 36 yards for a touchdown.
“It was just a bad day,” junior cornerback Michael Jackson said.
UM moved the ball a total of 61 yards on its final nine drives, as Clemson more than doubled its lead.
“It wasembarrassing, to say theleast,” senior receiver Braxton Berrios said.
The Tigers, on their way to the national title game against Alabama, thoroughly out-
classed the five-time national champs.
“I don’t even think about that game no more,” senior defensive end Chad Thomas said. “We took an ‘L.’ We’ll never feel like that again.”
Several other Hurricanes past and present declined requests to discuss it.
Hurricanes fans who responded to a social media request flooded The Post’s inbox with memories (see the Canes Watch blog at PalmBeachPost.com for more). Many saw it as a moment of rebirth, where UM’s athletic department was forced to make a change they had long wanted.
“I remember shaking Clemson fans’ hands, thanking them,” Twitter user @ JLD_954 wrote, “because I had a feeling we were finally about to be free.”
In his fifth season, Golden’s fan approval was scarce. Banners calling for his job, towed behind hired planes, were a common occurrence before games. The voice mail and email inbox of UM Athletics Director Blake James was stuffed, but he maintained he wouldn’t make a decision on Golden’s future until the end of the year.
What happened on the field that day forced his hand.
It was captured in a photo of the ritual postgame handshake between the coaches.
The seats behind them were barren, the sky above gray. Swinney stood straight, eyes and jaw and wrist fixed like steel. Golden, sweating in his white dress shirt and orange tie, looked down and away, defeated. He is lumbering through the scene, breaking the grip, off to stand silently for the playing of the UM alma mater. He would spend the one-minute song looking at the turf in front of his feet, unable to meet the eyes of the few fans left in the stands.
Golden, who has declined several interview requests since leaving UM, now coaches the Detroit Lions’ tight ends. Richt brought on an entirely new staff, which has stuck together since.
“We’re holding ourselves to a higher standard,” said junior safety Jaquan Johnson, who forced his first career fumble that day. “We’re playing, ‘the Miami way.’ ”
Two years later, that game still leaves a sour taste.
“I don’t want to say it’s payback,” junior defensive tackle RJ McIntosh said, “but we’ve got to have that in our minds coming into this game.”
“We definitely owe them one,” senior left tackle Kc McDermott said.
“I imagine the guys that were here during that time frame haven’t forgotten how that felt,” Richt said. “Obviously, it wasn’t a good moment for our program.”
He didn’t watch the game that day. He had other issues to handle.
In his 15th season at Georgia, Richt was weary. Fans had long gotten over the buzz of two SEC titles (2002, ‘05) and were thankful, but frustrated over a host of verygood-but-not-great seasons. UGA was on a bye that week after losing two of its previous two games, to Alabama and Tennessee. A loss to Florida the following week all but sealed Richt’s fate.
On Nov. 29, the day after UGA ended a 9-3 regular season, he sat at a table with Athletics Director Greg McGarity, publicly discussing what was termed a “mutual separation.” One reporter asked, on behalf of Bulldog fans, whether he would be OK.
“You could tell everybody that I’m going to be fine,” Richt said. “My wife and I will be fine . ... We’re very excited about our future.”
Down in Coral Gables, UM had formed a search committee that included former players Jonathan Vilma and Vinny Testaverde, and were discussing a group of names that included Charlie Strong, Greg Schiano, Dan Mullen, Butch Davis and others.
Richt checked every box. Highly respected? Yes. Strongest résumé on the market? Yep. Former Hurricane? Oh yeah. Affordable? Not totally so, but they wanted him bad enough it didn’t matter.
They brought him home for more than $4 million a year, making him the highest-paid coach in school history. On Dec. 11, 2015, a week after he was introduced, he stood on UM’s practice field and watched players he had never met.
Under Richt, who was named ACC Coach of the Year this week, the Hurricanes are back to national prominence.
“Night and day, truly,” Berrios said. “We’ve grown so much as a team and a program. Everything we do now is different than we did two years ago.”
Vince Wilfork, finishing his career that year with the Houston Texans, played the Dolphins at Hard Rock the day after Miami-Clemson. “We’re frustrated,” the former Santaluces standout said that week. “For me, I haven’t been happy for 11 years now.”
Wilfork, now retired, was at practice Wednesday, watching the defensive linemen and clapping his hands.
That has been a trend, with Miami fans returning in droves for games, and not a banner plane in sight. But fans won’t forget, either. When Miami hosted ESPN’s “College GameDay” for the first time, before beating Notre Dame on Nov. 11, one of the signs in the crowd featured the handshake photo.
The caption: Thank You Dabo.