South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Hurricanes rally, upend Seminoles
Down 20 points to their rival, Miami came back to win 28-27.
MIAMI GARDENS — When it was over, when the comeback was complete, when this unlikely day gave way to an even unlikelier night at Hard Rock Stadium, Manny Diaz walked across the postgame field from player to player, hugging one and moving to the next.
All around, the celebration was starting for Miami’s “return from the dead,” as Miami coach Mark Richt called this 28-27 win against Florida State. Players were jawing, the emotions not yet cooled. Richt was being asked on television how they did it, and he gave the only possible answer:
“Defense. Turnovers. And taking advantage of the turnovers.”
Diaz, whose defense delivered the turnovers, who for the second straight game headlined the win, slapped the shoulder pads of safety Sheldrick Redwine as the school’s alma mater was sung on the field. The reversing of this day
started with those two with one play in the third quarter. It started before that, really. “At halftime, coach Diaz said, ‘We need to get some turnovers, need to get the chain out,’ ” linebacker Michael Pinckney said. The day was sinking by then and the anger rising in Hard Rock Stadium. Fans booed the play-calling early in the third quarter. When Florida State went up 27-7 on a third-quarter punt return, a few bottles landed on the field. Richt said later he considered replacing quarterback N’Kosi Perry with former starter Malik Rosier. Yep, it was devolving into that kind of day, folks. And then it wasn’t. “Then the turnovers happened,” Richt said. Within 50 seconds , Redwine strip-sacked Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois to set up one Miami touchdown and Pinckney intercepted Francois at the Florida State 17-yard line to gift-wrap a second touchdown. Suddenly, Miami was within six points. Suddenly, the game wasn’t just up for grabs. The stadium was. The crowd entered the day and wasn’t leaving. “Crazy out there,” Pinckney said. Crazy loud. Crazy script. Florida State had a beautiful double-pass play that went for a touchdown in the fourth quarter called back because the first pass went a sliver forward. Sometimes you need the coin landing on the right side. And then FSU’s 43-yard field goal went wide, wide left. When defensive end Joe Jackson strip-sacked Francois early in the fourth quarter, that did something more than set up Miami’s winning touchdown. It delivered the kind of script involving Diaz’s path that only sports can provide. Florida State was where his most unlikely of dreams started. He was an ESPN producer when he decided make a crazy decision to become a coach. He just didn’t know how to start. So he returned to his alma mater, when he was sports editor of the school paper, and told then-Florida State defensive coordinator Chuck Amato he’d work for free. “I’ll do anything,” he said. Amato found him a part-time job in the recruiting office that involved bookkeeping and stuffing envelopes. His wife, Stephanie, worked for a catering company to make ends meet. They had an infant son and lived for two years in Burt Reynolds Hall, the athletic dorm. Who makes those kind of life decisions? The kind that stand on the field in an early Saturday evening basking in a big victory, knowing his strategy swung the day. Three turnovers and three defensive touchdowns carried the previous win against North Carolina. Now three more turnovers by Diaz’s defense beat Florida State. Diaz wasn’t done. He got Richt’s ear when Miami was close to a touchdown in the final minute. Throw in the extra-point, they’d be up eight points. Florida State could still tie it up. That’s why Travis Homer fell to the ground at the FSU 1-yard line after gaining a first down. The final seconds then ticked away, and Richt told his players in the locker room, “I’m trying to think of a game that I felt better after.” Down 20 points. Being booed. Against your prime rival. And winning. No wonder Richt told his players, nope, couldn’t think of feeling better after a game than this.