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| Bernie Kosar completed 25 of 33 passes for 300 yards and threw one touchdown in the Hurricanes' win over the Gators. |
Anytime the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Gators play each other, emotions are always high as the two intra-state schools vie for superiority in the Sunshine State.
But their 1984 meeting had emotions ramped up for different for the two schools as they meet in Tampa Bay to play in Tampa Stadium on September 1, 1984.
The Hurricanes entered the game ranked #10 in the country having played a game already as they defeated the Auburn Tigers 20-18 in the Kickoff Classic in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The Hurricanes were the defending national champions following their legendary 31-30 upset win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl led by quarterback Bernie Kosar and head coach Howard Schellenberger.
However, Schellenberger would resign as Miami head coach to become the president and head coach of a Miami franchise in the USFL, which never materialized, and was replaced by Oklahoma State head coach Jimmy Johnson.
Despite the chance at head coach, the Hurricanes hoped to repeat as national champions and defeat the Gators for the first time since 1981 as Florida handed Miami its only loss of the 1983 season, a 28-3 drubbing in Gainesville.
Things were not so sunny in Gainesville as the Florida Gators football program was in turmoil as the NCAA was investigating the team for violations such as paying players and spying on other teams' practices.
Shortly before the start of the season, head coach Charley Pell announced that he would step down at the end of the 1984 season as Florida was prepared to get its season underway when four days before their first game, quarterback Dale Dorminey, who was set to be the team's starting quarterback, suffered a serious knee injury and was lost for the season.
This led to Pell to call on redshirt freshman Kerwin Bell to be inserted as the Gators quarterback as he would lead an offense which featured future NFL running backs Neal Anderson, Lorenzo Hampton, and John L. Williams as well as offensive tackle Lomas Brown, anchoring the offensive line which was nicknamed the "Great Wall of Florida".
The Gators would get the ball to start the game but they would mishandle the opening kickoff as Hampton would take it out from four yards deep in the end zone only to be tackled at the Florida five-yard-line.
The Gators would go three-and-out to punt the ball to the Hurricanes who would take over at the Florida 43-yard-line and drive 31 yards in six plays to set up a 29-yard field goal by Greg Cox to give Miami a 3-0 lead with 9:59 left in the first quarter.
Following an exchange of punts, the Gators got the ball at their 29-yard-line as Bell would complete his first pass of his collegiate career on the drive, a nine-yard pass to Anderson, on a drive which saw Anderson run for 22 yards and Bell complete a 14-yard pass to Ricky Nattiel to give Florida a 1st & goal at the Miami three-yard-line.
However, the Gators would go backwards as a clipping penalty and a quarterback sack by Hurricanes defensive lineman Joe Kohlbrand would push Florida back to the Miami 27-yard-line as Bobby Raymond would come to on to kick a 44-yard field goal to tie the game 3-3 as the first quarter came to an end.
The Hurricanes would go three-and-out on their ensuing possession to give the ball back to the Gators at their 36-yard-line when Hampton took a handoff from Bell to the left side of the field with the help of some great blocking, ran untouched for a 64-yard touchdown to give Florida a 10-3 lead just 71 seconds into the second quarter.
The Hurricanes would respond by driving down to the Florida three-yard-line as Kosar completed five consecutive passes until he threw an incomplete pass on 3rd & goal forcing the Canes to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Cox that cut the Gators' lead to 10-6 with 9:46 left in the second quarter.
The Miami defense would force the first turnover of the game on the Gators' next offensive possession as Hurricanes linebacker John McVeigh knocked the ball loose from Bell when the freshman quarterback was trying to scramble, leading to a fumble recovery by fellow Miami linebacker Bruce Fleming at the Florida 45-yard-line.
Five plays later, the Hurricanes were in the end zone as running back Daryl Oliver took a pitchout to the right side and broke three tacklers on his way to a 21-yard touchdown to give Miami a 13-10 lead with 6:37 to go in the second quarter.
After another Florida punt, the Hurricanes would again drive down the field on the right arm of Kosar as he completed five passes in a row during the 10-play, 80-yard drive which culminated with another Cox Field goal, this one from 27 yards out with 16 seconds left before halftime to increase the Miami lead to 16-10.
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| In his first collegiate start, Florida quarterback Kerwin Bell completed 15 of 30 passes for 159 yards. |
The Hurricanes would get the ball to start the second half as they drove from their eight-yard-line to the Gators' two-yard-line thanks in large part to four Florida penalties for 30 yards where they had a 3rd & goal when Kosar was sacked by Florida defensive end Patrick Miller, forcing Miami to settle for another Cox field goal, a 25-yarder which increased the Hurricanes' lead to 19-10.
Having giving up 16 unanswered points, the Gators' offense needed to respond which they did as they relied on their running game to drive down the field on its next possession as Anderson and Williams combined to run for 45 of the 59 yards on the 17-play drive which ended with a 30-yard field goal by Raymond to cut the Miami lead to 19-13 with 46 seconds left in the third quarter.
Following a Miami punt, the Gators would drive to the Hurricanes' 27-yard-line as Bell completed a 16-yard pass to wide receiver Frankie Neal and Williams ran twice for 17 yards to put Florida in position to retake the lead with a touchdown and an extra point.
It looked like the Gators were going to get that touchdown when Bell completed a 22-yard pass to Gary Rolle only to have Calhoun strip the ball loose as Darrell Fullington would recover the fumble at the Miami one-yard-line to end the Florida scoring threat with 11:50 left in the fourth quarter.
The Hurricanes would drive to their 31-yard-line until they were forced to punt when disater struck as punter Rich Tuten dropped the snap and tried to run for the first down to only be knocked out of bounds at the Miami 29-yard-line to give the Gators a golden opportunity.
However, the Miami defense would not allow a yard on the next three plays, leading Pell to call on Raymond to attempt a 46-yard field goal that cut the six-point in half to three.
But Raymond's kick was short which kept the score at 19-13 in favor of Miami with 6:09 remaining in the game.
The Florida defense would force the Hurricanes to punt on their ensuing possession to give their offense the ball at their 48-yard-line with 4:27 left in the game with a chance to drive down for the winning score..
After a false start penalty pushed the Gators back five yards, Bell completed a 16-yard pass to Ray McDonald to give Florida a 1st down at the Miami 41-yard-line.
Bell would then hand the ball off to Williams who picked up six yards to set up 2nd & 4 when Anderson was stopped for no gain which was followed by an incomplete pass to set up 4th & 4 when Bell connected with McDonald again this time for eight yards to give the Gators a fresh set of downs at the Miami 27-yard-line.
A holding penalty on the Hurricanes would give Florida 10 free yards to the Miami 17-yard-line as a five-yard run by Anderson and two incomplete passes later would force a 4th & 5 situation when Bell kept the ball himself and seven yards for the 1st down as the Gators would have a 1st & goal situation at the Miami five-yard-line.
That is when Bell lofted a pass to the right corner of the end zone where a wide open Neal made the catch for the touchdown to tie the game at 19 as Raymond would come on to kick the go-ahead extra point to give Florida a 20-19 lead with 41 seconds to play in the game.
Oliver would return the ensuing kickoff 16 yards to the Miami 28-yard-line as Kosar and the Hurricane offense came onto the field with 36 seconds left on the clock and all three timeouts in their pockets.
The drive would begin with Kosar finding tight end Willie Smith for 36 yards as he was able to get out of bounds with 28 seconds left after catching his 11th pass of the game to put the Hurricanes at the Florida 36-yard-line.
Kosar would then hit Eddie Brown for 17 yards as the Hurricanes would spend their first timeout with 22 seconds remaining.
Then, Kosar would complete a short four-yard pass to Oliver, who stepped out of bounds at the 15-yard-line with 17 seconds to go, then carried for three more yards to set up 3rd & 3 at the Florida 12-yard-line when Miami spent its second timeout with 12 seconds remaining.
It seemed like that the Hurricanes were just going to run the ball one more time, then call timeout and call on Cox to win the game with a last-second field goal.
However, Kosar convinced his coaches on the sidelines to try and score the winning touchdown with a pass into the end zone.
The Miami coaches complied as Kosar would throw a pass toward the left corner of the end zone for Brown who made the catch for the 12-yard touchdown to complete the stunning five-play, 72-yard drive in 29 seconds as the Hurricanes took a 26-20 lead with seven seconds to go.
Florida would get one last play at the end of the game but Bell's desperation pass was picked off by Tolbert Bain who would return the interception for a 59-yard touchdown as time expired to make the final margin of victory a little deceiving of how close the game really was and Miami came away with the 32-20 win.
Pell would not survive until the end of the season as he hoped as he was fired following the third game of the season after the NCAA announced that the Gators had committed 107 infractions.
Pell was replaced by offensive coordinator Galen Hall who led the Gators to an eight-game winning streak as Florida would finish the regular season as SEC Champions with a 9-1-1 overall record.
However, the Gators would be ineligible to play in that year's Sugar Bowl and to make matters worse would have to vacate the SEC title a few months later as it would not be until 1991 when Florida officially won its first SEC championship with Spurrier as the head coach.
Meanwhile in Miami, the Hurricanes would vault from #10 to #1 in the country following their win over Florida, only to lose the following week to the Michigan Wolverines 22-14, the first of what would be five losses in the season which included a 42-40 loss to Maryland after blowing a 31-0 halftime lead and a 47-45 loss to Boston College in the famous "Hail Flutie" game.
Kosar would finish the season with 3,642 yards and 25 touchdowns as he would finish 4th in the Heisman Trophy race as Bernie would be selected by the Cleveland Browns in the 1985 NFL supplemental draft where he led the Browns to three AFC Championship game appearances in four years.
As for the series between the Gators and the Hurricanes, their annual matchup would end following the 1987 season as the two teams have played seven times since then as of 2024.
