We were fresh on a roll after having thumped Penn State the week before, and the offense running in fantastic synchronicity.
When we got to Miami, though, there were a few critical plays that all but killed us. I honestly believe that we win that games 2 out of every 3 times, but unfortunately for us, Miami was there for the 3rd one. We committed so many blunders that game, that it was extremely disheartening, to say the least.
We had a 90 yard drive, and only came away with 3 points, even though were at Miami's 1 yard line. We had another 90 yard drive and didn't even score.
As trivial as it may seem, was Billy Hackett's missed field goal before halftime. Being down 17-13 would have painted a different picture than 17-10.
The final straw that broke the camel's back was the 3rd and 44 conversion, where Randal Hill snagged a long bomb from Craig Erickson, toasting both Stan Smagala and Pat Terrell. Smagala was the 3rd fastest man on the team, running a genuine 4.38 in the 40, while Terrell was no slouch either, running under a 4.5. Yet, Hill blew by both of them.
It also didn't help that Rocket Ismail was hurt for most of the game, having been stomped on the shoulder by a Miami defender.
Finally, Bernard Clark had the game of his lifetime, basically being an unblockable one man wrecking crew on many occasions.
As bad as the Miami loss was, though, was the injustice that for all of the murderer's row schedule we played, and even beating #1 Colorado by 15 points, the voters hated our guts enough to vote in Miami as the champion. I was actually OK with that, since they did beat us head to head.
When 1993 rolled around, and FSU was the champ, despite the head-to-head win by us, that basically showed that the bias killed us both times.