The Road Game Journal feature will detail our excursions to various Miami Hurricanes road games over the years. Hide the children, because when you wear orange and green to an opposing team’s stadium, well, they tend to not take to it kindly. The below article details our trip to the Orange Bowl for the 2003 home opener vs. Florida. OK, OK, technically this is not a road game, but some game experiences are too good to pass up. This was one of them.
Miami 38, Florida 33 (2003, Miami): Ahhh, what a game. After beating Louisiana Tech in the 2003 opener, the Hurricanes welcomed the Florida Gators to the Orange Bowl. My dad and I took our seats for the nationally televised night game and breathed in the fresh South Florida air. Wait a second…that’s not fresh air…that’s….that’s….ahh yes, the smell of weed. I don’t need to tell you that I was in the West end zone section.
The tension in the air was palpable as my man Phil Collins blasted on the loud speakers…” I can feel it….comin in the air to-night…oh Lord” The game was about to start. You could cut the electricity in the air with a knife. The Gators kicked off to freshman Devin Hester. Big mistake. Hester had earned quite the reputation in practice and a buzz was building around him before he ever saw significant game action. Well, this was his coming out party. He took the opening kickoff to the end zone and the crowd went ape sh*t. Sure, he got a dead ball penalty for taking his helmet off, but who cares.
The crowd anticipated the momentum continuing, but they would soon be introduced to who I call Brock Berlinterception. That dude had a strong arm but would make some throws that would leave you scratching your head. I always said that they should have just kept that guy in the shotgun permanently. It was like he was a different quarterback when already set in the backfield. But, I gotta give it to the guy…I sat behind his girlfriend at the Peach Bowl one year and her ass was among the nicest I’ve ever seen. Good work, my friend. Anyways, Berlin’s two interceptions and a fumble had the Canes down 33-10 with 6:10 in the third quarter. Some people were starting to file out of the OB. Can’t really blame them, Miami showed no signs of life at that point. But, games are 60 minutes long and there was still a quarter and a half to go. Kevin Beard scored with a few minutes left in the 3rd and after a two point conversion, the Canes were only down by 15. Well, that’s not impossible, I thought. Since that drive Berlin seemed to transform into another human being. Like he stepped into a phone booth or something. He went from total detriment to picking apart the Florida D. I haven’t seen such Jekyll and Hyde tendencies since my ex-girlfriend went off Prozac. Boom! Long drive touchdown, long drive touchdown and we’re down by 1 point. A celebration penalty caused us to have to kick the extra point instead of go for two, but there was still plenty of time. The D held and Brock got the ball back with 5 minutes left.
Ken Dorsey had his coming out party on his final drive in Wide Right III, and now it was Brock’s chance. There was a 4th and 1 were he ran a bootleg and collapsed after gaining the needed yard. I don’t know if he was just 
pretending to cramp up so he could impress the ladies on the sidelines, but it was high drama and my heart was beatin like a bunny rabbit’s. With less than two minutes to go, Frank Gore runs it in from the 12 yard line. I had visions of heartbreak when they failed to convert the 2 point conversion to make it a 7 point lead, but the D held when Chris Leak‘s desperation heave was picked off. And there you have it. One of the greatest comebacks in school history.
After taking a knee and firing the ball in the air, Brock walks over to the east end zone (they had the temporary stands up for this game) and does the mock Gator chomp. I would have loved to have been sitting in that section when he did that. The east stands were 90+% Gator fans and I can just imagine the looks on their faces after their former player wiped out Florida’s 23 point 3rd quarter lead. “Aw daggumbbit that little sonuvabitch is doin the Gaytur chomp? Cletus, get my rifle from my truck! No one disrespects tha Gayturs like thayt!”
