Miami Comes Up Short Against No. 15 Washington
Sept. 9, 2000
By JIM COUR
AP Sports Writer
SEATTLE – Some of the Miami players mocked Washington before Saturday’sgame by barking like dogs. The Huskies got in last bark.
“They were yelping a bit in the tunnel,” Washington tight end JerramyStevens said. “They found out who the real dogs were.”
Marques Tuiasosopo passed for a touchdown and ran for another, and freshmanRich Alexis scored on a 50-yard run as No. 15 Washington beat No. 4 Miami34-29.
The Huskies spoiled Miami’s first trip to Husky Stadium. In the schools’first meeting in 1994 at the Orange Bowl, Washington ended the Hurricanes’ NCAArecord 58-game home winning streak.
“That was a big-time win against one of the best teams in the nation,”Tuiasosopo said.
“We want to get Washington back to the glory days,” Huskies linebackerJafar Williams said. “Today proves to us that we’re on our way back.”
Washington (2-0) led 20-3 at halftime and took a 34-22 lead on the secondplay of the fourth quarter on Pat Conniff’s 1-yard touchdown plunge.
But the Hurricanes (1-1), taking advantage of Tuiasosopo’s secondinterception of the fourth quarter and third turnover of the second half,scored on James Jackson’s 1-yard run with 2:52 to go to get to within five at34-29.
On third-and-12 at the Washington 10, Tuiasosopo was intercepted by AlBlades, giving the Hurricanes the ball at the Huskies’ 8.
“There’s still a lot of things I can do better,” Tuiasosopo said. “I needto throw the ball away more often. It was a fun game, but there was a littleheartache at the end.”
After Jackson’s second TD of the game, Todd Sievers‘ onside kick wasrecovered by Stevens at the Miami 45 with 2:49 left. The Huskies couldn’t get afirst down, but they were able to run the clock down to just 20 seconds.
After Ryan Fleming’s punt landed in the end zone, the Hurricanes took theball over at the 20. Ken Dorsey misfired on his first two pass attempts beforepassing 42 yards to Reggie Wayne on the last play the game.
Some of the Hurricanes players talked about being good enough to win theschool’s fifth national title and first since 1991 before the game. After thegame, coach Butch Davis denied his players ever talked about that.
“We never talked about the national championship,” Davis said. “That’salways media conversation.”
The Huskies had themselves to blame that the game was so close at the end.After holding Miami without a touchdown in the first half, they gave up threein the third quarter.
After Fleming got off a punt that went off the side of his foot for 9 yards,Miami took over on the Washington 30. The Hurricanes scored their first TDseven plays later on a 21-yard pass from Dorsey to Wayne.
But Alexis, who is from Florida, took a pitchout from Tuiasosopo and scoredon his 50-yard run down the left sideline to give the Huskies a 27-9 lead with6:10 left in the third quarter.
A 61-yard run by Clinton Portis set up an 8-yard touchdown run by NajehDavenport on the Hurricanes’ next possession to cut Washington’s lead to 27-15.
A fumble by Tuiasosopo that was recovered by Dan Morgan at the Washington 8led to Miami’s third touchdown of the quarter. Jackson scored on the next playas the Hurricanes got within five at 27-22 with 3:50 left in the third period.
Washington then put together a 13-play, 65-yard drive, with Conniff scoringin a 1-yard run with 30 seconds gone in the fourth quarter.
Despite his turnovers in the second half, Tuiasosopo was the star of thegame. He completed 18 of 31 passes for 223 yards with a touchdown and twointerceptions. In addition, he gained 45 yards and scored a TD on 15 carries.
Dorsey was 15-for-34 for 215 yards and one TD with no interceptions.
Washington built its 21-3 lead at halftime after scoring two touchdowns inthe final 5 1/2 minutes of the opening half.
In the key drive of the game, Tuiasosopo took the Huskies 80 yards in nineplays in 4:40 as they took a 14-3 lead with 5:19 left in the second quarter.Tuiasosopo ran 12 yards on an option keeper for Washington’s second TD.
Cornerback Anthony Vontoure blitzed Dorsey, caused him to fumble andrecovered the ball to give Washington the ball at the Miami 49. Tuiasosopopassed 23 yards to uncovered Stevens, his tight end, in the end zone asWashington took a 21-3 lead with 2:02 to go in the second quarter.
In the first quarter, Washington’s special teams set up its first touchdown,a 3-yard run by Braxton Cleman. Tyler Krambrink hit Santana Moss on a puntreturn, caused him to fumble and recovered the ball on the Hurricanes’ 35.
“The reason we lost the game was us,” Dorsey said. “They didn’t beatus.”
