Orange Bowl Magic Countdown #4

1994 Miami versus Florida State

The Miami program was dead in the eyes of the local, state and national media entering this showdown versus defending National Champion Florida State at the OB. Miami entered the game still reeling from a 38-20 loss to Washington which ended UM's NCAA record 58 game home winning streak. FSU was confident and cocky coming into the game, but the OB at night would rear its head one last time before Miami collapsed into oblivion until the late 1990s.

Frank Costa isn't remembered particularly fondly by Miami fans. This night however would be his masterpiece, his entry into the annals of legendary Miami QB performances. James Stewart, Miami's bruising 235 pound fullback had a huge game in leading Miami's comeback after falling behind 14-7 in the 2nd quarter. Miami wore down FSU's vaunted defense and pulled a little bit of trickery late in the first half on the goal line when Dennis Erickson and O-Coordinator Rich Olsen inserted Ryan Collins to run the option, a move that forced FSU to waste a timeout and resulted in a TD.

In the 2nd half Miami pounced on the mistake prone Seminoles and Carlos Jones TD return of a Danny Kannel INT, forced Bobby Bowden to shuffle QB's resulting in three different QBs for the Noles: Kannel, Jon Stark, and Thad Busby. On the other side of the ball Stewart wore down the Noles and the result 34-20 owed itself as much to the wild nightime OB atmosphere as it did to Miami's play.

This would be Miami's last win against FSU until 2000.