This week's College Football GameDay classic has dropped, and it's a special one for Miami fans — the 1998 "Hurricane Bowl" against UCLA. The game was originally scheduled for early September, but was postponed because of Hurricane Georges, a CAT-4 storm that curled around the bottom tip of Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico before making eventual landfall around Biloxi, Mississippi.
By the time the game was played in the first week of December, UCLA was 10-0 and ranked No. 2 in the BCS. Miami was 7-3 and coming off of an embarrassing 66-13 loss to Syracuse. If the Bruins could win in the Orange Bowl, they would play for a national championship, but beating the Hurricanes at home was never an easy task.
The Backstory
In the first season of the BCS there was a logjam at the top. Tennessee, Kansas State and UCLA were all undefeated and playing in the first week of December. If all three teams won, Tennessee and UCLA would likely play in the Fiesta Bowl for the BCS championship. Miami was still recovering from sanctions and Butch Davis was starting to rebuild the roster with players that would eventually become Hurricane legends. There were a lot of secondary stories here too. Arizona, which was 10-1, would have gone to the Rose Bowl had UCLA won (that was a big deal back then). Also, Tennessee and Kansas State were playing later in the evening and the Wildcats needed Miami to win to clear a path for them to reach the Fiesta Bowl.
The Teams
UCLA was loaded on offense with guys like quarterback Cade McNown, running back DeShaun Foster and wide receiver Brian Poli-Dixon and led by future Pro Bowl linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo on defense. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes had a backfield of Edgerrin James and Najeh Davenport and wide receivers Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne and Andre King and tight end Bubba Franks. The defense was young, with players like linebacker Dan Morgan and cornerback Mike Rumph taking their lumps before going on to successful pro careers.
The Game
What a game it was!. The teams went score for score in the first half, but then the Bruins took over, scoring 24 unanswered points to take a 38-21 lead in the third quarter. Miami rallied behind the legs of James and made big plays in the passing game. In the final minute, it was James scoring his third touchdown to give Miami the 49-45 win. The future Hall of Famer had 299 yards and three touchdowns to offset McNown's 513 yards passing, which is still a UCLA single-game record. All together, the teams combined for a ridiculous 1,359 yards of offense.
December 5, 1998: Miami rides Edgerrin James’ 299 yards (39 carries) & 3TDs & beats #3 UCLA 49-45.
— This Day In Sports Clips (@TDISportsClips) December 5, 2023
Game was moved from Sept b/c of Hurricane Georges. It snapped UCLAs 20-gm win streak & knocked them out of the BCS CG. UCLA hasn’t been the same since.
pic.twitter.com/7qWYRYpERg
The Aftermath
Oddly enough, the biggest beneficiary of this outcome was... Florida State. The Seminoles were ranked fourth in the BCS and with UCLA losing and Kansas State losing to Texas A&M in the Big XII championship game later in the evening, the Seminoles ended up playing Tennessee for the championship in the Fiesta Bowl. The Volunteers won the game and the championship. But long-term the bigger story was Miami. Davis was building something special in Coral Gables and the pieces were coming together quickly. By 2000, the Hurricanes had gotten back into the top 5 and beat FSU and Florida in the same season. The following year, Miami would be back on the top of the college football world, winning its fifth national title.