Good Vs. Evil

I am not ashamed to admit it. The 1980′s helped shape my life and who I am today. I still listen to much of the same music. I still tune into Nick at Night now and then. Some of my friends used to call me Ty-ami Vice for goodness sake. Let me brush away the pastel cob webs from my mind for a moment.

There is a reason some call it the Big 80′s. The music, the hair, the Delorean. There was even a movie “Big” which starred Tom Hanks. It was the decade where bigger meant better. More meant better. As Gordon Gecko declared in the movie Wall Street, “Greed is good.” It was ten years of inflated self-importance.

It was only fitting that the 80′s produced the biggest and greediest production college football had seen to that point. The 1986 NCAA Sunkist Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona featured the Miami Hurricanes, the number one ranked team in the land, against number two Penn State in a winner-take-all for the national title. Neither team at the time had a conference affiliation and were not tied to any particular bowl game. #1 versus #2 was up to the highest bidder. And the Fiesta Bowl won the war. This game was ripe for hype.

The number one ranked Hurricanes came into the game favored by a touchdown. Miami was unbeaten and destroyed everything in its path during that 1986 college football season, outscoring opponents a ridiculous 420-136. All while Penn State looked vulnerable squeaking by lesser competition on their way to an unblemished mark.

The lead up to the game was labeled by some as “good versus evil,” a direct tie to the phrase that then-President Ronald Reagan attached to America’s struggle in the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

All week long, the players from Miami were wearing combat fatigues. While Joe Paterno had his men be seen in suits and ties.

Miami’s roster was stock piled with NFL talent, led by Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverede, and future-NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin. Penn State, while skilled, was not nearly as loaded top to bottom. Miami had indirectly forged itself into becoming a farm system for the NFL. And they had no qualms of being seen as the bad boys of college football. The Canes were college football’s version of the Los Angeles Raiders.

Fiesta Bowl organizers wasted no time getting the most bang for their buck. The first move was to extend the college football season to January 2nd. While common place today thanks to the BCS, back then, the college football season ended climatically on New Year’s Day. It was an insult on tradition for the college football’s national title to not be solved on New Year’s Day.

Second, bowl organizers wanted the game in prime time. Initially NBC was not keen to the idea of preempting their top-rated program, Miami Vice (there’s that show again.) But once the Fiesta Bowl had sponsorships in place, NBC agreed to broadcast the game on a Friday night in prime time.

The ratings for the game were off the chart. Millions watched the nationally televised on NBC. The game drew a 25.1 Nielsen rating, which was the highest rated college football broadcast at the time. By perspective, last January’s Notre Dame-Alabama title tilt brought in a 15.1 Nielsen rating.

Remember in January of 1987, there was only one ESPN station, not multiple sports networks. And there were just a handful of cable networks period. All eyes were on the Fiesta Bowl. How big was the game? President Reagan was the halftime interview. This was sports spectacle at its finest.

As often happens in sports, the quality of the game did not match the build up. Penn State could not move the football for most of the game. But Miami’s trash talk and showboating was overshadowed but its generosity with the football.

The Canes turned the ball over seven times, including five interceptions from Testaverde, a trend that would plague him throughout his long NFL career. I remember vividly the game having no flow whatsoever. As soon as Miami would gain some momentum, their mistakes would stifle good fortune. Right before half, Penn State put together their only sustained drive of the game, a 74 yard drive to tie the game at seven as both teams headed to the lockeroom.

It stayed tied at 7-7 until early in the fourth quarter, when Miami took a 10-7 lead. Midway through the period, Testaverde threw his fourth pick of the game that was returned to the Miami five-yard line Penn State cashed in to go up 14-10 setting the stage for a dramatic finish to the National Championship.

Miami’s Heisman Trophy winner put together a drive from Miami’s 23 with a little more than three minutes to play. Testaverde through six straight completions, converted a fourth down, and moved the Canes all the way to the Penn State 10. But the drive and Miami’s hopes of a national championship would end thanks to Testaverde’s final interception.

For many, good had indeed conquered evil. I remember Joe Pa being carried off the field. The celebration. The big mouth Hurricanes and their brash coach Jimmy Johnson had gotten what they deserved on the biggest stage college sports had ever seen in this country. Justice had been served.