15 years to the day, November 21st, the 2002 Miami Hurricanes defeated the No. 17 Pittsburgh Panthers at the famed Orange Bowl to reach the 10-0 mark for the 6th time in the school's history. As a tribute to the 15-year anniversary of the last time the Hurricanes went 10-0 let's look at some things that were going on during the year. The Top-US-Grossing title released in 2002 was "Spider-man," Kelly Clarkson won the first "American Idol" contest, and "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback was No.1 on Billboards Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2002.
Sustained success
Fast-forward to today and the University of Miami is once again at the summit of College Football with a chance to finish the regular season undefeated against the same Pittsburgh Panthers they have beat 18 of the last 20 meetings outright, including 10 of the last 11. The Hurricanes stretched their FBS-best winning streak to 15 games last week with a 44-28 win over the University of Virginia Cavaliers. Miami, once again troubled by slow starts, were trailing the Cavaliers 14-0 in the first quarter before clawing their way back to tie the game 14-14. They later fell 28-14 in the third. Thanks to junior safety Jaquan Johnson's pick-six in the third, he helped jump-start a 30-0 run to finish the game, leaving another lasting impression on the playoff committee.
Recharged Hurricanes
It’s tough to compare the 2002 Hurricanes team to present day, the former had future NFL pro-bowl talent at every position and were coming off a national championship in 2001. The latter had zero expectations coming into the season nor did they have any jaw-dropping talent besides running back Mark Walton Jr.
However, the two teams do share something very valuable: notoriety from the clear majority of the media and unparalleled popularity from those that closely followed. Much like the 2002 Hurricanes, this version of the U is as marketable as ever before. According to Darren Rovell of ESPN, sales of Miami merchandise is up 580 percent this year compared to over a year ago, and sales over the past two weeks were double the entire month of November last year.
No matter the time and distance between the two successful campaigns, the return of a competitive side serves as a salute to how far the program has come and what it had to endure in order to return to prominence. Poor coaching, the Nevin Shapiro scandal, loss of scholarships, and stadium relocation were all factors that sunk Miami into an underworld of bad luck. With continued success under Marc Richt and recruiting classes expected to be in the top five for the next three years, Canes nation won't have to wait another 15 years for a 10-0 start.
