Was It a Miami Vision or Dream Come True? : College football: Hurricanes defeat Penn State, 17-14, to post second victory in a row over a top 10 opponent. They say they should be No. 1 again.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, Miami defensive end Kevin Patrick had a dream, the kind you dare tell only your roommate--in this case, defensive end Darren Krein.

Never mind the particulars, but the dream called for Patrick to somehow intercept a Penn State pass, return it for a touchdown and lead the No. 2-ranked Hurricanes to a victory over the No. 7 Nittany Lions.

So what happens? A Miami defensive end intercepted a pass by John Sacca on Saturday, returned it for a touchdown and led the Hurricanes to a 17-14 victory in front of a Beaver Stadium record crowd of 96,704.

Coach Dennis Erickson later called it “the turning point of the game.”

Too bad the only thing missing was Patrick.

That’s right, a dream audible.

Turns out that Krein, not Patrick, was the one who plucked Sacca’s hurried throw from the air, dashed 28 yards to the end zone and gave Miami just enough breathing room to escape here with a 5-0 record and a legitimate claim as the nation’s best team.

“He had a dream about it, that he was going to do it,” Krein said of the score, which came on the next to last play of the third quarter. “Hey, I’m just glad it happened.”

So are the Hurricanes, whose arguments concerning the weekly rankings are becoming harder and harder to ignore. In two weeks’ time, they have beaten No. 3 Florida State at the Orange Bowl and No. 7 Penn State at a very un-Happy Valley. The Hurricanes also have the nation’s longest winning streak (23) and have the nation’s biggest chips on their shoulders.

“If Miami ain’t No. 1, something’s wrong!” Hurricane defensive tackle Mark Caesar shouted as he stalked into the locker room at game’s end. “Petty jealous voters out there!”

And this from Krein: “I think we’re the No. 1 team without a doubt. I think we should have been last week.”

Even with this latest victory, paranoid Miami is worried it will remain behind top-ranked Washington.

“Who knows, right?” linebacker Micheal Barrow said. “Ross Perot is still running for president, so anything can happen.”

According to the Hurricanes, everyone hates them. Nobody respects them. So sensitive are the Miami players to the supposed slights, that linebacker Jessie Armstead recently distributed limited edition T-shirts to his teammates. In black lettering across the front, they read: It’s A ‘Cane Thing. You Wouldn’t Understand.

Penn State (5-1) understands, better than the Hurricanes will ever know. After all, the Nittany Lions saw Miami sack Sacca three times, only one less than Penn State had allowed in the previous five games.

The Hurricanes also forced Sacca, making only the fifth start of his college career, into throwing two interceptions, including, of course, Krein’s fateful pickoff. Penn State quarterbacks had attempted 147 passes before Miami ended the streak.

“They played a perfect game,” Nittany Lion Coach Joe Paterno said.

Miami’s defense didn’t stop there. It hurried and pounded Sacca all day. A first-quarter injury to Sacca’s throwing shoulder limited his ability to try long passes, he would say later. And it was Armstead, blitzing from the outside, who caused Sacca to release a would-be screen pass a moment too early. That’s when Krein stepped in.

“The ball looked like a beach ball to me,” Krein said. “I got (to the end zone) and all the fans were sitting there with their mouths wide open.”

Can you blame them? Penn State had won 11 consecutive games until the Hurricanes came to town. Of course, they should have known better. The last Nittany Lion loss came Oct. 12, 1991. . . . to Miami.

Miami blocked a 48-yard field-goal attempt in the first quarter, caused another miss on a 20-yarder try in the second quarter and forced yet another, this time from 36 yards, in the fourth. Officially, the 36-yard miss by Craig Fayak didn’t count, thanks mainly to an offsides call against the Hurricanes. But don’t be fooled: Fayak’s struggles influenced Penn State Coach Joe Paterno.

Four plays after the offsides penalty, the Nittany Lions were faced with a fourth and one from the Miami five-yard line. Almost 10 minutes remained to be played and a field goal would cut the Hurricane lead to 17-10.

Instead, Paterno kept Fayak on the sideline and tried for the first down. He called for a quick toss to tailback Richie Anderson, who was promptly tackled for a two-yard loss by Barrow.

“I was guessing,” Barrow said. “An educated guess.”

But truth be known, Barrow couldn’t understand why Paterno didn’t send Anderson up the middle, where the Nittany Lions had done most of their damage.

“I just assumed they were going to run right at us,” Barrow said.

And that was that. In one weird series, Penn State couldn’t kick a field goal or gain a single yard when it mattered most. The botched opportunities were especially costly, considering that on their next possession, the Nittany Lions scored on a 14-yard pass from Sacca to wide receiver O.J. McDuffie with 6:17 left in the game.

“They should be the happiest guys on earth,” Penn State guard John Gerak said. “They beat two great teams two weeks in a row. I hope they have a pansy next week.”

They do--Texas Christian.

But the Hurricanes didn’t want to talk about TCU. They wanted to talk about a semi-revitalized running attack, which gained 138 net yards against Penn State. Entering the game, Miami ranked 106th out of 107 teams in rushing.

“We knew we had to run the ball,” quarterback Gino Torretta said.

And if they didn’t know it before the game, they knew it shortly after kickoff. That’s because Torretta completed only 11 of 31 passes for 80 yards and no touchdowns. In fact, his longest completion was only 15 yards. It was the second-worst performance in 21 starts.

Miami wasn’t through talking. The Hurricanes never are. They also wanted to discuss this matter of earning respect and poll votes. Even Erickson, who had vowed not to talk about the rankings until after the game against the Nittany Lions, popped off.

“I’m voting,” Erickson said. “I’m voting us No. 1. All I can tell you is what we did the last two weeks, not very many teams in the country could do.”