As Usual, No. 3 Miami Is Raising ‘Cane

The tension was evident as the Miami Hurricanes gathered outside the Orange Bowl Thursday for their team photo.

“Ice cream!” the ‘Canes shouted. “Ice cream man!”

The ice-cream truck stopped on NW 16th Avenue, but much to the players’ dismay, they couldn’t descend from the makeshift bleachers for a mid-day snack.

Better they should stay hungry, and devour both of Nebraska’s quarterbacks instead.

The ‘Canes plan on it.

Indeed, they reacted to the news that Nebraska will start Tommie Frazier with their usual style and grace.

“We’re shaking,” defensive tackle Warren Sapp said.

Sapp gathered himself in time for the team photo, and tried to stand next to coach Dennis Erickson. Erickson, waiting for his assistants, told him to take a hike.

Sapp laughed and made his way up the bleachers, creating a ruckus.

What, Miami worry?

This is the school where trash talking isn’t optional, but a requirement.

The ‘Canes were in such a playful mood Thursday they even barked at the photographers snapping their pictures.

A car passed blaring salsa music, and the players started waving and dancing. They quieted down only for the pictures, and even then only for a second.

Most of the country hates them. The ‘Canes don’t care.

Nebraska will play two quarterbacks. The ‘Canes don’t care.

“As long as you hit the quarterback in the mouth, it doesn’t matter which one is in there,” defensive coordinator Greg McMackin said.

Yes, even the coaches get into the act.

McMackin sure didn’t talk that way when he was the defensive coordinator at Navy in 1992-93.

So it went at media day at the Orange Bowl. Nebraska was dull as a cornfield. Miami was Miami, obnoxious and hilarious, all at once.

Oh, linebacker Rohan Marley did express concern for Frazier, who hasn’t played since Sept. 24 because of blood clots in his right leg.

“I sure hope he’s ready,” Marley said. “I’d hate to see him go back to the doctor after this game.”

Cornerback Chad Wilson said Wednesday Nebraska could bring in Vince Ferragamo, and it wouldn’t matter to him.

Linebacker Ray Lewis went one better Thursday, saying Nebraska could play Superman at quarterback, for all he cared.

And lest we forget our most eager bulletin-board candidate, here’s linebacker Corwin Francis:

“I don’t have respect for ‘em. I don’t think the team has respect for ‘em. You get on the field, we’re not going to respect you, we’re out there to whip your butt. The hell with Nebraska. We come to play.”

At least the players were honest, which is more than could be said of their school, where players reportedly received cash rewards for making big plays in 1991.

A scandal here, a scandal there.

Say what you want about the ‘Canes, they just won’t go away. They dropped to No. 13 in the polls after losing at home to Washington on Sept. 24, but here they are, in position to win their fifth national championship in 12 years.

It would take a victory over Nebraska and a loss by Penn State, but stranger things have happened. Who ever thought Miami would bounce back this quickly?

The loss to Washington was Miami’s fifth in 16 games, starting with the 1992 Sugar Bowl. That matched their total of the previous 71 games, starting with the 1987 Fiesta Bowl.

For a moment there, it seemed the program was in decline. Not only had Miami lost two consecutive bowl games by a combined score of 63-13, its 58-game home winning streak was over.

The Huskies stood on the Orange Bowl sidelines screaming, “Who’s house? Dog house!” The ‘Canes deserved their humiliation. They botched the coin flip, and had to kick off in both halves.

Sapp is voluble in the grand tradition of former Miami stars Jerome Brown and Michael Irvin, but he won’t talk about that game. It cost Miami a perfect season and a clear shot at the national championship.

Maybe that’s why Erickson sees such determination in his team this week, noting that this is the best Miami has practiced before a bowl game in his six years as head coach.

Not that any of this was apparent Thursday.

When the ‘Canes enter a stadium, you hear them before you see them. They’re constantly shouting and clowning. Teammates, opponents, everyone is fair game.

At one point, eight Miami players surrounded defensive end Baraka Short, woofed at him vociferously and threw him on the ground.

Lewis, meanwhile, held court in one corner of the end zone, philosophizing on the art of trash-talking, as perfected by the Miami defense.

“That’s our game,” he said. “When we hit you, we’re going to let you know we came. Then we’re going to say something else, to remind you we were there.”

How good is the defense?

Lewis stared at a plane overhead.

“I’m looking at that jet,” he said. “We might be as fast as that jet.”

Lewis laughed at his own hyperbole, then talked some more.

Eventually, it was time for the team photo.

Cut the tension with a knife?

The ‘Canes would have preferred spoons.

“Ice cream man!” they shouted. “Ice cream!”