Overconfidence Is History

On New Year’s Day, 1986, the Miami Hurricanes were flying high entering the Superdome.

With the No. 2 ranking in the nation and a high-powered offense, the Hurricanes were focused on their hopes for a national championship. It was a given in many of their minds that they would beat their opponent in the Sugar Bowl that day, eighth-ranked Tennessee.

Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson kept trying to deflate the Hurricanes’ overconfidence all week.

Ultimately, that job was done by Tennessee quarterback Daryl Dickey (the most valuable player that day) and his teammates, who crushed Miami, 35-7.

Fast-forward 16 years.

Another Miami team is eyeing a national title. And another Miami coach, Larry Coker, worries about the overconfidence of an unbeaten (11-0) squad heading into Thursday’s Rose Bowl championship game against Nebraska, a team many feel shouldn’t even be here.

A believer in the old saying that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it, Coker invited Lamar Thomas, a receiver on that 1986 squad, to address the Hurricanes before they left Miami.

They were not going to ignore 1986.

“He was good,” Miami offensive lineman Joaquin Gonzalez said of Thomas. “He told us that, when you get here, you think you might be playing for a national title every year, but that is not the case. He told us his team took that [1986] game lightly, that they went there figuring they were Miami and that was good enough to win. He said, ‘Just because you’re Miami, that’s not enough.”’

Coker expects linebacker Chris Campbell to be released from a hospital today, but his coach no longer expects Campbell to play Thursday.

Campbell developed an infection in his right knee following an injury several weeks ago and has been having fluid drained.

“I’m not thinking he’s going to play,” Coker said, “so if he can play, it will be a bonus.”

If Campbell doesn’t play, junior Howard Clark will take his place on the strong side.

“You have to read [defenses] a little more over there,” said Clark, who has played primarily in the middle and on the weakside. “Everything is faster and coming right at you.”

Despite the steady rain falling Saturday at the Coliseum, the Hurricanes practiced for an hour and 10 minutes.

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Carlos Joseph, a 6-foot-6, 322-pound freshman offensive lineman, ate five prime-rib dinners to win the team eating championship Friday at the Beef Bowl at Lawry’s The Prime Rib in Beverly Hills.

But when Coker was informed Saturday that the record over the 46 years of the event is 10 dinners consumed--some claim 11--Coker replied, “Well then, if we can’t compete any better than that, we are in trouble.”