No. 1 Miami Takes Another Trek North

Miami’s first visit to Pennsylvania this month was a fast-and-furious success, a romp over a Penn State team that couldn’t handle the Hurricanes’ size and speed.

Next up on the top-ranked Hurricanes’ to-do list as they pursue a national championship: another trip north to play Pittsburgh, which has beaten them only once in a quarter-century.

Neither team has played since Sept. 8 because of the terrorist attacks, an uncommonly long layoff that has made both teams eager to get on the field again.

“I don’t know if we could have waited until Saturday to play,” Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey said. “We were talking about that, how lucky we are to have a Thursday night game. Sometimes there can be too big of a break.”

Miami (2-0, 1-0 in Big East) wants to regain the groove it had in romps over Penn State (33-7) and Rutgers (61-0), when Dorsey threw for 659 yards and five touchdowns and wasn’t sacked. He is the first Miami quarterback since Bernie Kosar to start the season with consecutive 300-yard games.

Pitt (1-1, 0-0) wants to prove it isn’t nearly as bad as it looked Sept. 8 in a 35-26 loss to Division I-A newcomer South Florida, one of the biggest upsets in school history and probably the biggest in college football this season.

Miami Coach Larry Coker suspects Pitt was “embarrassed” by the loss--a word even Pitt Coach Walt Harris has declined to use--but didn’t extend much sympathy. The Panthers didn’t show much interest until falling behind, 28-7, then couldn’t stop a late South Florida drive after closing within two points.

Pitt is making a big fuss over tonight’s game, bringing back retired stars such as Dan Marino, Tony Dorsett and Mike Ditka. An American flag large enough to cover the playing field at Heinz Field will be unveiled during a pregame ceremony.

The Hurricanes, however, are dropping hints that the real show begins after the kickoff.

“We feel a Thursday night game is very much like a Monday night game in the NFL,” Coker said. “It’s a way to showcase your program, your talents, and we’re certainly looking forward to that.”

Pitt expects to have All-American receiver Antonio Bryant back. Bryant has been sidelined because of a sprained ankle since the opening minutes of Pitt’s first game, but he ran with the starting offense and returned punts in practice this week.

“I think I can play,” said Bryant, a Miami native who was not recruited by the Hurricanes. “Even if I’m not 100%, I think I can help.”

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The Heisman Trophy winner could be receiving his award in a midtown Manhattan hotel instead of the Downtown Athletic Club if the building is declared unsafe by inspectors.

Located about three blocks south of the World Trade Center, the 35-story Art Deco building is structurally safe, but its elevator system was damaged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“We hope to know within two weeks whether we will have to use an alternative site,” Rudy Riska, executive director of the Heisman Trophy, said Wednesday from his Downtown Athletic Club office.

Riska said debris from the twin towers entered the shafts and affected computers.

Riska said the Downtown Athletic Club has reserved space at the Marriott-Marquis for the four days of Heisman events. The Heisman dinner--the night after the winner is announced--has been at the hotel the past 15 years, Riska said.

The Heisman has been awarded at the Downtown Athletic Club every year since its inception in 1935.

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Oregon backup offensive lineman Mike Belisle will have surgery on his injured right foot and will miss the rest of the season. Belisle, a 6-foot-5, 317-pound junior, injured the knee in the victory against USC.

A tornado that swept through the Maryland campus and killed two students on Monday also blew the roof off the Terrapins’ indoor practice facility. ... Penn State’s Joe Paterno, who needs one win to tie Bear Bryant’s Division I-A record for career coaching victories, has been selected as the winner of the 2002 Amos Alonzo Stagg Award for outstanding service to the sport. ... Nike co-founder and Oregon alumnus Phil Knight announced that he would resume financial support to his alma mater. Knight has given $50 million to the school in the past decade.