MKRob Sports

Head coach Randy Shannon lead his Miami Hurricanes into Tallahassee with the odds against them and pulled out a huge 38-24 win against the #18 Florida State Seminoles

Seminoles head coach Bobby Bowden had never lost a home opener in his 34 years of coaching and history behind him in this game, but they came up short.

Hurricanes sophomore quarterback Jacory Harris, ailing arm and all, led the Hurricanes with 386 yards passing and 3 touchdowns (1 rushing). Harris broke former ‘Canes quarterback Kenny Kelly’s record (370 yards) for most passing yards in a game against FSU.

Harris seemingly injured his hand when Seminoles freshman defensive back Greg Reid came in on a blitz and Harris’ pass popped in the air and was intercepted by junior defensive end Markus White and ran back 31 yards for a touchdown to give the ‘Noles a 31-24 lead.

When asked about the injury, Harris said, “It was just a bad funny bone incident,” Harris said. “My whole arm went numb. I had to fight through. I had to help this team win.”

The ‘Canes also got huge games from sophomore wide receiver Travis Benjamin (four catches, 128 yards, 1 TD) and junior running back Graig Cooper with a 35.4 yard kick return average and his two huge touchdowns, one catching, a 25-yarder that tied the game 31-31 and one three rushing touchdown, that proved to be the game winner.

Even though the entire game was great, the last series was a classic, with score being 38-34, on the first play of the series, ‘Canes sophomore cornerback Brandon Harris tipped Seminoles junior quarterback Christian Ponder’s pass away from ‘Noles wide receiver Jarmon Fortson on a fade route in the end zone, on second down, Ponder’s pass sailed high for Fortson and on third down, Ponder’s pass was dropped by Fortson and after further review, the play stand as called and the ‘Canes began to celebrate their victory.

In a losing effort, Ponder completed 24 of 41 passes for a career-best 294 yards and two second-half touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to keep Florida State from losing for the fourth time in Miami’s last five trips to Tallahassee.

“You have to cast it aside and look at the errors we made,” Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. “If we don’t correct ‘em, we’ll lose another one the same way.”

GREAT WIN ‘CANES, WE ARE BACK BABY!!!