1990 Miami Hurricanes football team

American college football season

1990 Miami Hurricanes football

National champion (ERS, NYT) Co-national champion (Billingsley, Sagarin, Rothman) Cotton Bowl Classic champion
Cotton Bowl Classic, W 46–3 vs. Texas
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
Record	10–2
Head coach	Dennis Erickson (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Bob Bratkowski (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	One-Back Spread
Defensive coordinator	Sonny Lubick (2nd season)
Home stadium	Miami Orange Bowl (Capacity: 75,500)
Seasons ← 1989 1991 →

1990 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 14 Louisville		–		10	–	1	–	1
No. 3 Miami (FL)		–		10	–	2	–	0
No. 4 Florida State		–		10	–	2	–	0
No. 6 Notre Dame		–		9	–	3	–	0
No. 11 Penn State		–		9	–	3	–	0
Louisiana Tech		–		8	–	3	–	1
Southern Miss		–		8	–	4	–	0
Temple		–		7	–	4	–	0
Syracuse		–		7	–	4	–	2
Army		–		6	–	5	–	0
Northern Illinois		–		6	–	5	–	0
South Carolina		–		6	–	5	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		6	–	5	–	0
East Carolina		–		5	–	6	–	0
Southwestern Louisiana		–		5	–	6	–	0
Navy		–		5	–	6	–	0
Memphis State		–		4	–	6	–	1
Boston College		–		4	–	7	–	0
Tulane		–		4	–	7	–	0
West Virginia		–		4	–	7	–	0
Akron		–		3	–	7	–	1
Pittsburgh		–		3	–	7	–	1
Rutgers		–		3	–	8	–	0
Tulsa		–		3	–	8	–	0
Cincinnati		–		1	–	10	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1990 Miami Hurricanes football team represented the University of Miami during the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Hurricanes' 65th season of football. The Hurricanes were led by second-year head coach Dennis Erickson and played their home games at the Orange Bowl. Coming off the school's third national championship in six years in 1989, Miami came in to the 1990 season favored by most experts to repeat as national champions. However, a season opening loss to BYU and a later defeat by Notre Dame dashed those chances and the Canes finished the season 10–2 overall. They were invited to the Cotton Bowl where they defeated Texas, 46–3.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 8	7:30 pm	at No. 16 BYU	No. 1	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT	ESPN	L 21–28	66,235
September 15	3:30 pm	at California	No. 10	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	ABC	W 52–24	47,000
September 29	8:00 pm	Iowa	No. 10	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL	PPV	W 48–21	70,420
October 6	2:00 pm	No. 2 Florida State	No. 9	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (rivalry)	CBS	W 31–22	80,396
October 13	4:00 pm	Kansas	No. 3	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL	Raycom	W 34–0	54,211
October 20	3:30 pm	at No. 6 Notre Dame	No. 2	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)	CBS	L 20–29	59,075
October 27	1:00 pm	at Texas Tech	No. 8	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX	Raycom	W 45–10	50,028
November 3	4:00 pm	Pittsburgh	No. 8	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL		W 45–0	50,412
November 17	4:00 pm	Boston College	No. 3	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL		W 42–12	50,942
November 24	7:30 pm	Syracuse	No. 2	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL	ESPN	W 33–7	66,196
December 1	4:00 pm	at San Diego State	No. 3	Jack Murphy Stadium San Diego, CA	ESPN	W 30–28	34,201
January 1	1:30 pm	vs. No. 3 Texas	No. 4	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl)	CBS	W 46–3	77,425
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Personnel

1990 Miami Hurricanes football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
OL	`60`	Rudy Barber	Fr
TE	`17`	Coleman Bell	So
TE	`93`	Randy Bethel	Sr
WR	`12`	Bobby Byrd	Sr
WR	`81`	Wesley Carroll	Sr
TE	`84`	Rob Chudzinski	Sr
RB	`28`	Leonard Conley	Sr
WR	`88`	Horace Copeland	So
OL	`72`	Mario Cristobal	So
FB	`20`	Shannon Crowell	Sr
QB	`7`	Craig Erickson	Sr
TE	`82`	Carlos Etheredge	Fr
OL	`66`	Darren Handy	Sr
OL	`98`	Kelvin Harris	Jr
WR	`3`	Randal Hill	Sr
RB	`21`	Alex Johnson	Sr
OL	`70`	Claude Jones	Jr
RB	`32`	Jason Marucci	So
RB	`30`	Stephen McGuire	So
TE	`90`	Joe Moore	Jr
RB	`22`	Martin Patton	So
OL	`73`	Leon Searcy	Jr
WR	`35`	Darryl Spencer	Jr
G	`79`	Mike Sullivan	Sr
WR	`36`	Lamar Thomas	So
QB	`13`	Gino Torretta	So
WR	`5`	Kevin Williams	Fr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB	`1`	Jessie Armstead	So
CB	`23`	Robert Bailey	Sr
LB	`56`	Micheal Barrow	So
S	`8`	Hurlie Brown	Jr
DL	`76`	Mark Caesar	So
LB	`49`	Maurice Crum	Sr
DE	`44`	Shane Curry	Sr
OL	`97`	Anthony Hamlet	Jr
DB	`26`	Herbert James	Jr
DL	`94`	Dwayne Johnson	Fr
DL	`71`	Kenny Lopez	Fr
DT	`67`	Russell Maryland	Sr
DB	`47`	Ryan McNeil	Fr
DL	`98`	Rusty Medearis	Fr
DL	`95`	Eric Miller	Jr
DL	`86`	Kevin Patrick	Fr
DB	`2`	Charles Pharms	Jr
LB	`45`	Darrin Smith	So
DB	`16`	Roland Smith	Sr
DB	`31`	Darryl Williams	So

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`27`	Carlos Huerta	Jr
P	`15`	Paul Snyder	So

Head coach

Dennis Erickson

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Dave Arnold (ST/TE)
Bob Bratkowski (OC/WR)
Bob Karmelowicz (DL)
Art Kehoe (Ast OL)
Sonny Lubick (DC/DB)
Ed Orgeron (DL)
Brad Roll (Str + Cond)
Gregg Smith (OL)
Tommy Tuberville (LB)
Alex Wood (RB)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	1 (24)	1 (27)	10	9	10	9	3 (6)	2 (15)	8	8	5	3	2 (3)	3 (2)	4	3 (1)
Coaches	1 (25)	1	10	8	9	8	4 (4)	2 (7)	9	8	4	3	2 (3)	2 (3)	4 (2)	3 (2)

Season summary

BYU

#1 Miami (FL) at #16 BYU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hurricanes	7	7	7	0	21
• Cougars	0	17	11	0	28

Date: September 8
Location: Cougar Stadium, Provo, UT
Game attendance: 66,235
TV announcers (ESPN): Ron Franklin and Gary Danielson

Scoring summary

Q1	MIA	McGuire 7-yard run (Huerta kick)	MIA 7–0

Q2	BYU	Bellini 14-yard pass from Detmer (Kaufman kick)	Tied 7–7
	BYU	Kaufman 32-yard field goal	BYU 10–7
	MIA	McGuire 7-yard run (Huerta kick)	MIA 14–10
	BYU	Boyce 2-yard pass from Detmer (Kaufman kick)	BYU 17–14

Q3	MIA	Conley 5-yard run (Huerta kick)	MIA 21–17
	BYU	Kaufman 29-yard field goal	MIA 21–20
	BYU	Salido 7-yard pass from Detmer (Detmer to Boyce pass)	BYU 28–21

California

#10 Miami (FL) at California

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Hurricanes	10	21	0	21	52
Golden Bears	14	7	0	3	24

Date: September 15
Location: California Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, CA
Game attendance: 47,000
Referee: Gordon Reese
TV announcers (ABC): Gary Bender and Lynn Swann

Scoring summary

Q1	MIA	Huerta 22 yard field goal	MIA 3–0

Q1	CAL	White 99 yard kickoff return (Keen kick)	CAL 7–3

Q1	MIA	Carroll 20 yard pass from Erickson (Huerta kick)	MIA 10–7

Q1	CAL	White 1 yard run (Keen kick)	CAL 14–10

Q2	MIA	Bethel 7 yard pass from Erickson (Huerta kick)	MIA 17–14

Q2	CAL	Treggs 13 yard pass from Pawlawski (Keen kick)	CAL 21–17

Q2	MIA	Erickson 1 yard run (Huerta kick)	MIA 24–21

Q2	MIA	Hill 4 yard pass from Erickson (Huerta kick)	MIA 31–21

Q4	CAL	Keen 25 yard field goal	MIA 31–24

Q4	MIA	McGuire 1 yard run (Huerta kick)	MIA 38–24

Q4	MIA	Conley 7 yard pass from Erickson (Huerta kick)	MIA 45–24

Q4	MIA	Spencer 38 yard run (Huerta kick)	MIA 52–24

^[1]

Iowa

Iowa at #10 Miami

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hawkeyes	0	14	7	0	21
• Hurricanes	14	10	7	17	48

Date: September 29
Location: Orange Bowl
Miami, FL
Game attendance: 70,420

Scoring summary

1	4:14	UM	McGuire 1-yard run (Huerta kick)	MIA 7–0

1		UM	Wesley Carroll 73-yard pass from Craig Erickson (Huerta kick)	MIA 14–0

2	13:42	IOWA	Nick Bell 3-yard run (Skillett kick)	MIA 14–7

2		UM	Darryl Spencer 40-yard pass from Craig Erickson (Huerta kick)	MIA 21–7

2		IOWA	Nick Bell 53-yard pass from Matt Rodgers (Skillett kick)	MIA 21–14

2		UM	Huerta field goal	MIA 24–14

3	8:29	IOWA	Sean Smith 35-yard pass from Matt Rodgers (Skillett kick)	MIA 24–21

3		UM	McGuire 6-yard run (Huerta kick)	MIA 31–21

4	14:04	UM	Wesley Carroll 16-yard pass from Craig Erickson (Huerta kick)	MIA 38–21

4		UM	Huerta 36-yard field goal	MIA 41–21

4		UM	Ryan McNeil 75-yard fumble return (Huerta kick)	MIA 48–21

^[2]

Florida State

#2 Florida State at #9 Miami (FL)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Seminoles	0	6	3	13	22
• Hurricanes	10	14	0	7	31

Date: October 6
Location: Orange Bowl, Miami, FL
Game attendance: 80,396

Kansas

Notre Dame

#2 Miami (FL) at #6 Notre Dame

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hurricanes	10	7	0	3	20
• Fighting Irish	10	6	6	7	29

Date: October 20
Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
Game attendance: 59,075
TV announcers (CBS): Jim Nantz and Tim Brant

Scoring summary

Q1	12:17	MIA	McGuire 1-yard run (Huerta kick)	MIA 7–0
	6:51	ND	Hentrich-25 yard field goal	MIA 7–3
	1:43	MIA	Huerta 23-yard field goal	MIA 10–3
		ND	Ismail 94-yard kickoff return (Hentrich kick)	Tie 10–10

Q2	11:48	ND	Hentrich-44 yard field goal	ND 13–10
	8:10	MIA	Erickson-1 yard run (Huerta kick)	MIA 17–13
	4:16	ND	Hentrich-34 yard field goal	MIA 17–16

Q3	5:24	ND	Hentrich-36 yard field goal	ND 19–17
Q3	1:45	ND	Hentrich 35-yard field goal	ND 22–17

Q4	14:01	MIA	Huerta 25-yard field goal	ND 22–20
Q4	6:16	ND	Culver 21-yard pass from Mirer (Hentrich kick)	ND 29–20

Texas Tech

Pittsburgh

Boston College

Syracuse

San Diego State

Miami (FL) Hurricanes at San Diego State Aztecs

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Miami (FL)	7	13	10	0	30
San Diego St	0	13	7	8	28

at Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego, California

Date: December 1, 1990
Game attendance: 34,201

Game information

MIA – Carroll 55-yard pass from Erickson (Huerta kick)
SDS – Trakas 25-yard field goal
SDS – R. Rowe 3-yard pass from McGwire (Trakas kick)
MIA – Huerta 44-yard field goal
MIA – McGuire 5-yard run (Huerta kick)
SDS – Trakas 43-yard field goal
MIA – Huerta 29-yard field goal
SDS – Wright 9-yard run (Trakas kick)
MIA – Hill 11-yard pass from Erickson (Huerta kick)
MIA – Huerta 22-yard field goal
SDS – Arey 13-yard pass from McGwire (pass good)

Top passers

MIA – Erickson 17/39, 264 Yds, 2 TD, INT
SDS – McGwire 32/53, 323 Yds, 2 TD, INT

Top rushers

MIA – McGuire 19/30, TD
SDS – Wright 22/112, TD

Top receivers

MIA – Hill 6/112, TD
SDS – R. Rowe 9/102, TD

^[3]

Cotton Bowl

Cotton Bowl Classic: #4 Miami (FL) Hurricanes vs. #3 Texas Longhorns

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Miami (FL)	12	7	14	13	46
Texas	0	3	0	0	3

at Cotton Bowl • Dallas, Texas

Date: January 1, 1991
Game attendance: 73,521
Referee: Jimmy Harper
TV announcers (CBS): Jim Nantz, Tim Brant, and John Dockery
^[4] ^[5] ^[6]

Game information

Miami (FL)

Craig Erickson
17/26, 272 Yds, 4 TD

Texas

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	MIA	TEX
1	8:53				Miami (FL)	28-yard field goal by Huerta	3	0
1	5:26				Miami (FL)	50-yard field goal by Huerta	6	0
1	0:11				Miami (FL)	Carroll 12-yard touchdown reception from Erickson, 2-point pass failed	12	0
2	7:43				Texas	29-yard field goal by Pollak	12	3
2	4:17				Miami (FL)	Carroll 24-yard touchdown reception from Erickson, Huerta kick good	19	3
3	11:46				Miami (FL)	Interception returned 34 yards for touchdown by D. Smith, Huerta kick good	26	3
3	6:09				Miami (FL)	Hill 48-yard touchdown reception from Erickson, Huerta kick good	33	3
4	10:56				Miami (FL)	Bethel 4-yard touchdown reception from Erickson, Huerta kick no good (blocked)	39	3
4	9:23				Miami (FL)	Conley 26-yard touchdown run, Huerta kick good	46	3
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							46	3

Awards and honors

Craig Erickson, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award^[7]
Russell Maryland, Outland Trophy^[8]

Jack Harding University of Miami MVP Award

Russell Maryland, DT^[9]

1991 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Team
Russell Maryland	Defensive tackle	1	1	Dallas Cowboys
Randal Hill	Wide receiver	1	23	Miami Dolphins
Shane Curry	Defensive end	2	40	Indianapolis Colts
Wesley Carroll	Wide receiver	2	42	New Orleans Saints
Robert Bailey	Defensive back	4	107	Los Angeles Rams
Craig Erickson	Quarterback	5	131	Philadelphia Eagles
Mike Sullivan	Guard	6	153	Dallas Cowboys
Roland Smith	Defensive back	8	220	Miami Dolphins
Randy Bethel	Tight end	10	251	New England Patriots

^[10]

References

^ Gainesville Sun. 1990 Sep 16. Retrieved 2018-Oct-06.
^ "Miami Takes Charge in Second Half Against Iowa, 48-21". Los Angeles Times. September 30, 1990. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
^ Gainesville Sun. 1990 Dec 02. Retrieved 2019-Nov-17.
^ Rhoden, William C. (January 2, 1991). "Ferocious Miami Cuts Texas Down to Size". The New York Times. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
^ "NO. 4 MIAMI 43 POINTS BETTER THAN NO. 3 TEXAS". The Washington Post. January 2, 1991. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
^ "Miami shows Texas what intimidation is". The Baltimore Sun. January 2, 1991. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
^ "NCAA College Football Awards - ESPN". ESPN.com.
^ "Do You Know Which Team Has the Most College Football Championships?". LiveAbout. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
^ "History: Jack Harding MVP Award". Hurricanes Sports Properties. Retrieved July 7, 2012. ^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "1991 NFL Draft". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved November 11, 2015.

v t e Miami Hurricanes football
Venues	Miami Orange Bowl (1937–2007) Hard Rock Stadium (2008–present)
Bowls and rivalries	Bowl games Florida Florida State Nebraska Virginia Tech
Culture and lore	1998 UCLA game 2011 athletics scandal Band of the Hour Catholics vs. Convicts FIU–Miami brawl Florida Cup Hail Flutie Miami 4–3 defense Quarterback U Sebastian the Ibis Whammy in Miami Wide Right I Wide Right II Confusion Bowl 2023 Georgia Tech game
Documentaries	Catholics vs. Convicts The U
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Early years (1926 to 1978)	Miami Hurricanes football (1926 to 1978)
Seasons	1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold