Mark Fletcher gave Miami exactly the big burst it needed to get back into Monday night’s national title game.
Despite playing in its home stadium and for all the marbles, the Hurricanes managed 0 points and missed a field goal to close a dismal first half that ended with them trailing Indiana, 10-0.
But after forcing a Hoosiers punt on the first possession of the second half, Miami went to work, finally, and Fletcher did his work by blazing through the right side of the line and scoring on a 57-yard touchdown run that woke up the “home fans” at Hard Rock Stadium.
The play came on an innocent 2nd-and-5 call and ended with a flourish, as Miami cut Indiana’s lead to 10-7 with 11:06 left in the third quarter. Just like that, the Canes had some life and some momentum after that forgettable first half.
Here is the play that will go down in Miami football lore no matter the result on Monday night:
There was suddenly so much time still left in the national championship game, and suddenly that Indiana stranglehold that they held at halftime didn’t look so strong.
That’s what one play did for Miami, and it was provided by that flash of a burst by Fletcher.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
