Tag: Miami

In the New Year’s Six bowl structure, elite bowl games have been played in late December, not just early January. This has led to years in which there are “two” bowls of the same kind. For instance, there were two 2017 Cotton Bowls: Wisconsin won the January 2017 Cotton Bowl over Western Michigan, and Ohio State won the December 2017 Cotton Bowl over USC.

When one refers to the 2017 Orange Bowl, one is referring not to January, but to December. Just before 2017 gave way to 2018, the Wisconsin Badgers played the Miami Hurricanes, and they did so in Miami at Hard Rock Stadium. It was not Wisconsin versus an SEC team in a bowl game, but the theme was familiar: Wisconsin had to play its bowl game much closer to the opponent’s campus than its own. Wisconsin had to shoulder the handicap Big Ten teams normally play with in bowl games in Southern locales. (Miami is not culturally Southern the way SEC locales are, but geographically, this is as southernmost a bowl location as one can imagine.)

Wisconsin had a reason to adopt an “us against the world” mentality due to playing in Miami’s back yard, but beyond the foreign territory angle, the Badgers had another cause to rally around: the turnover chain. You remember that part of Miami’s 2017 season, right? It was all anyone could talk about when the Hurricanes were discussed. People in the college football world wondered if “The U” was actually back. Texas has never gotten “back” under Tom Herman. Michigan has never been “back” under Jim Harbaugh. When Miami won 11 games and popped Notre Dame late in that 2017 season, it was reasonable to wonder if Mark Richt had the Canes back to their formerly lofty place in college football, ending a long period in the sport’s wilderness.

One can legitimately say that if Miami wanted to make sure that it was “back,” Wisconsin prevented that from happening. The Badgers yanked The U’s chain and showed the Hurricanes who was boss.

Everyone in and around Wisconsin football knows that Alex Hornibrook lost the plot in the 2018 season, an autumn which slipped away from the Badgers for a whole host of reasons. Yet, before the 2018 train went off the tracks, Hornibrook was a man who met the moment in 2017. Hornibrook wasn’t brilliant. He didn’t dominate games. He didn’t dazzle or demolish. He did, however, make big third-down throws.

In the Orange Bowl, he continued to do that, and he separated himself from his opposite number, Miami quarterback Malik Rosier. Hornibrook threw four touchdown passes in that Orange Bowl, making all the big throws on a fourth-quarter touchdown drive which turned a 27-24 Wisconsin game into a 34-24 Badger lead. When Miami missed a chip-shot field goal a few minutes after Wisconsin gained its 10-point advantage, the ballgame was over, and the Badgers tucked away their 13th win in the same college football season.

Whereas Hornibrook made all the big throws in this game — powering Wisconsin to a 21-point second-quarter surge which helped UW overcome a 14-3 Miami start in the first quarter — Rosier threw three interceptions. One of those interceptions came when Miami trailed 24-21 in the third quarter and was driving inside the Wisconsin 30. Hornibrook finished what he started; Rosier did not. Wisconsin won the turnover battle against the team which loved to flaunt the turnover chain.

It was a very happy chain of events for the Badgers in Miami two years ago, capping one of the most special seasons in Wisconsin football history.